Word: repairable
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Then, in exchange for a $20 deposit, the diagnostician may consent to attempt to repair the $30 appliance...
...simple folklore that most small appliances are not as sturdily made as they used to be, or that getting defective ones repaired can be a multi-Excedrin headache. Says John Lavezzo, who has maintained a one-man, two-room, three-telephone Fix-It Shop in Boston for 39 years: "Today they don't want you to repair things. They want you to buy'em, use'em and throw'em away." He and other seasoned repairmen say that the substitution of brittle plastics for metal makes many machines more breakdown-prone, and they blame some...
...fairness to the manufacturers, repairers point out that many consumers do not read instructions or take care of their appliances. Mrs. Ellen Rittle, who has run a repair center in Burbank, Calif., for 25 years, says that toasters often contain such detritus as pennies, spoons, sunflower seeds and cockroaches...
...York City and Hudson's in Detroit, treat conked-out appliances like leprosy cases. As a result, many frustrated owners simply stash away the mute, inoperable machines like dirty clothes until they have enough to fill a shopping bag and take to a good repair shop-if they can find...
There are few such dispensaries, however. And the rule of thumb is that if the cost of repair is more than one-third of the original purchase price of the appliance, better junk...