Planned Obsolescence or “Now you see it, now you don’t”
You remember those old rust buckets made by a well known
British company that had the cheek to call itself a car maker?
No wonder that well known company went to carmaker heaven
many eons ago.
Once I was young and idealistic. I actually believed that
large corporations could be trusted to do the right thing.
It was with shock that I found out that light bulb manufactures
spent more money making sure that a light bulb would only
last a certain life before blowing than they spent on making
the bulb in the first place.
Sorry, I can tell that some of you are lost already, you really
should learn English you know. A “globe” is not
a lightbulb, it is one of those round balls with all the different
countries of the world marked on it in pretty colours.
My innocence was even more confronted when a famous car magazine
suggested that the aforementioned well known car manufacturer
was purposely putting all sorts of little cracks and crevices
underneath so the car would collect salt and mud which would
make it rust away. My attempts to come to terms with such
an accusation were finally dashed when I spoke to a manager
at a company that made the dashboard switches. He reported
that huge amounts of money had been spent to develop a special
grease that made the switch fail after a planned thousand
operations.
Planned obsolescence they call it. In five years the car will
rust away and you’ll have to buy a new one – to
some people this is considered normal business practice; perhaps
sabotage is a more appropriate expression.
Businesses must look after their customers, I hear people
say. Yes but these “corporatised” days the customer
is the shareholder, not the person that walks into the premises
to buy something.
But we are now hearing a new piece of jargon. (Have you noticed
that every now and then a “new” management idea
occurs that in reality has been around for years, but someone
has renamed it and gone on a marketing campaign? “Quality
Assurance” is a good example – a whole industry
has been built around that one.)
So how about “Corporate Social Responsibility”?
“Corporate what!?”
“Corporate Social Responsibility.”
This is some dreamtime notion based on the idea that companies
will be socially responsible in carrying out their business
activities.
I am really convinced about this one.
I am sure the people of Bohpal in India will agree too.
Ask farmers in America about the genetic modification of seed
– I am sure they’re as convinced as I am. Perhaps
we should talk to a couple of asbestos manufactures, the people
still making CFCs or drug companies selling drugs to AIDS
sufferers in Africa. The list goes on and on. I am sure there
are some ethical companies that try and do the right thing
but aren’t these usually the ones that get bought out
by more ambitious businesses?
I say I have just come from the corporate jungle. I met a
lion trying to eat a zebra. When I suggested it was a little
cruel to the poor old zebra he apologised. “Sorry,”
he said, “I won’t do it again – honest.”
Some would say that Corporate Social Responsibility is the
ultimate cynicism in a world of unbridled corporate greed.
Some would say that it spills from the mouths of arrogant
people who, through greed, have lost all touch with humanitarian
values or consideration for one’s fellow man or woman.
I remember hearing about a major computer company that had
hit on a clever new sales strategy: “sincerity”.
Research had told them that, surprise surprise, people preferred
to buy from someone they trusted. From now on all sales reps
would be trained in how to sound sincere.
As for Corporate Social Responsibility there is, however,
a beacon of hope, right under our noses too.
The Indonesian government is introducing Corporate Social
Responsibility legislation that will require large government
enterprises to pay 5% of their gross income into funds for
social assistance projects. This sounds like a far more realistic
approach than trusting people who have dollar signs in their
eyes.
So what the h… has all this got to do with Fixed Abode?
Well quite a lot really. The quality and lifetime of many
of things we use in our homes and workplaces are important
to us. I have already mentioned light bulbs, here is another
example.
Many years ago I came across an Australian company that makes,
among other things, solar hot water systems. They had a clever
approach: they made the water tank out of mild steel (which
rusts) and lined the tank with stove enamelled paint (they
call it a glass lining). They also fitted a sacrificial anode
which corrodes slowly and stops the steel rusting. One day
the anode is all gone, the tank rusts through and the heater
is useless. A clever way of building in planned obsolescence.
Calculations in Australia usually indicated that solar hot
water systems would pay for themselves in about 7 years but
then mysteriously would always rust out in around 8. There
was, however, an exception. One renegade company in Western
Australia developed an excellent reputation because they made
their tanks out of stainless steel. Unfortunately that renegade
company has in recent years been bought out by the bigger
boys, so, sorry, no more stainless tanks.
This “design feature” probably explains why the
take up of solar hot water systems in Australia is surprisingly
lower than you would expect and less than in some other-not
so- sunshine-endowed countries.
If you are considering buying a solar hot water system, bear
in mind that if the advertising says “glass lined”
this really means it is not stainless steel and will probably
rust out in several years time. If you already have a well
known brand of Australian solar hot water system and it is
more than say six years old perhaps you should see if you
can install a new sacrificial anode.
Perhaps in our rapidly warming world we should all be using
solar power to heat our water. I am still investigating options
and would be interested to hear your stories and experiences.
As for social responsibility, I could tell you about my experiences
with a company that carried out repairs in nuclear power stations
but that’s another story.
Phil Wilson
Phil Wilson is a project director for Focus Indonesia and
a partner of MrFixit property maintenance services. Opinions
expressed are those of Phil Wilson. If you have any questions
or comments he can be contacted at the office on 0361 288
789 or through the website at www.mrfixitbali.com
