MY BLOG
by MATT GARVIN

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ENTRY 5: RANT (CHEAP CRAP)

There should be no cheap products. Making cheap crap that almost instantly breaks and winds up in landfills or in the ocean should be banned and people that do it, or import it, should be punished. It is so obvious.

If you can build one thing that lasts 40 years, it is better than 40 of them that last one year. It may cost more money to build the one good one, but the cost environmentally is 40x better. Or possibly 400x better.  And that environmental cost -- and trying to keep the environment clean -- should be the goal.

If I had an island country -- Matt Land -- like Singapore (a small nation-state but with a good economy), I would not allow the import or manufacture of cheap crap. Every product used would have to meet a high standard of ruggedness and durability. And these products would always be informed by "how harmful is this to the environment"? If it is "built to fail" (like almost everything, these days) it would simply not be allowed. Items that break when they fall 5 feet? Not allowed. Portable electronics without batteries that can be replaced (I am looking at you, Apple), not allowed.

I have a cheap clock from Ikea, that fell off the wall, and broke. Surprisingly, the casing was metal, so it did not break there. The plastic battery compartment is what failed, and now a battery can no longer be held in place. Now this clock is going in the garbage, all because it was too fragile to survive a small fall. 99% of the clock is fine, but this 1% piece that failed has made it unuseable.  This is stupid.

Similarly, my wife owns a Huawei laptop.  It is super-light and thin, and she loves it.  But after a few years now, the battery is failing.  I unscrewed the panel on the underside to look at the battery, and could not find it!  A quick google indicated, like an iPhone, it does not have a battery you can just plop in.  And having it replaced in computer store is going to cost a couple hundred dollars!  How is this even allowed?  This was a laptop that cost well over $1000.  It is still good, just one piece is failing.  Things like this are so stupid. 

- END OF BLOG ENTRY 5 -