Claim
It is extremely legal for manufacturers in the United States to intentionally practice planned obsolescence in the design of their product.
Explanation for the Claim
Planned obsolescence is a business practice of deliberately designing products limiting its lifespan or making it unfashionable after a given period. The main purpose of this strategy is to make consumers feel the need to buy new products that the manufacturer will have provided. Most of the time, the products are purposely intended to fizzle out after the warranty has expired.
This manufacturing strategy is widespread in America with digital device companies being the most notorious for its extensive practice. These manufacturers take advantage of technological advancements and the insatiable need of consumers for new and better products. This is because they usually have huge market shares and their customers will be quick to buy their new designs. These digital devices include cell phones, computers, television and other electronic devices. It is estimated there over two billion digital devices in America today that have short lifespans.
A good example of planned obsolescence could be seen in Intel, the American microprocessor manufacturing firm. The firm is already working on the development of next-generation integrated circuits for personal computers, even before releasing their latest version (Mujtaba). Planned obsolescence is also observed in the automobile industry, fashion industry, light bulbs and many others.
Reasons for Planned Obsolescence
Value Engineering
Value engineering is the process of designing products using the least amount of material possible, but still guarantee that the product has an acceptable life span. The process also tries to ensure that all the components of a product fizzle out at almost the same time. This makes sure that none of the components are overbuilt compared to the rest and reduces the number of wasted parts. This conserves the already diminishing earth’s resources. This process prevents products from outliving their functional life and is useful in the design of products that are expected to evolve soon because of technological advancements or any other issue. A good example is cell phones, which are made of thin plastics that crack easily upon impact. This is because technological advancements in the communication field are rapid, and we expect the owner of the cell phone to use it for only a few years before discarding it.
Functional Obsolescence
Functional obsolescence involves the introduction of a genuinely better product in the market rendering the older product obsolete. This is mostly done to include a desirable feature that was previously not available because of various reasons and cannot be included in the old version without completely redesigning it. The new features provide various functionality improvements that make the new products perform better than the old ones. This process most of the time is also caused by the technological revolution. An example of how the process has been used is in computer hard disk drives. New versions of the drives have more capacity and are faster to access than the old versions. The new ones are also smaller and cheaper to manufacture, making them cost less than the old ones.
Lower Price
Inferior components that reduce the lifespan of a product are readily available and easy to obtain, inferior manufacturing methods also cost less. This lowers the cost of production and subsequently lowers the price of the goods, making it more affordable to most people. Scientists recently accidentally stumbled on a way to make the lithium-ion batteries used in cell phones to last a lifetime (Mearlan). There already exist materials such as light titanium and shutter proof glasses that could be used to make the case and screen of cell phones indestructible. Assuming that cell phones were made using these materials, then their prices could be very high that most people in the world would not afford it. This would hinder communication that is a critical aspect of human lives.
Economic Impact
Getting rid of planned obsolescence may have dire consequences on the world’s economy. This would significantly reduce the market for most products that are usually sold due demand created by planned obsolescence. Firms that manufacture these products would cut down on the production process to meet the new changes in demand. Investments and profits in manufacturing activities would reduce, companies would use a high-speed automated process that would be efficient for the small productions. This would mean laying off most of the workers who work in these industries.
Reasons against Planned Obsolescence
Consumer Exploitation
Just last month, one hundred top Chinese manufacturers of cell phones and cell phone components me in India. It is believed that the meeting would lead to the Chinese companies investing up to $3 billion dollars in Indian cell phone manufacturing activities in the next few years (Indo-Asian News Service). The investors expect a return on their investment, which is the primary goal of any business enterprise. We have seen that electronic device manufacturers are the ones who extensively practice planned obsolescence. From the trend of mobile phone manufacturers worldwide, it is logical to expect the Indian cell phone manufacturers also make their products inferior on purpose to create a market for other new versions that they will release. This will ensure that the manufacture remains relevant in the market and keep making sales leading to profits. This shows that the manufacturers do not care about their customers rather only care about making as much profit as possible.
Pseudo-functional Obsolescence
This is planned obsolescence that seems to introduce a new concept that improves a product, but in real sense it does not. This is in fact a ploy by product manufacturers to render a useful product or part of the product useless. An example of how manufacturers are using this strategy can be clearly seen by looking at rechargeable batteries of laptops. Every new version of a laptop that comes out has a battery of different size or shape making old batteries incompatible with new laptops, yet the batteries perform the same function in the laptops. This means that if an old laptop breaks down and cannot be repaired, their batteries simply go to waste. This is deceiving customers who expect to get the full value of their money when they purchase an item.
Waste
Planned obsolescence has led to rapid to the production and consumption of electronic good at an alarming rate. Hundreds of millions of electronic devices are discarded every year in the United Sates either because they are functioning or just for better models (Grossman). This results in huge amounts of electronic wastes, with most ending up in third world countries and are either sold as second-hand items or simply dumped there. The rest is recycled under dangerous and unhealthy conditions, increasing the world’s pollution levels
Cost to Consumer
In the long term, consumers of products that have inbuilt planned obsolescence, end up using quite a huge amount of money in a bid to remain in touch with technological advancements and latest fashion trends. This is because they do not buy the goods because they need them, but rather just for prestige. This is mostly seen in women who normally buy a lot of clothes to keep up with the latest fashion. Some of them end up wearing the clothes only once or sometimes not at all before discarding them for various reasons. This is being spendthrift and the money spent buying these products could be used for other meaningful purposes.
Decision Concerning Planned Obsolescence
The reasons against planned obsolescence are stronger than the reasons for planned obsolescence. This is because the manufacturers of the products are using factors such as technological advancement and insatiable need for better products to exploit and use them as cash cows. In the long run, the benefits that the users acquire from planned obsolescence of products are outweighed by the disadvantages of the users suffer. Also, the pollution effects of planned obsolescence in products are felt all over the world. As we have seen, some of the electronic wastes are moved from America and dumped in third world countries. These wastes affect people who totally had no part in its creation. Effects of pollution from unsafe recycling of the waste in America will also be felt all over the world since pollution does not only affect the places where it originates but the entire world.
Rebuttals against Claims for Planned Obsolescence
The main reason why value engineering is used is because the manufacturers do not expect the consumers to use the product for a long period. The manufacturer should not assume how long the consumer will use a product. The manufacturer should manufacture the best product possible and leave the decision of how long the product will be used by the consumer. It is possible to find users of a product who would want to use the product for a longer period because of lack of resources or interest in the new product. Rendering the old product obsolete after within a short period will inconvenience the customer.
It is true that some products may become obsolete after some time, but that does not mean the whole product should be discarded. Manufacturing can find ways of replacing only the obsolete parts or adding new functionality to the old product without totally discarding it.
The use of planned obsolescence will reduce the cost of a single product, but over time, the user will use multiple products of the same kind. In the long run, the consumer will end up using more money. It could be more economical if manufactures made slightly expensive, high-quality products that could last longer than low-quality products with a short life span.
There are over six billion people on earth today, and the number is increasing daily. Producing high-quality goods would ensure that the manufacturer still gets market for the products. To maintain their profit margin, the manufacturers can increase the prices of the good slightly; most consumers would not mind this move because the products will last longer. The companies can still retain their employees to service and maintain the products for the buyers.
Works cited
Grossman, Elizabeth. “Made to break reveals the roots of our throwaway culture.” Grist. Grist, 29 June 2006. Web. 28 Apr. 2016.
Indo-Asian News Service. “Chinese Mobile Makers Commit Major Investment in ‘make in India’ Initiative.” Gadgets 360 13 Jan. 2016. Web. 27 Apr. 2016.
Mearian, Lucas. “Scientists Can Now Make Lithium-Ion Batteries Last a Lifetime.” Computer World 21 Apr. 2016. Web. 27 Apr. 2016.
Mujtaba, Hassan. “Intel processor Roadmap leaked - 10nm Cannonlake and Skylake-E arrives in Q3 2016, Skylake M/U/Y chips in Q4 2015.” WCCFtech. WCCFtech, 12 May 2015. Web. 27 Apr. 2016.
