Where to find products that last a lifetime

[Lodestar]

In a consumption economy, most people are looking for a good price, regardless of quality. But one young British entrepreneur is trying to help the environment and people's wallets with a website that researches and recommends products with lifetime guarantees.

Tara Button, 34, started BuyMeOnce.com (buymeonce.com) in January. Within six weeks the site had more than 400,000 visitors, there to browse umbrellas, tools, cooking pots and even tweezers - all with quality guarantees from their manufacturers.

BuyMeOnce does not sell any products directly, but rather provides links to purchase items from the manufacturer or retail sites like Amazon. Button gets a fee for clicks only when she has signed a deal with the merchant.

"No one likes to feel ripped off," says Button, who had a job in advertising in London until last month. She got the idea for her site because she is frustrated that manufacturers keep downgrading the quality of their products.

"My aim is that if people start buying more durable things, companies will start making their products last longer," she says.

http://www.buymeonce.com/home-usa

[Mbrow]

1. looks nifty, thanks

[RKP5637]

2. This is quite interesting. I was remarking recently how I have some items that have lasted years and

years, even electronic equipment, and other items go by the wayside in a year or two, sometimes less. The waste is ridiculous.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

3. I always prefer to 'buy for life'.

Amish solid wood furniture and LL Bean clothing and shoes (which come with a lifetime no-questions asked replacement policy) are my two fave buys so far, although I'll admit that most of the cost of the furniture was a gift from housemate's parents to her. Corelware dishes may not be 'for life', but they're durable as hell. I've dropped them three feet onto concrete and not have them chip or break. After decades, I think I've only managed to chip one or two.

[elleng]

6. Imagine my delight to find a 10+ item 'set' of Corelware @ 2d hand shop for $5!!!

I LOVE it, for one thing, it's light-weight.

[pscot]

4. Craigs list?

or Goodwill.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

8. Those and yard sales.

I stocked up on a bunch of the CorningWare "Cornflower" microwave bowls at yard sales last summer.

Now when I come home at night, I can shred potatoes, onions, carrots - whatever strikes my fancy - put them in a bowl with some chicken broth, and nuke. Fifteen minutes later, I'm eating really well.

It was made in some place called "U.S.A.," wherever that was. The people who made it were paying taxes, some of which became my salary. Some of what they made got spent at local stores and circulated throughout their communities.

We'll have no more of that nonsense.

People really do love their classic CorningWare dishes

CorningWare

CorningWare, also written Corning Ware, was originally a brand name for a unique pyroceramic glass cookware resistant to thermal shock. It was first introduced in 1959 by Corning Glass Works. CorningWare can be used directly on the stovetop, in an oven or microwave, under a broiler, on table / serving use, and when ready for cleaning put directly into a dishwasher.

S. Donald Stookey, Scientist, Dies at 99; Among His Inventions Was CorningWare

By WILLIAM YARDLEY NOV. 6, 2014

S. Donald Stookey, a scientist with Corning Glass Works who in the 1950s accidentally discovered a remarkably strong material that could be used not just to make the nose cone of a missile but also to contain a casserole in both a refrigerator and hot oven — its durable culinary incarnation was called CorningWare — died on Tuesday in Rochester. He was 99. ... His son Bob confirmed his death.

Dr. Stookey invented synthetic glass ceramics, the highly versatile range of materials that continue to be refined for new uses, including glass stovetops. He also developed photosensitive glass and glass used in eyeglasses that darken in response to light. ... He was credited with creating thousands of jobs, limiting squinting and averting countless broken dishes. In 1986, he received the National Medal of Technology.

In May 1957, Corning announced that it had trademarked Pyroceram, a ceramic made from glass that could withstand temperatures up to 1,300 degrees. The company displayed a cone it had developed for a guided missile, saying the material was harder than carbon steel and would allow radar signals to pass through it. But missiles were only part of its plan for Pyroceram.

A 1957 article in The New York Times reported that the material was “expected to be used in combustion-type electric turbines, guided missiles, jet engines of airplanes that fly at supersonic speeds, oil refining, chemical processing and home cookware.”

[pscot]

9. I'm a believer

[elleng]

5. Imagine that, an umbrella that OPENS and CLOSES,

and LASTS!!!

[awoke_in_2003]

7. my straight razor is about 100 years old...

it probably will last another hundred with proper care.