On 12/20/04, DH bought me my camera, a Sony Cyber-Shot DSCW1 with all the bells and whistles...2.5" LCD screen, 5.1 megapixels (this was great for 2 years ago), Carl Zeiss lens, 3x optical zoom. He paid $331 not including taxes or memory cards for it. That is a good amount of money.
(pictures found online)
Fast forward almost 2 years and the camera is not functioning well. Our friends K & J went and bought the same camera a week after we got ours and they replaced theirs this summer because the lens wouldn't retract when you shut it off. We aren't having problems with the lens, it is just everything else!
So, I went to the Sony website to get an idea about repairing it. It will cost a flat fee of $181 to repair it!!! I could buy the exact same one brand new off of ebay for $150.
They (the manufacturers & retailers) make it so easy to just throw things away and go buy new. Financially it makes sense, but having a responsibility to our environment speaks otherwise.
Think about all of the things that you throw away today. I know people who eat off of paper or foam plates exclusively so that they "don't have to do dishes". Think of the things that you are putting in the garbage that could be recycled, repaired or reused. Sure it takes a bit more effort, but once you get used to it, you don't even notice the change. Our landfills are overflowing by things that don't need to be there.
This whole camera repair business really set my mind in motion about how "disposable" our society is. Shoot, my Granny only uses disposable cameras. Ironic, huh?
Peace.
P.S. I finished my knitted scarf last night. Will post a picture in the next post. One more thing to cross off my 50 project listing!
4 comments:
Well gee whiz my blogroll hasnt been doing its job and I see I have missed a few post from you.. so here they go.. :)
I know what you mean about a throwaway society! Working at a nursing home, it makes me sick to see all the food that is thrown away each meal! And knowing all the hungry people out there - who have gone without a meal. Good luck with finding information about the camera, and getting it repaired.
Cant wait to see your knitted scarf - we sure could have used a scarf this past weekend for sure!
~Kim~
I know the feeling... my Samsung digital camera only lasted about two years. I have a Canon (non-digital) which I bought about 13 years ago, and have never had a problem with it. It really is a throw away society these days. I have a new digital Canon, and am sure hoping it lasts longer than the Samsung did!
It is sad how so many things are disposable, isn't it? We have a few disposable "weaknesses" here (Swiffer stuff for cleaning, and I probably use too many paper towels), but for the most part, I try real hard to stick with re-usable things.
Good luck with the camera! We ended up replacing my 6-yo digital camera earlier this summer. It hadn't all-out died (still hasn't), but wasn't working like it used to. It's interesting...we ended up with a much nicer (technology-wise) camera plus a printer dock for about half the price of my original camera!
On Saipan, the years remaining on our landfill can be counted on one hand...nobody has even considered what to do next except to find another place to put a landfill.
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