General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: What in the heck is going on with toasters? And YES, this is an issue. Specifically the issue is planned obsolescence so [View all]gulliver
(13,760 posts)What used to be the default (high quality, long-lasting) is now an extra. It's not the lizard-people doing it. It's software.
Consumers had an advantage for a while. Not any more. It's why I think we need regulation and leaders who truly understand IT. If you're in phone jail more than 3 minutes, say, they have to pay you $5 per minute. Software could be written to enforce that, putting software back on our side.
Cradle-to-grave recycling requirements can also help. Buy a toaster from Amazon; return it to Amazon when it breaks or you're tired of it. Amazon should have to take it back for free. They can then send it to its producer, who should also have to take it back. If they're out of business, Amazon is stuck with it.
I recently tried to buy a robovac. Roborock is one producer. They flood the market with zillions of options and configurations. Their Amazon pages are chock-a-block with ever changing updates and customer reviews that simply can't keep up or are attached to product versions that stopped being available months ago.
I bought a $250 robovac, and it was utter garbage. To get a robovac that works as well as my last one, I'm looking at $1K+, if it's even possible.