A Dry Sense of Loyalty

By I.J. Hudson

You could call it a “Love Story” of sorts.  These are my Kenmore twins – a washer/dryer combination we bought when we moved into the new house more than 20 years ago. 

Enough nostalgia.  In the more than 20 years of service, we had the band around the dryer drum replaced.  That’s it - no other service.  In the last six months, we noticed the dryer wasn't drying as quickly, and in the last few weeks, we started getting a “burny” smell from the washer. 

Probably the motor.

 

So we went shopping – online consumer reports to start.  But the page was really out of date, according to the brick and mortar store (Sears, because it had all the brands recommended) we visited.  “Oh, that one’s no longer available; that one has been discontinued.”

I pressed, “By you or by the manufacturer?”  The manufacturer, said the Sears salesperson.  Hmmm, could Consumerreports.org be behind the market?  It certainly seemed that way.  

And when we asked more questions, we found out that the number of manufacturers (like in many industries) had shrunk:  about the same number of brand names, but only a couple of companies actually make the washers and dryers. 

That’s part one of the story.  The other part is the difference 20 years of technology makes in washers and dryers.  It’s almost like the first time I bought a car with a remote.  What’s this???  After a while, you almost forget that the key will open the door if the battery dies in the remote.  Duh!  

The old washer and dryer had twisty knobs and mechanical settings.   The new ones’ - a cpu that automatically figures out the settings (we could make changes), requires less water, less detergent, less power and more money :}}    

Perhaps we should have upgraded a long time ago – but our guys were working just fine.  

If there are any lessons here, they may be that loyalty is to be rewarded, and long service praised.  I say thanks to the Kenmore of the 1980’s.  You served us well.  We’ll see about the longevity of the new stuff.