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Things use to be built to last and/or repair. But then companies realized that meant people wouldn't buy a higher margin new one when things broke, so we ended

Things use to be built to last and/or repair. But then companies realized that meant people wouldn't buy a higher margin new one when things broke, so we ended up with planned obsolescence. How do you propose we make it economically preferable for companies to drive this change? Because that's really the only thing short of legal changes that will make them do it.

nradov 10y ago
The only way you're going to eliminate planned obsolescence is by prohibiting manufacturers from improving their products. It's obviously not even a desirable goal. A better approach would be to add a deposit to the price of certain products which is then refunded to the consumer when they return it for proper recycling. We already do this with beverage containers so why not other items like consumer electronics? Anyone who can get $10 back on a broken DVD player won't throw it in the garbage.
- misterhtmlcss 10y ago
  There are some great ideas on here and the back and forth between ideologies is informative, however if we are honest with ourselves then we have to admit first that we can't possibly know the best end solution, what we can do though is keep bundling in, adding to and tweaking existing policies that are successful, such as @nradov suggests. By suggestion this I'm not saying that we don't need big changes nor am I suggestion we only tweak. What I am saying is that we need to actively build brick by brick onto existing methods that have worked, such as deposits. Deposits are a great way to enhance recycling and that's proven, so adding them to a wide range of other products makes a great deal of sense. Does anyone else have other successful policies such as this that could be suggested for expansion too? We should keep actively tweaking rather than sitting on our hands debating what's a great huge step forward when the reality is that small, steady tweaks would have an astronomical effect over 10-20 years with I imagine a very low failure rate to-boot.
  - shostack 10y ago
    I wonder if there's something to be learned/borrowed from carbon offset credits. If a product is produced in such a way as to encourage repair over disposal and replacement, perhaps they could be subsidized with carbon credits to encourage that. Or perhaps a similar concept that isn't necessarily that could be used here.
- rasz_pl 10y ago
  what? no Its really simple, mandate sane warranty period, like in EU.
fauigerzigerk 10y ago
You could slap a massive sales tax on all non-renewable commodities. That would make everything made from them more expensive and consumers would then prefer longer lasting models. High quality products that are already longer lasting (on average) would be relatively less affected by such a tax because raw materials make up a smaller share of their cost anyway and more people would buy them.

nradov 10y ago

The only way you're going to eliminate planned obsolescence is by prohibiting manufacturers from improving their products. It's obviously not even a desirable goal. A better approach would be to add a deposit to the price of certain products which is then refunded to the consumer when they return it for proper recycling. We already do this with beverage containers so why not other items like consumer electronics? Anyone who can get $10 back on a broken DVD player won't throw it in the garbage.

misterhtmlcss 10y ago
There are some great ideas on here and the back and forth between ideologies is informative, however if we are honest with ourselves then we have to admit first that we can't possibly know the best end solution, what we can do though is keep bundling in, adding to and tweaking existing policies that are successful, such as @nradov suggests. By suggestion this I'm not saying that we don't need big changes nor am I suggestion we only tweak. What I am saying is that we need to actively build brick by brick onto existing methods that have worked, such as deposits. Deposits are a great way to enhance recycling and that's proven, so adding them to a wide range of other products makes a great deal of sense. Does anyone else have other successful policies such as this that could be suggested for expansion too? We should keep actively tweaking rather than sitting on our hands debating what's a great huge step forward when the reality is that small, steady tweaks would have an astronomical effect over 10-20 years with I imagine a very low failure rate to-boot.
- shostack 10y ago
  I wonder if there's something to be learned/borrowed from carbon offset credits. If a product is produced in such a way as to encourage repair over disposal and replacement, perhaps they could be subsidized with carbon credits to encourage that. Or perhaps a similar concept that isn't necessarily that could be used here.
rasz_pl 10y ago
what? no Its really simple, mandate sane warranty period, like in EU.

fauigerzigerk 10y ago

You could slap a massive sales tax on all non-renewable commodities. That would make everything made from them more expensive and consumers would then prefer longer lasting models. High quality products that are already longer lasting (on average) would be relatively less affected by such a tax because raw materials make up a smaller share of their cost anyway and more people would buy them.