Well, they didn't have Xbox360 back then to waste money on, so the things you could spend your remaining salary on were, let us say, limited.

Well, I checked. By the 1940s, 85% of American households had refrigerators (source). I found another article that said by the 1950s, 80% of Americans had advanced, energy-efficient refrigerators with ice makers and automatic defrost (source). According to debt.org, approximately 22% of Americans were living in poverty in the 1950s (source). So essentially, 22% of Americans were in poverty and 80% owned refrigerators, so pretty much everyone who wasn't dirt poor had one.

Flack wrote: Wed Oct 21, 2020 5:36 am

Tdarcos wrote: Tue Oct 20, 2020 1:03 pm

Flack wrote: Fri Oct 16, 2020 4:05 pm My dad's dad was an applicance repairman and my dad swears they had the same washer, dryer, and refrigerator the entire time he lived at home. He says they don't make 'em like they used to and it's hard to disagree with him.

Okay, let's say that this is true (and it probably is). A refrigerator in 1950 cost $500, a washer and dryer unit cost about $600. $1,100 in 1950 is worth about $11,880 now. Damn right, at those prices they would last ten years or more, but, today, nobody would buy anything that expensive even if it had a ten-year warranty.

Legitimate question, and not just for Paul. Especially not for Paul.

According to census.gov, the average salary in 1950 was $3,300 (link). According to Paul, the cost of a refrigerator, washer, and dryer in the 1950s combined was $1,100, which happens to be exactly 1/3 of $3,300.

My question is, how did people afford to spend one third of their yearly income on those three items? The 2018 census reported that the average US income was $63,179. One third of that is just over $21,000. Would people spend that much money?

The only theory I have on that one is that they simply went without all 3 of those.. especially a washer and dryer if you lived near a laundromat. Kind of like TVs. A lot of people didn't have TVs despite commercial advertising giving off the appearance that every American did.

Tdarcos wrote: Wed Oct 21, 2020 1:03 am

AArdvark wrote: Tue Oct 20, 2020 4:46 pm [image of 1952 Coldspot refigerator costing $329]
And it even has a set of keys to lock the door so nobody can sneak in and steal your leftovers!

About 3 years ago, me and a roommate over at Baltimore Ave went in on a $200 Haier freezer that came with a lock and two keys. I didn't know refrigerators had locks - at least, residential ones - but since $329 then is worth $3,190.36 now, yeah, if you spent three grand on a fridge now, yeah, I'm sure it would have a lock on the door.

I believe most stand alone freezers come with locks as a safety issue so that they can be locked and kids can't climb inside them and play. You don't need them on a refrigerator because they are intended to go in your kitchen, a place where it's highly unlikely a child would climb inside unnoticed.

Tdarcos wrote: Tue Oct 20, 2020 1:03 pm

Flack wrote: Fri Oct 16, 2020 4:05 pm My dad's dad was an applicance repairman and my dad swears they had the same washer, dryer, and refrigerator the entire time he lived at home. He says they don't make 'em like they used to and it's hard to disagree with him.

Okay, let's say that this is true (and it probably is). A refrigerator in 1950 cost $500, a washer and dryer unit cost about $600. $1,100 in 1950 is worth about $11,880 now. Damn right, at those prices they would last ten years or more, but, today, nobody would buy anything that expensive even if it had a ten-year warranty.

Legitimate question, and not just for Paul. Especially not for Paul.

According to census.gov, the average salary in 1950 was $3,300 (link). According to Paul, the cost of a refrigerator, washer, and dryer in the 1950s combined was $1,100, which happens to be exactly 1/3 of $3,300.

My question is, how did people afford to spend one third of their yearly income on those three items? The 2018 census reported that the average US income was $63,179. One third of that is just over $21,000. Would people spend that much money?

AArdvark wrote: Tue Oct 20, 2020 4:46 pm [image of 1952 Coldspot refigerator costing $329]
And it even has a set of keys to lock the door so nobody can sneak in and steal your leftovers!

About 3 years ago, me and a roommate over at Baltimore Ave went in on a $200 Haier freezer that came with a lock and two keys. I didn't know refrigerators had locks - at least, residential ones - but since $329 then is worth $3,190.36 now, yeah, if you spent three grand on a fridge now, yeah, I'm sure it would have a lock on the door.

AArdvark wrote: And it even has a set of keys to lock the door so nobody can sneak in and steal your leftovers!

I can't believe they dont ever offer this anymore. I used to have to chain up my freezer so my brother in law couldnt steal my Vodka.

It could also warm butter?!

And it even has a set of keys to lock the door so nobody can sneak in and steal your leftovers!

Flack wrote: Fri Oct 16, 2020 4:05 pm My dad's dad was an applicance repairman and my dad swears they had the same washer, dryer, and refrigerator the entire time he lived at home. He says they don't make 'em like they used to and it's hard to disagree with him.

Okay, let's say that this is true (and it probably is). A refrigerator in 1950 cost $500, a washer and dryer unit cost about $600. $1,100 in 1950 is worth about $11,880 now. Damn right, at those prices they would last ten years or more, but, today, nobody would buy anything that expensive even if it had a ten-year warranty.

It would be nice if the repair guy was wrong about appliances lasting only seven years on average. he said to stay away from Smasung because they are expensive to buy and more expensive to fix. I'm partial to Maytag, mostly because growing up we had one washer and one dryer and they lasted over twenty years. Even when I stuffed them full of sheets, rugs and sneakers, laundry was a learning process.

THE
FEET UP
AARDVARK

That's the whole point: I ALSO would pay $1200 for $50,000 worth of product, but instead we pay $500 a few times and come out ahead.

I would pay $1200 for a thirty year stove. Not everyone else that lives here agrees to that price point

They don't "make 'em like they used to" because they cost 1/20th of that. A Fridgidaire used to cost more than a Mustang.

Next time, call the guy on the weekend (you have his cell phone number) and offer him fifty bucks cash to replace it. When the cable guy came out to run coax through my underground conduit, I asked him if he could run my ethernet through there at the same time. He said technically he could, but he's not supposed to. Then I pulled out a twenty and he was like, haha, okay.

I hear you on the appliances. The ice maker in our refrigerator recently stopped working. The refrigerator is a year old and cost around $2k. The whole outside of the ice maker is coated with ice, which stops the mechanism from working. I looked online and Samsung's official response is, when that happens you need to thaw out the ice maker compartment with a hair dryer. Other online suggestions I found included propping up the front of the fridge half an inch so that when the water from the filler overflows, it runs out and fills the rest of the compartment with water instead of the ice maker. We got lucky this time; after digging around online I found out there's a class action lawsuit against Samsung over the design of their refrigerators, and if you call the right number (they make it hard to find) they will send someone out to replace the unit with one that works. Oh, and we bought the extended warranty for our refrigerator and was told when we called that there was nothing for them to fix because it wasn't broken. The guy told me that while I was holding a heat gun in my refrigerator to quickly thaw an inch of ice off the unit.

My dad's dad was an applicance repairman and my dad swears they had the same washer, dryer, and refrigerator the entire time he lived at home. He says they don't make 'em like they used to and it's hard to disagree with him.

Well it's been six years since we bought the appliances. I guess they aren't meant to last anymore, otherwise how could they sell you more? The oven would start to smell like gas and then ignite with a whoomp! Not something you look for in a major appliance in your home. It got bad enough that I did an internet search and saw that the ignitor elements on these things do wear out after a while. Like car tires and such, they're meant to be replaced. Well when I was growing up our oven had a pilot light, and that never needed replacing. Times change. What happens is that the ignition element heats up enough to draw the minimum amperage, thus opening the gas valve, but not hot enough to actually ignite the gas right away. And then it goes whoomp. So my wife called around and looked for a repair guy that could come and do the replacing, this was in the mindset A: the stove isn't that old and if a repair guy messes it up they have to make it right, but if B: hubby does the work himself and he messes it up then we're on the hook for a new stove.
So she called around to two of the biggest repair places in the area. Neither of them will touch our brand, apparently our stove is full of Kryptonite or something (or we choose poorly at the stove store) The third place will come out but they neglected to mention any prices while setting up the appointment. After sending us multiple texts, voicemails and calls we are assured that the guy will be here between Ten and Two o'clock (your standard repairguy window of opportunity) The guy calls and says he's on the way and could we explain the issue to him over the phone so he has a better idea of what he's up against? So we explain it to him. He pauses a moment and askes if we are aware of any of the charges?

"No, they just set the appointment up," my wife replies.

"Well ma'am, it's eighty-five dollars plus tax for the basic diagnostic, that's what you were just telling me over the phone, but I walk in your house first. I can tell you right now that it's a failing ignitor."

"Can you fix it?"

"Oh sure, I got a new one right in my truck. But I recommend you do it yourself if possible. The final bill will be around four-hunderd fifty to five hundred dollars."

(Gulp! Long pause while I make throat cutting motions in the air)

"But I can buy a whole new stove for seven hundred," my wife says.

"I know. Ma'am you can go on Amazon right now and buy a new ignitor for around fifty bucks. There's videos on YouTube that'll show your husband exactly how to change one out. If he can paint a wall he can repair this problem. It's only six screws and a plastic wire clip."

(A thumbs up motion from me and a middle finger towards the phone)

"So ma'am, do you still want me to stop by?" he asks.

"No, no thank you. We'll take care of this by ourselves."

So I had a look at it and took it apart and it's just as easy as the guy said it would be. There's a new ignition element coming Sunday and we can still use the range top. The repair guy also said that our particular brand went to quality hell when they were bought out by another oven company some years ago. He suggested a couple well-made brands if we were opting to replace instead of repair. My wife was a little bummed out because she spent the next hour oven shopping online and drooling slightly. In the end we opted to repair because it's a lot more cost effective and if there's one thing that will sway any decision making situation anywhere, it's the cost.

THE
BREAD WILL
RISE AGAIN
AARDVARK

He talked himself out of sticking his head in a stove? Is this one of those rare "success stories" that other BBSs have?

Having some minor issues with the oven. The first two repair places wouldn't touch our brand. The third place guy was on the way over, called ahead and talked himself out of the service call....

Details when I get on a real keyboard