An elderly lady being interviewed on the radio made an interesting comment when asked her opinion about the drastic increase in divorce rates these days compared to the past. Her response was, “In my day people would fix broken things instead of simply throwing them out.”
In many ways, she is right. It is easier to discard something, whether it be a marriage or an evil minded laptop computer like the one I am currently using, without ever attempting to repair it.
I have a box full of slightly broken fishing reels that will eventually find their way to the Dumpster even though they could be fixed. Why? I would rather invest in some new reels that are cheaply built and will inevitably end up in the same repair box some day. They will sit with the other broken reels collecting dust while awaiting their final demise in a landfill somewhere.
The interesting observation made by this elderly woman poses a question similar to the age old adage “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?”
Did we cause industries to produce this cheap plastic crap or vice versa? Our society has demanded the lowest prices, so manufacturing has responded by sacrificing quality. There is no question that we used to produce better built products that were meant to last much longer. Products that are able and worthy of repair if they do happen to break.
Pickers are people who travel the Earth in search of antiques and collectibles with the purpose of selling their findings at auctions or stores. They typically search for antiques that were made from metal, because these items still exist.
What are pickers going to be finding in the next 50 years? What do we currently produce that will actually last that long? The home furnishings that we buy these days from places like Wal-Mart and IKEA which require “some assembly” are junk. The combination of particle board and plastic is designed to look good, but not to last. So I wonder if we actually prefer to replace cheap stuff with newer cheap stuff, or has cheap manufacturing taught us to throw things away because they are not worth fixing?
I have had so many problems with brand new fishing reels lately that I finally broke down and contacted a couple of the major companies in the industry to see if they even care. I simply asked them why their products break so quickly. One company responded that their reels were not built for commercial use. Apparently my “commercial use” is too abusive for their cheap plastic parts to withstand. The repair department of another company stated that I was responsible for the shipping and handling fees, and that it usually was not cost effective to have the repairs done. They did not even know what was broken on my $100 reel yet they knew that it would not be “cost effective” to have the repairs done. I would call that planned obsolescence. Kind of quiet on the Trail this week, so thanks for listening to me vent!
Cory Christianson has worked as a fishing guide on the Gunflint Trail since 2000. If you have any fishing or wildlife reports or stories to share, send an email to: christiansoncory@hotmail.com or call 218-388-0315. You can also visit Cory’s website at Gunflintfishingguide.com.
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