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I was told by the refrigerator repair guy that appliances are made to not last as long. I had told him my previous washer/dryer was 35 years old, still chugging along, but getting a little unreliable. OK, a lot unreliable, my husband was doing repairs on it once a month. I had gotten new ones. He told me I would be lucky if they last 12 years, especially the front load models. Fridges have a life span of 8 years. He said the reason behind this is because people want new, they want to redecorate/replace much more often than in the past. So why make appliances to last if they will just be replaced in 8 years anyhow.
Now I have no idea if this is a fact or not, but it does make sense. Think of our parents/grandparents. How often did they get a new couch just because they wanted a gray one instead of a brown one? Or gut their kitchen just to get different cabinets. Same with cars, you kept them till they died. And they were relatively easy to repair. It's not like that any more. People get 3 year leases and a new car at the end of it. I think the 'gotta have the latest greatest' bug is much more prevalent than it used to be.
I don't know if it is good or bad to replace things every few years. On one hand it keeps manufacturers busy. On the other hand, for people like me who want to keep major purchases for a long long time, it ends up costing me more to replace things over and over and over.
Oh, and I drive a 1995 car. It's got 50,000 miles on it. Yup, I don't drive a lot. I'm hoping it will last me anther 10 years. Or better yet, at what age do cars become antiques?
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