Showerthought: my grandpa's old toolbox had way more universal parts than my modern one

I was reading an article about planned obsolescence and it said a 1970s appliance had about 70% generic, replaceable components, compared to under 30% now. Honestly makes me miss when you could actually fix stuff with a trip to the hardware store instead of ordering a whole proprietary assembly. Anyone else run into this trying to repair something recent?

3 comments

3 Comments

mark7312mo agoTop Commenter

I used to think that was just nostalgia but maybe it's true.

fisher.paige2mo ago

Remember how we used to actually finish games, mark731? Now everything feels built to keep you paying forever.

johnh821mo ago

Read something recently that said back in the 60s manufacturers actually shared part specs across brands so you could mix and match. Now every company has its own screw threads and weird little clips that only fit their stuff. Tried fixing a coffee maker last year and the heating element was molded into the plastic housing. Couldn't even get a replacement part for less than the price of a new machine so I just trashed it. Feels like they design stuff to fail on purpose anymore.

-1