Maybe I’m looking at the past with rose colored glasses, but I don’t remember ever having to worry so much about purchasing a mattress. Perhaps, I just got lucky, but I have a 15-year old innerspring double-sided Lennox mattress from the Dilworth Mattress Factory that I have never thought about replacing once,. I did no research. I laid on it in the store, liked it, and purchased it. Today, it seems like purchasing a mattress is more complicated than ever, and the majority of the major brand mattresses are actually engineered to fail more rapidly by design. Spending more money does not necessarily correlate with higher quality or extended life. As a result, the consumer must be more knowledgeable than ever, which is why The Mattress Underground (TMU) is such a wonderful resource.
This problem of rapid decline with large purchase items extends beyond mattresses but appears to be the case with many other item. Before learning all about mattresses, I was spending my time investigating new washing machines to replace my parents’ Whirlpool Imperial LA7800XPN1,. I really wanted to fix it because the old saying is simply true, they don’t make em’ like they used to. I even found youtube videos where folks rejoiced in finding one of these washers for sale on Craig’s List. My mother simply went to the store and picked out the one she liked best back in 1987 and didn’t have to consider getting a new one until 28 years later. Unfortunately, I have no idea how to fix a washer and the repair guy said it was a bad timer which they no longer make spare parts for.
Again, maybe my family just got lucky and I’m looking at the past with rose-colored glasses, but I don’t ever recall the topic of what type of washing machine does your family have ever come up as a point of discussion. It appeared to me that most folks purchased a top loader and it simply worked and usually lasted for a reasonable length of time, like 10 years or more. Most importantly, for the most part, these washers did what they were supposed to do. They got clothes cleaned and made life easier for folks in the first world. I read tons of washing machine reviews and and never found one solid place of info like TMU. What I did discover is similar to mattresses, it seems like the general quality of washing machines has declined dramatically.
Today, one can buy front loaders that for the most part are said to do a much better job at washing clothes than top loaders and are more energy efficient; however, these new attractive washers came with all new problems of their own. There is a greater chance that mold and mildew will build up in front loaders, which could also get into your washed clothes, which kind of defeats the purpose of washing them in the first place. The solution is to always keep your front loader washer doors open and to clean your washer regularly. Yes, you must now wash the washer, which you never had to do on a regular basis with the top loaders.
Front loader washers are not alone regarding problems with today’s washers because it seems like the quality of top loaders has gone downhill as well. Back in 1996, Consumer Reports tested 18 models, and rated 13 of them as “excellent” and five were “very good”. By 2007, Consumer Reports had no washers that qualified as “excellent” and seven out of 21 models were rated “fair” or “poor”. I just logged into my Consumer Reports account and found that in 2015, that not a single washer earned their “Best Buy” ranking. Seven Front loaders, two top-load agitators and five top-load high efficient washers are recommended, but again, not a single one qualified as a “Best Buy”. The highest scoring washing machine on their scale of 0-100 was a “85”. I don’t know if this comparison can be made, but when I went to school, an “85” was considered a “B”.
What the hell happened? Sam Kazman’s Wall Street Journal article dated March 17, 2011, blames the government for issuing new energy standards that require machines use less hot water and less water all together, resulting in less clean clothes. I tend to agree, but at the same time, I believe the problem stems much deeper than that. Just like most of the major manufactuer’s matresses that are built to fail, I believe that today’s washers are too. American manufacturing pride and craftsmanship has gone out the window in exchange for greater profit. The idea is that customers will return to buy the same product over again within 5 years.
We see this trend across multiple product lines even with highly praised products like the iPhone. You cannot change the battery out in an iPhone. We all know that batteries eventually cannot be recharged, so eventually the iPhone product will stop working once the battery fails. The idea here is that you won’t want that product anyways because you’ll want to buy a new phone by the time that battery burns out; however, that’s not necessarily true. One could still use an old iPhone simply as a music player or video player, etc. The consumer isn’t given a choice because the product is designed to fail from the start. One might think that an iPad might be a cool nostalgic thing to find 20 years from now, the same way that I might buy an old Nintendo game console that I can find today, but you won’t find iPads in yard sales or thrift stores of the future because the product simply won’t work. There is no salvaging it without major work and knowledge involved. The product will be useless. At least with an old 8-track player that I find at a yard sale, I can still use it.
After all of my research, I recommended that my mother go with the Speed Queen top load washer because of the many glowing user reviews I had read and the fact that they manufacture commercial products, which are built to be durable and last. Their warranty is only 3-years but it’s actually the longest warranties offered today. Unfortunately, these washers are only sold at independent dealers as none of the major department stores carry them. In fact, no one in Charlotte, NC had one, so the closest place that sold them was never opened on Saturday or after 5 pm on the weekdays. Plus, the price is a bit high compared to other washers, but my mother didn’t want to spend that much, so I had to find an alternative.
My mother ended up going with the Whirlpool WTW4800BQ1. Neither of the washers that I recommended were rated as highly efficient, which was what we wanted, a washer that uses plenty of water. Neither this model nor the Speed Queen have good reviews but when I read user reviews, most people seem to love these, and I tend to go with the folks who actually own the products and have had them for a few years. In my opinion, Consumer Reports’ washing machine rankings are worth as much as their mattress rankings.
I consider myself lucky to have a nearby local mattress manufacturer that still takes pride in the quality of their product and its longevity. I also think we’re very fortunate to have sites like TMU as well ass genuine user reviews and feedback that help today’s consumers make choices that must be made by filtering through not only personal preference and performance, but clever marketing, deceit and misinformation. I want even more information. Are there other sources of information to help consumers make other similar high purchase items such as furniture (i.e.) couches and chairs? If so, I’d like to know.
