Shit Keeps Breakin'

Doc Martens are what first made me aware of built in obsolescence. Like any good 90s fashion victim, I wore Doc Marten boots. I wore them while Kurt Cobain was alive, I wore them up until ten years ago. Why? Because the pair I had bought the previous year was already wearing out after only a few months use. Nissan used to build great cars, but the last twenty years they’ve had serious reliability issues. I’ve been researching recreational vehicles and supposedly many brands have had all sorts of quality control issues the past decade. I bet you have a bunch of things you’ve been buying your whole life that just aren’t as well made anymore. Why does this happen? Some would say it’s companies trying to cut costs or attempting to produce more goods in a shorter amount of time. Some would say there’s less pride in construction. We can blame companies like Nissan and Doc Marten but you and I are also to blame: We keep buying cheap crap that is made in China or Indonesia or Vietnam, quite possibly by children. Our parents and grandparents fixed their own cars and washing machines, people my age and younger usually don’t. When something breaks, we just get a new one.

My fourteen year old Honda minivan is a technological wonder: Even though it weighs 4600 pounds it averages 23 miles per gallon. It’s fast, safe, and there is no way I would attempt to fix anything under the hood; it’s this intimidating area full of plastic and wires. My 1982 Mercedes diesel was slow and rudimentary but you could look down the sides of the engine and see the ground. To even a mechanical novice like myself it wasn’t daunting at all. Old cars were like that, they were also more durable than modern cars, less reliable, but more durable.

How many times has your broke ass bought a cheap frying pan with that toxic non stick stuff in it? You have to replace them when that stuff starts coming off because, as I pointed out, it’s toxic. No big deal, right? You just go to Target or whatever and get a new one for $10.

And you toss the old one in the landfill.

It’s a bad habit, one I have been as guilty of it as anyone else, but I have vowed to change. I am buying knives and kitchen pans meant to last the rest of my life even if it means spending $100 instead of $10. I will eventually acquire a small, Japanese pickup from the 90s that I am not intimidated to work on and so on. The American Outback is not just about slowing down, of culling all the useless crap from our lives, it’s about buying a washing machine or a car you can repair instead of replace. I think that’s a philosophical change all of us could benefit from, repair instead of replace.

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