Got to decide between 2 Jukis

[sofadoc]

There are companies who will manufacture a product knowing it has suspect parts and components but they find it cheaper to fix some of the failed products under warranty then to make them right the first time off the factory floor. I think many of you see this with furniture these days.

Furniture makers don't really even want to fix them under warranty. They just want you to trash it, and buy another one. And that's exactly what most people do.

La-Z-Boy used to make a recliner that would (with a few recoverings) last over 25 years.
Then they figured out that if they only make them to last a few years, they'll sell a lot more of them to the same customer over the duration of his lifetime.

In the early 60's, Johnson & Johnson Co. figured out a way to nearly double sales of their shampoo. All they had to do was add one word to the directions:

1)  Lather
2)  Rinse
3)  REPEAT

Same principle here. Build a product that the customer will have to replace sooner, and you'll increase your revenue by leaps and bounds.

Are we going to see the disposable industrial sewing machine in our lifetime?

[Mojo]

You bring up a good point Dennis.

Think back to when we were kids. A toaster or coffee pot broke and your Mom or Dad took it to a fix it shop. Now when something breaks it gets tossed into the trash and a trip to Walmart and $ 20 bucks replaces it.

Isn't it frigging amazing how we have turned into a disposable society ? Something breaks and we throw it away and buy new. Microwaves, TV's, coffee pots, toasters, furniture, etc....etc... My neighbor is an appliance repairman. He fixes appliances as well as TV's. I am amazed he is still in business but then if you have a circuit board that just went in a 60 " plasma TV I guess you would want to spend the bucks for a new circuit board or whatever.

It blows my mind how we have developed this disposable society. Hell we have even reached that point with marriages. If it doesn't work out you throw your spouse out and go get a new one. :(

Chris

[sofadoc]

When I first got married, we bought a microwave oven from the local mom & pop appliance store. The damn thing must've weighed over 100 lbs. The bank sent me a payment book. For 18 months, I tore a page out of that book, and sent 30 bucks to the bank.

When I applied for loans, I listed that microwave as an asset. ;D

It lasted us 15 years. When it quit working, the repairman said that it would cost $600 to fix it. By then, you could get one with lots more whistles and bells for about $100.

I always laugh when I see one at a garage sale for 50-75 bucks. I can get a new one cheaper at Wally World.

[baileyuph]

LOL, this thread is all over the map.  Quality control and statistical analysis and throw away, consumer marketing, and more, take your pick.

This stuff is easier to understand if separated into different pots. 

Regarding throw away items, first of all would a producer/marketer be able to stay in business if no one bought their items? Who is to blame?

Another variable on "throw away", who would want an old item repaired today, for example, TV, if newer technology provides a better product for less?  Duh!  Another classic example of this is computers.  Repair a ten year old computer?

Computers aren't being thrown away because manufacturers want us to buy a new one.........are we forced to throw them away and are buying a lesser computer?  Technology!

Quality control is a different issue than marketing something today versus yesterday.  Quality control is a vital concern to any product. 

More specifically, industrial sewing machines is probably an issue of comparing a specific item made when with the same marketed item today made for that purpose. 

If the new technology will work better for some while; perhaps, and older machine better for others, who is right?  Better, which is right for you and is it necessarily better for them?  Depends on the product doesn't it, I use the 10 year old computer as an example, while a pair of new versus old shears (both in new condition or different brands) might sway a different decision.   

Good luck in your machine decision.

Doyle

[byhammerandhand]

Still on topic drift:

One call today was in a gated community, golf course embedded, probably $800K+ Gableopolis house.   Owner just bought a bunch of new furniture upon move in.   He was shocked at the quality and the fact that it was all made in Vietnam, after all, it was from a company in North Carolina.   I didn't tell him, but this particular line gets about 80% of the repair service at or before delivery, even though it makes up a small % of product sold at this store.   ( name is a girl's name that rhymes with "Ashlee")

[baileyuph]

When one company starts outsourcing the manufacturing or even a major portion of it, the price of the item becomes very competitive and other vendors are forced to do the same to be competitive. 

It has been suggested that the marketing of cheap foreign furniture will eventually die as a practice. 

Do any of our readers believe this?  Not sure I do.  Consumers  are the drivers of this activity because price sells!  At least in larger numbers.

Doyle

[byhammerandhand]

I don't know.   Back in the 1960's we became accustomed to the "planned obsolescence" of autos.   I remember when we were ready to trade in after 3 years and if you bought a three year old used car, you might expect it to last another three.  100,000 miles was fairly unheard of.    Then we got better quality and now 100K is just barely broken in.  Heck, it doesn't even need a new set of spark plugs until 100K.   Now the AVERAGE age is 10.8 years (meaning half of them are OLDER than this). http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/17/average-age-of-vehicles-_n_1210443.html


I see people that really want to re-decorate after 5-7 years.  Good because that's about the life of some of the new stuff.

[baileyuph]

In the 60's cars were relatively cheap, not today.  Which leads to the question why are people keeping their cars longer?  Heck, they are financing them longer, back in the 60's, a three year loan was about the longest I heard of.

What are the longest loan times now?  Is it about 5 years?

We can't, as a consumer afford to throw away a car in 6 years because of this and their price.  Cars haven't come down any especially like furiture.  Shucks, I remember 30 years ago, plus or minus, when people spent between 500 to a 1000 bucks for a couch.  If they have to spend that today, it is often heard, "why I spend $800 bucks for that couch and it is tearing apart already".  Decorating with a new couch today is about like having a glass of water and calling it a party.  Furniture today isn't decorating, one person's is like a million others.  A shopper today has fewer selections and colors in the popular priced category. 

Furniture is not valued like a big screen today.  Further it isn't valued by the user like it was in the 60's.  Budgets are spread over a lot more things today, fewer consumers can affort all they consume today, a high end piece of upholstery today does not fit their pocket books.  So, will values change and bring back demand for high end furniture?  Not wihing these generations, I am betting.

There is nothing new except change and it is constantly changing, to what!!!

I don't know the answer, but the new thing I  recently saw in a furniture store was a 92 inch big screen and it sat on a stand made in vietnam (about a $50 table).  Go figure.

Doyle

[mroy559]

My personal 2 cents... I only had my own Juki 562 labored on (first time period ever) since i have bought the idea in 1983.. the actual mechanic changed the lift, everything different is correctly fine.. she works as new because the day she was created. Don't low cost these machines because of age. I likewise have one the Singer counterparts. A workhorse is usually a workhorse.