A while back, I wrote a tongue-in-cheek "How To Make a $10,000.00 Wine Stopper, or Desperately Justify Growing Your Shop" post, then posted it elsewhere.
I had to chuckle, because the store bought plastic retainers that are/were hold[ing] the glass in the doors of the kitchen cabinets are dying off. My wife pointed out three of them broke, so the bottom was iffy.
I went out to the shop and grabbed a piece of scrap 1/4" Plexi, ran it through the band making a 1/2" wide strip. Next, I took it over to the drillpress and drilled four holes, the counter sunk them so the screws used on the broken retainers would sit flush. I touched them up on the drum sander, took them in the house and secured the glass again.
I just found humor in that I used a few thousand dollars worth of tools to replace the retainers with little, clear pieces of Plexi that, hopefully, will last longer than ten years this time,
Funny, yes. I've done much the same. The "average" family moves about every 5 years, or at least this used to be the case. Next family will inherit the old crap, with no warranty. People used to own cars for about 5 years on average, as well. Sears had a lifetime warranty on batteries. I know a guy who took his car in several times for a replacement battery under that warranty. Sears depended on people selling their cars before the battery needed replacing.
Everything is now disposable. We splurged and bought a Breville toaster, never again. The bread lifting arm is cantilevered from the lever end and one of them finally broke. Should be $2 for a new part so add 1500% for corporate greed and gross inefficiency and I'm expecting $30, they simply had none but offered 25% off up to $1000 on my next purchase. I politely declined and let the CSR lady know they offered nothing that met my quality standards.
