Repair or replace

[bob haller]

I service roll laminators for a living around pittsburgh. They put plastic on paper think menus.

I try to buy junk GBC ultimate 65 laminators to use for parts. The machines retail street price is 1500 bucks

Rollers at 500 bucks each, for 4 and other parts like main board make repairing them expensive. GBCs profit center must be parts a 6 bucks circuit breaker from digi key is sold by GBC for about 30 bucks.

Of course their labor rate just went up again to $250 to $300 bucks for the first hour:(

Some companies dont want people to fix stuff there must be tremendous big bucks in importing china and korean made products

[Steve Barker]

I prefer to use the genuine HP ink. Its why i use an HP printer. On the occasions i print color, i don't need any cheap assed wanna be ink in my printer. I refilled back in the day, and all i can say is "BTDT". no thanks.

[Bob]

Rubbermaid uses economy of scale by packaging complete mailbox assemblies and shipping them to retailers through an established distribution network. Replacement parts are a deviation from the norm, and prices reflect the increased cost of maintaining a supply of replacement parts and specially delivering them to the consumer.

The difference between this example and that of the mailbox is that the bulb is a consumable item. Otherwise the same pricing principles apply.

[Jules Richardson]

The previous owners of our place mounted the box on a spring-loaded arm - it's been clipped by passing plows a few times and so far hasn't broken. I'm surprised there isn't a commercial kit to do that - seems to work well, and I see many destroyed boxes up here in the winter.

That's a nice feature. Shame it can't tell between good mail and junk ;-)

cheers

Jules

[Jules Richardson]

The stuff is crap and cheap to make - the cost is all in maintaining the inventory, and it costs about as much to hold the parts as it does the complete item.

[Jules Richardson]

I'm not sure that works so well these days - I see a lot of expensive stuff on the market that still isn't built to last or be repairable when it does break... for the higher-end items, companies are often relying on the good reputation that they once had more than anything.

It can be amusing looking at big shiny stuff like TVs in the store, then asking the salesfolk if you can take it apart to see if it's actually any good or not. They're usually rather reluctant. ;-)

[Jules Richardson]

I have stuff spread over three continents :-)

cheers

Jules