Just to explain one point, "The Repair Shop" (which is now repeating its first series) focuses on items more like 100 years old rather than 1 year old. Gears and ratchets rather than USB ports
As to why modern technical items break, I think it is worth remembering that we do demand that technology is available at a very low price. I've always worked in the delivery of high reliability products, and it's easier to do now than it's ever been (thanks to continuously improving modeling tools). but it's still very expensive. An interesting subtext of "The Repair Shop" is that when "technical" items (e.g. mechanical toys, clocks, music making/reproduction equipment) are brought in, it tends to become clear that in their time they would have been the pride and joy of the family owning them. If in my house, as an example, we spent as much on a single record player as we have on all the various radios, TVs, CD players, DVD players etc etc etc we have then it could probably be very reliable - which is exactly the situation a family would have been in in, say, the 1930s.
That's prompted me to do a back-of-the-envelope calculation: I have a 1927 HMV model 109 gramophone (which does still work!), this cost £10 10s (£10.50) in 1927 which was about 8% of the average annual wage of £133. Taking the same percentage of an approximate average wage today of £25k gives an equivalent cost of about £2000 - which is probably about right if you were to produce them in volume with the same level of quality today. Of course it's really difficult to make realistic comparisons of value due to the huge changes that took place in the twentieth century, but it gives a feel.
However, despite the above I do tend to feel that we (the engineering and manufacturing profession) are much better at this than we were, say, in the 1970s and 1980s when many industries had not yet grasped that cost engineering did not necessarily mean poor engineering. I vividly remember giving up on my Mk III Escort and buying a Corolla instead - they both cost the same but were a world apart in reliability (and, indeed, serviceability).
Where I completely agree with you is regarding PCs. Whilst by spending a bit more I can get a more reliable (say) washing machine or electric drill, however much I spend on a PC it will always not quite work
Just to explain one point, "The Repair Shop" (which is now repeating its first series) focuses on items more like 100 years old rather than 1 year old. Gears and ratchets rather than USB ports
As to why modern technical items break, I think it is worth remembering that we do demand that technology is available at a very low price. I've always worked in the delivery of high reliability products, and it's easier to do now than it's ever been (thanks to continuously improving modeling tools). but it's still very expensive. An interesting subtext of "The Repair Shop" is that when "technical" items (e.g. mechanical toys, clocks, music making/reproduction equipment) are brought in, it tends to become clear that in their time they would have been the pride and joy of the family owning them. If in my house, as an example, we spent as much on a single record player as we have on all the various radios, TVs, CD players, DVD players etc etc etc we have then it could probably be very reliable - which is exactly the situation a family would have been in in, say, the 1930s.
That's prompted me to do a back-of-the-envelope calculation: I have a 1927 HMV model 109 gramophone (which does still work!), this cost £10 10s (£10.50) in 1927 which was about 8% of the average annual wage of £133. Taking the same percentage of an approximate average wage today of £25k gives an equivalent cost of about £2000 - which is probably about right if you were to produce them in volume with the same level of quality today. Of course it's really difficult to make realistic comparisons of value due to the huge changes that took place in the twentieth century, but it gives a feel.
However, despite the above I do tend to feel that we (the engineering and manufacturing profession) are much better at this than we were, say, in the 1970s and 1980s when many industries had not yet grasped that cost engineering did not necessarily mean poor engineering. I vividly remember giving up on my Mk III Escort and buying a Corolla instead - they both cost the same but were a world apart in reliability (and, indeed, serviceability).
Where I completely agree with you is regarding PCs. Whilst by spending a bit more I can get a more reliable (say) washing machine or electric drill, however much I spend on a PC it will always not quite work
