Quote:
Originally Posted by retmil46
I'm old enough to remember when TV repair shops were commonplace. But even by the early 90's, when I had the picture tube go out on a small 13" TV, the replacement tube by itself was more expensive than simply buying an entire new TV and trashing the old set.
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I can remember the big machines in stores that let you test your own radio tubes. For some odd reason where I grew up they were in drugstores as I recall.
TV repair shops. Shoemakers. Tailors. Small appliance repairs. Hell, GAS STATIONS that aren't just self-serve pumps and a convenience store full of junk food. I was in one last summer that was very large, easily 1100 square feet, but had maybe four square feet of shelf space devoted to auto needs.
My neighbour repairs lawn mowers and sells them. Many come out of people's garbage. I bird dog them for him on a regular basis. Some are 2-3 years old. They are so new he actually rings the doorbell and makes sure they're really in the trash, not just badly parked.
I see kids' bikes in excellent condition in the trash every summer. Not only do we have a charity locally that is actually devoted to recycling bikes to needy kids, every other thrift-store charity takes them to resell too. Wow.
I can't make up my mind if we've become too complacent to care about fixing or recyling perfectly good things, or instead it's just an indicator of worn out adults running around chained to crackberries who haven't got the energy to do anything outside their regular routine.