alt Hacker NewsI bought a riding lawnmower used, 17 years ago. The mower was very well maintained, engine was good, and already 25 to 30 years old when I bought it.
I wanted the manual.
Sears parts still existed, and they shipped me a complete copy of the manual(photocopied) for 10 bucks.
Manual listed all parts, breakdown, etc. I was able to confidently order parts, keep it running for a decade.
That was one reason Sears was so liked.
(for reference, my new mower manual has as much detail, I checked before I bought)
I will detail the evil anti machine from sears, combo washer dryer, drop the lid and it breaks the switch, the switch trigger is on the lid with a very long prong, dropped gently it works, fast it breaks, $150 plus service call, where it turns out the prong can be snapped off, leaving a stub that still triggers the switch, but wont break it. Next, the waterpump sits on three bosses, with spring clips, if it ingests anything like a dress sock that WILL go through the machine, it stripps the drive shaft, but AGAIN, the bosses can be snapped off, there is a second place for the spring clipps, and the motor shaft now engages much further, and it will power it's way through whatever. So the standard model was that, and the "heavy duty$$$" model was 3 min snapping of plastic booby traps. pure evil, and very very likely illegal but as someone who can fix/repair or make almost anything, I see this stuff all the time, but of course, today, it's done in the software.