In a perfect world, appliances would last 100 years or more. I'd even settle for 50 years or more. Sadly, parts of even the best appliances give out long before the whole ceases to function. The gasket on our 12-year-old refrigerator began tearing at about year 6. The bowl on my food processor developed a crack around year 17. And due to my own clumsiness, I broke the glass jar on our 39-year-old Oster blender just the other week. In all of these appliances, it was the non-machine parts that were an issue. The good news is, I don't need to have any mechanical skill to "fix" any of these appliances. The bad news is, spare parts simply aren't available for some appliances.
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| just the glass replacement |
In many cases, it's money-wise to replace a single or even multiple parts. With simple fixes like these non-machine parts, it's a matter of popping off the old and popping on the new. My appliances are ready to go again.
For my blender, I was able to save the blade assembly and the lid, needing only a new glass jar. The new jar cost about $9 with an additional $9 for shipping. Sound like a lot? Internet searches indicate that the older gen Oster appliances are known to last far longer than any new blender at the low-end of the price range. In just a few years, I should get my money back by not needing to replace the blender.
After several decades of use, you would think that I'd feel my near-vintage blender had served its duty and now it's time for its retirement. On the contrary, this blender has served me well because it was so well-made. It will likely grind, crush, and puree for many more years, if not decades.
Back in the day, Oster made a superior blender. When different elements have broken or worn out, Oster makes all the needed replacement parts. I take that as a good indication of the company's confidence in their product -- that they feel they are worth the repair. By buying a replacement part, I want to send the message to Oster that I'm a consumer who is willing to repair a high-quality appliance instead of replacing it.
It goes without saying, but it's also a good environmental value to choose repair over replace -- less added to landfills and less emissions spewn into the atmosphere in the production of new appliances.
In some cases, making a green choice winds up costing us a little more in our wallets. But for many appliance repairs, we save some money and only sacrifice in aesthetics. My almond tone-on-tone blender may not look as fashionable as a sleek new model. But it saved me real money and it was a good choice for our planet.
