Planned Obsolescence

Introduction

Planned obsolescence is when companies create their products to stop functioning after a certain period of time and are difficult or expensive to repair, in order to sway consumers to purchase an updated product more frequently. There are four types of obsolescence: technological or functional obsolescence, psychological or style obsolescence, systemic obsolescence and obsolescence due to product failure or breakdown .

Customers feel deceived by companies that create products commonly used, intuitive to use, and seemingly helpful, when these products break down frequently . Customers spend more money and large corporations continue to get larger and richer.

The frequent upgrade of devices leads to more devices being thrown away. On a large scale, this causes the growth of landfills, further exacerbating climate change and global warming. In 2014, there was 41 million tons of electronic waste. In 2016, there was 45 million tons of electronic waste. Finally, in 2021, there was 52 million tons of electronic waste. Additionally, manufacturing is using an increasing amount of non replenishable raw materials, such as coltan, in order to manually create a battery with a reduced size. Since more and more of these batteries will need to be produced, and since they use nonrenewable resources, these resources will run out sooner than if they were not used to produce electronic parts with short lifespans .

Planned obsolescence can also be viewed as a positive aspect of the market and as a part of capitalism. Since new products are constantly being produced, someone needs to produce all of these products. The increasing amount of products leads to an increasing amount of jobs, which is beneficial to the economy. After the 1929 Wall Street Crash, Bernard London, an individual invested in the real estate industry, suggested that planned obsolescence should become a national policy in order to fix the economy. He suggested that all products have a predetermined lifespan and once the products reach that date, they are required to buy a new one. In order to help the customer, who now had to buy a new product, the customer was given the value of the initial item’s sale tax in order to contribute to the cost of the next model of the product . This increased consumption increased the country's gross domestic product, a measurement of the value of goods and services in a country. This helped improve the economy because consumers more frequently purchased items, which in turn made companies have more money and needed to produce more goods and therefore hire more workers. The success of an economy relies on demand for businesses; otherwise, businesses’ products would not be purchased, they would not make money and have to stop making goods and then have to decrease the amount of people they hire due to not having enough money to pay them .

Additionally, the increasing amount of products on the market creates competition between companies which encourages the quality of products to increase. If companies did not engage in competition, they would not be incentivized to create new features and better their products. This competition allows new ideas to be shared and new products to be developed .

Another way to view planned obsolescence is that it is not actually a strategy used in the economic market, as it would not be beneficial to the manufacturer, or the consumer. It would be harmful to both sides of a sale. This is because companies will want their product to last the longest and perform the best to encourage consumers to purchase the product from their companies as opposed to competitor companies .

History

The first time planned obsolescence was seen was in the The Centennial Light Bulb. The Centennial Light bulb has been burning for over one million hours. Nowadays, the average time that a light bulb burns for is between 8,000 and 20,000 hours. This is over 50 times worse performance. The first light bulbs, like the Centennial light bulb, were created from carbon filaments, a much thicker material than the material used in newer light bulbs, metal wires. The change happened because light bulbs became more standard for households, so the companies creating them realized that they would make more money if people bought them more frequently, thus decreasing the quality of the material and decreasing the lifespan . Lightbulbs became a necessity, so when one ran out of light, a consumer had no choice but to purchase another. This business tactic became common practice in many industries, such as automobiles, technology, and fashion.

Different Industries

Automotive

The automobile industry is an industry that has used planned obsolescence to increase sales. In the 1920s, the Chief Executive Officer of General Motors at the time, Alfred Sloan Jr, observed that children frequently wanted new bikes whenever new bikes began to be available in stores. He was inspired to make the car market function similarly. General Motors began creating new models of vehicles more frequently, implementing more design changes and new features in each model. Not long after General Motors began creating models more frequently, they gained much revenue and became the leading manufacturer of automobiles. In order for other automotive manufacturers to compete, they had to adopt this practice as well. This started a trend in the automobile industry that made cars designed so that when a consumer saw a new model on the market, they would want that model over the one they already have. Even before a new car is necessary, in terms of functionality, people want the newest model. Now it is standard that car companies create new models annually. Cars are denoted by the brand of the car and the year it was produced in.

However, automotive companies had to ensure consumers could not see through this new trend in order for customers to continue being loyal and not feel deceived. Companies did this through two methods: constant restyling and by making spare parts rare. Constant restyling refers to changing the way the car looks each year, only by a little. Last years’ model of a car will become “unfashionable,” making people want the newest, “most fashionable” one. This is an example of the “trickle down theory,” a common theory in the fashion industry, but applicable to other industries, such as the automobile industry, as well. The trickle down theory analyzes how trends enter and exit society. It states that trends are dependent on class and social levels; trends start at the upper class, the upper class uses it and shows the world that they are using it (often referred to as “influencing”), then the general public finds out about this new product and want to use it because they saw the upper class using it, and they admire the upper classes’ lifestyle and attempt to replicate it in their own. The same psychology applies to individuals wanting the newest car models. The second strategy is making spare parts rare. Car manufacturer companies make parts unavailable at a typical dealership, so when a consumer has a small, insignificant part of their car not functioning, they have the option of searching for a difficult to find and expensive part or buying a new vehicle. This option is also marketed to make the consumer believe that buying an entirely new car will be comparatively cheaper and simpler.

Planned obsolescence in the realm of automotives can be viewed as nonexistent. In the age of the internet, it is simple to look up how long it takes for each car to depreciate. Therefore, it is up to the consumer to choose the vehicle with the longest lifespan, if that is what they prioritize. In 1969, the average car stayed alive for 5.1 years. Now, it is 11.4 years. This shows that the lifespan of cars has increased over time.

In terms of the environmental effects of planned obsolescence in the automotive industry, about ten million vehicles are thrown out each year in the United States. 75% of these cars can be recycled. They will get sent to recycling operations, a center where various parts, including glass, paper, cardboard, plastic, metal, and textiles, are separated and sorted. After this, the materials are able to be reused and made into new products. Metals, batteries, tires, and fluids are parts of vehicles that are generally capable of being recycled. However, there are parts of cars that cannot be recycled and end up in landfills, such as glass. About 3 million tons of car parts that are not recyclable end up in landfills. Automotive manufacturers are also becoming more aware of the effects of global warming on our world and changing policies and materials they produce vehicles with. Companies such as Ford and Mazda are creating vehicles with reused plastic for bumpers. Acura created a model of a car that is 90% recyclable.

Now, vehicle manufacturers are working towards becoming more environmentally friendly. Electric cars are gaining popularity. Battery powered cars sales increased by 70 percent in 2021. The sales of gas powered cars decreased by 15 percent in that same time. Additionally, Tesla has created a program that repurposes vehicles batteries into a form of home energy storage. They also update the software of a vehicle to have it be up to date instead of having their customers purchase a new vehicle entirely. This has a stark contrast to companies that make their products unable to get software updates after a couple years.

Technology

Apple is a company that has been sued for and accused of planned obsolescence numerous times. IPhones are one of Apple's products that are most subject to planned obsolescence. Research shows that whenever a new iPhone is released, the amount of internet searches for “iPhone slow” increases dramatically, indicating that when a new model of the iPhone is released, the old models begin to function at a slower rate. Additionally, when iOS 16 was created to only be compatible with iPhones 8 and up. This was created when the iPhone 7 was three years old and still functioning for many people. This left people unable to have up to date software, unable to download certain apps, unable to benefit from new security updates and left without new user experience features. However, Apple justifies the inability of not being able to upgrade to new operating systems with the incompatibility of new features that require different hardware features such as storage, RAM, and processors . Additionally, Apple designs iPhones to have batteries that last two to three years . After this, the battery life is very short so a consumer either has the option to replace it, or buy a new phone. With repairs being difficult to obtain, time consuming, and expensive, consumers often purchase a new phone instead of repairing it. The cost of the repair and the inconvenience of being left without a phone for five to seven business days leaves it so that people think it is more worth it to purchase a new device. This further exacerbates the negative effects caused by planned obsolescence.

Graph from Statistic showing there are more searches for "iPhone slow" when there is a new iPhone released

Planned Obsolescence Now

While planned obsolescence is not illegal, many organizations are working towards eliminating it. France created a new regulation that requires certain products to publicize their repairability scores to indicate whether they design their products with planned obsolescence in mind. Laptops, lawnmowers, smartphones, TVS and washing machines must have their repairability score public . This score is composed of scores from 5 categories: disassembly capabilities, repair documentation availability, spare part availability, spare part price, and product-specific category that includes software updates, remote repair assistance and more.

Some companies are working towards creating products that will never become obsolete. For example, Tesla is creating an environmentally friendly initiative that turns a customer’s car battery into energy storage for a house. Tesla also automatically upgrades a car’s software, making it something a customer does not even need to think about. This has a large contrast to companies that make their products unable to get software updates after a couple years.

What you can do

As an individual, it is important to be aware of this concept and make an active effort to not make unnecessary purchases, get swayed by media and trends, purchase from companies that do not utilize planned obsolescence and keep products for as long as possible. It is also important to get educated on this topic and spread this information with many. This will encourage more people to work towards not giving into companies’ implementation of planned obsolescence.