To think things don’t last as long as they once did?

We bought a miele vacuum cleaner last year, replacing previous miele one which was 10+ years old. Something seems to have broken off the new one , and made it super faffy to use. DH has done a temporary repair with a cable tie, but it's rubbish that it has broken already.

The Boots Theory is still alive and well, though sadly even expensive things don’t last like they used to. My first Miele washing machine lasted 25 years and had I believe a 20 year guarantee. The new ones still cost a bomb but only come with a 2-5 year guarantee.

You are not wrong. The market is flooded with cheap shite from T*mu and Shein and things are not made to last so you keep buying more and more. Also all the plastic tat which is produced for every season of the year and designed to be thrown away.

As was said on another thread though, people don't want to buy quality things which are made to last. They would be horrified at your antique furniture. They want large quantities of cheap, disposable shite.

Depressing.

I think cheap versions are widely available is why items may not last as long... widely available because we consumers want that, we want a cheaper version and then maybe we'll completely change the entire bathroom sooner so why pay to have something that lasts 20 years if we only need something to last 1-4 yrs.

So if things last shorter periods... it's because consumers are satisfied with the trade off of cheap = don't expect to use it so long.

Big exception is iphones, lol. The hardware lasts well but the Operating systems have planned obsolescence.

We rented our tv and video player, video players were notorious for breaking down

Coffee machines. Mine is 15 years old, used a dozen times a day, cost £35. Way over engineered, it's ridiculous. At this point I'm willing the flipping thing to break so I have an excuse to buy a new one, but no, it just keeps on going.

Also, my old phone, it's a Samsung S21, bought way back in 2021. I used it everyday for all my emails and internet stuff, and at it would play white noise all night, every night, to help me sleep. I also used it to watch Netflix (even though there is a fuck off huge TV on the wall). So it was in almost constant use, 24 hours a day, for four years straight. It's now been retired and living a far more sedate life as the Sonos controller. That's only because I feel bad about locking it away in a drawer somewhere, so I've given it a job to do, even though I could just use my new phone to control the speakers. But I'd never tell it that.

People used to rent TVs and the repairs were free.

Don't forget, the item which has survived 30 years will be an outlier. The vast majority will have failed.

My family’s ikea chairs have made the rounds of all our siblings and are 35yrs old and still look amazing!!

I’ve never had an issue with a toilet seat! Ours are wood, nothing fancy, have lasted years, definitely not expensive.

I do also think that because things can easily replaced that we do become complacent and rough/ cack handed with things. I used to take very good care of things that I couldn't afford to replace.

And re the concept of needing to pay more to get better quality, I think the price point is outside of most people's reach. But that most people are in the price point cohort with those who replace kitchens and bathrooms a few times in a home. That drives quality down.

I'm worried about replacing my roof. The roof on my house is the original 1938 roof. I hope to live here for at least another 30 years, and if I had to replace the roof now I would expect it to need to be replaced again before I die or leave for a home.

They can, but it’s more profitable to sell sofas that don’t.

Yanbu, things used to be made to last but consequently they cost more to buy. Now we have planned obsolescence for tech and cheap imports that are of poor quality.

To my mind a sofa should last forever with maybe a reupholster at around 25 years.

I was looking at reupholstering my sofa, it's the price of a new sofa!

Our old sofas were fine for 12 years... replaced as they didn't fit into our new house.

The replacement ones ate crap in comparison... and we thought we went upmarket! Wish we stuck with IKEA...

A lot of people replace things because they don't match their current decor, rather than it being worn out. I cant imagine that the person that changes a kitchen after about 10 years is keeping a sofa for 15.

Thats not my experience at all. Ours are 9 years old and on their last legs. To my mind a sofa should last forever with maybe a reupholster at around 25 years.

Sofas do last! Our first DFS sofa lasted 17 years - the guy at the showroom was stunned when we told him while ordering our new one. He said most people replace them out of choice long before they need to.

Agree to a certain point, but this only started happening about 12 years ago

If you’ve a wobbly toilet seat that’s surely about how it’s attached. Take it off and re screw it tight. Loads of videos on YouTube will show you how

I found this
30 years ago no problem
moved house 12 years ago had no end of lose seats
at the moment seemed have sorted it

Agree.
I found Bosch to be excellent