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PROGRAMMED OBSOLESCENCE GRUPO 6
Programmed obsolescence basically refers to the shelf life of a product, the duration and
time which the product can fulfill a function, but it is appropriate to use these terms for the
user, so we must ask ourselves the following is it a socioeconomic opportunity or a trap for
consumers?

From our point of view the large producers have spared all kinds of expenses so that the
useful life of a product is adequate and in this way generates a greater rotation of the
product and therefore a greater volume in their sales but natural resources are not taken
into account, of all this they also generate greater consumerism and also at this point we
must ask ourselves how necessary is it for our daily life a certain product?

And from the ethical point of view it is appropriate to reduce the useful life of a product to
generate more sales and from the economic, technological and ecological point of view as
we mentioned before, of course this also avoids things to the consumer such as getting rid
of repair costs or sometimes even maintenance costs.

Or although it can be seen from another point of view of which would be the following:

The producer is only satisfying the need "demand" of consumers, Consumerism.

To do this we must understand some cases and if the first for what it is do I finish you with
the passage of time has taken greater strength in recent years:

 Bulbs, initially the engineers designed products that never stopped serving for
example the bulbs to be almost eternal and since at least one home at least had
to have a bulb, people at some point would stop buying this product, so things
the poster of the control of bulbs los designed a product which whose duration
would be approximately 2,500 hours and over time they realized that there
were long periods where the sale of bulbs decreased significantly and they
realized that this happened for the long duration of the bulbs so in their new
decree the manufacturing companies had to design a product that lasted 1000
hours, that is, 60% less than the initial one.

 Nylon stockings, at first they were created with a material that was not
damaged, the women of the time began to adopt nylon stockings as a dress
press which made it become popular and increased its production levels, when
 the market began to grow the manufacturing company began to decrease the
quality of its products making them not have the mass durability that the
originals then customers had to change their stockings constantly but currently
it is observed that many women have stopped using their stockings, most of
them do not use them because being of poor quality the stockings break too
easily apart from losing the money you run the risk of having a bad personal
presentation.

With the industrial revolution come great changes for the market Have you ever wondered
why you have to renew the mobile you use and the clothes you wear even if they are in
perfect condition? I have asked myself, and many times I try to go against the current but
social pressure can with us. It seems that there is an invisible force that pushes us to renew
and change what we have had for very recently and that just when we have taken affection
and we have become accustomed to it, we have to change it. As a result of this, I was
interested in doing my Final Degree Project investigating the reason for it, and the answer
is none other than planned obsolescence. This work I have focused on three main sections:
planned obsolescence, the economic variants that are against it and electronic waste. As
for planned obsolescence, I begin by explaining the history and origin of the concept. After
defining it, I present the classifications made about it by different authors, the legislation
and the existing regulation on the subject, the influence.

The concept of planned obsolescence has its origin in the industrial revolution and mass
production. The industry produced goods and products massively with fairly affordable
prices for the consumer. But in the 1920s a group of entrepreneurs had the idea of creating
products that had a shorter shelf life to increase profits, causing these products to be
replaced necessarily after a while of use. This assured them of a continuous demand that
they could satisfy with their massive supply, something they regarded as a great economic
development..

"In industry, the capitalist model of mass production managed to introduce the same
products in millions of households but, once this was achieved in some branch of
production, it was necessary to create new needs by making variants of the same product
in order to further expand the market. (...) The diversification of household appliances is
another example. (...) Fashions shortened over time, new products became obsolete more
quickly, and garbage and pollution began to pile up rapidly as well."7

In reality, often this last model does not have significant changes, moreover, its changes are
usually more aesthetic than functional appearance. Despite this, the consumer falls into the
trap as well and acquires the latest model. In markets where models are updated very
quickly, a rational consumer would not fall into the trap so easily. That is why companies
usually release a new model every so often as in the case of iPhones that is updated every
year. This is so that the digestion of the product is done properly.

To better understand planned obsolescence, we must differentiate goods into durable and
perishable. The main difference between the two is the time horizon that exists in each
good. As for perishables, consumers choose between paying only for present consumption
or also for future consumption. The decision to invest in future consumption will depend
on your desire to save on transaction costs generated by repeated purchases and to
eliminate the risks of price increases and product shortages. However, when buying a
durable good, the consumer has no choice: present and future products are in the same
package. However, they are not affordable since the consumer's income is cumulative over
time and if he pays in the present future consumption may exceed his possibilities.

Many times the fact of reducing the useful life of a product means higher costs for the
company. In these cases it is necessary to differentiate the monopolists. The former, not
being afraid that there are other companies that can compete with them, can inefficiently
produce products with a shorter shelf life, while the latter that have to face possible future
competitors have compensatory incentives to extend the durability. Antitrust policies that
force companies to sell their products instead of renting them cause the monopolist's
profits to be reduced and therefore social welfare also decreases..

If we now take into account the existence of a second-hand market. Many would argue that
the launch of new products is to eliminate existing and/or used units. But it should be noted
that the existing does not compete with the new, because the initial price alone can capture
the net present value of all future transactions. For example, in the case of used books we
find that publishers review textbooks more frequently, so the increase in the market share
of second-hand books grows. This gives rise to think that publishers introduce new versions
to eliminate the existing stock of used books.