PLANNED OBSOLESCENCEIn the Corporate

World

PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE

WHAT IS IT?

HOW CONSUMER

S ARE CHEATED

THE PHOEBUS CARTEL

OTHER WAYS

COMPANIES CHEAT YOU

LEAD FREE ELECTRONICS

PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE

In the Corporate World

ETHICS PROJECT

By: Nishant Gupta

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WHAT IS PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE???

Planned obsolescence or built-in obsolescence is a policy of planning or designing a product with a limited useful life, so it will become obsolete, that is, unfashionable or no longer functional after a certain period of time. Planned obsolescence has potential benefits for a producer because to obtain continuing use of the product the consumer is under pressure to purchase again, whether from the same manufacturer (a replacement part or a newer model), or from a competitor which might also rely on planned obsolescence.

HOW CONSUMERS ARE BEING CHEATED

By making products that last for a limited period, or are of a substandard/questionable quality companies are reaping humongous profits while consumers are milked like cattle. By forming illegal consortiums, knowingly stopping the advancement of technology or even collaborating with competitors and strangling competition, companies have gone to all lengths to reap profits. In the following slides you’ll come to know of some of the scams that have made fools of the common consumer.

THE PHOEBUS CARTEL

The Phoebus cartel was a cartel of, among others, Osram, Philips and General Electric from December 23, 1924 until 1939 that existed to control the manufacture and sale of light bulbs.The cartel is an important step in the history of global economy because of their alleged involvement in the creation of great-scale planned obsolescence. The cartel reduced competition in the light bulb industry for almost twenty years, and has been accused of preventing technological advances that would have produced longer-lasting light bulbs.

WHAT IS THE PHOEBUS CARTEL??

These companies deliberately set out to reduce the lifespan of all bulbs in the western world, finally managing to bring down product life from 2500 hours to less than 1000 hours. They actively discouraged long lasting bulbs and eve bought out competitors to maintain their stranglehold on bulb manufacturing.

Companies made internal negotiations to restrict activities in order to reduce interference in each other’s markets. They could then hike prices without fear of competition. Bulbs manufactured by member companies were regularly tested and fines were levied in case they lasted for more than 1000 hours.

The world’s oldest light bulb, which has now been continuously operating for 111 years(till 2012). The bulb has outlived three of the security cameras that are used to monitor it.

If bulbs like this could be made in 1901, isn’t it highly questionable that bulbs of today just burn out in a few weeks? What’s more, with so much development in technology and creation of ultra strong, ultra durable materials, why hasn’t the humble light bulb benefitted from this progress in science. The answer is simple, corporate greed.

Printer cartridges cost a bomb and yet a majority of companies make ink cartridges that come with proprietary smart chips on them which disable printing when one of the colors falls to a certain level, even if there's really enough ink to do the job. Plus, the smart chips can discourage refilling or use of third-party ink.

Companies assert that it is to save the printhead from damage, yet that argument is not really valid if you look at the technologies available today.

Disposable razor blades are one more example of wasteful consumer policy. With over 90% of the body made of materials like plastic that can be used for weeks rather than days, companies are just adding waste to landfills and garbage piles around the world.

LEAD FREE ELECTRONICSEnvironment friendly

manufacturing or a scam to cheat customers?

So you just bought a new laptop or mobile phone. If you’re an environment friendly customer you might have tried to take care that the product does not use lead in its solder. The brand must also have advertised the use of unleaded solder influencing your buying decision. Of course you know that lead is dangerous for you and the environment.

But did you know?of lead is required in all solder to prevent it from growing very fine

“whiskers” over time. These whiskers can short out electronic circuits and considering that everything from cars to air-conditioners to cameras and motherboards use solder, you can understand how serious an issue this is. Manufacturers are not too fastidious about making the consumer aware of these details. They are busy giving you the illusion of being environment friendly, while making sure that products short circuit themselves in 7-10 years.

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