Tip #24 - Beware of planned obsolescence

It’s that time of year again.

No, I’m not talking of the time of year when I start filling up my volunteering calendar, though that’s happening too.

I’m talking about the time of year when people around the world look at their one-year-old phones, tablets, computers, or gaming device, and think “why on earth did I spend so much money on this? It’s SO OLD!” and proceed to purchase, at great expense, the newest model on offer, tossing aside their current, perfectly functional, device.

Now I know I sound a bit cynical, and sometimes the advancements in technology really are impressive or really do make a positive impact in our busy lives.

But the marketing directors at top electronics and design houses have an extra ace up their sleeve: the concept of planned obsolescence, or in the words of Brooks Stevens, the man who made the idea famous the concept of “instilling in the buyer the desire to own something a little newer, a little better, a little sooner than is necessary”.

This evil little term is why our relatively new items of clothing or technology suddenly seem incredibly outdated after just a year or two. It I why things are not backwards-compatible (for example, why something saved in .docx may not work on a computer running an older version of Microsoft office, or why the new Nintendo games don’t work on previous GameBoys).

It is also why so many products these days are not ‘built to last’. If something breaks beyond repair, if that breakage was in-built but undetectably so, the consumer has to spend money to replace it. Or why the cost of repairing something is so ridiculously out of proportion to the cost of purchasing a new one, and that you may as well just buy new. Forever.

The origins of planned obsolescence were reasonable enough. It was thought out as a way to get consumers spending again during the great depression. Which is all well and good. But now this system is being applied to luxury items, which many people can ill afford to buy new every year. I know I can’t. But yet there is still pressure. The “ooo, that’s pretty!” or “ooo a new type of camera in the phone which does exactly one new thing and is totally worth an extra $500!” is heard every year.

Unfortunately, planned obsolescence is here to stay. I would hazard a guess that even now, only a couple days after their latest release, the big whigs at Samsung already know exactly what the Samsun Galaxy 5 will look like, and what it will contain, even if they haven’t quite worked out all the technical stuff yet.

So if you want to avoid paying out extra money because of planned obsolescence, here are some useful rules to follow:

1- Purchase something because you need it, not because it’s pretty. A major purchase should serve a useful purpose in your life, one that was not filled by your previous item, or to replace the loss of a previous item.

2- Read the customer reviews. If customers are reporting serious flaws in the product, then it might not be a good purchase! Search for the name of the device, including product number if necessary + customer reviews, and read a variety of reviews from a variety of sites. Read both the top and bottom reviews to get a better picture of the strengths and weaknesses of a device.

3- Get a good warranty. Invest in a warranty that at the very least covers the minimum amount of time you want your product to last. When I purchased my laptop, for instance, I bought a 3-year warranty because I wanted it to last at least three years. It has now lasted 3.5, and though I’m now out of warranty, I still believe I made the right decision.

4- Understand your warranty. Read through the warranty information carefully. If something happens to your item, you need to know who to call, what to do, and what might invalidate a warranty. For example, trying to fix a computer problem yourself, instead of bringing it to an accredited repair site, can make a warranty void. If you respect the warranty, and have a breakage to your item, you should have the repairs made at no extra cost, and you may receive a free replacement, especially if your device is no longer sold.

5- Accept that your items will no longer look shiny and new, and that that’s ok. For years, I had a dumb phone (you know, the opposite of a smart phone), even when smart phones were all the rage. My answer, when people ask how I could live with such a ridiculously low-tech piece of kit? “I use my phone to phone people, and it phones them rather well, thanks very much.” There isn’t really a good comeback to that!

Tip #17 - A stitch in time saves... money?

This is a rather targeted blog post. Targeted to one person (you know who you are ;P) but applicable to many, many people, myself included!

A few weeks ago, I wrote about how brand names in food and cleaning products didn't necessarily result in an improvement in quality, but definitely an increase in price.

The same can be said for clothing, where the glut of high street "brands" has led to lowering prices and an increased emphasis on style (what will be the new black in 2013?). But that has also come with a staggering decrease in overall quality.

I have a rant about linings and how terrible they are these days, but it's not worth putting here. Suffice it to say, too many of the clothes that I've bought from standard high-street stores have fallen apart in some irreparable way (and I can mend clothes!) before what I feel is their time.

Recently, I started looking at things a bit differently. If clothes now-a-days are cheap in price and quality, what happens when we go up the price ladder. Will we go up the quality ladder, too? The answer is usually yes, but to a point. Here's a rough paint-graph of how this works, with cost in blue and quality in red. Ok, ok, it's not scientific and is based on experience rather than fact, but I find that, while costs can increase exponentially, quality kind of plateau's at a certain point. Beyond that point, you're paying for the name or the style.

So here's the thing. When considering new items, if you buy too far down the cost line, the quality will be poor and you will have to replace the item soon. If you buy too far up, then you're adding cost with no beneficial return. The trick is to try and even out the two - to buy an item that will last a long enough time to balance out the increased cost and then some.

I have several examples from my own life:

First, my purse. My purse (handbag to avoid confusion) is a mid-range designer brand. It cost ₤148, which is REALLY EXPENSIVE. But it has now lasted me for a year and a half, which is longer than my previous four purses put together. In fact, if I had continued with the cheaper quality purses, I would have spent more in that year and a half on purses than on my designer one. And I plan on keeping it until it falls apart, hopefully another year and a half.

Second, my coat. In fact, my coats, since I have had good luck with coats. One coat cost me $220 and lasted me 10 years. A lot of money on a coat, but averaged out to $22/year, it's incredibly affordable. My current coat cost ₤127 on sale, and is a very formal wool cashmere blend. This is it's second winter in action, but the lining is still in one piece and it still looks fantastic despite some heavy use. It's vastly better than the ₤98 coat that I bought the year before, which looked old after just one year's use; and it had a hole in one pocket!

Finally, my computer. Going into my final year of university, I managed to kill my third laptop in a year and a half. I'm abusive to computers. I type fast, I eat and drink while I'm on them, I drop them off sofas. Essentially, I put them through a lot, and the cheapy-cheap ones just couldn't put up with me. So, despite protestations by my step-father, I shelled out on a $1500 laptop, which included a $300 warranty. THAT'S A LOT OF MONEY HOLY CRAP! But here's the thing: it has a shock-proof hard drive, so it's sofa-drop proof. It has a spill-proof keyboard so it won't fry. And it's got steel hinges, so I can open and close it as often as I like. Basically, it's me-proof. And it's lasted over 3 years. That's now less than $500/year. Which is incredibly affordable for a computer. The only problems are: the fan is going slightly, I had to replace the battery and the new one isn't always recognized but it works, and one of my sofa drops recently knocked out the microphone. But otherwise it's as fast as it has always been, and that's what matters.

I suppose my point here is that brand names or increased prices don't always mean increased quality. You have to search for the balance, and, when you find it, keep the products going so they are cheaper over time. Do the research, have a good feel of fabrics, check the seams, and know yourself - if I was more careful with electronics, I wouldn't have spent so much on my computer, but I knew I couldn't do that.

Happy New Year's everyone! I hope your resolution includes spending less money!

P.S. If you're yelling at your computer that I forgot about second hand or vintage clothing, don't worry. That's on my list for a future post ;)

Tip #13 - What's in a name?

More often than not, brand names mean you're paying for the product's name, not its contents. If you insist on buying only brand named products, you will be spending too much money.

Here are my general guidelines on buying products:

-  Think of the use of the product: Will it be used once or repeatedly? Will it be mixed in with something or eaten as-is? Will you use all of it or waste half?

- What benefit does this product offer: Do you know that your hair will be silky and smooth or does it only promise? Will your garbage be truly smell-free (unlikely...)? When mixed in, will these brand name lentils realy add extra protein above the standard lentils?

- What benefit does the company offer: Do they refuse to test on animals? Do they give back to charity or invest in the community? Have you investigated the criticisms of the company (Wikipedia is a good place for this...) and find it to still be a company you want to give money to?

- Finally, the most important question: Which is cheaper? Brand name products are more likely to have sales, which can bring the unit price below that of a store brand.

I'm a big fan of store brands, and for most products find that they are equivalent to brand name products, with a very few exceptions. One for me is a facial moisturizer from Lush, which is the only one I've found which deals with both my dry skin and my oily breakouts. Another is curry paste, which needs to be done by a reputable company which understands the balance of flavours. Yet another is salad dressing - I'm sorry, but I just love Kraft Golden Italian, and no matter what else I've tried, I can't find a suitable cheaper replacement.


Are you a brand fiend? I challenge you to take one product per week which you would normally insist on being brand named, and try the store brand version. Perhaps chopped tomatoes. Or beans. Or frozen peas. Or if you're really going out on a limb, maybe try store brand cleaning pruducts. I promise you will find some savings, if a bit difficult along the way :)