That happened to me as well and fortunately my home warranty replaced my $3,000 oven/microwave at a cost of only $100 to me. As for appliance repair people, I think they will still have a life span of longer than 10 years.

Fred Griffin nailed this one!

Things like dishwashers are still less expensive to repair than to replace. I hope that doesn't change!

Televisions are so inexpensive these days that it is best to replace with new instead of throwing good money repairing "old" technology IMO, but with dishwashers, washing and drying machines it makes sense to repair them most of the time.

My answer is YES.

I fear you are correct Nathan Gesner 

Right now a refrigerator-washer-dryer, maybe a dishwasher, I'd repair due to all being near $1,000 to replace but if prices were to lower and enough time passed, I can see replacing over repairing. I worry about proper dumping or recycling though...scary mentality for our environment.

Interesting thought and question.   It does seem as if many traditional types of jobs in the past have evolved.   I'm not sure the disappearance of appliance technicians will disappear in ten years but i guess it's possible.  

Not anytime soon. Every time i go to Tribles to get a part, there are several others there picking up parts as well. It's a huge business. https://www.tribles.com/

That is really bad. I think you should mention the brand so we keep that in the back of our minds when shopping.

We will still need guys to diagnose & replace those boards. Unless you drive a Tesla where they plug it in, run a test & then give you new parts.

What you share here makes sense.  Things are built to break not last. I do believe repairs will be around in 10 years. 

There are still repair people in our town.

Replacements seen to be more common than repairs.

It's a disposable society now. Almost everything you buy you can replace cheaper then repairing!

I fear you are right, Nathan.  Car buffs can't work on the newer cars either.  

There will probably be an APP for your appliance soon. Do a check on it, and it will tell you if it can be "reset" or needs to be tossed. Then it will try to sell you a new one! And it will be delivered by Amazon the next day.

I certainly hope not! We have warranties on all of our appliances and I love our appliance repair company - they're Johnny-on-the-spot and down-time is minimal. 

I can't imagine replacing appliances every 5 years simply because a $25 part has gone bad and there's not a repairman in existence!

Nathan,

Are you talking about the iofT?  (The internet of things?).  GE has chips in the planes that warns when parts need to be replaced, and they still need a human to replace them and maintain customer service with the human side. Some appliances are better off recycled than fixed, but not all. A

I don't know, but we have had our Fridgidaire guy out 5 times for our dishwasher and 3 times for our refrigerator in 2 1/2 years. Thinks we like Fridgidaire Gallery products? We also have a MayTag appliance repair store on our main drag in town. I have never gone in but they are still open for business. -Kasey

That is a good point. I would like then to make the appliances so it would be easy for the owners to order the replacement parts and snap them in. The parts and labor have become cost prohibitive. In our rental properties if the refrigerator goes out we just replaced the whole thing. 

Well I think repairs may be minimal, but installations may be on the rise.  It's much safer to hire electrician or plumber...especially plumber if there is a gas line.  Here in NY, most condos/co-ops required licensed plumbers for water/gas lines, otherwise there is to much risk to other owners.

Nathan Gesner I just had my refrigerator fixed. It cost $225 for a $50 part. Pretty soon technicians will price themselves out of the market.

everything is becoming disposable!!!!

Yes, as landfills get more and more crowded, and it will get harder to discard items, we will move back towards fixing things instead of discarding them. 

Yes, just had a repairman replace a part. One of seven that gets replaced before you replace the appliance. As the years go by he will have less to do!

I think so.  We had our oven repaired just a few months ago.

The first order of business is the famous smell test. Which component was roasted? Replace that charred PCBA.

If you know where to order parts it is more affordable.

They will always be around after people stop using buyer agents. It is easier to retrain an older tech to become an agent than the other way around. They charge $50 per visit. 

No they are made with plastic today instead of metal

Not likely. The manufacturers should be required to maintain parts inventory for at least 10 years. They are forcing obsolescence on us.

It does seem it is easier to buy a new one, than finding parts to repair the old ones! 

A new sub zero refrigerator is over $11K; to fix one is about $600. What would you choose?

I call "The TV Doctor" in my area.  He comes to my house and fixes my TV.  Yes TVs are cheap enough, but I'd rather not have to go out and buy another TV.  I have a 76 inch Mitsubishi DLP right now that is 3D ready years before other TVs started doing that.  Sure it's not as thin as an LED TV, but the image looks better IMO (more realistic).  Plus, I'm a guy.  If I bought a new TV it would make 76 inches look small!  Let's just say that Jerry Jones (Dallas Cowboys owner) became my hero with the largest Jumbotron in existence in Cowboys Stadium ('cuz everything is bigger in Texas)!

good question, I sure hope my a/c guy will always be around.

They exist now, but not sure how many of them know what they are doing.

Great question-things today are designed to fail at certain points and we are disposable. Why spend $300 on a 5 year old fridge when new costs $600.

Nathan Gesner - yes - and so are Real Estate Professionals despite 'Instant Offers' and other technological advances in the next decade....lol!

Dont know about 10 years, but yes I see many things being cheaper to replace than repair.  Look how cheap printers have become.  They make their $$ on selling ink.  As robots crank out dishwashers cheaper than manual labor can make them, it probably will be cheaper to buy a new one. 

I hope there will be, otherwise how will we know if it's a big deal or not. Also, we need them for home warranties.

I agree with your comments Nathan Gesner, and think it's shocking that such a large item as an appliance doesn't have a part available after only 5 years - wow!  I'm thinking in another decade, that our 'current people' Technicians will become 'robot' Technicians.  So in that case, they will exist, just in a different dimension.  Or the alternative, as you wrote, is that everything will become a throw-away.  How sad would that be, and what would our landfills look like, whether they were biodegradable or not . . .

I am not sure they still exist now

Nathan not long ago a part to fix my washer was almost as much as buying a new one.  Kind of crazy isn't it.  I got a new one.

Appliances  in the past  lasted much longer. Now day most appliances break  before the warranty expires. I also feel as long as we wear cloths and have dirty dishes , we need to get the appliances fixed.

Wow, 3k for microwave seems too much.... I do not even use microwave( extremely damaging for your health), so I do not have it. 

Most of the stuff out there is designed to land in a landfill after only a few years.

Yes.

I go back to the time of the first tubed color TVs where the tubes had to be tuned and install took hours.

Good point made

Traditional ones? NO. But with all new appliances having circuit boards, i hope someone can fix them