Interesting Article: Why Crappy Tools?

Swarfmaster said:
What's wrong is that we are too complacent to "push back" when we are met with crap. The majority of Americans are younger and easily settle. They have no idea what quality is and wouldn't know it if they sat on it. The Chinese give us crap because they can. They are smart enough to know that if it does not sell to change to model. But the Americans still take the stuff. I am reminded of the Japanese toys. When asked if the Americans wouldn't be interested in their toys, the Japanese stated "No, our toys are to sophisticated for Americans".
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hey now.....

Imo the issue started with the baby-boomers, and their generations, throw it away and just by another one mentality. I'm 36, and most of the people my age and younger, are doing the best we can to find quality stuff when it's something we care about.
 
Nor this one. In fact my kids (in their 30s) think I'm unusual because I fix things instead of replacing them.


Steve Shannon, P.E.
 
Not this baby boomer either. I spent summers with my Grandfather at the cottage and he was a natural born repurposer. I spent hours with safety glasses on straightening out bent nails taken out of discarded stuff. He fixed everything and saved all sorts of "junk" in order to assist with repairs.

My kids have a saying "If it can be fixed in the shop...it can't be fixed".

David
 
I have always repaired everything that it made sense to repair: I have a shop, therefore I fix stuff.

I find the way my 3 sons handle broken stuff interesting. The oldest (48) tends to throw away stuff, rather than repair. The middle (42) likes the challenge of making stuff work again where possible, time permitting. The youngest (30) will not repair anything. It's not like he doesn't have the skills, he owns a successful auto repair business, and is a reasonable machinist. A couple of examples; A Harbor Freight floor jack that I bought years ago, the link that actually pumps broke, a 30 minute fix, went to scrap before I caught it. A Milwaukee Mag Base drill, purchased at auction, about $25, plugged it in and didn't work, again off to scrap before I had a chance to look at it. Wanted to beat him that time.:burned up:

The point is that I don't think it's generational, it's more just individual personality.

.
 
JimDawson said:
The point is that I don't think it's generational, it's more just individual personality.
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Of course individuality, plays a part. I was referring to a study I saw a while back, that covers social economic trends by generation. It normalized the individuality, because it was averaging 10's of millions of people together.

Some of the things i can remeber from it.
1. The great generation had a higher standard of living than their children (baby boomers), Though they had less money.
2. Baby boomers have more money on average, but generally have a slightly lower quality of living than their parent, mainly because they live more stressful lives.
3. generation x (this is me) WE fall some where in-between are parents and grandparents with regards to quality of living and wealth.
4. Millennials have a very high standard of living, because they live vey minimally, but they also don't have as much wealth, because they tend to spend money as fast as they get it.

All kinds of interesting trends pop up when you you look at averages across that many people.
 
Steve Shannon said:
Nor this one. In fact my kids (in their 30s) think I'm unusual because I fix things instead of replacing them.


Steve Shannon, P.E.
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I am proud to brag that while my daughter was in medical school she saved money by fixing her own car. She changed the ignition switch once, which necessitated disabling the airbag first and then reconnecting it. Another time she replaced the radiator. Am I proud? What do you think?


Steve Shannon, P.E.
 
You just made my case again. You should be proud your daughter is way out on the right side of the Bell Curve.
 
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