[negativity]

It's a little deceptive to label these kinds of sentiments as contrary to the premise of innovation.

Experiments, by nature, require expendable resources, but an finished appliance intended for a consumer, with no end-user-servicable internals is not the sort of thing you want to have spewing garbage in all directions.

The reality though, is that we're all being railroaded down strict paths of planned obsolesence that are integrated into business models from day one.

Yours and my waste should not be interpretted as an unforced error. It's carefully planned, with the intent to fund more plannings sessions to forecast more waste.

...at least down among these lower eschelons we inhabit (speaking for myself, so as not to make assumptions about who reads this), and then there are those who ride above it all and skim from the fruits of our obesity.

[Retric]

There are side channels for places like apartment complexes that want a much longer device lifespan and are willing to pay for it. Planned obsolesce is much more common on the 'mass market' channels than the industrial channels.

You really can still buy refrigerators that will last 30 years. They just don't have built in ice makers etc.

PS: The 50-200% premium may seem steep, but if it lasts 5x as long then you more than break even.

[noja]

Where can I buy these 30 year refrigerators?

[Retric]

As a consumer a Sub Zero fridge tends to last over 20 years on average. And significantly longer than that if you clean the condenser annually.

Past that, Arctic Air for example has commercial refrigerators which will last 30+ years if you do some occasional repairs. Though, they really don't look like home units.

[jabl]

> There are side channels for places like apartment complexes that want a much longer device lifespan and are willing to pay for it. Planned obsolesce is much more common on the 'mass market' channels than the industrial channels.

Most apartment building were I've lived have these washing rooms, yes. Yeah, those machines are built like tanks and probably last at least a few decades. The size and weight of these machines are also more like a tank than what you'd normally consider a washing machine, so you wouldn't want one of those in your own apartment.. :)