Dad's first retro rant of 2012 - Coffee makers aren't what they used to be

Today my Keurig coffee maker broke, and it's got me super irritated (I really love my coffee).  The unit simply would not power up and is now dead as a duck.  Things break and I accept that.  It's the fact that it broke down almost exactly one year after the factory warranty expired that has me irked.  Many will undoubtedly say that I should have bought an extended warranty, but I say "phooey" to that school of thought in this instance.  After all.. I spent close to one hundred and fifty dollars on the dang thing, which brings up two points that I've now begun to ponder..

1.) When the heck did it become the norm to spend well over $100.00 on a flipping coffee maker?

and..

2.) Since when do coffee makers especially higher end units have a life of about two years?

After the coffee maker broke today, my bride and I instantly got online to see if there were any tricks or methods we could use to fix it ourselves.  I finally gathered enough information to learn that my Keurig coffeemaker has an engineering flaw that allows a water tube to drip onto the machines internal power unit. The water in turn fry's said power unit, rendering it useless, and leaving the consumer with a five pound piece of landfill fodder.  Can you say built in obsolescence kids?

Is it too much to ask that a coffee maker should last for longer than two years?  In this day and age, I'm guessing the answer to that question is yes.  Maybe I should take it to the fix-it shop and have it repaired.  Oh wait a minute.. there are no such things as fix-it shops in this day and age.  It's cheaper to throw items away than to have them fixed anymore.  Heck.. many times, products are made so there is no possible way to repair and maintain them anyway.

A couple of years back, my folks bought a brand new coffee maker to replace their old unit of thirty five years.  It wasn't that they simply wanted a newer model mind you.  The burner fizzled out and they could find no one who could, or wanted to repair it.  Over the years, they had the burner replaced on that old coffee maker twice.  Once in the 70's, and again in the 80's.  Now.. the fix-it shop that performed those repairs has been closed for years.  When asked how she likes the newer coffee maker, my Mom simply replies.. "It doesn't make coffee nearly as good as our old one".

Now I have the dilemma as to what I'm going to do about a coffee maker.  I would be happy buying three old identical coffee makers at thrift stores.  That way, I'd have spare parts to make repairs with, if the unit ever broke down on me.  Heck.. the vintage coffee maker could feasibly last me for the rest of my natural life, and I could do this all with an initial investment of no more than $15.00! While the thought of getting that much bang for my buck excites me to no end,  I'm not sure if my bride will be too keen on that idea.  She loved that Keurig, and I must confess that I too got used to brewing my morning coffee in less than 60 seconds.  That being said.. I don't think this 20th century male is so far removed from the old days, that I couldn't muster enough patience to go back to drip brewing my coffee once again.