Planned Obsolescence

When we are shown new technology only a couple months after we get our new smart phone or tablets we just have to have them in our possession. When we buy our new phones or whatever, the next thing you know the new one is out and you’re just stuck with your crappy old one being made fun of for not being in style. You feel like these companies are moving too fast and your salary can’t keep up. You feel like your old phone is obsolete so quick, it’s almost like it’s planned…

Though controversial, planned obsolesce is a strong business strategy when selling goods. When companies release their products they purposely make them inferior or have less features per new design, that way they can make more money when they release a new good not long after the last one was released. An example of planned obsolesce is those annoying printer cartridges that you’re always buying, they’re so expensive too! Often when your printer is out of ink you say to yourself “dang, I have to go buy some more”; however, the cartridges still actually contain a lot more ink than you think they do. It’s actually programmed to say its low on ink when it’s not.

Many electronic companies use this strategy to sell more products and they cheat their customers by not giving them a quality product. Now we are also part of the problem. Psychologically, when many of those brand name products come out with a new design, we want to be like everyone else and have the new good, even though it might not be better in any way to the last version; even if it’s just a cosmetic change people still want to have it and we fall right into their trap. Other times, we may not even know if our product was planned to be obsolete like the ink cartridges.

Even thought this is a business strategy, it’s not fair that companies can cheat you out of a quality product by making you feel bad about not having the new version. So when you go out to buy the new iPhone think about your current phone and say to yourself “do I REALLY need this? The new one comes out in a year anyways…”