Hot take: my washing machine died mid-cycle on a Tuesday and it made me rethink how much we trust these machines with our time

The drum just stopped spinning at 2:30 PM with a load of my work clothes all soaked and I had to fish everything out by hand, then spend 45 minutes on hold with a repair guy who said the control board failed, which got me wondering how many appliances are actually designed to break after a few years, anyone else had a sudden machine failure that made you suspicious of planned obsolescence?

3 comments

3 Comments

tarabell3d ago

Blame the machine all you want but these things get beat to hell every cycle and nobody ever does the basic maintenance. Eight years without so much as a leveling check or a drain hose rinse and then you're shocked when something gives out. Planned obsolescence is real in some cases sure, but mostly we just treat appliances like they're indestructible and they're not.

piperbailey3d ago

Feel you @tarabell, eight years with zero upkeep is asking for trouble. I've learned that the hard way myself with our old washing machine that finally quit last month.

the_jake2d ago

Treat appliances like they're indestructible" nails it. That mindset applies to everything now, not just machines. @piperbailey probably sees it too, people expect phones, cars, even furniture to last forever with zero care. Small maintenance habits would save everyone a ton of money and headaches.