Wikipedia defines durable goods or hard goods as follows:
In economics, a durable good or a hard good is a good that does not quickly wear out, or more specifically, one that yields utility over time rather than being completely consumed in one use. Items like bricks or jewelry could be considered perfectly durable goods, because they should theoretically never wear out. Highly durable goods such as refrigerators, cars, or mobile phones usually continue to be useful for three or more years of use, so durable goods are typically characterized by long periods between successive purchases.
Examples of consumer durable goods include cars, household goods (home appliances, consumer electronics, furniture, etc.), sports equipment, and toys.
Nondurable goods or soft goods (consumables) are the opposite of durable goods. They may be defined either as goods that are immediately consumed in one use or ones that have a lifespan of less than 3 years.
Examples of nondurable goods include fast moving consumer goods such as cosmetics and cleaning products, food, fuel, office supplies, packaging and containers, paper and paper products, personal products, rubber, plastics, textiles, clothing, and footwear.
For some reason, I remember during the 1960’s or so, durable goods were defined as having a life of 10 years or more, not three.
For those of us who were born before the 1980 you may remember when people had appliances that were 10 years old or more. We replaced them when they broke. We had TV’s that lasted years and years. We didn’t have to buy something new because of new technology, because new technology came in decades not in minutes.
I remember when purchasing a TV was a family event, spending hours at Sears. My father asked so many questions and then more questions but again, my Dad was not a great decision maker. In addition, even when “they”, being my Mom and Dad decided on something, he always second guessed himself, or has buyers’ remorse. Going from a black and white TV to color happened for us in the late 60’s, and that was quite a family affair. TV’s tubes blew and there was actually days we did not have TV to watch, as we had to wait for the repairman to show up or even worse, having to leave the TV in the “shop”.
Obviously, this has nothing to do with my need to have durable goods redefined.
I purchased an Epson printer this year. It is a Workforce 510, scanner and printer. I bought it to replace another Epson printer that had a nozzle issue, that was a Workforce 600 series.
As I understand it, these companies make their money selling ink, the printers are disposable.
Less than 3 months later, my Workforce 510 has a nozzle issue.
I printed five photos that came out terrible. I thought maybe it had to do with some color setting so I spent an hour or so playing around with color settings on Photoshop and the printer. My friends Dee and Ellen suggested I clean the heads or nozzles, whatever they are. Crap, why didn’t I think of this?
I do a nozzle check, low and behold; the magenta is not coming out at all. So I do a head/nozzle clean. I do this 3 times, still not coming out. I look through the “help” on my Epson Workforce to see what’s next. “If cleaning the nozzle three times does not work, change the ink cartridge” (you know the $29.95 cartridge that has 3 drops of ink in it). I change the cartridge…do the nozzle check print check, the magenta still not coming out. The next instruction is turn the printer off for 6 hours and try again. Okay, the magenta is still not coming out.
So where is this nozzle, I have Qtips and I really like to clean, I can clean this nozzle or head.
Last time I had this problem with my Epson Workforce 600 series, I actually called a local Epson Printer Fixer, just to bring the printer in the door and have them look at it was $75.00 and then of course time and parts. Let me think about this; gas to get there plus the cost to look, I can buy another printer with newer technology for about the same price or just a little more. I guess I am on the hunt for another printer.
According to the definition of durable goods, a printer is a durable good… “one that yields utility over time rather than being completely consumed in one use.” Okay, I agree this printer did yield utility over time. And... durable goods are typically characterized by long periods between successive purchases.
First, I guess we need to define what “their” meaning is of long periods. I don’t know if you noticed but many definitions or explanations by the government are vague.
Next, I suggest that we rename Durable Goods to Disposable Goods, this way we do not have any unrealistic expectations that something may last more than 6 months.
While we’re at it, let’s rename Non-Durable or Consumer goods to “Minute Goods”.
We will, of course, need to take rubber, plastic, textiles, clothing, and footwear and move them from Non-Durable (Minute Goods) to Durable (Disposable) as we know these items last more than 3 months. After all, aren’t our landfills just full of plastic?
So here’s the summary; durable to disposable; non- durable to minute; no expectations!
Hey, if you know how to clean a nozzle/head with a Qtip, please let me know.
Have a lovely day!
Lisa Marie
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