Consumerism - Your Thoughts

In this world of consumerism and the throwaway society should people look to moving away from the consumer society with its disposable ethos and move back to a society where people can buy something which is built to last, can be updated, and can actually be repaired without simply swapping more disposable components.
Here in the UK an average washing machine should last an average six years and this is for good reason as there are young families with multiple children who use their washing machine nearly every day and the elderly who only use their washer every fortnight and we can break this down into washing cycles. Our family with children’s washing machine will do 312 cycles per year while our elderly couples will only do 26 wash cycles per year and the families washing machine will be doing 12 times the work of the families washing machine, hence the average as this has to cover all applications.

Most domestic and white goods are now disposable items and why would you pay a repairman £35 per hour with a minimum ½ hour charge to repair an electric toaster which only costs £10 new from the supermarket and why repair a microwave which costs £40 new when it could have minor chips and dings.
Half hours labour to repair the toaster would cost £17.50 and if you add the proverbial VAT this equates to another £3.50 totalling £21 for repairs to an item costing £10 new; similarly your Microwave would cost £42 in repair costs if VAT is added to repair a £40 machine. Here lies the problem, consumerism and this is make it cheap, make it non repairable and make it cheap and nasty and give as little manufacturer back up as possible as we want to sell more and repairs cost sales. Now we have the next issue which is general snobbery and specifically brand snobbery as people like to have the latest item and throw away a perfectly good item which is perfectly serviceable and some people just have to have a particular brand because they think it is somehow superior in the image stakes. Now we have the “I must have the latest gadget” people who have to have the latest mobile phone as its camera is 1 megapixel better or the latest laptop because it has the latest operating system which is so little improved that you never notice the difference and the people who have the latest laptop because it has something fitted they never ned or use.

Consumerism works because silly people buy something because they are indoctrinated into buying and not because they need something and they get onto the treadmill of getting used to buying something because it is the latest thing and not because you need it and this is the point you become hooked. Look at the vague excuses people make and one of the most popular is “my mates have one” and companies such as Amazon rely upon people becoming obsessed with buying and becoming desensitised and buying without seeing and accepting what they have instead of going out and trying something such as clothes on because it is cheaper and easier. Large companies also rely upon the lazy people and market towards them and include free delivery and returns because they know people will accept something and not return it and this is a sale and profit for them.

Consumerism is coming to an abrupt end in my opinion and companies such as Miele are leading the way as they are building domestic items with a 20 year warranty and one Miele washing machine is produced for every cheapie costing very little and lasting for six years. Other companies have tried this and most simply go bust as their products are so successful and a prime example is the BMW 320 diesel which sold the most company cars of any company and took this spot easily from the Ford Mondeo and it was all based upon money. Ford V BMW is the first question and a premium brand car against a family saloon and the BMW wins every time as their image is better and it shows the company can afford these vehicles which (in their eyes) is an indicator of success. In reality the BMW is little more to buy then a Mondeo for fleet sales, they cost much less to run in fuel and servicing than the Mondeo and they depreciate much slower than the Mondeo and the high mileage BMW has a strong following and a strong following equals a good resale value. Overall they are a better company buy hence why they became the best selling company car.

Where do we draw the line?????

In reality people are complaining about waste and disposable items are the epitome of waste as by their very nature they are disposable and designed to be thrown away and often are built down to a price and not up to a standard. This means considerable resources are used up to make these items and an average person living into their 80’s would buy 6 washing machines in their lives which are cheap and disposable compared to 3 Miele washing machines with their 20 year guarantee. Instantly we see more materials are used to make the cheaper washers than the expensive washers and more items are disposed of and often go to landfill which already contradicts their green agenda and message. There is also the transportation and they are transporting twice as many washing machines from the cheap labour countries where they build them which for the UK is often from the Far East where as your Miele only comes from Germany.

If the Government were so concerned about the climate then they would stop the throw away items and at a stroke cut the production of these materials followed by their end of life disposal and have the added bonus of cutting journeys massively but they don’t care about the climate as they know it’s a huge hoax. They would also lose considerable income from the lost jobs as even though they are often made in the far east they require a number of staff from the Dockers unloading the ships to the loaders to load the lorries and the warehouse staff to manage the warehouses they are stored in to the shop staff selling the goods to the delivery drivers and installers needed to install these items in people’s homes.

Ahh the age old problem of money, all these people dealing with these items are employed and they pay tax and national insurance on their wages and that goes into the Government’s coffers and while they are working they are not claiming benefits and costing the taxpayers. They have more money to spend than someone on benefits and they support businesses and these businesses pay their dues and demands which go straight into the Government coffers and they spend more in Tesco, Asda, the pub, and on leisure attractions and their taxes on profits go straight into Government coffers. Do the Government refuse these payments??? NO, and if the climate is going to self destruct as they claim then surely the logical thing is to cut out the throw away society which they won’t as their profits are more important than their perpetuated climate myth.

Let’s put this into context and if a washing machine was modular in that every major component could be repaired cheaply or replaced with better updated items it could have a virtually infinite life cycle and a casing could potentially be used for someone’s whole life and it could have every major component replaced with newer updated and more reliable items. If you only replace components when they break or wear out and find a common fault you can easily repair you can offer them as a service exchange and that would reduce huge amounts of environmental pollution and draining of resources so where do you sit on this.

Hi.assassin.
Remember,Edward bearnaise.?
regards.
pitano1