Built To Die
Have you ever bought a household appliance and it breaks after a few months of usage? Then you take it to the shop and the repair is more than you paid for the item so you have to buy a new one. This is called Planned obsolescence; some companies use this legal method to make to more money from their customers. Companies put a death time on their products so that the consumer will have to purchase more of their products at a faster rate. Companies are using people for their own wealth and it is wrong.
The term planned obsolescence goes back to 1932 with the writing of Bernard London's pamphlet Ending the Depression Through Planned Obsolescence. He wanted to make Planned obsolescence legal to stimulate the economy (Gerber). The topic was made popular in the late 1950’s by Brook Stevens at the conference in Minneapolis. His definition for Planned obsolescence is “Instilling in the buyer the desire to own something a little newer, a little better, a little sooner than is necessary”(Gerber). The term was commonly used for items that would fail easily or go out of style. In 1959, Volkswagen used the term in a different way in their ads “We don't change a car for the sake of change”(Gerber).
There are different types of planned obsolescence; one type of it is technical obsolescence, these products have a suggested lifetime that the manufactory dates before the product is even made. These products are made like this so that newer models are bought in the future, like records to tape or VHS to DVD. Before the DVD player was released the average cost to get a VCR was about $125, but when the DVD player was released it raised to about $275 (Dickinson). The average for a DVD player was $300 giving the idea of paying about the same for an upgrade rather than paying for a repair (Dickinson).
Another type of obsolescent is systemic; this is for computer based programs and new software. Systemic obsolescent is when companies purposely alter a system to by putting a use limiter or death time in the product (Noyes). A use limiter is used in some printers and after a certain amount of use the printer will not work and can’t be fixed so it is needed to purchase a new one (Noyes). In computers, needed programs will update their firmware and will not work on older model so you will have to purchase a newer computer to use that program. This is terrible because your appliance could be in perfect condition and still break.
Style is another way that a product a product can go obsolete. Notice how people keep buying new phones every year. This is because manufactures make phones by the fad of the times. This is how phone manufactures get teen to want and buy new phones (Noyes). Some phones don’t even have updates the companies just change the look so people end up buying the same phone all over again. Apple is one of the companies that use style obsolescent, instead of releasing the white and the black iPhones at the same time they release the black one first and then month later the make a white one that profits almost the same amount as the black one. These are how companies make their buck; by cheating out the consumers (Dickinson).
One last way a product can go obsolete is by notifications, notice how refrigerators say “change your water filter” but the water spout has not been used or when a printer runs out of color ink but you only use black ink. This is how companies get consumers to buy unneeded accessories for their products. The filters are about $30 and ink cartridges are about $35 so when this is needed every month more and more money is wasted. Companies really don’t care about the consumer if their making enough money.
Companies like Apple, Samsung, HP, Sony, and others use Planned obsolescence and it only benefits them and cheats the consumers out of their money. Companies should actually try to innovate something new rather than recycling an already old item.

Works Cited
Gerber, W. (1971). Changing corporate world. Editorial research reports 1971 (Vol. I). Washington, DC: CQ Press. Retrieved from http://library.cqpress.com.ezproxy.vccs.edu:2048/cqresearcher/cqresrre1971020300
Dickinson Jr., W. B. (1961). Shelters and survival. Editorial research reports 1961 (Vol. II). Washington, DC: CQ Press. Retrieved from http://library.cqpress.com.ezproxy.vccs.edu:2048/cqresearcher/cqresrre1961081600
Noyes, C. E. (1939). Outlook for capital issues and durable goods. Editorial research reports 1939 (Vol. I). Washington, DC: CQ Press. Retrieved from http://library.cqpress.com.ezproxy.vccs.edu:2048/cqresearcher/cqresrre1939010300
Dickinson Jr., W. B. (1964). Arms cutbacks and economic dislocation. Editorial research reports 1964 (Vol. I). Washington, DC: CQ Press.