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Planned Obsolescence in Modern Products

MrRING

MrRING

Android Futureman
Joined
Aug 7, 2002
Messages
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So, how widespread is this? And exactly how long could items be made to last? It's for that reason this is in UL, because I'm sure that there are various myths about how long any object can be made to last, or when things are intentionally made to "self-destruct" sooner than it should to keep the manufactuer in business.

Planned obsolescence (also built-in obsolescence (UK)) is the conscious decision on the part of an agency to produce a consumer product that will become obsolete in a defined time frame. Planned obsolescence has great benefits for a producer in that it means a consumer will buy their product repeatedly, as their old one is no longer functional or desirable. It exists in many different products from vehicles to lightbulbs, from buildings to software. There is, however, the potential backlash of consumers that become aware of such obsolesence; such consumers can shed their loyalty and buy from a company that caters to their want of a more durable product.

Planned obsolescence was first developed in the 1920s and 1930s when mass production had opened every minute aspect of the production process to exacting analysis.

Estimates of planned obsolescence can influence a company's decisions about product engineering; there is little business reason to make a product that lasts longer than anyone is expected to use it. Therefore the company can use the least expensive components that satisfy product lifetime projections. Such decisions are part of a broader discipline known as value engineering.
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My personal feeling is that American cars are made to break down much faster than their Japanese couterparts. But that might be a personal UL....
 
The Bush VHS fried its own chips just a month outside warranty. It lost its ability to recall any tv channels just about the same time as I gave up caring about watching them.

I've replaced it but have mainly used the replacement for playing tapes.

The most annoying fault in my house is one I can't pinpoint: either the digital-analogue converter has gone wrong or the CD transport has. As it's now unfashionable to have them separate, I'll have to make do with my old integral one or buy a new one. :(

Luckily, I'm still 90% vinyl-oriented in my fetishism. Hurrah for old appliances which work year in, year out! King of the appliances round here must be my bog-standard gas stove. Works perfectly every time. Sorted!
 
My personal feeling is that American cars are made to break down much faster than their Japanese couterparts. But that might be a personal UL....
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There is no doubt that the Japanese have fielded a superior car year after year. The trade in value of a Japanese car will be much higher than the American counter part. The question is, does Detroit make American cars crappy on purpose? I think perhaps they do, but in a kind of sideways method. They have made engines almost impossible for a "shade tree" mechanic to work on
Although I am not an automobile mechanic, I have over the years enjoyed working on my own vehicles, the vintage of my cars and trucks has ranged in years from 1949-1992.
The `92 Ford has been my money maker for the last 6 years. So when it developed a problem with over heating I had due cause for concern. To me overheating must lay in the circulatory system of an automobile. In the process of trouble shooting the car ( it was a bad heater core ) I found a rather unpleasant detail. If my car over heats "x" amount of time, the computer will not allow the car to start! You turn on the key and all systems point to ignition, turn the key further to engage the starter and...nothing. It took me about 24 hours but I reasoned out that there was something telling my car not to start. On Ford vehicles there is a relay on the right hand of the engine compartment that when jumped from pole to pole will engage the starter, I tried that and viola! the beast came alive. After about 20 starts using a jumper wire, the key began to work again. Had I not challenged the car to a duel, I may well have invested a lot of money into a thing so simple to fix. The basics of the internal combustion engine have not changed, Air, fuel, water and spark. What has changed is the way we are allowed to know about our own investments and how to maintain them.
As for electronics, I have a VCR that was made by GE (general electric) and when it was about 2 years old I had it in the repair shop twice for the same problem (it would just turn off) The last time I took it to the technician he said " Look, this the last time this machine can be repaired by me under warranty, if you let me put this Sony chip in it, it will last a very long time." I allowed him to do that and the dang thing has been trouble free for 15 years.
So yeah I think things are made to fail after a time.

Peace!
=^..^=217
 
It's not just manufacturers who make things obsolete.

Here in UK, analogue broadcasting will be switched off in a few years in favour of digital, so if you want to keep your old telly you'll need to get a set-top box. Otherwise new digital receivers will be required.

The amount they are plugging the new digital stuff, the government is hoping everyone will have changed in time, but there'll still be a few old farts (like me, probably) who'll be caught out. :(
 
It isn't much better even if do switch do digital Rynner, at least not in the Highlands.
There are vast tracts here that recieve no terrestrial (analogue or digital) signal at all.
The only way to watch T.V. is Sky digital.
So taking the only option available brings you right into line with the goverments wish, digital viewing.
So what do BBC Scotland do when the have some footy to show?
Switch off the Sky digital signal and broadcast only by terrestrial means as they don't have the necessary contract to broadcast the event UK wide.

2 hours of blank screen telling you that the programme is unavailable.
Refund on license fee? Not likely.
 
My biology teacher always used to tell us that the cleaning components of biological washing powder is renewable (enzymes, I think), hence it could be put into plastic beads, for example, and inserted in the washing machine and you would never need washing powder. Don't know about non-bio though!
 
the built in obsolecence is due to good statistcal measurment of mean time to failure, the fact that products now die just days outside of the warrenty is due to the high quaility of their data collection.
 
I must admit that I am frequently shocked by the shoddy quality of modern household goods, here's two very recent examples from Heckler Towers:

Brand new vaccuum cleaner from a very respectable manufacturer (begins with D and ends in Yson) gets through belts at the rate of one a month. They actually sell the belts in twos because they go so often (And surprise surprise belts aren't covered by the warrenty).

My parents bought the top of the range one from the same manufactuer which blew up after two days.

A brand new dish washer managed one wash then blew up with a catastrophic motor failure and was replaced rather than repaired because it had burned out the motor.

To cut a long story short (too late I hear you cry) I am not sure obselecence is built in, but by accepting lower quality control standards in manufacture, the result is the same, they really don't make things like they used to.
 
This terrible practice should be stamped out! Why, every month I buy a Fortean Times magazine and then find myself having to buy another just a month later! Scandalous!

Patrick H
 
I'm driving a 1997 Ford economy sized wagon that is coming up on 160,000 miles.
I also have a microwave oven made by GoldStar (which is an inexpensive brand) that is over 14 years old. It was given to me second hand when my daughter was 2 and she's now 15. My aunt who gave it to me had had it for a couple years.

I'm not disagreeing, I've had things die an early death. But sometimes it's just incomprehensibly good luck. :D
 
a lecturer at uni said that with electronics they should either die a death the moment they are turned on, or go on until the warranty period ends.
Having said that some manufacturers such as bush seem to be cheap to buy and more throw away than some of the bigger names.
 
Yes the Bush video was never very good and was bought as a cheap way to get Nicam stereo. I should put in a word for my ancient Ferguson Videostar, still working but not much used. It is pretty bulky by today's standards and was designed at a time when for stereo sound, you needed to tape the simultaneous broadcast on radio. Now that one was really built to last! :)
 
Old fridges seem to last forever with a little TLC and the odd repair, don't get rid of them, new ones will fall apart in half the time.
I think it comes down to system requirements, often years ago products were over engineered, if a belt was rated for X torque they would fit a 2X torque belt and things would last forever. Now with everything getting lighter and smaller they are much more likely to fit a 1.1X torque belt and hence the greater chance of failure.
I drive a 1981 toyota celica, there is plenty of room in the engine bay to fit a family of 4, accessing components is not difficult, I can even throw in a replacement engine in easily by myself. My GF drives a 90's mazda 626 and there is no room to fit you hand around the engine, specialist tools are required and recently the water pump needed replacement. The car had to have the engine dropped out of the chassis to access the pump. The time and effort and price to replace a consumable component was out of whack. The same job on my car would have taken an hour and cost $120 me doing the work. On the GFs car it was taken to a dealer cost about $600 and was off the road for 2 days.

Its probably about time someone made a reference to Pythons 4 Yorkshire men.
Tell the young generation of today, and they won't believe you.
 
I heard this with regard to lightbulbs. It was alleged that the method of making a practically everlasting lightbulb was known and had been patented by the Evil Lightbulb Manufacturers[1] so they could suppress its manufacture.

Speaking as someone who hates changing lightbulbs[2] then if this is true then the Evil Lightbulb Manufacturers will be the first against the wall when the revolution comes!
:evil:

[1] By which I mean evil manufacturers of lightbulbs, not manufacturers of evil lightbulbs.
[2] Ones with bayonet fittings, that is. I always think I'm going to break the bulb. One thing the Americans have got right is the screw lightbulb fitting.
 
Aye lad, when I was a lass you could get anything you wanted for a shilling and it would last you a lifetime :D

My mum has a kenwood coffee perculator which was given to her as a wedding present in 1953 and is still used everyday. I'm willing to bet that a modern one wouldn't last 50 odd years.

I suspect the crappiness of many modern products is to do with lifestyle expectations (excuse the business speak) - we probably all have perfectly good VCRs, vacuum cleaners, whatever, that work but are just not as modern looking and therefore desirable as this year's model. Why spend a fortune (and of course passing the cost on to the customer) on making something last forever when it will end up in a landfill site in a couple of years? A perfect example of this is a friend of mine who has a 3 year old freeserve (digital tv) box which works fine but he took one look at the one I got for Christmas, which is about a quarter of the size, and is now seriously considering replacing his "obsolete" one! Madness.

But, and isn't there always a but?, printer cartridges... the computer chip says the tank is empty, so what's that I see sloshing around inside the cardridge?

Grumpy? me?

Jane.
 
Fenris said:
I think it comes down to system requirements, often years ago products were over engineered, if a belt was rated for X torque they would fit a 2X torque belt and things would last forever.
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Things that last forever. That'll be the Flying Scot then. Apparently these bikes spread round the world but, particularly in the Glasgow area, if you see an elderly gentleman zooming round the hills its a fairly safe bet he'll be riding a Flying Scot. Its also a fairly safe bet he'll have been zooming happily on it for decades and never had to replace the mechs, cassettes etc. They are somewhat legendary. 8)
 
For some reason, this is starting me to think of the old Ealing classic The Man in the White Suit. The plot (in case you missed it):

The unassuming, nebbishy inventor Sidney Stratton creates a miraculous fabric that will never be dirty or worn out. Clearly he can make a fortune selling clothes made of the material, but may cause a crisis in the process. After all, once someone buys one of his suits they won't ever have to fix them or buy another one, and the clothing industry will collapse overnight. Nevertheless, Sidney is determined to put his invention on the market, forcing the clothing factory bigwigs to resort to more desperate measures...
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http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044876/
 
My favoured mode of transportation is a Vespa Sprint
(here's one)
http://www.vespa.dk/POSTER/SPRINT~2.JPG

This model hasn't been made since 1975, and parts are still made in large numbers and available off the shelf in just about every country in the world. Mine is unrestored and as reliable as the day it was made. It doesn't have an electric start... just a kickstart, and doesn't even have anything as complicated as a battery. By contrast, modern scooters are largely plastic, shatter if dropped and have overcomplicated starter systems that are a bugger to fix if the go wrong. They have more or less sealed engines that require specialists to fix in a proper garage.

If need be, you can strip down a Vespa's carburettor using a swiss army knife... and i once did just that in the middle of Covent Garden piazza in london, much to the delight of a number of Japanese tourists. They'll also run on poor grade fuel without missing a beat, so they're ideal for less-developed countries.
 
It might just be me but whenever I proudly tell someone that I've had an ACME Gizmo or whatever for "x" number of years (x being a large number) it invariably goes tits-up the following day! Or am I just unlucky?
 
Millomite said:
It might just be me but whenever I proudly tell someone that I've had an ACME Gizmo or whatever for "x" number of years (x being a large number) it invariably goes tits-up the following day! Or am I just unlucky?
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You have to knock wood before you say it. ;)
 
My father in law bought a written off car about ten years ago that had been in a smash. It was basically a full on rally Nissan and he was told among the other damage the thing that tipped it to unrepairable was the screen washer bottle that was destroyed in the bump -it was about £120 to replace even then and looked to be made out of regular pop bottle plastic to my eyes when he bought a new one.
We've only just got rid of a Hoover washing machine that I bought new seventeen years ago and lead a hard life every day since.
 
Kitty said:
My biology teacher always used to tell us that the cleaning components of biological washing powder is renewable (enzymes, I think), hence it could be put into plastic beads, for example, and inserted in the washing machine and you would never need washing powder.
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You can buy a product called "Eco Balls" (stop sniggering at the back) which claim to produce "ionised oxygen" and can be used 1000 times. They cost around £35 per pack - which seems a little pricy for three plastic balls full of holes - and I can't find any explanation of how they actually work, or why they stop working after 1000 washes. Does anyone know their secret?

http://www.ecozone.co.uk/product_info.p ... cts_id=314
 
I am equally disqusted because over 10 years ago, my ex bought a second hand unbranded TV, which refuses to die! :evil:

How am I ever going to get my kids a super slim TFT 42inch 'show off to your friends' TV while this this has found eternal life?

To add insult to injury, my 14inch unbranded TV, bought in 1988 is still alive and well in my ex's bedroom. How on earth am I supposed to provide my ex with modern technology while these things will not give up the ghost!

Sometimes its hard being a man!

kicks off shoes and switches video wall onto Sky Sports
 
An obvious thing with planned obsolescence is the mobile phone? It seems that whenever my boyfriend's phone is just about to give up the ghost - oh look it's time to renew his contract with the phone company, and if he stays with them, why he can have a new phone. This has happened for several years - they seem to last just a year and then something goes wrong. This year he generously gave his new phone to a friend and kept the old one because it was still working. Bit of a mistake as two minutes later his phone packed up. He' contacted the phone manufacturer but because it's out of warranty they've passed him onto some dodgy sounding company that never answer their phone, ironically enough.
 
WooHoo said:
It isn't much better even if do switch do digital Rynner, at least not in the Highlands.
There are vast tracts here that recieve no terrestrial (analogue or digital) signal at all.
The only way to watch T.V. is Sky digital.
So taking the only option available brings you right into line with the goverments wish, digital viewing.
So what do BBC Scotland do when the have some footy to show?
Switch off the Sky digital signal and broadcast only by terrestrial means as they don't have the necessary contract to broadcast the event UK wide.

2 hours of blank screen telling you that the programme is unavailable.
Refund on license fee? Not likely.
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Hey it's not just out in the sticks (no offence meant). I live in central Nottingham (a couple of miles from city centre) and our TV has a built in digital tuner so no need for set top box. However we cannot get most digital channels, only BBCs 1-3.

It is not a problem withy the TV or the arial because we wanted to buy a DAB radio and the people in John Lewis who were selling it to us checked our postcode and said we couldn't get digital broadcasts.

Not really ready for the big switch off yet are they?
 
I wouldn't touch anything made by Bush with a bargepole. Friends and family have all bought Bush products, only to find these items conking out just outside the warranty. It's as if there's a little chip with a clock built into it.
I swear by anything made by Philips. I have a telly that is about 12 years old, and it still works great. The telly I had before that was a Philips, and that was 10 years old when I gave it away.
I have a Marantz CD player (Marantz is owned by Philips) that is over 10 years old, and still works perfectly.
Creda also used to be a brilliant manufacturer - I have a washing machine and tumble-dryer that still work well after 12 years of use.
These days, everything is 'value engineered' - components have been selected to just do the job as cheaply as possible, and mechanical parts have been engineered to last only as long as the warranty period.
 
it's all so true

In the past two years, my family have had to give up on some trusty old appliances because parts could no longer be replaced, or they finally died. Faithful dishwasher of 15 years, deep fat fryer of about 20 years, toaster of 7, kettle of 15.

Since then we have had four dishwashers, three fryers (1 melted, 1 wouldn't turn off), 3 toasters and 3 kettles.

The only way we can defeat these bastards is by holding on to all our precious old appliances and refusing to buy new where possible. Curse their money-hungry souls!

Especially dishwashers. If you have an old one, nurture it like a child...
 
There is a profound joy in keeping working artifacts, as well as the cottage industries designed to maintain them going long beyond the cost/practicality equation.
We have a vacuum cleaner shop nearby that stocks every obscure dust bag known. They ain't cheap but some of the packet illustrations have uprights that have to be pre-war. I love the idea of some elderly dowager insisting on keeping the old faithful. I like it even more if some of the extant items were a bit crappy in the first place but refuse to 'move towards the light'.
 
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