Made to Break (Part Two)

Made to Break (Part Two)

In the second portion of Slade's book Made to Break he continues to discuss planned obsolescence and provides many examples to support his argument that the life span of material goods or products were (and still are) intentionally shortened. Planned obsolescence, in a way, promotes inferior design for higher profitability. In other words, producers create and supply products that are expected to fail so that consumers can surrender their money to the same group of producers in the near future. This is of course unethical, but it is an inherent standard in any industry.

Let's take a look at a cell phone as a model for the explanation of how planned obsolescence works. In the Summer of 2007, I started a new contract with a different cell phone service provider. I opted to get a "free" phone because I did not need all the bells and whistles included with most phones since my service plan was pretty barebones. I had a phone to use as a phone, and not a mobile computer. A few months later, my "free" cellphone died. I didn't want to spend an obscene amount of money to get a new phone so I chose to purchase a $10 used, unlocked Nokia that looked like it came from the 1990s. This used phone was great. It worked until someone else broke it. So I had to get another phone. I purchased another used phone, but this time I got the latest and greatest model hoping that it would last longer. It did not. I then purchased another phone, my current phone.

In the past three years, I replaced my phone 4 times. This demonstrates Slades' argument in his book that the quality of products is poor. We are scammed into buying products that are designed to fail.