Mike & Johnny,
The young sprogs today probably wouldn't believe that there actually used to be a time when a contractor or tradesman could buy a tool, and it would last his entire career- and then get passed down to his son! Today, even the contractor-grade stuff, if ya get two or three years of even light occasional use out of it, you're lucky!
And if it breaks once it's out of warranty? There's no throwing in a $10 part, or taking to a fix it shop for $20. Now one part costs $80-$100, and it would cost more than the price of the tool to have someone else repair it...and then something else would just break a week later even if you did.....
The modern cars are the same way. Even if the bodies and engines hold up (Which will no longer be the case, with all of these small 4cyl. turbo-charged engines pulling around heavy vehicles) there are so many microprocessors, even the stealership service departments have to just guess half of the time- and once it's out of warranty...good luck with that- and junkyards will be of no use, since the processors don't age well, especially out in the weather...and are often sub-model and option-package specific, so good luck finding what ya need a few years down the road, even if it somehow is still viable!
The disposable society....
