Planned Obsolescence Conspiracy?
Sparked by a malfunctioning catflap, we discussed some of the ways that today's technology is designed to fail, forcing consumers to spend, spend, spend. Here's a transcript of our feature from Show 89.
Listen to, or download, FrequencyCast Show 89 (31 mins) |
Designed to Fail?
Transcript from FrequencyCast Show 89, July 2013:
Pete:
Right Kelly, we've got lots to discuss in today's Focus, haven't we?
Kelly:
I assume so.
Pete:
Now Kelly, you are a big cat lover, aren't you?
Kelly:
I am.
Pete:
Did you see the programme on the telly about cat tracking?
Kelly:
I didn't see the programme, but I did see all of the coverage before.
Pete:
That is so what I want to do with the FrequencyCast cat: collar, GPS, camera, and see where the cat wanders to. Now, you pooh-poohed that, didn't you? - and you thought the idea of tracking a cat, is no good, but on the BBC documentary, cats are brilliant - they wander off miles, and they fight other cats. You should have watched it.
Kelly:
I think it's something I never thought would take off, and what do you know - they've managed to get an entire documentary out of it.
Pete:
OK, now you're going to have to listen very carefully to this next bit though, because we are going to talk to you about planned obsolescence.
Kelly:
I don't know what that is.
Pete:
The reason I'm linking that with the cat documentary is, this is all off the back of my catflap. My little pussy cat was knocking on the door with his little paws, because he couldn't get into his electronic catflap. He's got a key on his collar that automatically opens the catflap, and it broke, and was going beep, beep, beep, and flashing warning lights, and the cat couldn't get in. So I phoned up the helpdesk, and said, "My catflap's broken - three flashing red lights, and a little green light", and they said, "Ah, that's your motherboard. The whole thing's written off, and doesn't work anymore. How long have you had it?" And I looked, and dug out the old receipts - three years, two months, and they said, "Well, I'm sorry, sir - a three-year guarantee. You've got to buy a new one, which is £70 for a new catflap."
Kelly:
Well, that's quite awful, but I am very, very impressed you kept the receipt.
Pete:
Now, this has led me to a discovery of this thing called planned obsolescence, because I believed that the catflap must have had a chip in it that knew I'd had it for just over three years, because if it expired under three years, I'd get a free one. If it expires over three years, I've got to pay £70.
Kelly:
I kind of sense you're going a little bit too far here!
Pete:
I looked on the motherboard, looking for a cunningly-disguised chip that said, "Expiry chip" or something, but it led me to an internet search for this term, planned obsolescence, which I've heard before, and it led me to a very interesting documentary. Basically, there's a surprising amount of things that are designed to fail.
Kelly:
Enlighten me.
Pete:
Talking of enlightening, there is a thing called the Phoebus Cartel. Now, a few of there might know something a little bit about this. When the lightbulb was first invented, they had quite a long lifespan, and there is one example of a lightbulb that was lit a hundred years ago, that's still on. What has happened though is, the lightbulb manufacturers got together and worked out that they had to shorten the life of a lightbulb to a thousand hours, otherwise people would never buy new lightbulbs. Another good example, stockings and tights, made of nylon, originally they were very strong - you could pull a car with them, and they didn't get ladders.
Kelly:
I have snagged tights on a daily basis, and wound myself up to an extreme level.
Pete:
Stockings and tights are designed to fail. They are made of deliberately flimsy material, so that you go out and buy more to keep the company in business. If you only bought one pair, of course you wouldn't ever spend any more money on those products, so, there are a surprising amount of products designed to fail. Another good example, more in the technical field, your iPod has a sealed battery, so when the battery dies, it costs more to repair it, and take the back off and get it serviced and get a new battery put in, than it does to buy a new iPod.
Kelly:
Well, that's just ridiculous, and an absolute waste.
Pete:
Talking of waste - printers. You must have had this - you're printing, the little thingy comes up and says, out of ink - change ink cartridge.
Kelly:
Yeah, and usually within days of just changing it.
Pete:
Again, deliberate. The little, I've run out of ink sensor, isn't actually monitoring the amount of ink left in the cartridge - it's counting the number of prints. So you'll find, if you ignore that warning and keep going, you'll probably get quite a lot of prints out of it.
Kelly:
That's ridiculous though, because some printers actually stop completely, as soon as it starts flashing.
Pete:
And that's because they've got a chip in them that tells them to do it. It's all explained in this video. It's actually cheaper to buy a whole new printer than it is to replace all the ink cartridges.
Kelly:
Well, you've made me absolutely outraged!
Pete:
If you do happen to watch this video, it's a free video, a 45-minute film, up on YouTube, called The Lightbulb Conspiracy. As a consumer in the UK, it is your duty to watch this video clip, and you'll also find out just how much of our electronic waste ends up in third world countries, being picked through by people who are a lot poorer than us.
But I would like to know from our listeners, and from you, Kelly, what other examples of planned obsolescence you can think of?
Kelly:
I don't like it.
Pete:
And you'll find a link to The Lightbulb Conspiracy up on our website. You'll be watching, won't you, Kelly?
Kelly:
Yes, absolutely. I think that's going to be the first thing I do, as soon as we finish this.
Transcript continues: UK Web Domain Changes
Listen to, or download, FrequencyCast Show 89 (31 mins) |
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