Image: Fixing a toaster at the Repair Cafe. (Image: Transition Kamloops)

By Connor Gunn

ARMCHAIR MAYOR

ROTHENBURGER: They don’t make things like they used to, and it’s on purpose

May 14, 2022 | 6:48 AM

EVERY TIME I THROW another pair of old socks into the rag bin, I think about my mom. She would have darned those socks and made them good to go for another year.

That’s not how it works these days. We don’t fix things anymore; we throw them away. Back then, we wore our shoes until the soles had holes — then we took them into the local shoe repair.

“Half soles or full soles?” was always the question. “Half,” was always the answer. They were cheaper. I was a little embarrassed about wearing shoes with half soles — I felt they somehow made me less worthy.

Nowadays, we throw away perfectly good shoes — good except for some frayed stitching or those worn soles — and go out and buy new ones, just like we do for everything else.

What brings this to mind is the upcoming Kamloops Repair Café sponsored again by Transition Kamloops.

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“Don’t toss it, bring it to the repair café!” the notice says (it’s at Sahali Mall on May 28 from 10 to 3). Anything you can carry in, except computers and cell phones, will be looked at by expert volunteers who will help show how to repair it.

That includes clothing, bikes, lamps, hair dryers, toasters, furniture, toys and costume jewelry. I’m guessing it includes power tools, too. I have my own system for dealing with old power tools. I lose them.

I’ve bought three of pretty much every drill, saw and belt sander ever made.

But every once in awhile, one of the ones I can still find stops working. So I throw it away. My dad used to talk disparagingly about planned obsolescence. I sometimes brag that he was the best auto mechanic there ever was, and it’s true.

He actually fixed vehicles instead of replacing parts. I think the idea that anything should be purposely designed to fail really bugged him because he thought things should be built to last.

His views were probably influenced by having lived through the Depression. If he were alive today, I’m sure he’d be disappointed that, not only does planned obsolescence still exist, but manufacturers have gotten much better at it.

They simply make parts they know will stop working, forcing consumers to buy whole new items. The lifespan of a product is built in. Compare new products to the ones they used to make. Refrigerators are a good example. Who doesn’t have an ancient beer fridge in their basement that still works fine, compared to modern versions that last only a few years?

While automobiles used to be simpler and easier to maintain, it’s said that planned obsolescence in cars goes back to the beginning of assembly lines, when rival manufacturers competed for sales with annual design changes.

At around the same time, in the 1920s, light-bulb manufacturers supposedly had the bright idea of making their light bulbs burn out faster so consumers would have to buy more of them.

Probably the most common example today of what we’re talking about is found in electronics.

A lot of our modern devices are made so it’s difficult or actually impossible to repair them. You can’t even replace a battery these days. Printers are a special annoyance of mine.

They’re so cheap that it practically costs as much for new ink cartridges as it does to replace the entire unit. And that unit is pure junk — you have to pick up a new one about once a year.

And, of course, operating systems are regularly upgraded and pretty soon your old one won’t work with anything. It’s no wonder electronics aren’t part of the Kamloops Repair Café.

The need to replace products has become a want. We’ve become conditioned to want to replace everything. Why fix it when we can have a shiny new one? We live in a world of fast fashion. Efforts are being made to fight planned obsolescence. Greenpeace campaigns against it because it’s bad for the environment.

But it’s a losing battle. Worldwide efforts to promote recycling and reduce plastic packaging and other waste are proving more and more successful but planned obsolescence is a different ball of wax.

Maybe the Repair Café will be a small beginning toward products that last. Maybe I’ll even scout up a broken power tool or small appliance and see if they can help me fix it.

Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and a retired newspaper editor. He is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.