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Lynx_Arc said:
I didn't know that.. my 2 panasonic inverter ovens are I think between 10 and 20 years old so likely they are made by panasonic and are the "quality ones".
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I think so. There is a website about this that has costumer complaints on it. It is mighty informative. All I can say is almost $300 want down my drain and I have a big ol useless thing taking up space. It has been replaced by a very cheap one that my mother in law gave us and has outlasted that other one. The thing is the cheap one was old and well used when it was given to us. It probably cost $50-$75 new 5 or 6 years ago.
 
greenpondmike said:
I think so. There is a website about this that has costumer complaints on it. It is mighty informative. All I can say is almost $300 want down my drain and I have a big ol useless thing taking up space. It has been replaced by a very cheap one that my mother in law gave us and has outlasted that other one. The thing is the cheap one was old and well used when it was given to us. It probably cost $50-$75 new 5 or 6 years ago.
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I've had similar happen. I bought a 4 cu ft dorm fridge and it had a 3 years warranty and died a little over 2 years and I had to pay $15 for shipping to get another one that is still working 10 years later fine. I've found the pressure to save money in manufacturing has often resulted in things just not lasting very long as they are built to last long enough that the warranty won't cover it. My two panasonice inverter ovens cost about $125 for the first one at Sam's and $160 for the second one at Target. I'm using the second one still but not that often since my roommate moved out I inherited his microwave oven and even though it isn't as good it fits in the dining area and at that location most often it doesn't affect my wifi at all while the space in my room almost always messes things up. I wish I had the smaller model now for one of them they are both the 2.1 Cu ft models
When I was a kid I was given a microwave oven when I went to college and it died on me and I fixed it once then it died again and prices on them were a lot cheaper so I bought my first panasonic. Now it is hard to find anything that you can trust to last many are buying warranties and I've seen the prices rising on them and coverage shortening more and more.
 
There was a time when refrigerators used to last 50 to 60 years. When I went to work at Auto Armature in early 89 my boss had a microwave in the dining room that he had bought new for his home back in the 70s. When I got layed off from the third time I worked there was December 2008 and if memory serves me right it was still there and working. I think it was a sears kenmore.
 
greenpondmike said:
There was a time when refrigerators used to last 50 to 60 years. When I went to work at Auto Armature in early 89 my boss had a microwave in the dining room that he had bought new for his home back in the 70s. When I got layed off from the third time I worked there was December 2008 and if memory serves me right it was still there and working. I think it was a sears kenmore.
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I had a sears kenmore microwave oven that lasted over 30 years it had one feature that they no longer have and that is a temperature probe which you can stick in something type in a temperature and it runs till it reaches that temp and holds it there as long as you want.
It was one of the first lines to have a digital readout and keypad I think.
 
Sears had some good stuff and I hate to see them go. I think whirpool made their kenmore appliances.
The one my boss had didn't have the digital display- it had a rotory knob, so that must have been early to mid 70s.
 
greenpondmike said:
Sears had some good stuff and I hate to see them go. I think whirpool made their kenmore appliances.
The one my boss had didn't have the digital display- it had a rotory knob, so that must have been early to mid 70s.
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Yup.... whirlpool and other companies made their appliances. We have a plant here where they make stuff. My mom's microwave was purchased in the mid 70s so it could be the late 60s to early 70s.
 
Could have been that long. It had a high and low switch on it. It heated good- I used to heat my sandwiches in it in the winter. That was a good place to work. We could cut up and even the boss man would cut up with us. I had some good friends there- most have passed on now. Most died from cancer.
 
greenpondmike said:
Could have been that long. It had a high and low switch on it. It heated good- I used to heat my sandwiches in it in the winter. That was a good place to work. We could cut up and even the boss man would cut up with us. I had some good friends there- most have passed on now. Most died from cancer.
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I hate cancer.... it is a lot worse than Covid is to me as it took my father and I doubt Covid would have affected him as he never was sick from flu or colds
 
Lynx_Arc said:
I hate cancer.... it is a lot worse than Covid is to me as it took my father and I doubt Covid would have affected him as he never was sick from flu or colds
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Me too. It also doesn't have any age limits. They ought to have a way to cure it by now a person would think.
 
a Good many things could be cured by now but there`s no money in that, you make a lot more selling drugs to mask symptoms instead, and still be perceived as being "Helpful" and "Good".
 
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Katherine Alicia said:
a Good many things could be cured by now but there`s no money in that, you make a lot more selling drugs to mask symptoms instead, and still be perceived as being "Helpful" and "Good".
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I thought that too, but I was trying not to be so long winded. I heard there was a cure, but like you said.....no money in it. All those machines and drugs are profitable to them and money is all that matters- not the person suffering.
 
I miss Radio Shack.

When I was a kid Radio Shack was a place you bought parts to fix stuff with. They had some electronics too. Even radios. But later on somebody there decided to try to compete with Circuit City, Best Buy, even Wal Mart to a degree. The parts department was still there but instead of being located in some out of the way former post office or 7-11 they moved to expensive shopping malls and tried to play the game of commerce against larger rivals. So now if you want a cord for a printer or some electrical parts to fix a toaster you go online or just toss the toaster and buy a new one.
Bummer
 
Radio shack was where my dad bought electrical parts going back into the 70s. Later on I bought my first scanner there, a 102 inch steel whip antenna and my first android. In pelham they had a fellow at radio shack that looked and talked just like ol Detrick on that Barny Miller sitcom. Everyone was nice there. I guess I miss them also.
 
Check this out: https://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/index.htm#main_catalogs just pick your year and geek out for a while! :D
Radio Shack was haunt when I was growing up, I`d spend ages in there every single time I got a dollar or 2, most kids would buy candy, not me, I`d spend all my money in there and visit regularly just to see what was new in that week. Naturally I was a "Battery Club" member too and used to claim my free 9v battery each month to use in my electronics kit,the 75 in One (I still have it! and others).
I had a summer job at a place in the Japanesse quarter of the food hall of our local shopping mall (mostly peeling onions and cooking tons of rice), and I earned $129 (Canadian) when I`d finished there, I walked straight out the food hall across to the other side of the mall and into Radio Shack and bought the 160 in One kit! :cool:
Exciting times for a youngster!
 
Thank you for that link Katherine. It sounds like you also had a good time there. They should have kept some of their stores.
 
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greenpondmike said:
I thought that too, but I was trying not to be so long winded. I heard there was a cure, but like you said.....no money in it. All those machines and drugs are profitable to them and money is all that matters- not the person suffering.
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I'm skeptical that there's a cure for cancer sitting somewhere in a vault but I'll allow that it's possible for the reasons you mentioned. This would really hit home if that were the case because my cat passed away from cancer on February 23. If only there had been a shot which could have cured her when I bought her in to the emergency clinic 5 weeks before.

Ironically, there would be more incentive for "cures", instead of drugs to mask symptoms, if we moved towards government paying for health care instead of private insurance or out-of-pocket paying for it. Government wants to keep the taxes to pay for health care as low as possible, so they're going to favor things which either cure, or better yet, prevent, expensive health problems. Not so in the current system where hospitals can make huge amounts of money "treating" cancer patients but not curing them. Ditto for heart disease.
 
I didn't even know about inverter microwave ovens until this thread. The concept is great, but it sounds like the implementation leaves something to be desired. I'd love to try one, but I'll look for one which has good reviews first.
 
I had a battery of the month card also. We had a Radio Shack right across the street from my workplace back then and it was a lifesaver when we needed some oddball part or connector in a hurry. I paid so many visits to their stores, usually for a pack of resistors, capacitors or transistors. It really started to slide downhill when they decided to get into the cellphone market. It seems that the electronics-savvy sales people drifted away when that happened and they were gradually replaced with cellphone sales staff. Bah.
 
I don't think the cellphone market is what caused their downhill slide but rather more availability of electronics in stores like Best Buy and Circuit city and the abandoning of the Optimus and other exclusive radio shack product lines plus either inability or lack of desire to compete with other stores. Radio shack had their own battery line yet you could find name brand batteries for the same or cheaper in other stores.
I think with the advent of LSI components and disposable electronics and the internet.. all ganged up on them. When I can mail order from Mouser a lot cheaper than buying from Radio Shack and ebay electronic cables for a fraction of the cost for the SAME cables even.
When they abandoned half the store to do the "look I sell cell phones too" bit that started the acceleration of a slow downfall for them.
Radio shack slowly abandoned the hobbiest to sell overpriced gadgest to non geeks and it used to be they had their own products that were competitively priced and sales on them making them almost irresistible. I still use a pair speakers I bought from RS in the early 80s.
 
Valid points Lynx Arc. The advent of LSIs and SOCs really did contribute to bringing down the cost of electronic devices to the point that they became more disposable. It also didn't help that the technical schools like Devry were folding.
 
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