Interesting topic!
I remember a time in the 70s, more than once actually, when I came home from being at a friends's house (I was about 10 maybe) and my mother and several of her friends/neighbors were on the back porch talking....I'd hear someone say "I just had to buy a new washing machine". It was a huge deal, the cost outlay, the difficult decision to get rid of the old one, the expectations of the new one, etc. To some it seemed like a stressful purchase. Yes, they sure were durable goods in those days.
If we look at prices of a Kenmore mid-line machine through the years, the prices have remained relatively fixed, even with inflation, so there's no alternative for the machines to have become cheaper and cheaper from a quality standpoint, and thus switch from durable goods to consumer goods.
In 1962 a Kenmore 60 or 70 was priced around $225 or so. My folks paid $269 for a 70 in 1974, and $330 for another 70 in 1983. I paid $359 for mine in late 1986. I also bought a new Mustang in 1986 for $9,000. In 2004 I bought another new Mustang - that one cost me $21,000 and I got nearly 25% off the sticker. I could have bought a Kenmore 70 though for $399 at about anytime in 2004.
The prices for washers and probably appliances in general have not kept up with inflation, which I'm not complaining about, but consumers have forced this to happen, but at the same time have allowed their expectations of machines to drop.
People ask me frequently what I would recommend in a new washer purchase. I usually suggest a Whirlpool made direct drive top loader. Years ago I felt they were junk, but now they look quite good comparatively speaking. I do not believe that a small family or single person would reap the energy saving benefits of an HE machine as compared to the price outlay vs. a well-proven design top loader. A big family or in areas where energy and/or water is expensive, yes. For the rest of us, not yet anyway.
Then again I still hear complaints about the Maytag Neptune's durability and stuff about the class-action lawsuits regarding the HE Whirlpool top loaders (can't remember their name at the moment).
For the moment, and until a front loader is durable enough that we can get $1000 worth of service from it, I'll stay with a top loader as long as they're still made, OR keep working on repairing old ones.
I remember a time in the 70s, more than once actually, when I came home from being at a friends's house (I was about 10 maybe) and my mother and several of her friends/neighbors were on the back porch talking....I'd hear someone say "I just had to buy a new washing machine". It was a huge deal, the cost outlay, the difficult decision to get rid of the old one, the expectations of the new one, etc. To some it seemed like a stressful purchase. Yes, they sure were durable goods in those days.
If we look at prices of a Kenmore mid-line machine through the years, the prices have remained relatively fixed, even with inflation, so there's no alternative for the machines to have become cheaper and cheaper from a quality standpoint, and thus switch from durable goods to consumer goods.
In 1962 a Kenmore 60 or 70 was priced around $225 or so. My folks paid $269 for a 70 in 1974, and $330 for another 70 in 1983. I paid $359 for mine in late 1986. I also bought a new Mustang in 1986 for $9,000. In 2004 I bought another new Mustang - that one cost me $21,000 and I got nearly 25% off the sticker. I could have bought a Kenmore 70 though for $399 at about anytime in 2004.
The prices for washers and probably appliances in general have not kept up with inflation, which I'm not complaining about, but consumers have forced this to happen, but at the same time have allowed their expectations of machines to drop.
People ask me frequently what I would recommend in a new washer purchase. I usually suggest a Whirlpool made direct drive top loader. Years ago I felt they were junk, but now they look quite good comparatively speaking. I do not believe that a small family or single person would reap the energy saving benefits of an HE machine as compared to the price outlay vs. a well-proven design top loader. A big family or in areas where energy and/or water is expensive, yes. For the rest of us, not yet anyway.
Then again I still hear complaints about the Maytag Neptune's durability and stuff about the class-action lawsuits regarding the HE Whirlpool top loaders (can't remember their name at the moment).
For the moment, and until a front loader is durable enough that we can get $1000 worth of service from it, I'll stay with a top loader as long as they're still made, OR keep working on repairing old ones.
