Continuing this theme, I just had to replace my phone answering machine. I stilll have the receipt from my old one, dated April 1989. I paid $73.49 for it. I had to ask the salesclerk for a demonstration because it was such a newfangled thing back then. The one I just got cost less that $20 and it TALKS you through the setup. Of course, I highly doubt it'll last eighteen years.
My phone, on the other hand, keeps going and going. It's one of those legendary Western Electric rotaries (in turquoise, no less!) with a ringer that sounds like a fire alarm bell. I dread the day when AT&T no longer supports rotary service.