Dear Board,

I posted this elsewhere but I'm interested in your thoughts.


Dear Board,
When I was a kid my parent's moved into an apartment where they raised the 3 Murphy boys. It was 1967 and the apartment featured a black clunky rotary dial phone hard mounted to the wall. In 2004 my parent's finally moved out and into the retirement townhome they always wanted. That phone still worked the day they left.

Contrast that with more modern times. In 1993 I bought my first cordless phone, a Sony with an answering machine. Through October of 2002 it was my only phone and in all that time I never once had a problem and I never had to replace a battery.

Fast forward to today. I replaced all of my phones except the answering machine phone with new phones because 3 new cordless 5.8 Ghz phones cost $ 2.98 less than 3 new batteries, $ 62.99 for the phones versus $ 65.97 for the batteries. I did spring for the $ 26.99 batteries for my answering machine/phone combo figuring it was better than spending $ 150.00 +/- to replace it.

Last summer I put 2 new 72 month batteries in my diesel pick-up after 7 1/2 years and they cost as much a piece as repowering 3 phones?????????????????????????????????

Am I the only one who finds a fundamental flaw in this use it for a couple of years and then replace it logic? Maybe it's my background in the heavy equipment business, but I simply can't get past the concept of running things to destruction?

Where I come from everything has at least 2 or 3 cost efficient rebuilds in it when bought new. You either swap out everything at 4 or 5 years when the value is high or you run it to absolute stone cold death.

As consumer's today we are being conditioned to buy something and the first time it has a problem beyond the warranty period just toss it and buy a new one.

I don't think we have the resources or wherewithall to continue on this path, yet the failure periods seem to shortening in duration?

Am I just an old **** or do other people see a problem in making faster, better, newer, junk until everything runs out?"

Regards,
Tim Murphy