BS: What a Waste!

Subject: BS: What a Waste!
From: Nigel Paterson
Date: 11 Mar 11 - 04:56 AM

I had to replace the shower head in my bathroom recently (fortunately still under guarantee), JUST the shower head ok? Yesterday morning, UPS deliver a yard long, six inch wide/deep package. I was expecting something a little more modest size wise, it was just a shower head after all. Unpacking revealed not only the shower head, but the complete shower assembly, taps, pipework & all necessary fittings, total value somewhere around £300. I phoned the supplier expressing my surprise & was told that the shower head was available only as part of the complete shower 'kit'. I would guess the value of the head to be no more than £40/50 tops, so a good £250 simply written off. In these financially constrained times, how can businesses allow/tolerate/absorb/collude with/justify such wasteful practises as this?
                                                                                                 Nigel.

Subject: RE: BS: What a Waste!
From: gnu
Date: 11 Mar 11 - 05:28 AM

Because they make "250" off the poor buggers who have to pay the extra. And, the parts department doesn't make the rules and doesn't care.

Subject: RE: BS: What a Waste!
From: Dave MacKenzie
Date: 11 Mar 11 - 05:50 AM

Fortunately, they're all made to much the same standards, so my shower (over the bath) probably doesn't have any components from the same company. All bought off the shelf at B&Q etc.

Subject: RE: BS: What a Waste!
From: GUEST,Patsy
Date: 11 Mar 11 - 06:01 AM

Even with busy lives these days you really have to take time to read through everything very carefully before signing anything. It is understandable if you have a hectic life just to want to get it done and dusted but it's no wonder that the elderly often find themselves in similar situations.

Subject: RE: BS: What a Waste!
From: DMcG
Date: 11 Mar 11 - 06:24 AM

I had a similar thing with a Toshiba TV stand. It has the sort of adjustable hinge you get on cupboard doors, but of course not quite a standard size. Part of this is plastic and has worn, so I'd like to replace it. Plastic part: value of a few pence. But they don't sell that separately. Hinge: a few pounds at most, but again they don't sell it. No, you had to replace the full stand at over £400. Guess what - we didn't bother.

Subject: RE: BS: What a Waste!
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 11 Mar 11 - 10:16 AM

The battery door on my Olympus SP-560 camera broke in half. To replace this cost anything from £20 to £120 - I got quotes for this. I stuck it with superglue - cost ......pennies!!

Subject: RE: BS: What a Waste!
From: kendall
Date: 11 Mar 11 - 10:20 AM

Why do they do this? Because they can.

Subject: RE: BS: What a Waste!
From: Nigel Paterson
Date: 11 Mar 11 - 12:03 PM

There has to be a better way........doesn't there??
                                                                                     Nigel.

Subject: RE: BS: What a Waste!
From: GUEST,Grishka
Date: 12 Mar 11 - 07:34 AM

Nigel, if it cost you £300, it is bound to be much cheaper to produce in China. It is administration that makes things expensive nowadays, so it could be a waste of money to administer every little part. Ecology is a different subject, of course.

Subject: RE: BS: What a Waste!
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 12 Mar 11 - 12:17 PM

I could be the driver in an articulated lorry
I could be a poet, I wouldn't need to worry
I could be the teacher in a classroom full of scholars
I could be the sergeant in a squadron full of wallahs

What a waste! What a waste!
What a waste! What a waste!

Because I tried to play the fool in a six-piece band
First-night nerves every one-night stand
I should be glad to be so inclined
What a waste! What a waste!
But the world don't mind

I could be a lawyer with stratagems and muses
I could be a doctor with poultices and bruises
I could be a writer with a growing reputation
I could be the ticket-man at Fulham Broadway station

What a waste! What a waste!
What a waste! What a waste!

Because I tried to play the fool in a six-piece band
First-night nerves every one-night stand
I should be glad to be so inclined
What a waste! What a waste!
But the world don't mind

I could be the catalyst that sparks the revolution
I could be an inmate in a long-term institution

[ From: http://www.metrolyrics.com/what-a-waste-lyrics-ian-dury-the-blockheads.html ]

I could lead to wide extremes, I could do or die
I could yawn and be withdrawn and watch them gullify

What a waste! What a waste!
What a waste! What a waste!

Because I tried to play the fool in a six-piece band
First-night nerves every one-night stand
I should be glad to be so inclined
What a waste! What a waste!
But the world don't mind

Chose to play the fool in a six-piece band
First-night nerves every one-night stand
I should be glad to be so inclined
What a waste! What a waste!
But the world don't mind
What a waste! What a waste!
But the world don't mind

Chose to play the fool in a six-piece band
First-night nerves every one-night stand
I should be glad to be so inclined
What a waste! What a waste!
But the world don't mind

Subject: RE: BS: What a Waste!
From: GUEST,DonMeixner
Date: 13 Mar 11 - 10:22 AM

This happens because repair is not a consideration of manufacture. Enough money is made by inexpensive manufacture to allow for the occasional total replacement for during warranty replacement.

When I make jewelry I find it just good business to replace an entire bracelet rather than repair it.

1. The customer likes the service. This is good marketing.
2. Too repair most bracelets requires reheating and softening the metal soldering, hardening, polishing, cleaning and repackaging. About twice the labor plus any additional metal needed.

I will repair if possible jewelry I have made that has sentimental value, a gift from Grandma, first communion, a wedding ring. And were that's impossible, if I made the original and I absolutely have to, I can create so accurate a copy that it is impossible to tell from the original. I have done this only once.

Over twenty years I have replaced maybe six bracelets.

I don't mass manufacture but I understand the problems for those that do. I don't like the fact that we throw away things that can easily be repaired. It makes no sense from the end users position. But for a manufacturer it makes solid business sense in the current climate.
Handle the product once and get it out the door. This type of manufacturing cuts the labor side of the equation by at least 40% and probably more.

If you long for the old days when things came from under the glass counter rather than from off the blister pack rack then do away with the big box stores and crooked cabinet shops like Wal-mart, Home Depot, and Lowe's. Support the local downtown and buy from the corner hardware. Pay to have the kid with zits pump your gas and check your oil.

Me, I miss the Jordan Coal and Lumber Co. a lot.

Don

Subject: RE: BS: What a Waste!
From: Gurney
Date: 13 Mar 11 - 04:01 PM

I have a massage chair. The control switch went wrong, and the dealers sent me a whole new side of a chair. In a different colour. So I had to swap switches anyway, and throw the unused bulk away. Like Nigel, I didn't like the wasteage.
It is possible that the shower head uses a standard thread, as Dave said.

Subject: RE: BS: What a Waste!
From: Bill D
Date: 13 Mar 11 - 05:11 PM

A guy I know often wears a tee-shirt with the message:


No Problem - I Have Duct Tape!

Subject: RE: BS: What a Waste!
From: GUEST,Patsy
Date: 14 Mar 11 - 09:18 AM

Buying goods from mailorder club books is such a waste of money. It seems a good idea at the time if you are busy, stuck at home or live on a remote island somewhere but you end up paying way over the shop price. I'm surprised that any club book companies are still around with the internet and all.

Subject: RE: BS: What a Waste!
From: Gurney
Date: 14 Mar 11 - 04:20 PM

Patsy, My mum used to run a club when I was a boy. The people who used it were then often stuck at home, -no transport, young children,- and they had little money for 'discretionary' spending. They sort-of used it as a form of compulsory saving, -you didn't just have to receive the item and then pay for it, you could also pay first and build up credit,- and it made a real difference at Christmas, or birthdays.

When I was an insurance agent, I had clients who used endowment insurance the same way. Take out a policy, and surrender it for cash at the first opportunity. THAT was a lousy investment, but they did it despite my advice. It was the only way they would ever achieve a reasonable sum of cash-in-hand and also have life-insurance.

I do agree with your statement, but you are arguing from the point of view of the provident or comfortably situated. From the other side, the people 'on their uppers' as they say in England, or those tied to a spendthrift partner, it makes a kind of sense.