Limit Parts Price Mark Ups

TheScullster · 2004-04-23T12:58:09+00:00

A Newbie DIYers Ramblings - Comments WelcomeIt occurred to me, as I drove back to the office, that the "throw awaysociety" ethos could be partly remedied by imposing:a) Mandatory parts availability.andb) Limitation on parts price mark up.This way manufacturers would, in a small way, be forced to consider thelongevity/support of their product.I don't know if it's an age thing, but the older I get (41 at present), themore annoyed I get at the disposable nature of products.Our mower has recently been giving bother due to failure of a plastic partwhich could make a profit at £5.This is difficult to source and comes in at over £20.So, do I spend a third of the cost of the mower on this part?No I buy a new mower on the basis that, if one part has failed, another willfollow shortly and I'm on a hiding to nothing!Had the part been realistically priced, I would have happily taken the makedo and mend route, saving money and doing my small part in reducing landfill.Frankly I find the lack of reponsibility from manufacturers and the lack ofguidance/enforcement from the government a cause for concern. I havechildren. Should I encourage them to be meek? When they reach the end oftheir time I doubt the earth will be worth inheriting at this rate!!

Apr 23, 2004 25 Replies

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Steve Walker 22 years ago

My first thought is usually repair - in the case of the boiler, even at 120 quid I'd probably have repaired it, if I hadn't thought that other things were on the way out.

Often it is, but there is also economy of scale. An item churned out in the

100s of thousands is one hell of a lot cheaper to manufacture than one turned out in the 10s of thousands, even if it is identical.

I think that you'll find that the standard of manufacture of modern monitors *has* fallen. On the other hand, it may not have fallen as far as you think, 'cos again unit price falls with volume. I remember reading some time ago that something like 85 percent of all bare monitor screens were actually produced by the same company (Samsung) - and that's one hell of a lot of screens! I don't know what the situation today is though.

Steve W

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Steve Walker 22 years ago

And you are incapable of reading my posts properly.

As I said in my first post "I could have arranged to get a motor elsewhere, but I thought that other things might soon start to fail and that it would be better to take the hit up front and replace the whole boiler with a more efficient one."

My point was not that I couldn't get the part at a reasonable price, but that the manufacturer was not willing to sell the part on its own and I considered that very poor.

Steve W

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geoff 22 years ago

Bodily functions, memory ...

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geoff 22 years ago

In message , Alan Campbell writes

You're also in the minority of what's called top posting bastards

Please don't

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Tony Bryer 22 years ago

To resurrect this thread, today's Telegraph jobs supplement has a big piece on how industry can run into problems with parts becoming obsolete: the London Tube has put by a stockpile of Pentium 133 chips used for Jubilee Line signalling. There's even an industry group to address the problem:

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: "Established in 1997, the Component Obsolescence Group (COG) was formed to help industry address the issues of electronic obsolescence and mechanical obsolescence. "

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Martin Angove 22 years ago

[...]

'course, if they'd gone for an "old workhorse"... it is still possible to buy Z80s, 6502s, 8051s, 6809s etc, some 25+ years after they were launched

;-)

Sez he, who still has a working BBC micro, and whose main computer is mostly 10 years old.

Hwyl!

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