#repair dont replace

[louche-douche-deaux]

Blew out the taint seam on a pair of work pants.

Reinforced the patch with bar tacks at the top and bottom and put a bar across the middle of the split.

On the non-seam side of the split, I added some sashiko stitches to hold the patch, but allow for flex. On the seam side, I used a couple running stitches to hold the patch in place. We will see how it holds over the next week.

[louche-douche-deaux]

Darn it, I tried.

[servicemag]

Americans Are Repairing Appliances Instead of Replacing Them, and Whirlpool's Q1 Proves It

Whirlpool's strongest business in Q1 wasn't washers. It was spare parts.

"One of the strongest businesses which we had in Q1 was actually our spare parts and repair business," said CEO Marc Bitzer on the earnings call. "Consumers are holding back, replacing products and rather repairing it." Axios covered the shift on May 7: with consumer sentiment weak and the housing market frozen, Americans are fixing the appliances they own instead of buying new ones.

The numbers: U.S. appliance industry demand fell 7.4% in Q1, with March alone down 10%. Discretionary purchases dropped about 15%, while replacement demand (over 60% of the industry) held steady. People still need a working fridge. They just don't need a new one. Whirlpool's North America sales fell 8% to $2.2 billion, and the company suspended its dividend.

The why is simple. High interest rates make financing an $1,800 refrigerator painful, and nobody's moving houses, so nobody's outfitting new kitchens. Tariffs pushing new-unit prices up only sharpen the math.

Part of the surge is straight DIY, homeowners ordering OEM parts and following a video. If you're tempted: door gaskets, fill hoses, and dryer belts are fair game with the machine unplugged. Sealed refrigeration systems, gas valves, and inverter boards are not. That's where a botched fix turns a $300 repair into a dead appliance, or worse. The usual rule of thumb still applies either way: repair beats replacement whenever the fix costs less than half the price of a comparable new unit, and with tariffs pushing new-unit prices up, that bar keeps rising on its own.

And if you run a repair shop, this is your tailwind. Stock fast-moving parts before tariffs push them higher, credit your diagnostic fee toward the repair, and make sure calls don't roll to voicemail.

Full story at ServiceMag.

[david-thedoctor]

Before and after on a thrift store find! Johnston & Murphy shoes I found for $6.00, plus a couple of hours of time and elbow grease has produced nearly perfect shoes again! Further evidence in favor of buying quality and refurbishing and taking care of garments, instead of replacing them at the first sign of wear and tear.