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Products designed to fail, a documentary
nudone:
Don't forget, we may be aware; that is, our generation (those that have been around more than a couple of decades) may be aware because we remember when a product was designed to outlast our own life.
There are going to be an ever increasing number of people that have only known products last a couple of years or so (of course, peer pressure will make them discard many working products because they are too uncool to own beyond 2 years).
This is the new norm. It will be perfectly intuitive to the new generation(s) that products fail after two years - how can they possibly work for any longer than that - it would be beyond science. And for any of those rare few that wish to experiment and see if their iProducts will run for longer than two years, then fashion will remind them that they are weird eco warriors hanging onto devices that only poor people have to put up with.
Looking back just 30 years makes me feel like we've jumped a century forward in time. I remember when a phone was a phone and a washing machine a washing machine. They were bought and expected to remain in your possession until they crumbled to dust. Now, I'm brainwashed like everyone else and believe these products need replacing to match the latest seasons "cool" colours.
edit:
You know what, we've basically all got a bit too much money - even now in these hard times. If things were genuinely tight we'd regard our possessions more valuable and expect them to last longer. We'd demand that they last longer.
We can afford all this crap. So we keep buying it. And love it when it breaks as we can go and buy the crap all over again - and complain and brag to our peers about the new crap we've just had to buy (because the previous crap really was crap).
Stoic Joker:
Don't forget, we may be aware; that is, our generation (those that have been around more than a couple of decades) may be aware because we remember when a product was designed to outlast our own life.
There are going to be an ever increasing number of people that have only known products last a couple of years or so (of course, peer pressure will make them discard many working products because they are too uncool to own beyond 2 years).
This is the new norm. It will be perfectly intuitive to the new generation(s) that products fail after two years - how can they possibly work for any longer than that - it would be beyond science. And for any of those rare few that wish to experiment and see if their iProducts will run for longer than two years, then fashion will remind them that they are weird eco warriors hanging onto devices that only poor people have to put up with.
Looking back just 30 years makes me feel like we've jumped a century forward in time. I remember when a phone was a phone and a washing machine a washing machine. They were bought and expected to remain in your possession until they crumbled to dust. Now, I'm brainwashed like everyone else and believe these products need replacing to match the latest seasons "cool" colours.
edit:
You know what, we've basically all got a bit too much money - even now in these hard times. If things were genuinely tight we'd regard our possessions more valuable and expect them to last longer. We'd demand that they last longer.
We can afford all this crap. So we keep buying it. And love it when it breaks as we can go and buy the crap all over again - and complain and brag to our peers about the new crap we've just had to buy (because the previous crap really was crap).-nudone (November 02, 2011, 06:19 AM)
--- End quote ---
+1! - I well remember a time where taking pride in ones work meant that something was built with every intention of it outlasting their grandchildren. Now fads drive a style consciousness that makes everything unseemly if it doesn't match this season's current trendy color scheme.
Renegade:
^Nudone - I hear ya! :)
Regarding:
If things were genuinely tight we'd regard our possessions more valuable and expect them to last longer. We'd demand that they last longer.
-nudone (November 02, 2011, 06:19 AM)
--- End quote ---
We've come a long way as far as wealth goes.
Off track...My grandfather had 1 pair of shoes. That he was only allowed to wear in the winter because he'd wear them out too fast if he wore them in the summer. I think he had a rock to play with, and maybe a stick.
My dad's generation was much better off. He had enough toys when he was a kid that you could count them on 1 hand. Funny enough, those toys still work and are still around. (I inherited them, and they're on a shelf.)
I had enough toys that I'd run out of fingers and toes if I counted them. A lot of them are still stored away. And they're not broken. And they're still in good condition despite my constant abuse of them.
For anyone that has kids now -- how long do their toys last?
I wonder how durable a Tonka truck is today...
But I stray there... Back on track...
It's now more costly to repair things than it is to replace them. Huh? Yeah. Try to repair a 10 year old washer. Heck. You can buy a functioning 10 year old one for $50 or something stupid. Why spend $300 to have a new drum installed?
Off track againBut I'm not sure that demanding anything will work. We have laws... oh god... and we're expected to abide by them... shoot me now, please...
The law is the primary problem. We've become a society of laws, and that just doesn't work. There are no more communities. There are no more neighbors. There is no sense of decency. What could decency be? Impossible to tell. We're a multicultural society now with values all across the spectrum.
Here's an example of value differences... A silly one, but never-the-less... an example...
Is it poor table manners to pick up your bowl when you eat? (This is mostly applicable to rice bowls.) Yeah. Dumb. I know... In some places picking up your bowl is bad manners. In most places, it's perfectly acceptable table manners, and in many places, it's expected.
It's a radical difference though. Albeit one that hardly matters much...
Defaulting to laws seems to be the norm now, as we just can't figure out what common decency is.
Does anyone know a SUCCESSFUL and LARGE company that behaves "decently" towards it customers, and really creates fantastic products that stand the test of time? I can't think of a single one off-hand. Not one.
I'm soooo off-track...
Demanding durability... On track...
I think that companies would just tell you to go **** yourself. Really. They'd be polite about it, but that's what they'd do.
It makes me wonder... Are there premium markets out there that're willing to pay 5x as much for a product because it's going to last for-bloody-well-ever?
Stoic Joker:
It makes me wonder... Are there premium markets out there that're willing to pay 5x as much for a product because it's going to last for-bloody-well-ever?-Renegade (November 02, 2011, 06:58 AM)
--- End quote ---
Yes, but... Legal won't let them. Think about it; marketing a product that is guaranteed to last forever (hehe). And who's going to warranty that how exactly? "Forever" must be legally defined first. Kinda like car parts that are guaranteed "for-the-lifetime-of-your-car". In the US your car's lifetime is (legally) defined as 7 years ... but you will never see that little detail printed on the box. Marketing assumes that said car will get flipped right around (3-5) the same time it's paid for...or at least down to the point where the next loan won't be too far upsidedown.
Renegade:
It makes me wonder... Are there premium markets out there that're willing to pay 5x as much for a product because it's going to last for-bloody-well-ever?-Renegade (November 02, 2011, 06:58 AM)
--- End quote ---
Yes, but... Legal won't let them. Think about it; marketing a product that is guaranteed to last forever (hehe). And who's going to warranty that how exactly? "Forever" must be legally defined first. Kinda like car parts that are guaranteed "for-the-lifetime-of-your-car". In the US your car's lifetime is (legally) defined as 7 years ... but you will never see that little detail printed on the box. Marketing assumes that said car will get flipped right around (3-5) the same time it's paid for...or at least down to the point where the next loan won't be too far upsidedown.
-Stoic Joker (November 02, 2011, 07:09 AM)
--- End quote ---
Sorry. I didn't mean that literally. I meant it in the sense of extreme durability is engineered into the product so that it lasts far beyond what current products do.
I didn't know that "lifetime" meant 7 years for a car... Sheesh...
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