Thursday, May 16, 2002

  • Osterized

    The blender blade on our old blender (Jim had it before he married me, 15 years ago, I can only imagine how old it is) broke, so I went to Walmart to buy a new one.  They had the usual assortment of white and black plastic, plastic and glass jars, and more speeds than I have fingers and toes to count them on.  I finally settled on one that was different than all the rest, a retro job with a big chrome base, advertising an all metal 500 watt motor and a CD of recipes, and having only one speed.  I figured this would appeal to my husband, the primary frozen drink maker in the house.  To him, metal is always better than plastic, software is better than books, more power is better, and you only need one speed - fast.  Being the painfully cheap person that I am,  I am pleased to report that it only cost me 40 bucks.  The low-end blenders were 20, and the others in the quality range I was looking at (Osters, of course)were 30-35 bucks.  It was worth a little more to get something that was so cool-looking. 

    He was delighted with it, and made wonderful strawberry-banana daiquiris last night (with fresh fruit, of course).  This is a pretty good payback for buying a blender, I think.

    After he took it apart, I noticed that the blade assembly is identical to the one on the broken blender.  He suggested that I look into buying a new blade, and then we would have two good blenders, one for the house and one to travel with us in the RV.  So, I popped onto the Oster website, and found that ALL Oster blenders have the same blade assemblies.  I could easily buy a new one for $12.95, and the shipping and handling would be $5.95.   That would be $19  to return a 20+ year old blender to working condition.  I could buy a whole new blender (not an Oster) for that much money.  Do you think it's worth it?

    (this is not a paid endorsement for Oster blenders, I just think they have a good product)

Comments (6)

  • Wouldn't Ebay have an Oster blade or a whole unit for auction?  Good grief, you'll work the blender something fierce! :o)

  • That is frustrating.  On the one hand, you don't want to be wasteful, throwing something away that could be fixed.  On the other hand, it doesn't make much sense if the fix cost as much as replacement. 

    Maybe you can find a broken Oster blender at the Salvation Army that has a good blade?
  • why don't you just put the old one in the RV and take the new blade with you on trips.
  • lol, I had to read that first line 3 times before it sunk in what the heck you were talking about. My uncle used to make us milkshakes all the time that were soooo good but since we moved and we've gotten older we dont seem to use the blender as much (seems like that should be the opposite with most people but I guess it's only if there are drinkers in the house most of the time). I love smoothies and virgin strawberry daiquiris but I only get them when we go to the mall or red lobster for some reason, I might have to look into finding a good recipe to make my own now that I have some time on my hands, plus the last few times I went to the mall and had a smoothie I found that it helps my stomach not feel so yucky.
  • Maybe you can get blades more locally & not have to pay shipping? Department store or appliance store with a service dept?

  • I would spend a little to get the old one repaired - you know how dependable it is, right ?

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    • From: Juliet_A
    • Posted: 5/16/2002 8:09 AM

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