Made To Break ( First Blog )

     When we look at the Egyptians pyramids we stare at amazing structures that have stood through generations. However, when people in the future look back at Americans structures will they stare at "pyramids of waste?" ( Giles Slade page 7 ) Americans don't have enough time and money to keep creating landfills to dump their electronic "trash". Many times though, the trash is actually equipment that still works. The only problem is that a new product is out in the market. The idea of disposability has infested itself in our minds and its the means of progress and change. Obsolescence is used to describe out of date consumer products and there are three types of obsolescence. These are technological, dynamic, and planned obsolescence.
     Technological obsolescence occurs when a major technological invention takes places to make the successor no longer needed. One example is when the electric engine was created for a car. This type of obsolescence is very time consuming and expensive, so it happens every once in a while. Dynamic obsolescence to me is the most crucial type because it involves changing the style of a consumer product to make it marketable to consumers. It is amazing how changing the availability of a color can bring the downfall of an old product and the new product is a musts have. Finally planned obsolescence is the technique of making products cheaper and less durable to keep consumers buying.
     No one could have predicted that people would become so dependent on materialistic products. " A few foresaw a world...in which the ever expanding taste for material goods and the theory of comparative advantage would keep us all running as fast as we could on a giant squirrel wheel." ( pg 9 ) New ethics were brought up in our society beginning with consumer goods such as Yankee watches. These dollar watches were only a dollar and even though damaged watches could be returned for a new one, consumers chose to throw away the item and buy a new one. The fact that the good was only a dollar beat the notion of returning the item and waiting several weeks for a new one. Society is still like this today, we buy cheap goods on a regular basis and wear them out. Once that occurs we throw away the good and replace it right away.
     If we look at the war between Ford and General Motors people could see how "style could date cars more quickly and reliably than technology." ( pg 36 ) Henry Ford was more focused on traditional values of making consumer good durable. But he soon learned that General Motors and their " New and Improved" ideology would bring them success. General Motors changed the style of their Chevrolet by expanding their color options and making the car more fashionable for woman as well. General Motors and many companies goal is to "hasten obsolescence, in 1934 the average car ownership span was five years, now [1955] it is two years. When it is one year, we will have a perfect score." ( pg 45 ) The big picture is that these companies will use advertisement to make its consumers by their products no matter how cheaply they are made. Their success comes from the fact that we keep going back to them to buy their goods over and over again. Meanwhile we keep adding to the electronic trash that will soon become a pyramid.