I’ve thought about this a lot while restoring an old sewing machine. I conclude it comes down to the Labor-Capital share in a market [1].
Labor used to be relatively more abundant compared to capital. In these conditions, servicing an older machine makes economic sense.
With capital becoming relatively cheap compared to labor, servicing becomes more expensive. It then becomes cheaper to simply replace an appliance, utilizing efficiencies of scale unlocked on the factory floor though greater automation. Repairmen don’t enjoy the same efficiency gains because diagnosing and repairing an issue is still fundamentally a manual process.
Labor used to be relatively more abundant compared to capital. In these conditions, servicing an older machine makes economic sense.
With capital becoming relatively cheap compared to labor, servicing becomes more expensive. It then becomes cheaper to simply replace an appliance, utilizing efficiencies of scale unlocked on the factory floor though greater automation. Repairmen don’t enjoy the same efficiency gains because diagnosing and repairing an issue is still fundamentally a manual process.
1 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_share