A QUIET TOOL
The cost-per-year calculator
Every record in this library is judged by one plain number: not the sticker, but the price divided by the years a thing is kept. Here it is for whatever you are weighing — the durable thing you would keep against the cheap one you would replace.
Kept
$1.33 / year
Replaced
$5.00 / year
| After | Kept | Replaced |
|---|---|---|
| 3 years | — | — |
| 5 years | — | — |
| 10 years | — | — |
Nothing you type leaves your browser. The arithmetic runs on this page alone; "copy a link" simply puts your numbers in the URL so you can return to them.
What the number does not say
Cost per year is the floor of the argument, not the whole of it. A thing also has to be repairable, made by someone likely to still exist, and worth keeping at all — the three questions behind every record. The calculator tells you which purchase is cheaper across its life; the catalog tells you which is worth that life.
And when the thing is already yours and the question is a repair quote, the same arithmetic has its own page: the repair-or-replace calculator.
For things already worked out this way, the shelves where the numbers tend to favour keeping:
- The cast iron skillet — about $1.30 a year.
- The Goodyear-welt boot — about $47 a year, three resoles in.
- The display — about $25 a year, across four computers.
- The wired open-back headphone — about $25 a year, re-padded not replaced.
- The whole catalog →