Companies Keep Us Buying New Stuff

[Tinman57]

How companies keep us buying new stuff, and how to recycle the rest
It's okay to crave new gadgets, just ditch the old gear responsibly.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2023495/how-companies-keep-us-buying-new-stuff-and-how-to-recycle-the-rest.html

 It's a damn shame that we live in such a throw away society, and it's the companies fault for not making modular components that can be easily replaced.  They solder batteries into circuit boards and other crazy stuff like that where they are cheaper to replace than to repair.  Just look around for an Electronic Technician, they are an endangered species now.  There's only one located in a city 50 miles away from my house.
 The companies seem to design things to fail at a certain time, usually right after the warranty expires, if they even offer a warranty.  Since the components are built into the circuit boards they way they are now, it cost too much to have them repaired, which means you get to fork out more money for a replacement.  Real good for the company profits, but not so good for our pocket-books and the environment....

[techidave]

planned obsolescence I tell ya.  more info

[mitzevo]

I think many things are designed in this way. Nothing beats a recurring/returning subscriber or customer , especially if its for the long term.

[Renegade]

planned obsolescence I tell ya.  more info

+1

Here's a good documentary on the topic:

http://duckduckgo.com/html/?q=the%20light%20bulb%20conspiracy

You can probably find it on Youtube or Vimeo somewhere.

What just kills me is the enviro-green-nutters that will scream bloody murder about recycling newspaper (or whatever), but refuse to recognise that the RRR is REDUCE Reuse recycle, with REDUCE being #1 for a reason. PO is completely antithetical to any kind of morality or ethics, and certainly one of the greatest reasons for pollution. It just seems so obvious. I fail to understand why people don't get upset about this (PO), but then get angry about what kind of lightbulb someone uses.

[Renegade]

Just watched that documentary again. Good stuff.

Here are some links for anyone interested:

http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/light-bulb-conspiracy/
http://www.disclose.tv/action/viewvideo/89006/The_Lightbulb_Conspiracy___The_untold_story_of_Pla/

[Edvard]

Yeah, I still do not understand AT ALL why environmentalists would encourage moving away from a standard tungsten filament bulb that has only 5 components (glass, steel, aluminum, tungsten, lead), only one of which is majorly toxic (lead, in the solder), and towards CFL bulbs which contain not only lead (solder for the components on the circuit board inside), but mercury(!) and whatever the handful of components driving the thing are composed of, not to mention the environmental impact of manufacturing all those components, shipping, and assembling, when a filament bulb manufacturer can fabricate most of it's components right in the same factory.


Thanks for the references, I'll be looking those up later. 

[Shades]

Problem is also that most of the younger generations don't know any better anymore. They are actually used to
PO.

Over here in Paraguay it is really bad. Common household appliances are discarded even when the internal fuse has blown. Rich, middle-class and poor people do this. There are still quite some electronic repair shops in the suburbs of Asuncion.

I tried to explain the idiocy of this way of thinking to several people here over time and each time I am greeted with the same apathetic stare. Most of the people here actually just want to buy new stuff. Even if they to go in debt for it.

Luckily, me getting a kick out of repairing something still outdoes the sadness that creeps up on me when I think of where the younger generations are heading.

[TaoPhoenix]

In some senses some of the nasty Zynga games do that digitally by making you have to upkeep your farms and whatever - you can't just have a nice little farm, you have to keep maintaining it. Then you get sucked into a grind because of all the previous time you spent, so you can't bear to "have that part of your life go to waste".