Tag: reduce

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4 Ways Subscription Appliances Reduce Waste

During the pandemic, everybody is working from home now and everybody this time is discouraged from going out. If not to shop for essentials, people are asked to stay home. Community has been shut down as well closing down our go to  establishments such as restaurants, laundromat, and cinemas which heightened the need for appliances which birthed the business model of subscription appliances.

Today, we will not be elaborating the basic functionality of the Subscription Appliance business model but we will be covering the advantages of Subscription Appliance, its contribution to the environment and how it would best make the service a better option than buying.
 

Subscription appliances significantly reduce landfill waste and associated carbon emissions.  This is for one simple reason. The interests of a subscription appliance business is aligned with sustainable outcomes.  

 

1. Subscription Appliances Means Appliance Users Don’t Send Appliances to Waste.

 

Subscribing appliances can help reduce landfill waste by reusing and recycling appliances so end users don’t need to continually buy appliances new and repeat the wasteful cycle.  Subscription appliances are part of an answer to closing the loop.  When you own or rent appliances the traditional way, they don’t receive the proper care or servicing they need.  Often people lament that appliances just aren’t built to last anymore.  That just isn’t true.  What is true is that people don’t look after their appliances anymore, and this is usually because the cost of labour, the cost of parts, and the risk of unsuccessful repair means that appliances aren’t economical to repair.

 

 

 

If the cost of labour was cheaper we might see a manufacturer conspiracy to less repairability to encourage more sales, but they just don’t have that incentive. The way things are now an appliance manufacturer wants to have serviceable and repairable appliances, because when it breaks the blame is shifted to the consumer for not getting the risky and expensive repair undertaken. The appliance could be repaired, it is the consumer choosing not to, because choosing to repair them usually involves acting against their best economic interests. Neither are appliances periodically serviced like they might once have been.  Just like your car, your appliances need periodic checking by a professional to identify if anything is on the way out and needing replacement.  Belts, bearings, pulleys, heaters, fans, all easily replaceable failure points. 

Imagine driving your car for several years without a service and throwing it away to buy a new one when it breaks down, and complaining that cars just aren’t built like they used to be!  Appliances have only got more reliable, the advent of the computer age has allowed a myriad of analogue and mechanical switches to be replaced with a solid state computer, vastly reducing failure points.  We expect appliances to last longer while looking after them less.

Subscription services changes this dynamic from unsustainable to sustainable products within the reduce, reuse, recycle, philosophy – that is – sustainable practices supporting sustainable living.  A subscribing appliances model means the customer simply returns a non-working appliance for a working one – they’re never in a position to need to dispose of an appliance. 


2. The Subscription Appliance Business Model Encourages Appliance Owners to Maintain Their Appliances Instead of Sending Them to Waste.

With subscription services, the customer no longer owns the machine, and is no longer responsible for its care and uptake.  Instead the subscribing appliances business is responsible, and the customer expects working appliances at all times.  For the subscribing services business, they want appliances that are easily repairable with long service lives, and they want to avoid breakdowns at customers houses because its bad for customer experience, its much harder to deal with than in the warehouse or factory, and it might require multiple visits to resolve.  So a subscribing appliance business services their appliances.  The subscribing appliances business also has an economic interest in getting the longest life out of an appliance, and repairing it.  In fact they’re usually going to specialise in repairing their appliances, its much more cost effective for the subscribing appliances business to repair and service their appliances and pass the saving s onto customers, than continually buy appliances, and throw broken appliances away which only need minor service.

Subscribing appliances turns the economics of repairing appliances around, signficantly reducing waste through reuse and longer service lives. The economic interest of the subscribing appliances business is aligned with sustainable practices and sustainable products and through that sustainable living – there’s no need for anyone to do the right thing, the structure itself aligns the economic interest of the appliance owner with the reduce reuse recycle principles.   

3. The Subscription Appliance Business Model Creates an Economic Incentive to Salvage Parts.

When an appliance has come to the end of its service life, its reusable parts can be salvaged for use in another appliance, further reducing waste and improving sustainable living.  While there are service parts that wear out, there are many that have no service life, or have very long service lives and will continue to last in good condition.  For example a washing machine door, or a fridge shelf.  This also combats another problem with the sustainable practices of the appliance industry, the dreaded NLA – no longer available.  Depending on the brand and model of appliance you buy, parts may never be available to buy.  For quality brands like Fisher Paykel, Electrolux, LG, Miele and Asko parts are usually available, but for how long varies wildly.  Sometimes you won’t be able to get a part after just one year  (or less), sometimes parts can be available after 20 years or longer.  Usually the more you pay for the appliance initially, the longer parts will be available but there’s no guarantees.  And even for a specific model some parts might be NLA after just a few years, while others are available a few decades later.  A good example of this is Fisher and Paykel refrigerators.  For many of their models the doors are no longer available, so if a door is damaged, it needs to be repaired, or if its too bad another door needs to be found from an appliance that is otherwise beyond repair.  For the same fridge, most of the other parts are still readily available, as they’re used on more current models and you can even get parts for a fridge thats 30 years old in many cases, just frustratingly, not the doors.  

For the subscription appliance business owner, because they own hundreds of the same model of appliance, they can convert anything that is beyond repair into parts, and now those parts that are no longer availalble – they are available!  That fridge that would have been put out on the nature strip as waste, now gets a chance to breathe new life into several of its brothers and sisters.  Traditionally when you rent appliances or buy appliances many of these parts would be ewaste, with subscribing appliances they’re kept as valuable parts.

4. The Subscription Appliance Business Model encourages manufacturers to build more repairable appliances.

The final reason subscription appliances reduce waste is by encouraging appliance manufacturers to adopt more sustainable practices and design and build more repairable and sustainable products.  It is simple supply and demand.  As the demand grows for subscription appliances, the business owners will have a strong preference for repairable appliances, and pay a premium for them.  There will be higher demand for those repairable appliances and therefore the manufacturer can command a higher price, while those less repairable or with poor parts availability will be less attractive and won’t be as valuable.   This can make better appliances availalble to all and support more sustainable living.

There, we have compiled them all together. True to this writing the services we offer here at Whybuy is over the top. Minimum effort with maximum result for us, our customers and the environment. We have only started with suggesting a more sustainable lifestyle to our customers and we will continue to do more and add more services that would aid the idea of sustainability at its best functionality. 

Stay tuned to know more about Whybuys journey.


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Subscription Appliances – Save Money and Live Sustainably?

The world is a big place, and human populations are growing globally – is it even possible to have a sustainable future and live sustainably with such a large and growing population? The Reduce, Reuse, Recycle philosophy and Sustainable products – often just a greenwash – can only take us so far in a human world demanding ever more resources.  Global energy consumption has increased by more than 30% over the past decade, with countries like China and India driving that growth. Climate change is already affecting us all, but even if we’re able to adapt our way out of it, we need to make sure that we don’t add further damage when we do so – This will only increase the problems associated with climate change in the future.  In addition to climate change we seem to have forgotten the myriad of other environmental problems that were already causing problems before climate change become the focus issue of the environmental movement.  Single use plastic, nuclear disasters, habitat and rainforests being converted into farmland, degradation of environment, toxic waste, landfill – the list goes on and on.

Sunset in Melbourne on 22 February 2024, the evening the Bayindeen bushfires raged a few hundred kilometres away

What are Subscription Appliances?

Subscription appliances are a great way to get the same appliance you would otherwise buy but as the name implies – you subscribe to them instead of buying appliances, and pay a weekly or monthly subscription fee. Brands like LG, Samsung, LG and Electrolux that you’d otherwise buy at big box stores like Harvey Norman or the Good Guys or even buying online at somewhere like Appliances Online are now available as a service instead of a physical good – serviced electric appliances. Instead of buying physical electric appliances you subscribe to them. And because you no longer own them and you’re paying for functional safe working electric appliances, you can demand that they are repaired or replaced at no expense to you if there’s a fault. Because you’re not paying for the electric appliance, you’re paying for the fridge to keep your food at the right temperature, your clothes to be washed effectively, to be entertained by your TV, and for your clothes to be dried correctly – and so on. For all intents and purposes the electric appliances have a lifetime warranty! And if your lifestyle and budget and budget change – for example you might move house and your fridge doesn’t fit your new space, or perhaps you have a baby and need a larger washing machine – you can simply swap out for the appliance you need, when you need it!

How are Subscription Appliances the Sustainable Alternative?

We are not here to shame you by telling you that subscription appliances are the best for a sustainable future and if you don’t choose subscription appliances you are not living sustainably living. It has long since been established that the concept of personal responsibility for climate change “your carbon footprint” was a marketing exercise by fuel giant BP. The reality is that a handful of companies around the world are responsible for climate change, and many of them are actively campaigning to prolong the use of fossil fuels and the damage cause by climate change because ultimately, they don’t have to pay for the clean-up, and their current business is very lucrative. At Whybuy we believe you should try to live sustainably and take some personal responsibility for your actions. Simple things like sorting your recycling and organic waste where services are available into the correct bins. Reduce, reuse recycle. If you have an old inefficient refrigerator, it can be replaced with a newer model that reduces energy use. Little things that are within your power to change, that don’t mean your quality of life is worse. We don’t believe in flight shaming and reduce energy usage to the point where you’re living in the dark. The technologies exist to end climate change now. You should have a choice to fly on an electric plane. Your electricity should be generated with one of the myriad sustainable energy options available. It’s not even particularly expensive and has been shown to be much cheaper than continuing to emit carbon. The most important thing you can do is vote for climate action and laws that hold polluting companies to account, because you can bet those same companies are bribing and lobbying government for their own benefit, to the detriment of you, your children and the environment we all share.

We are here to tell you about the benefits of subscription appliances, not guilt you about your “carbon footprint” and do the propaganda work of petrochemical companies for them, We will give you the facts without the spin, and you can make up your own mind. Subscription Appliances are more sustainable for one key reason. The interests of the subscription appliance business is aligned with a sustainable future. A subscription appliance retailer wants to keep the appliances running as long as possible- so they repair them whenever they break. If the appliance is irreparable, it is stripped for its useful parts like control boards or fridge shelves, switches, and doors which go into other appliances that require repair. The sad reality is that in many countries, like Australia, the cost of labour is so high, while it might be a sustainable practice to have your appliance repaired it is usually not the economical choice. To get a repairer out to look at the appliance, you need to pay a call out fee even if the appliance is irreparable, you need to pay for the repair – and if it’s not fixed, you’re back at square one. And this is where we come full circle to what we were discussing earlier – where you should have sustainable options, instead of having to choose between an uneconomical repair where the risk reward doesn’t work out, or making the sustainable choice. This problem in the appliance industry causes flow on effects – people buy cheaper more poorly built brands knowing that if it breaks they won’t repair it, just throw it out and get another one. These more poorly built brands are usually less efficient using more power and water, and have shorter lives, and don’t do as good a job as the more expensive machines.

Subscription Appliance businesses on the other hand have an interest in selecting good quality machines that won’t give them maintenance headaches, that they always have to go and repair or maintain. More easily repairable machines that will have long service lives. Subscription Appliances is very aligned with the reduce, reuse, recycle philosophy. At the same time though, and running counter to the sustainable interests – the other main consideration is the cosmetic quality of the electric appliance to the customer. Sure, you can make a good quality appliance run for 20 years, but the customer probably won’t be very happy with it when it arrives! Most subscription appliances businesses have a full refund on delivery policy if you’re not happy with the electric appliances on delivery, or you can always just return them whenever you want, that’s the beauty of subscription appliances for the customer! So it’s a balance between a pretty machine, and getting as much life out of the machine as possible, before a customer would be anything less than happy with it. Finally most subscription appliances businesses have protections if an appliance develops a fault – for your peace of mind. Fir example Whybuy has a $150 food spoilage protection policy if one of our Fisher and Paykel fridges develops a fault causing your food to go bad, so we’re also careful not to push things past their service life, as we’re the ones who end up paying for it!

It could be said that by repairing appliances and keeping them in service longer, more power and water will be wasted because newer electric appliances will be more efficient and have smart technologies to reduce energy use. While there was substantial efficiency gains to be had in the last 20 years efficiency gains have largely diminished in the last few years, and without any breakthroughs in smart technologies its hard to see how appliances would get more efficient. For example, a fridge runs on the same technology it did 50 years ago, and it has been perfected over time to substantially reduce energy use since then, there have been no major breakthroughs – only improvements. In fact you could take a 50 year old fridge and make it more efficient than a fridge built yesterday simply by adding more insulation to its body. Often we look to these smart technologies to save us, when we’ve always had the answer to our problems in front of us.