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@pseudonym If you're serious, I would begin my search for appliances in Latin America, where people don't buy products with nonsense features or that are not easily repairable. You'll find stoves that are just stoves. Refrigerators that are just refrigerators. It's like the 1960s but all new using the latest high-tech, high-efficiency, low power consumption compressors, etc.

There are many brands to choose from in Central and South America. Find out where they are sourced and import them.

@pseudonym Seems to be a fair amount of interest in this. A few seconds with a search engine would turn all this up. But if I needed to outfit a house in Guatemala again (I lived there for 15 years) I already know what I'm looking for.

Small appliance stores are common. The "big dog" is called La Curacao. They have big stores in big cities and malls down to tiny stores in tiny towns. All my experiences with them, first and second-hand, have been excellent. La Curacao is the go-to place in Guatemala if you need appliances of any kind (electrodomesticos). Best Buy is probably the closest equivalent in the U.S., except there are no tiny Best Buy stores in tiny towns.

I think we were mainly talking about refrigerators and that plain refrigerators are gone. They are not. Guatemalans, especially Guatemalan women are astute buyers. "What is this silly feature and why am I paying for it? Show me another one."

A quick look at La Curacao's web site shows plenty of ordinary refrigerators and stoves.

Here's a brand I've owned before, Cetron.

https://www.lacuracaonline.com/guatemala/refrigeradora-cetron-rcc390ovne-frost-14-ft3-439613700005/p

14 cu ft. Q4,300 or $559 USD

Type "refrigeradoras" into the search box or here's a link that should list a number of refrigerators.

https://www.lacuracaonline.com/guatemala/catalogsearch/result/?q=refrigeradoras

To convert from Q to dollars, multiply by 0.13

The following link should bring up a number of free-standing and countertop stoves.

https://www.lacuracaonline.com/guatemala/catalogsearch/result/?q=estufas

If not, type "estufas" into the search box.

You can get even better deals from small "mom and pop" appliance stores but you won't get the backup you get with La Curacao in terms of guarantees and repairs, even if you move to a different part of the country. La Curacao is everywhere so I think it's smart to buy from them.

@shuttersparks

Brilliant. Thanks for the reference and link

@pseudonym @shuttersparks sounds like an easy "small import" business to start near the border. Wait for an order, drive over and bring back one at a time. Providing English instructions and new stickers sounds not hard, with managed expectations. Parts supply might be difficult though. Maybe partner with an existing repair shop with that specialty. Markup to same as the $1000 fridge, sounds right for one's labor.

@trouble @pseudonym It seems do-able to me but I wonder where's the catch I must be missing? What are the hurdles? I'm sure that manufacturers have set up hurdles to make what we're talking about impossible so they can protect their closed market of people who expect to pay prices that are 250-plus percent higher.

The same thing exists with pharmaceuticals and prices that are 5 to 25 times higher than the same drug in Guatemala. But the game is rigged so you can't get around it.

@shuttersparks @pseudonym vague unresearched thoughts because phone: import fees. UL testing. Freon ban. Lost, damaged cargo. Business insurance. Insufficient $ flow to keep a tiny 5 person business running (employees: Delivery, disposal, driving across the border). Dealing with cross-border incidents like a crash destroying your delivery truck and/or cargo. These are all similar with the so-called gig economy: individuals make money by skimping on $ABOVE and get lucky that nothing bad happens.

@trouble @pseudonym Yup. Although I would stop thinking about the border. I'm sure all those appliances are manufacturered in Asia, so they would arrive in perfect condition by the containerful in Los Angeles, bearing whatever names and logos you asked for.

I'm also not clear on how many USians want simple, functional stuff. We in this thread obviously do. That's why we're talking about it. And we don't care what other people think. But even here in poor West Virginia, people are very focused on having the latest snazzy stuff that's "better" than what your neighbor bought six months ago. (This is a sickness unique to the United States, I think.)

So there may not be much of a market for pure practicality, even if it's a lot cheaper and more reliable.