Reasonable expectations to the life of a leather item

[BruceGibson]

I'm not a fan of the "100-year" guarantees, or the "great grandkids will fight over it when you're dead" marketing manure.  I have no idea what the statistics would be these days for an operation to exist that long, but I'd bet it's near 0%.  When I see those, I just pass them by--the only real guarantee with those operations is you'll need tall boots and a shovel at some point.

[fredk]

I must say that in the UK and I think European-wide, ie those countries in and allied to the European Common Trade Markets, any  person or company trading full time or part time as a business selling new or 2nd hand goods within the UK/EU must provide  some form of guarantee *

It might be the very minimum, such as, 'down to the bottom of the lane (50 yards)' as when I once bought a junk car or much longer ones such as  for '10 years guarantee for quality of material, wear & tear excepted' 

As I said before, these improbably long guarantees of 50 or 100 years are not allowed, as is 'life-time', on this, many years ago, some courts ruled 'whose life-time?, the seller's, the buyer's or the good's?' Thus it was ruled that a guarantee had to have a definite time length

* some exceptions do apply

The point of this waffle is to say; any of you, if you were living or selling in the UK/Europe would have to provide a minimal guarantee for your goods

[Klara]

On 5/5/2023 at 1:36 AM, HandyDave said:

But have had a couple snaps and other hardware pieces fail a few times.

I am not making leather gooods for sale, but I have made lots of horse and dog gear, and generally it is the hardware that fails. Even after learning to buy stainless steel items....

[Gosut]

Strictly as a user of leather goods, the wear and tear on leather seems heavily dependent on customer care. I've seen a WWI US Calvary saddle that was heavily used in civilian hands that was in good shape after a century. Our family no longer has the mule harnesses because they deteriorated long ago. The leather on shoes much younger than that gave up the ghost, but most of these were work shoes subjected to hog lots. My grandfather's razor strop is still around, but would be reluctant to strop a blade on it due to its fragility.

Let's say someone offers a century guarantee. After a year they get a claim because someone didn't take proper care of the item. Then what? Say "This is due to your negligence," which is the truth, but is likely to get the complaint going that you don't honor your guarantee? Replace it no questions asked, then end up hemorrhaging time and money with questionable claims?

[nstarleather]

13 hours ago, Gosut said:

Strictly as a user of leather goods, the wear and tear on leather seems heavily dependent on customer care. I've seen a WWI US Calvary saddle that was heavily used in civilian hands that was in good shape after a century. Our family no longer has the mule harnesses because they deteriorated long ago. The leather on shoes much younger than that gave up the ghost, but most of these were work shoes subjected to hog lots. My grandfather's razor strop is still around, but would be reluctant to strop a blade on it due to its fragility.

Let's say someone offers a century guarantee. After a year they get a claim because someone didn't take proper care of the item. Then what? Say "This is due to your negligence," which is the truth, but is likely to get the complaint going that you don't honor your guarantee? Replace it no questions asked, then end up hemorrhaging time and money with questionable claims?

Yeah my reckoning is that those that start the guarantee hope to sell the company or retire long before "the music stops"...even a small percentage of sales over 100 years is nuts unless it's a low-wear/use item.

 

[tsunkasapa]

From all the guarantees and warranties that I have seen through the years, none of them cover owner negligence or abuse. I have a friend that makes custom knives. They come with a lifetime guarantee, as long as you don't abuse the knife. I know of two that he has replaced, and five people that were just out of luck for doing stupid things. I have never seen a 'no questions asked guarantee'.

[Handstitched]

8 hours ago, tsunkasapa said:

none of them cover owner negligence or abuse. I have a friend that makes custom knives.

Good point, you can't fix stupid  

HS

[nstarleather]

18 hours ago, tsunkasapa said:

From all the guarantees and warranties that I have seen through the years, none of them cover owner negligence or abuse. I have a friend that makes custom knives. They come with a lifetime guarantee, as long as you don't abuse the knife. I know of two that he has replaced, and five people that were just out of luck for doing stupid things. I have never seen a 'no questions asked guarantee'.

Yeah that makes sense...I could also see "professional use" being an exception with knives (not sure if he's doing kitchen knives) but a chef who uses the same knife all day, everyday will eventually wear it to a nub...or if the back is thick it becomes less of a knife and more of a hatchet.