I know that how our society is currently structured everything is new, falls apart, gets replaced. It's wasteful, but that's another rant entirely. What's really ticked me off recently is the planned obsolescence of our garbage can. (aside: I usually say "designed obsolescence" rather than "planned")
We purchased a stainless steel garbage can less about a year ago. You press down on the pedal and the lid lifts. Not too difficult a concept. What I didn't know was how this was constructed. The metal pedal is connected to a metal rod. The metal lid is connected to a different metal rod. The place where those 2 metal rods connect, the place that gets the most torque of the whole pedal-rod-lid system is a little plastic L bracket. Which broke.
My only explanation for such a horrible implementation is that it was designed to break in short order. Practically the whole thing is metal except for that part that would be under the most stress.
It just ticks me off. Especially since I have not fixed / replaced it yet and I have to keep on lifting the lid - which is hard when your hands are full. >:-(
Where was it made?
ReplyDeleteI didn't get a chance to check, but I'm assuming that it's the same as almost everything else: China. But I think that this is all to do with planned quality, not poor manufacturing.
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