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Comment by batch12 | Hacker News Reader

> A friend loves Walmart as it means he no longer has to maintain his lawnmower. He just throws it away and buys a new one annually at the start of the season. He can still mow his lawn while abandoning the need to maintain mechanical knowledge.

It's hard for me to respect this as a valid choice. Waste and consumption concerns aside, the justification of not knowing (or wanting to know) how to perform simple maintenance is alien to me. Why even own a lawnmower at this point-- just pay someone to mow your grass for you. The milk and honey has flowed so freely for so long that when the tap turns off, people really won't know how to take care of themselves.

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> Why even own a lawnmower at this point-- just pay someone to mow your grass for you.

The lawnmower is so cheap that it is the same price as two mows.

It is indeed wasteful, but that isn't a problem you deal with directly.

I’m not sure if you’re knowingly ignoring the OPs point or just ignoring it.

Buying two lawnmowers is vastly more wasteful (to the world, not to your pocket) than buying one and maintaining it.

That's the point. To the customer the pocket is all that matters.

Reducto Ad absurdum: if you break a bowl, do you spend time learning how to glue back the pieces, take it to a shop expert to repair, or simply go to any store and buy a new bowl for $5-10 (Assuming it's at least a decent porcelain bown)? Option 1 will take a lot of time and have a flimsy result, option 2 may cost $100+ upfront, so would only be used for a truly extravagant bowl or something.

well, our lawnmower is metaphorically $5 here, not 500. I see prices around $200 for cheaper lawnmowers, so paying $200/year isn't that much more expensive than say, paying a neighborhood kid $15 every month to mow the lawn.

9 months x $15 = 135. Even at double or triple, It's still a better deal and less hassle than having to juggle junk mowers every season just because they can't be bothered to learn simple hygiene/maintenance.

Also, I've done the bowl repair you mention here a few times actually.

If 200$ is reasonable price point. We can ask what is the normal rate of people who repair lawnmowers? How many hours you can actually buy with it? 2? 4? and then we aren't even at parts. Are they available, what is the lead time?

Labour costs are likely so high now that just replacing something makes lot more sense. And you get certainty that it works.

Also shouldn't there be some sort of warranty? At least for year or two?

When I was a kid I ran a lawn service, and I got all my engines out of the trash.

When the mowers are cheap, it's rational. They get the lawnmower out of the shed the first time in spring and it won't start, it would cost a significant amount to get it fixed, and they have to waste your time and wrestle a dirty lawnmower in and out of your car. So they buy a cheap new one and throw the old one away.

Paying someone is still more expensive than doing it yourself.

If the mower is really kept in the shed then it may be as simple as changing the gas, checking the oil and spark plug, and a little muscle to crank it.

I'd still think at some point they'd get an electric one...

> Why even own a lawnmower at this point-- just pay someone to mow your grass for you.

I don’t disagree with you about waste, but I’m assuming you haven’t priced lawn services lately. Even with a small yard and fairly cheap service you’ll be spending enough to buy a (cheap) mower every 4-6 weeks.

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