PS I used to work for Maytag. They haven't been about quality for about 15 years. They also haven't been Maytag for about 10 years. I garnered much of my disdain for corporate policies and greed from them. Then when Whirlpool bought them, they closed up all the US plants and shipped them over the border but kept the name even though the product and quality are not nearly the same as it used to be.
That is not completely accurate. I worked with Whirlpool before and after the Maytag acquisition. The top load production at the IN plant was absorbed by Whirlpool's facility in Clyde, OH. So while they closed plants (Whirlpool favors non-union shops) the top loader jobs stayed stateside. When I left in 2008 there was already a big push to bring more manufacturing stateside due to many issues (transportation costs, production costs, up time which is vital to product availability and efficient warehousing, etc). A quick google shows they just
moved some production from Mexico to the States this year.
The key point that showed true colors of how corporations work is that I posed the question once of....if washing machines last 20-30 years, and there are 5-10 companies selling machines, don't you reach a saturation point? Their answer? Yes, and this is why we now build them to fail in 7. They cost less to build, and people have to buy them more often, but we charge the same amount. (based on inflation).
This isn't a singular mindset.[/QUOTE]
Same question, same answer. Indeed there are only a few washing machine makers (Whirlpool, GE, LG, Samsung) so almost all those other brands are rebadges coming off the same production line. The differences are usually fairly cosmetic (electronic dash, basket material and size, cabinet size and style, motor size) with all the other components being shared. The market is brutal with a lot of dumping and foreign subsidies. The argument is that most washer/dryers are purchased with a home and the average home owner stays in a house 5-7 years. There is no "reason" to make a durable good that lasts 20 years (like the old Maytags) when consumers "want" a new washer with a new house--or to take advantage of new technology. Bells and whistles are cheaper than every washer having more heavy raw materials to increase durability, etc. I never liked this mindset but it is the one set by consumer buying patterns. Everyone says they want a 20 year washer. Few people practice what they preach. Sadly, this is very wasteful in terms of the materials and cost (energy for one) to make these things. Or course it is good for jobs to have people replace them regularly, family sizes change, and the government likes this can allow them to employ more strict EnergyStar criteria.
As the OP learned a >1% of units do NOT work out of the box and the goal is 95% work rate during the warranty period. Those are very good metrics for a large, complex durable good that considering the material investment is relatively "affordable."