Fifty years in the trade, written down.
Plain answers for owners of fine appliances, Clamshell Economics on how the service industry got here, and stories from the road. Written by Doug Major.
Did refrigerant regulations make fridge repair more expensive, and did they work?
We bought the gauges, the pumps and the recovery gear. Then we watched the rules reward the people who didn't.
How did appliances go from repairable to throwaway?
The GE Clam Shell timer could be fixed one small part at a time. What replaced it couldn't — and that was a strategy.
How do you know you're getting value for your appliance service dollar? Nine questions to ask
Price is one thing. Value is another. Here is how to tell them apart before the technician knocks.
Was the Maytag Neptune the most expensive washer ever made?
A good washer, one smelly seal, and a lunch that told me more than the service managers meant it to.
Who owns Bosch, and why does its structure matter?
A charitable foundation holds the money. An industrial trust holds the steering wheel. On purpose.
Why do we replace appliances instead of repairing them?
Old washers didn't last forever because they were overbuilt. They lasted because people fixed them.
How the CFC phase-out made fridge repair more expensive, and why nobody spoke up
I was all in on the Montreal Protocol. Here is what I, and nearly everyone else, missed about how it landed on domestic refrigeration.
Is 'Be the Duck' Bad Advice? The Hidden Cost of Stress in Appliance Service
For fifty years my strategy has been calm on the surface, paddling underneath. Then I read the research and graded myself.
Is a repair renaissance coming for home appliances, and is the industry ready?
After decades of cheap-and-replace, consumers are looking for something that lasts. The repair trade has a five-to-ten-year window, and it isn't ready.
Is appliance repair a good career? What it takes to enter the trade and last
I've been encouraging people into this trade for nearly fifty years. Here's the honest case for it, and the honest warning.
Who speaks for appliance owners and technicians when the rules get written?
The refrigerant story was never really about R12. It was about the empty chair, and it's still empty.
Why do appliance repair companies end up competing with their own parts supplier?
In most trades the supplier is a partner. In appliance service, the supplier sells to your customer too, and that is why parts pricing got so murky.
Why is the appliance service industry heading for a cliff?
It was never the digital locks. It was that nobody funded the people, and a customer once told me exactly what that costs.
The Day I Spent With Gordon Jump, the Lonely Maytag Repairman
I thought the Ole-Lonely image denigrated technicians. I still do. But the man who played him showed me what a brand ambassador looks like, and Maytag showed me how a company throws one away.
The RCA Salesman's Wall TV — and How Great Brands Drift
As a kid I eavesdropped on a salesman who promised a television that would hang on the wall and never need replacing. RCA never built it. Someone else did.
Thompson: The Fork in the Road
As a teenager in northern Manitoba I was offered a career as a broadcast engineer. I turned it down, went home to Alberta and became a technician.
Too Blue for the '72 Summit Series
At a northern Manitoba TV station, I fixed the broken tape machines so the hockey ran without a break. The phone calls that followed taught me the first rule of technician life.