GE Appliances to move washing machine production from China to Kentucky in $490M investment
(www.foxbusiness.com)
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Prior to the government meddling, these were some of the simplest machines made by man. Basically they worked until the materials failed or wore out.
Now it's almost always some damned module that either isn't available, costs more than a new machine, or both.
I think the worst part about it is the huge amount of waste that ends up in landfills or polluting the environment, plus the energy costs to rebuild things every 3 or 4 years when they used to last 20+.
When you start doing the math, the numbers are staggering. Think of each married couple - 40 years ago, they bought one, or maybe two sets of appliances between their 20s and 80s. Now they're buying closer to 12 sets over the same lifetime. And if they were worried about CFCs then they wouldn't build refrigerators that were likely to leak it all out when they were scrapped.
It's the same deal with cars that used to last over 200k and now are lucky to make it to the end of the warranty.
It's amazing to me that the government will obsess over saving something like 50 gallons of gasoline over the life of a vehicle, while ignoring all the plastic, energy and pollution it costs to have to remake the damn thing every 5 years.
And they had more recyclable material in them before the electronic revolution. Some things just don't need the complexity.
I have two appliances that have thus-far bucked that trend. When I moved into my current house in 2020 there were 2 refrigerators left behind. One was manufactured in 2000 and one in 2002. Both run perfectly. I have had to replace a couple of the shelves with the plastic "hooks" that hook onto the backplate when the hooks finally broke off, and one had a latch that holds the doors shut break off. I fixed that with neodymium magnets normally used to hold a cellphone on a car dash.
There is one other example of an appliance still made that will probably last forever as long as you keep the correct parts packed with grease as recommended - the Kitchen-Aid stand mixer. I bought a 6qt "dead one" 4 years ago "for parts". It took me about a week to get the grease in, I packed it as recommended, and it still works perfectly. I always wanted one of those (of course a red one) and couldn't pass on that. Even refurbished they cost ~$250-300. Good ones are $500 or more depending on attachments.
I'm a guy and don't cook much (other than on the smoker or grill). I use this to make batches of my keto pancakes. I put 3 in a bag and freeze them along with 2 small sausage patties. I make a batch of around 150 pancakes (50 bags) at a time and this thing makes it really easy. Then I have about 2 months of microwave-ready breakfast (~2.5 mins) and I use sugar-free Mrs. Butterworths syrup, some whipped topping, and usually some blueberries or blackberries on top. Sometimes I'll skip the syrup, creme, and berries and put a few fried eggs on top if I have the time.
Well worth my time, money, and effort to get that mixer. If you don't know what they are, I'll link one below. I can't find the 6qt mixers anymore (this one is a 5qt @ $479.99).
https://www.amazon.com/KitchenAid-KSM150FEER-Artisan-Bundle-Mixers/dp/B07QJQZWQX
Yum! Your food sounds good! But what sweetener is in Mrs Butterworth's. I only like to use stevia or monk fruit. Going to try and copy you. Sure do miss the old appliances. I have to get a new washing machine. Used is fine and hope to find old whirlpool. Production moving out of China should be better for gen electric too.
Dear Lord, I love my Kitchen Aid. Once worked with a Hobart (commercial arm of the company) and have turned my nose up at anything else ever since.
Look into the attachments that you put on the front power hub. Shave ice, sausages, grinding meat into hamburger (fun fact - it doesn't taste like hamburger, it tastes like steak), sliced diced veggies, juicer. Dang thing does everything. Hint: get an old one that is all metal inside. They last forever.
This this this ...can't agree with you more. I explain this to my pals all the time. It's all a giant scam to get rich.
That's what happened with my washer.