Thoughts

[nickt]

My brother in law left us a whole lot of his stuff before he headed back to Russia with his child bride and child. In the pile was an old wall phone (as in REALLY OLD).

Today I was given the task of cleaning it up by "the boss" so went to work with a dry paintbrush and a screwdriver.

The outside was grubby but inside it was pretty much as it was the day it was built - 06/06/16. If I connected it up it would work exactly as was intended - 101 years later. There's even a lacquered schematic!

This prompted the question: how come pretty much nothing built today is like that?

Seems we are consuming way more than is necessary. Products today are built to fail and be replaced (preferably immediately!). Even 25years ago we used to fix things (hey I did it for 8 years!). These days - chuck it and get a new one (or chuck the board and install a new one).

Perhaps I'm just old and cranky but looking at this perfectly servicable old piece of kit made me think something has been lost - probably deliberately destroyed.

YMMV

Happy New Year!

cheers
Nick

[leaveitalone84]

nickt, your thoughts aren't that uncommon. I share a lot of the same feelings. The craftsman died along time ago. Now everything is just slapped together.

Here's to the New Year, may it be better than the last!

[skyboltone]

As King Richard (Peter O'Toole) says to his band of scalliwags in "Becket"

"I'll have no more thinking around here!!"

Happy new year too

Dan

[nickt]

Hmmm... good idea!

[harryk]

I think that all amps built by this forum members are made to last. My planning and building philosofy is "Military standard". I hope that my tube amps still live despite their builder has gone. There are several old tube amps still around after 50 years use, why not also our machines.

Happy New Year to everybody from Finland.

Harry

[dartanion]

It's all about growth and profitability while maintaining a large income for the executives. Long ago, when the new deal was in play, a family in America could live very comfortably on one income. Not so anymore. It now takes dual incomes to survive and barely be able to afford to the crap that is now sold. Long ago, quality was designed into products so that they would work well and last. Now products have designed obsolescence! Great idea! How long should our products last before the consumer needs to buy another one of the same. Filling landfills is cheaper than fixing or warranting broken/bad goods. Free market economy baby!!!

[Tubetwang]

Ford started the chain production...and industrialisation kicked in...

We went from 80 to 60 to 40 to 0 working hours a week...
More time on our hands...

Age of Aquarius

The native people had it down...they were hungry? they scarfed blueberries...they were tired? they napped it...Had it with the flatlands? jumped the horse and move to the rockies...

[Icetech]

Nick, i work in computers, and i hear from people all the time how their old system lasted 7 years without a dying HD or anything, and i have to explain to them that everything now has to be built to a price, because consumers only look at the price tag, even after explaining this to people they still just look at the price and buy junk:( Sadly, in alot of things in life now you can't even pay more for a better product, the companies with morales and values can't stay afloat on good intentions:(

[gearhead]

Price is the new commodity. If you take inflation into account, almost everything is cheaper today. Clothes and consumer electronics are the biggest of em all. Longevity is the victim. That telephone probably cost the equivalent of 200 dollars today. With it's limited "feature set", who would pay that much for a phone? LOL.

I have an old Fisher TV my kids keep ragging me on, but it is 20 years old and still puts out a great picture. I'm gonna hit the HD wagon when it dies. Or when digital TV comes on .

[Noel Grassy]

It's sadly pathetic to lose the quality "angle" this late in man's developement. While, "F*ck 'em & flee" is quite a legacy. I'm hoping this crappy mentality will revert back to a craftsmanship/pride esthete given society's fickle judgement history. Oh yeah, they may not last that long. But back to the subject of this subject, the phone. I'm still young enough to want to see some pictures of this fine old implement. Got some nickt?

[Structo]

nickt,
Funny you should mention that phone.
My dad was an installer/ repairman for Ma Bell for 35 years.
During that time he often went out to rural areas to "update" peoples phone systems.
He ended up with about ten of those old wall phones plus the old upright ones with the megaphone mic, and a few of the more modern black bakelite desk phones.

When he passed away a couple years ago I asked my mother if I could have that old box of phones. Well I procrastinated and one day she had a truck from St Vincent DePaul come by and they took everything out of the garage.
He had those antique phones, at least three pairs of climbing hooks, etc from his work at the phone company.
I was really mad at myself for not getting that stuff!
Somebody probably crapped their pants when they saw that box.

We still have the 200+ glass insulators that he collected over the years.
They don't seem to have the value they once did a few years back when I looked in a book about them.

[gearhead]

Yeah, I keep kicking myself for some stuff I didn't pick up when my grandpa passed away four years ago. Tube stereo - pulled the tubes (yeah, had some 12AX7 Telefunkens!) but should have taken the whole thing. And this cool-ass handheld power drill that looked like something out of Buck Rogers. Very, very art deco-ish.

I still have what I treasure the most; memories of him.

[CaseyJones]

It's all about growth and profitability while maintaining a large income for the executives.

Which doesn't work in the long term.

For lack of anything else to back up the money the real wealth in an economy is all about value added. Skin cows and make shoes. Dig up rocks and smelt copper from them. Cut down trees and make boards. That sets up a cycle of prosperity, if the working man makes good money then he can afford to buy quality goods.

At a certain point the bean counters in the corner office took control. They'll ceremoniously announce a 3% "cost of living increase" on a wage that's 15% short of a living wage to begin with. The actual cost of living probably increases more than 3% with oil at around $100 per barrel so Joe Schmuck will probably still be 16% short this year. Good thing he has his credit cards and the price of real estate is inflated... Oh wait, that's old news. Real estate sucks so we'll have to find something else to wring some money out of. Anyone want to guess what the next big thing will be? I have no idea.

Anyway count on the boys in the suits to jealously guard their piece of the pie. Sure, I've worked 60 hour weeks for months on end. I worked 72 hours STRAIGHT once. The CEO made a point of clapping me on the back and congratulating me on the "great quarter WE had." What's this "we" shit? I know what the numbers are, the companey netted big dough, I made my usual hourly wage with a little bit of overtime. Bonus? Must be they split the profit with the stockholders.

Ford started the chain production...and industrialisation kicked in...

We went from 80 to 60 to 40 to 0 working hours a week...
More time on our hands...:

Industrialization goes back much further than Henry Ford. Industrialists would rather buy a machine that will work 24/7 than pay three employees to work three shifts. Sure, makes sense to me. I'd rather buy a machine to do the job than to pay a grouchy troublemaker like myself. Look up Luddites, look up Saboteurs.

It would be fine if "trickle down" actually worked. The only thing that "trickles down" is cold piss, it's cold by the time it gets to me. The money certainly doesn't trickle down. It could, it might, but it doesn't.

[nickt]

I'm still young enough to want to see some pictures of this fine old implement. Got some nickt?

Will do later today

[mhuss]

All planning is short term -- no one in business thinks even 2 years ahead!

I work for a huge bank, and I can't remember ever seeing any planning more than 12 months ahead for anything. "How can we maximize profit this quarter? this year? When things go sour we'll just take our bonuses and go work for another company who sees how well we maximized profitability for the shareholders." The modern "Flying Dutchman."

--mark