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Sunday, September 27, 2026Est. 2026. Most of what's in here is older.

Don't fix it if it ain't broke

Still Running / Electronics

No. 0110Electronics

1988

HP-12C financial calculator

Hewlett-Packard

Running 38 years

Issued on day one of an accounting job, October 1988

An HP-12C financial calculator made in 1988. Not the one in the story. — An HP-12C financial calculator made in 1988. Not the one in the story. Photo: Pittigrilli, CC0. The real one is in the original post.

This HP-12C came with a new accounting job in October 1988, and almost 30 years later it's doing the same work. Over the years plenty of people have borrowed it for a quick sum. It runs on RPN, so most of them poke at it, push it aside, and go looking for what they call a real calculator.

Retold from a post on r/BuyItForLife. Read the original

More from Electronics

No. 0109Electronics

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Running about 50 years

No. 0108Electronics

GE 4870 AM/FM radio

Saved up for the digital one. Dust stays on. A General Electric 7-4550 AM/FM clock radio in a woodgrain case, an older GE model with a dial tuner. Not the 4870, and not the one in the story.

A General Electric 7-4550 AM/FM clock radio in a woodgrain case, an older GE model with a dial tuner. Not the 4870, and not the one in the story.

Running about 51 years

No. 0022Electronics

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A Roomba Discovery back on its charging dock, photographed in 2006. Not the one in the story.

Running 20 years

No. 0021Electronics

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A basic Westclox digital alarm clock with a red LED display. Not the one in the story.

Running about 28 years