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A stochastic process 
, such that P{Z(0) = 0} = 1, is said to be new better than used (NBU) if, for every x, the first-passage time Tx = inf {t: Z(t) > x} satisfies P{TX > s + t} 
for everys 
. In this paper it is shown that many useful processes are NBU. Examples of such processes include processes with shocks and recovery, processes with random repair-times, various Gaver–Miller processes and some strong Markov processes. Applications in reliability theory, queueing, dams, inventory and electrical activity of neurons are indicated. It is shown that various waiting times for clusters of events and for short and wide gaps in some renewal processes are NBU random variables. The NBU property of processes and random variables can be used to obtain bounds on various probabilistic quantities of interest; this is illustrated numerically.
