It actually is true. Sure the most expensive Maytag is basically the same as the least expensive one with extra computers on it, but if you look at brands like Speed Queen they're built to last with simple repairable parts. If you haven't been to a Laundromat, you've probably never heard of them, but they are the Queen of laundromat equipment. Why? Because Laundromats lose money when their shit isn't working and they need rugged equipment that will work for a long time and that they're able to do maintenance on. When looking at household goods where it seems like you can't buy good stuff at any price anymore, look at what the pros are using. They will get what they need and someone will be making it for them.

It absolutely is. Buy a Speed Queen.

Often times, your only option to cater to that is to go after a product targeted for commercial clients instead of consumer. Washer/Dryer targeted at laundromats. Kitchen equipment for restauraunts. The vendors are dealing with clients that are both more demanding, have the resources to get warranty promises fulfilled, and that have much more experience to quickly recognize a vendor faliing them. You don't need a large business concern's stuff to break in a year to get them buying again, but if their stuff does tend to break in a year or two your company won't be considered for future purchases.

Commercial clients are about the only ones that have a chance of being on equal footing with vendors, the consumer market is so easily snowed by marketing that companies get away with being crap there all the time (worst comes to worst, just pack up your tarnished brand and relaunch with a new, exciting brand, same crap products but consumers will eat it up)

Speed Queen.

Yep, very true. Ask them what they buy for their house. They know what brands and models are crap, and how they've changed over time.

My brother-in-law has been a county car mechanic for decades. He repairs all kinds of county vehicles - cop cars, construction vehicles, anything the county buys. He can tell you which years of specific vehicles are good and which ones are garbage. Of course he only knows the US brands that the county buys but I wouldn't buy a Ford or Chevy without talking to him. He's always going on about how certain years are known for transmission problems or issues with electrical, etc.

I mean yeah, they understand what breaks, but without crunching the numbers they won't know much of anything useful about failure rates. Anecdotal data is still anecdotal even at larger volumes until you properly analyst it.

The main problem with Dell is they like to use non-standard parts so you have to buy the replacements from them. Though I think they don't do it as much as they used to.

I had to completely replace so many odd shaped Dells during the bad cap era just because we couldn't get the parts.

Yeah my next washer dryer set will be speed queen because I am sick of buying cheaply built computerized shit and it's possible it's the last one I'll ever buy.

You know if I created a buisness myself and had no shareholders demanding quarterly profit increases, that would be okay.

If it made 1 million in profit after 10 years and then needed to be shuttered that's fine by me.

I imagine this would make an individual quite wealthy for their lifetime. We just think it's unviable because we've been tricked into believing that a buisness must grow forever to be successful

Hmmm, a state run industry in communist east Berlin that failed in 1990. It's almost as if their business hit a wall when they couldn't expand their market through exports. Surely there couldn't have been any world changing events happening in that town in the latter days of 1989 that might have played a larger role in the demise of a state run business.

CorningWare had a similar problem with their plates. We’re still using our parents old bowls and plates from the 80s. The stuff we got as wedding presents was mostly chipped or broken before our 10th anniversary.

Duralex and Pyrex are also making unbreakable glass (respectively drinking cups and coming utensils) and they are still in business

I live in a city below sea level and almost every house has foundation issues. At one point I was living in a house that was over 120 years old. It had been through a fire, had no central support beam, and every time the roof had previously been repaired, instead of removing the old one, a new one was just slapped on top, so there were 3 total roofs. It was kind of a miracle (and probably only because of old style lattice work in the frame) that it never collapsed. Anyway, the foundation in that house was beyond fucked to say the least.

Almost the whole time we lived there we kept having problems with our washer over and over. Our landlord would hire a repairman to fix it, they were never quite sure what was wrong, but they would fiddle around with it until they got it working, then a week later it would just stop working again. Eventually our landlord got so fed up they just got rid of the washer and dryer and bought a brand new really fancy stackable washer and dryer set. They were so pissed when not even a week later we started having the same issue.

Eventually we got a repairman out who figured out the problem. The laundry room was an addition that had been a back porch at one point in history so it was even more janky than the rest of the house. The foundation in that room had become so fucked, it was throwing off the sensors all newer washers have. The landlord had to sell the almost brand new washer, and then go out and find a 20+ year old washer to place next to our fancy dryer.

Anyway, the point is, I could see the value in vintage appliances being included in houses where the age of the home itself may interfere with newer technology.

I listened to that segment. If you're in a position to do so, it makes sense to buy for life and not have to deal with break downs/ ewaste imo. That's a privileged position to be in though

Honestly, I don't think not having a fridge is that big of a deal. If someone actually wants the house they will haggle you down for the cost of a fridge and I would be totally fine with that. Hey, I could have bought a $900 fridge and put it in here, I will give you $900 out of the sell. If you don't want a $900 fridge you can take that money and put it to the fridge you do want.

How often are you planning on selling a house though? Don't you plan to live in it forever?

I remember a video of Linus from LTT going to check out the Sennheiser factory and their high end electro static ($ 19,000 at the time) headset had like a 40% quality fail. Because only the best would be branded as their high end devices.

Most of the ones that didn't pass were still absolutely fine, just not hitting all the frequencies correctly so they went in the $8000 bin.

Exact same product just some were slightly less performing but still more than useful as a lesser quality product.

Which iirc Linus commented on after initial surprise to see such a high failure rate.

Now that's a good brand that cares about quality, lesser manufacturers.....