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> Appliance repair is still quite common in the U.S. The notion that white goods get disposed of as rapidly as they break down is something of an internet-spread cliche.

I disagree. The fan in our fridge died recently. I was able to find the motor online for around $150, and I called a few local appliance repair shops to see the cost for labor. They charged between $75 and $100 an hour and estimated the repair at 2-3 hours plus parts. That's a minimum of $300 to repair a 10 year old fridge that I could replace new for $800. Worst case it would be nearly $500 to fix, and the compressor could go out the next day and cost just as much.

You should just replace a 10 year old fridge because it would save you a lot of money just on electricity.

Check with your power company, they might give you a bonus for replacing it.

If you think spending $800 to buy something is a better idea than spending $300 to fix something you already have, I respectfully posit that you may not be average.

but its a gamble - I've seen ppl spend much more than the cost of replacing because they were being stubborn and didnt want to believe that it might be cheaper to replace in the medium term.

Is it truly a gamble?

Yes sometimes you fix something another thing breaks. But does that happen often enough to be a gamble?

Yes, repairing vs buying new is _always_ a gamble. The odds may be more or less in your favor depending on the age of the item. Take a look at the average life expectancy for appliances : https://www.mrappliance.com/expert-tips/appliance-life-guide...

It's not always a binary choice though, in my case I actually ended up buying a used fridge off craigslist. I found one that was a bit of an upgrade, newer, and about the same cost as repair.

I think the notion that "An apple product cannot be repaired" is also an internet spread cliche.

I found that it was pretty easy to replace the battery and screen of the last few cellphones I've owned. Ironically, it was much easier (and cheaper) to find the necessary parts to repair the apple ones than the cheapo android phones which often cost as much as the aftermarket parts.

If you consider the cost of specialized labour needed to diagnose the problem, then repairing quickly becomes unaffordable for a $300-$1000 purchase. This bill will not stop that.

Appliances are physically larger, and therefore are much more difficult to dispose of, ship, and get into place. So if you compare the cost of repair, to the shipping and disposal cost, they probably become equivalent. Goodluck getting a fridge out of your house without damaging the walls for cheap.

YMMV, I've ruined an iPhone5 trying to replace the screen. It's doable, but you have to have a steady hand and a lot of patience.

When I replaced an iPhone5c screen, the notion of selling the glass+LCD was still new. We used a hot gun to delaminate the cracked screen from the glass, then UV cured epoxy to glue the screen back (don't ask me why we had a UV gun). That was a pain.

Now, the glass + digitizer + LCD (or OLED) are sold as one piece. Sure you are "paying for a LCD/OLED" that "isn't broken", but the cost still comes down under $100 (typically) and saves probably 2 hours of labor.

Often the problem with many modern electronics is not doing the repair itself, but getting the thing back together again or getting it back in to working order, because quite often these devices are not designed to be repairable by the consumer.

Witness the widespread use of "security screws", epoxy on chips, cases which can not be opened without breaking them, and explicit warnings that opening the device would void your warranty.

There's also the ever greater miniaturization of components and the ever greater increase in density of parts inside a case. The former often requires microscopes and other specialized equipment to service them, and the latter results in parts not fitting back in the case after you've completed your repair.

It gets even worse when software is involved, where the user is usually at the mercy of the manufacturer to come up with a software update (if they even ever choose to do so) or require some specialized equipment and authorization to even attempt to do their own repair (as is the case with modern automobiles which have so many computers in them).

I've also replaced the charging port on an iPhone; the whole process is quite simple, specially now with YouTube.

I hired an independent repair guy to come to my house to fix my iphone charging port -- they don't have offices, they make house calls -- and I was totally embarrassed that the problem was belly button lint. He was nice and only charged me $20!

It's all about volume. iPhone has volume, so you can get all kinds of accessories and inexpensive repairs for it.

We just upgraded our Apple 6 to Pixel 2, due to it having some Network Not Found issues. Tried all tricks available on internet, but none worked. Eventually asked Apple and they aggreed to replace it with similar phone given we pay $300. I said, why buy again the same phone which probably have some hardware issue which apple is not agree to resolve. As ppl know, they are having the same issue with higher version. I asked the customer representative, and they mentione, hold the phone. If they get enough complaints, they might look into it and offer a free repair. I think most of the users of old phone might have upgraded to new one and so i am guessing not enough ppl will compain and all those phones will go to waste.

On an iPhone 5S I have replaced both a cracked screen and an old battery.

The replacement battery was ~$7 USD including shipping, while the replacement screen (all-in-one digitizer/glass/screen assembly) was ~$15.50 USD including shipping.

The special screwdrivers/suction cups/spudgers/etc required to perform the procedure were included with the parts.

The swap process was relatively straightforward & lots of high quality photos/videos detail the entire procedure. Numerous guides are freely posted all over the internet.

Getting parts for a cheap Android device, however, proved more expensive than the cost of replacing the device (ignoring labor costs). The market is so fragmented it seems harder for an efficient parts supply chain to develop organically, let alone the knowledge/repair guides to effectively use those parts.

I mostly agree with you, indeed Apple devices are by far the easiest to repair (or get repaired) because guides and parts are richly available, and in absolute numbers they are always the most sold phone (hence why you can find a repair shop for your iPhone 6S in a yiffy, but your Xiaomi Mi5 will lead to headscratches.)

However, since the iPhone 6 Apple has taken to adhering the battery to the case with insanely strong adhesive tape, which means you have to take out the logic board and heat the device to get the battery loose. It’s not impossible, but it certainly docks some points from the repairability score.

Agreed. I part out old MacBooks.

Because Apple controls the design of all the parts, the number of screws is low and you only need 1 or 2 sizes to do the whole job.

And with a small product count ecosystem, you’ll never sit on your parts for a while.

I've never had luck repairing Apple products. I've destroyed ribbon cable connectors on an iPad and an iPhone. Without microsoldering skills and equipment that's a hopeless situation.

I had a third party fail to repair the "touch disease" problem on an iPhone 6.

Anything I've fixed that involved replacing glue strips or removing little splintery bits of broken glass left the device in dodgy shape. Things don't quite fit right, they make squeaking and cracking sounds when you touch them. Aluminum enclosures seem to get gouges and scratches in the process, even when using soft plastic spudgers to separate and scrape things off.

You can never be certain of the waterproofing after you've messed with something.

These are thin, tiny devices that are half put together by machines, half by people that do this for hours and hours day after day with specialized tools - and even they don't get it right all the time.

They're not toasters. I think the days where a normal person can fix this stuff are ending if not already long gone.

My neighbor runs a washing machine repair business in a suburban neighborhood in Alpharetta, Georgia. He seems to stay very busy. This is a fairly affluent area so its not that people can't afford to buy new appliances (on average).

It also depends on the brand. I regret getting a Samsung for my area because if it breaks, then I am screwed. A key criteria for me now is the bias towards simple things that have operational support from the community.

I specifically paid more for Whirlpool laundry appliances recently (over Samsung or LG) for this exact reason. I know that spare parts are available online and even locally, and many of the repairs are things I can even do myself (as I did with my previous Whirlpool top loader).

It seems like Whirlpool and Maytag have long histories of repair and general reliability (at least as far as their marketing and the zeitgeist go), so I wonder what's different about them vs Samsung or LG (maybe it's a tech vs mechanical approach to the problem? I know Chevy vehicles through the 50's-70's used a very limited and common set of parts on everything from the drive train to the car frame, whereas modern companies wish to optimize and reduce costs while innovating).

I have no idea about the modern front loaders, but when I had to repair my old top loader, it was all parts that seem to be standard across dozens of models for many years— the clutch assembly, agitator cogs, gearbox, pump, etc.

>I regret getting a Samsung for my area because if it breaks, then I am screwed.

Because of a lack of Samsung-trained/qualified technicians in your area, or something else?

a lack of, and the people that do repair things don't like them. It's like picking a programming language, and you have to pick your stuff based on the available market.

I own two rental units, in one of them very recently the washing machine "stopped spinning". Upon investigation i found out it was just a belt on the inside, which after some struggling with I was able to repair. Belt cost me $75 CAD, but much better for my pocket than a new machine and way easier to coordinate. Not to mention, the environment.

My stove (a 1950s General Motors electric...yes they made stoves apparently) was finally too old for the local repairmen to want to repair it since they no longer had the equipment to replace the outlet which was a different standard at the time.

Frigidaire also used to be a division of GM.

That's definitely not the case everywhere. In my apartment that was in the attic of a detached home, the landlord certainly tried to repair anything as a first step. In my current apartment building things are replaced or just left broken.

My ovens been broken for over 8 months now and is too expensive to replace so it sits unfixed because they don't even attempt repairs. When the water heater had a problem however it was just replaced immediately.

There's about 200-210 units in the building and I see at least 2 items every week in the trash out of a combination of water heater, fridge, or washer/dryer

The only thing I've actually seen them repair has been the air filters and I think that's only because it takes them 30 seconds to replace

I wouldn’t say most companies do it. My complex (owned by a large national property management company with multiple properties in multiple states) doesn’t repair them, they buy new then sell the old one to another company who then does whatever they do with them. They definitely don’t send repairmen in to fix it.

> But my current 1999 Maytag washer keeps chugging along without complaint.

Well, there's a reason the Maytag man is the loneliest repairman. ;)