Disreputable Receptacles

Receptacles are pretty long-lasting, but old ones eventually can give out when the clips no longer hold a plug snuggly. There also are drawbacks to some old receptacles if they’re neither polarized nor grounded. Receptacle bodies also get broken if furniture or toy trucks somehow bang into them. (This happens at gyms all the time, only barbells do the damage.)
You want your receptacles and their cover plates to be intact. Broken or missing sections can set up you and yours for a shock or worse. When replacing an old receptacle, you can’t simply pop a new, grounded receptacle into an existing two-slot outlet. It doesn’t work that way, although there is a trick you can do with a GFCI that will give you some protection, but it will not ground any equipment plugged into the receptacle. A GFCI does not give grounding protection unless a grounding conductor already is present.