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Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, We're coming to see you soon. Yeah, especially

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Speaker 1: first of all Toronto and Chicago. And Toronto, hats off

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Speaker 1: to you guys. Tickets are selling like gangbusters. Chicago. I

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Speaker 1: don't know what's going on with you. I know, Chicago,

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Speaker 1: what became of you? Chicago? I thought you loved us. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: really with your cool hot dogs in your thick pizzas. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and and I mean that's really all you needed to

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Speaker 1: mention about Chicago. So we're gonna be at the Harris

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Speaker 1: Theater on July. That is very soon. We were going

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Speaker 1: to be the next day in Toronto at the Lovely

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Speaker 1: Dan fourth Music Hall in July. And then that's not all,

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Speaker 1: is it. No, that's not all, Chuck. We're also going

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Speaker 1: to be going to Boston in August, followed by Portland, Maine,

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Speaker 1: which is on purpose, by the way, that's right, Wilbert

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Speaker 1: Theater in Boston, the State Theater in Portland, Maine. We're

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Speaker 1: headed to Florida for the first time everyone since or

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Speaker 1: Florida at the Plaza Live in Orlando in October nine,

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Speaker 1: and then the next night October at the Civic Theater

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Speaker 1: in New Orleans. And then we're gonna wrap it all

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Speaker 1: up and spanking on the bottom with our annual trio

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Speaker 1: of shows at the Bellhouse in Brooklyn, New York, October

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Speaker 1: and is almost sold out. Yeah, So you can get

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Speaker 1: tickets to all of these shows, um by going to

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Speaker 1: s Y s K live dot com, our home on

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Speaker 1: the web for touring, and that will send you out

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Speaker 1: to all the great little sites that have links to

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Speaker 1: the tickets and info and everything you need. So we

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Speaker 1: will see you very soon starting this July. Welcome to

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Speaker 1: Stuff you Should Know, a production of I Heart Radios

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Speaker 1: How Stuff Works. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm

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Speaker 1: Josh Clark, and there's Charles W. Chuck Bryan over there,

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Speaker 1: and there's Jerry over there. So this is stuff you

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Speaker 1: should know. Built a break condition? Okay, I didn't. I

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Speaker 1: was not paying attention when he said which one we

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Speaker 1: were doing? And I thought, you know what, I'm just

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Speaker 1: gonna pick up on the clues. Wow, right right out

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Speaker 1: of the gate. When did you have it when I said, um,

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Speaker 1: there's Charles W. Chuck Bryant and planned a break Okay,

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Speaker 1: got that was pretty sharp, Chuck, Hey man, after the

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Speaker 1: eleven as years, it's as easy as that. You can

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Speaker 1: read my mind so let's talk about the civil Air Patrol.

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Speaker 1: He just threw me off. Luckily it wasn't enough for

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Speaker 1: me to stop and correct you. Though. I'm excited about

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Speaker 1: this one because planned obsolescence is one of those things

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Speaker 1: that's uh. I think it just annoying to people like us.

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Speaker 1: Were you were you raised with the idea of plan

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Speaker 1: planned obsolescence? Like, were you aware of it when you

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Speaker 1: were younger? No? Because when I was a kid, things

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Speaker 1: seemed to last longer. I had the same refrigerator my

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Speaker 1: entire lie as a child, same metallic p refrigerator. We

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Speaker 1: even got it like refaced, Like that's how long you

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Speaker 1: could have an appliance like that. It's like the styles

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Speaker 1: have changed, so just get a new front for it.

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Speaker 1: That's astounding. Man, I didn't even know that you could

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Speaker 1: do that. Yeah. I mean I doubt if you still

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Speaker 1: can know, but I definitely can't. Yeah. Back then they

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Speaker 1: were like, yeah, this is a fifty year fridge, so

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Speaker 1: every years, get a new thing on the front. Yeah. Well,

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Speaker 1: if you're sitting there going when Chuck said fifty year fridge,

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Speaker 1: that's okay. That's the world we live in now. The

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Speaker 1: point is it didn't used to be that way. UM.

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Speaker 1: Things used to last forever and ever, right, So what changed?

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Speaker 1: That's a big question that's on people's mind. And what

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Speaker 1: a lot of people point to is something called planned

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Speaker 1: obsolescence UM, which is pretty straightforward if you think about

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Speaker 1: It's basically UM companies deliberately making their products UM so

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Speaker 1: that they last a shorter amount of time in order

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Speaker 1: to make you, the consumer, have to go back and

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Speaker 1: buy another one much more UM, much sooner than you

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Speaker 1: normally would have if the things were built to last longer. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and there are a lot of ways that this can

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Speaker 1: go down. It's not always just like hey, build it

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Speaker 1: cheap or build it out of crudity materials, but that

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Speaker 1: is certainly one way to do it. UM. Obviously, the

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Speaker 1: you know, with smartphones and the technology uh sector of

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Speaker 1: the world, that's where you really hear a lot about

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Speaker 1: this because, um, I know a lot of people have

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Speaker 1: been frustrated with smartphones and the fact that like, hey,

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Speaker 1: maybe I want to go five years with a smartphone

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Speaker 1: and not have a new update, make it slow, or

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Speaker 1: not have my battery not work after three years and

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Speaker 1: stuff like that, right, And I mean, like it shouldn't

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Speaker 1: have to be like an identity statement to have to

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Speaker 1: keep a phone for five years, like you're swimming against

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Speaker 1: the current or sticking it to the man. Like you

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Speaker 1: should just be able to keep your phone for as

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Speaker 1: as long as you like and it's still not only

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Speaker 1: continue to work, but also to be like compatible with

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Speaker 1: the rest of the world going on around it. That's

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Speaker 1: just that's just not the way, that's not the case.

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Speaker 1: That's just not how things are made, especially in the

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Speaker 1: technology sector. Like you were saying, right, and here's the

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Speaker 1: thing is, it's like this is something that a company

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Speaker 1: is not going to admit to. Um, it's not against

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Speaker 1: the law. Uh. Some people say it's a myth and

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Speaker 1: it's just like tinfoil hat territory. Um. Other people say, no,

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Speaker 1: it clearly totally happens. And then other people even say, yeah,

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Speaker 1: it happens. But this is great for the economy to

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Speaker 1: keep people making stuff all the time. Right. So there's

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Speaker 1: this idea of you know, is planned obsolescence a real thing?

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Speaker 1: And if it is real, because I think you kind

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Speaker 1: of touched on it with that third group, some people

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Speaker 1: are like, yeah, it is real, but it's not like

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Speaker 1: deliberate and out of like a sense of avarice or exploitation.

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Speaker 1: It's just kind of part of the world we live

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Speaker 1: in these days. Um. I think a lot of people

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Speaker 1: that are like, no, it is real, and it is deliberate,

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Speaker 1: and it is out of avarice, and it stinks. It

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Speaker 1: does stink. We'll find that there's a lot, there's a

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Speaker 1: lot wrong with it, right. Yeah. So, uh, this this

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Speaker 1: early light bulb story is pretty interesting. Um, way back

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Speaker 1: when Thomas Edison invented a light bulb in the late

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Speaker 1: eighteen hundreds that people could use in their homes, he

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Speaker 1: used carbon filaments which were eight times thicker than the

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Speaker 1: tungsten filaments that came like later, like three decades later.

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Speaker 1: So these things lasted a long time. And uh, they

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Speaker 1: were built to last. And I can't believe I'm forty

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Speaker 1: eight years old and I never had heard of the

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Speaker 1: Centennial light, which is a lightbulb from nineteen o one

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Speaker 1: that is still working in gallop Orna. Yeah, and a

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Speaker 1: fire station in California, and it's on almost all the time.

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Speaker 1: It's not like they turn it off for thirty five

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Speaker 1: years at a stretch. Now, you probably wouldn't want to

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Speaker 1: turn it off at this point. I would say probably not.

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Speaker 1: That's probably the only reason it's working is because it

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Speaker 1: doesn't know. It doesn't have to. They've got like the

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Speaker 1: scotch tape over the light switch with like do not

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Speaker 1: turn off it's dim now though. Uh I saw that

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Speaker 1: it's down to about a night light for watts or so. Well,

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Speaker 1: it's been burning for a hundred and eighteen years, give

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Speaker 1: it a break. Hey man, I'm not I'm not knocking

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Speaker 1: the centennial light. He's my favorite little old light buddy.

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Speaker 1: Not my presence at least, but yeah, I mean that

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Speaker 1: thing point is they were built to last. And uh.

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Speaker 1: Initially this is because electric companies installed and maintained all

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Speaker 1: these systems, including like hey, you needed a new bulb, Like,

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Speaker 1: we'll come and take care of it for you. Uh.

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Speaker 1: And then that got shifted to the consumer and they

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Speaker 1: were like hey, and they literally were like ky because

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Speaker 1: there was a concerted effort that wasn't just like some

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Speaker 1: abstract thought. There was something called the Phoebus Cartel in

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Speaker 1: the nineteen twenties when all these electric companies from around

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Speaker 1: the world and bulb manufacturers got together and literally colluded

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Speaker 1: and said, hey, let's make lightbulbs not last as long

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Speaker 1: because we can sell more. Yeah, collusion. Can't you believe that?

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Speaker 1: I can't actually believe it. Not only it is not

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Speaker 1: like they got together, like they sent some letters or

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Speaker 1: smoked some cigars or happen to have like a conversation

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Speaker 1: at a club or something like that, Like they met

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Speaker 1: in Geneva, Switzerland to hold a secret meeting to form

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Speaker 1: a lightbulb cartel to make lightbulbs last a shorter amount

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Speaker 1: of time so they could sell more. It's just it happened.

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Speaker 1: I mean, that's that's very much proof if you're like

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Speaker 1: planned obsi lescence and really a thing, like, there's proof

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Speaker 1: that at one point it was definitely a thing. It

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Speaker 1: was a thing, one of the earliest industries around in

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Speaker 1: the post industrial age, so um so the light bulb

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Speaker 1: cartel kind of it. Definitely. It's not like that just

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Speaker 1: kicked off everything where everybody's like, oh, yeah, that's what

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Speaker 1: we're gonna do from now on. It's almost like the

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Speaker 1: impression I got is that this is an independent idea

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Speaker 1: that was just kind of cropped up throughout the course

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Speaker 1: of the twentieth century. But the next people that hit

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Speaker 1: upon it, I think, I don't it's entirely possible that

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Speaker 1: these guys were all sharing info, you know, the the

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Speaker 1: lightbulb guys were like, hey, you you car makers are

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Speaker 1: being idiots. Here's what you need to do the same

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Speaker 1: places in the cat skills every summer. That's what I

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Speaker 1: would guess, seeing that young upcoming comedian Henny young men

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Speaker 1: do bit so. So the the automakers were the first

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Speaker 1: to hit on it next and UM specifically a guy

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Speaker 1: named alphred P. Sloan who was a groundbreaking early president

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Speaker 1: of General Motors UM, who said, I've got an idea.

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Speaker 1: We could sell way more cars if we just make

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Speaker 1: little updates here there every year to the same car,

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Speaker 1: but just change it out enough so that you want

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Speaker 1: the newer car. It's newer, it's flash year, it's better

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Speaker 1: than the car you own. So maybe after a couple

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Speaker 1: of years somebody will take their car that still works

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Speaker 1: just fine and trade it in for a new one.

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Speaker 1: And he's the guy who came up with that. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: that's called dynamic obsolescence. And I mean, now we take

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Speaker 1: it for granted because that's all you hear about is

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Speaker 1: the new model year. But previous to that, I mean,

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Speaker 1: I'd love to do a show on the early auto industry.

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Speaker 1: I guess they've just made cars and they were called

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Speaker 1: the whatever. And I mean when did they make new

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Speaker 1: ones every five or six seven years when they had

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Speaker 1: a real animation. Well he had this idea in like

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Speaker 1: the twenties or thirties, so they there weren't They wouldn't

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Speaker 1: have been cars for that many very long yeah, before them,

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Speaker 1: but I think it was just like the Model T

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Speaker 1: or the Model A or the the box with wheels,

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Speaker 1: you know which all of those were, right. Yeah. The

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Speaker 1: actual term though, planned obsolescence UM, was in a pamphlet

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Speaker 1: for the first time in nineteen thirty two, written by

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Speaker 1: a real estate broker named Bernard London. Uh And this

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Speaker 1: pamphlet was called you know it's two. If it's like

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Speaker 1: the big pamphlet writing days, you don't get enough of

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Speaker 1: those anymore. You really don't see too many pamphlets outside

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Speaker 1: of like a government office or something, right, or if

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Speaker 1: you're in Vegas and it's just got you know, you

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Speaker 1: know what those kind of pamphlets, right, But this was

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Speaker 1: a two and it was called ending the Depression through

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Speaker 1: Planned Obsolescence. Uh So right there, it's in the title,

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Speaker 1: first time it had ever been used. And this was

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Speaker 1: a plan for for products to include an artificial expiration date.

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Speaker 1: So the idea was, if you're a consumer and you

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Speaker 1: continue to use that product beyond that date, sort of

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Speaker 1: like you know, taking an old pill or drinking old milk,

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Speaker 1: except you would be charged attacks like, hey, you're still

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Speaker 1: using that fridge. Uh, it's two years past its date,

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Speaker 1: so you gotta pay attacks on that now, right, And

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Speaker 1: it did not take hold, surprisingly or not surprisingly right,

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Speaker 1: But there's supposedly, from what I saw, there's fifteen copies

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Speaker 1: of that pamphlet known to exist still and they're all

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Speaker 1: in libraries, and there were twenty originally, right exactly. But

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Speaker 1: that Bernard London he had, you know, he had kind

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Speaker 1: of an idea, but it was misplaced. It was in

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Speaker 1: the wrong place. It was like, nobody wants to tax

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Speaker 1: the consumer for using an item they paid for fair

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Speaker 1: and square. That's just that's not going to be a

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Speaker 1: very popular idea. So he had he was kind of

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Speaker 1: on the right path, but he found a tree and

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Speaker 1: he started barking up it and it was the wrong one,

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Speaker 1: you know what I mean. Yeah, but that was Uh.

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Speaker 1: In fact, that same year, there were two other guys,

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Speaker 1: Roy Sheldon and uh, this is a great name, eggma

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Speaker 1: onto Errands and they wrote a book that wasn't too

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Speaker 1: far off. That pamphlet called consumer Engineering Colon or Lease

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Speaker 1: of a Colon in the title a new Technique for Prosperity,

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Speaker 1: and they called it creative waste and just basically flat

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Speaker 1: out said we should make things that are less durable

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Speaker 1: because uh, you know, people are going to buy more stuff,

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Speaker 1: right and yeah, which I mean lays the foundation for

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Speaker 1: the consumer economy that we live in today. Like that's

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Speaker 1: it right there. These guys came up with the basis

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Speaker 1: of it. Yeah, And it got me thinking about like

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Speaker 1: when you when you there are places that make really

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Speaker 1: awesome things that are like they're selling point is this

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Speaker 1: is really built to last, whether it's a wallet or

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Speaker 1: you know, a piece of clothing or something. No, there

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Speaker 1: are these you know, they're these high end wallet makers

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Speaker 1: now that are saying like this is the wallet that

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Speaker 1: you can have for sixty years like your father. Um.

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Speaker 1: But they often say things like, you know, use military

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Speaker 1: aid fabrics or this or that, and I think that's

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Speaker 1: just like back then they used to use the highest

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Speaker 1: grade and calling a military grade it sounds all fancy.

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Speaker 1: But what that really means is we use stuff like

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Speaker 1: they used to because it just lasts, and now only

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Speaker 1: the military does that kind of thing. You know, Yeah, No,

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Speaker 1: I think you're absolutely right. I mean, that's what That's

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Speaker 1: what Bernard London and Roy Sheldon and eggma errands that

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Speaker 1: the foundation of their ideas, even though they were separate ideas,

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Speaker 1: was that things were made too well back then, and

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Speaker 1: Bernard London's idea was, well, you could just keep making

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Speaker 1: them really well, but you have to say that you

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Speaker 1: can't use it beyond this this date, which wouldn't work.

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Speaker 1: But Roy Sheldon and Egmont Aaron said, well, we could

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Speaker 1: go the opposite way and just make stuff less durable

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Speaker 1: and sell more of it. That's the whole point to

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Speaker 1: stimulate the economy. Because remember both these were written during

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Speaker 1: the depression, and they their idea was to stimulate the

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Speaker 1: economy me by artificially creating repeat customers that otherwise wouldn't

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Speaker 1: exist because the stuff that that you would go by

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Speaker 1: is too durable. Like if you go by a hose

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Speaker 1: and that hose is going to last you for the

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Speaker 1: rest of your life, and you're not in a business

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Speaker 1: where you need multiple hoses. You're just a homeowner business,

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Speaker 1: you're a hosemaker. Well, I'm actually referring specifically to a

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Speaker 1: hose that my dad bought from Sears in the sixties.

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Speaker 1: He still had it until the nineties, and it sprung

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Speaker 1: a leak, and Sears used to guarantee everything that they

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Speaker 1: sold for a lifetime. My dad took it back to

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Speaker 1: his Sears and they gave him another hose in the nineties. Right. So,

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Speaker 1: But the idea of a hose lasting thirtysomething years, let

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Speaker 1: alone being replaced when it, you know, for free when

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Speaker 1: it when it breaks like that was that was the problem.

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Speaker 1: Stuff was just made too well. And you can actually

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Speaker 1: go on to like Etsy and eBay and sights like

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Speaker 1: that today, Chuck, And there's a whole um, a whole

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Speaker 1: like subculture I guess of people who buy vintage appliances

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Speaker 1: that's still work they were they they work like they

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Speaker 1: did the day you bought them. Like I saw a

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Speaker 1: Sunbeam mixer from nineteen thirty and it says like, works

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Speaker 1: perfectly well, has a few scuffs on it. That's it

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Speaker 1: from nineteen thirty. That's coming up on a hundred years ago. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it also weighs two hundred and seventy five pounds and

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Speaker 1: it catches your house on fire, so you'll have to

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Speaker 1: pay a lot of money to have it shipped. But um, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean it's crazy because that was this early planned

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Speaker 1: obsolescence was in the thirties and forties. When we think

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Speaker 1: of that's when they were making great stuff, and like

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Speaker 1: now it's progressed to the point where it's just like,

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Speaker 1: let's just make pure garbage, but it won't last a year.

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Speaker 1: The point originally was that that it would stimulate the

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Speaker 1: economy if you could sell the same person stuff multiple

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Speaker 1: times over their life, rather than making something that lasts

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Speaker 1: a generation so that they only have to buy the

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Speaker 1: one hose for their lifetime. Right, well, your dad has

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Speaker 1: two nicknames now, the herbal Elvis and uh one host Clark. Um,

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Speaker 1: all right, shall we take a break? I think so,

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Speaker 1: all right, let's take a break, and we're gonna come

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Speaker 1: back and talk about a man named Brooks Stevens. Right

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Speaker 1: after this shouldn't large, I was ski as sks should know.

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Speaker 1: All right, So this idea is out there. Planned obsolescence, Um,

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Speaker 1: it's been written down. It's a term really kind of

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Speaker 1: became more common in the nineteen fifties, even though it

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Speaker 1: was first written about in the early nineteen thirties. And

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Speaker 1: this is where a man named Brooks Stevens and ers.

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Speaker 1: He was a Milwaukee industrial designer, and he did a

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Speaker 1: lot of stuff. He worked in the automobile industry, he

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Speaker 1: worked in the appliance industry. UM, and basically his whole

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Speaker 1: jam was no, no, no, we we need to make

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Speaker 1: things obsolete and not last very long because this is

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Speaker 1: good for industry. Right, Let's go get that bread. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: go get that bread and keep people working, keep people

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Speaker 1: making stuff. Uh. At a nineteen fifty four advertising conference,

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Speaker 1: he gave a speech where he said, quote instilling in

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Speaker 1: the buyer the desire to own something a little newer,

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Speaker 1: a little better, a little sooner than is necessary. End quote. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's right there. Just make it a little crappier, a

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Speaker 1: little crudier, and you'll sell more of them over a

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Speaker 1: long period of time. I can take the long view

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Speaker 1: of it, and like, if you are looking at it

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Speaker 1: strictly from like an economic sense, like an academic sense,

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Speaker 1: this just makes like total sense. It's perfectly norm moll

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Speaker 1: and rational and a kind of a good idea. But

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Speaker 1: it when you put it into practice. We've found. Um,

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Speaker 1: there's a lot of problems that start to emerge pretty quickly. Uh,

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Speaker 1: and emerge so quickly that Um Brooks Stevens, you know,

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Speaker 1: gave that very famous speech, well famous among industrial designers,

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Speaker 1: but he gave he made that speech in nineteen fifty four.

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Speaker 1: By nineteen sixty six years later, there was a popular

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Speaker 1: book by a guy named Vance Packard called The Waste Bakers,

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Speaker 1: and it was basically about all the problems that come

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Speaker 1: from that kind of mentality that planned obsolescence creates, all

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Speaker 1: the waste associated with all the unnecessary consumerism, all the

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Speaker 1: keeping up with the joneses that emerges. Like just six

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Speaker 1: years after that speech, so really quickly people started to

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Speaker 1: see the problems with planned obsolescence, like right out of

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Speaker 1: the gate. Yeah, this Vance Packard, I think maybe we

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Speaker 1: could try and do a short stuff on yeah, easily,

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Speaker 1: just kind of reading up on him. He was a

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Speaker 1: sort of a pre Ralph Nader social critic um, and

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Speaker 1: I guess Nader was a little more toward like public safety.

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Speaker 1: But Fance Packard, he wrote a bunch of cool books

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Speaker 1: and essays, one called The Hidden Persuaders that tackled the

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Speaker 1: advertising industry and subliminal advertising and stuff like that. He

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Speaker 1: was like the arch enemy of Edward Burnet's I imagine. Yeah. Uh,

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Speaker 1: Thato was one called an essay called the Naked Society,

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Speaker 1: which had to do in the nineteen sixties, I think

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Speaker 1: about consumer privacy technol ahead of his time. Yeah. And

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Speaker 1: then the last thing he wrote in nine was called

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Speaker 1: the Ultra Rich colin how much is too Much? How

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Speaker 1: much is too much? Yeah? So he died a few

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Speaker 1: years later. Like up until the very end, was kind

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Speaker 1: of fighting the good fight for saying, what a you know,

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Speaker 1: what a wasteful, invasive, gross society that we're building here

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Speaker 1: in the United States. Yeah. It was an interesting dude.

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Speaker 1: Definitely the kind of author that you know, guys like

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Speaker 1: um glad Well and Freedman and all of them started,

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Speaker 1: you know, followed in the footsteps of but he he

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Speaker 1: kind of laid the groundwork for that, that kind of

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Speaker 1: reporting on, you know, kind of the ugliness of the

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Speaker 1: society that sold to us. I think we should definitely

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Speaker 1: do uum a short stuff on him. Yeah. Okay, so

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Speaker 1: pinky swear swear Okay, Um, your pinky's cold. I don't

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Speaker 1: know that's soothing to me. Or frightening. It should be

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Speaker 1: a little frightening. I'm frightened by it because it feels sweaty. Guys,

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Speaker 1: I think Josh is dead. My nose just falls off

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Speaker 1: on to the table. God, let me put that back. Problem. Um.

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Speaker 1: The funny thing is, as long as you could keep

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Speaker 1: podcasting out probably like that's fine. Fine. Yeah, I like

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Speaker 1: corpse Josh. You buy me like a steel rod to

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Speaker 1: go in my spine for Christmas? Yeah, but I'd have

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Speaker 1: to buy one every couple of years because they don't

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Speaker 1: last like they It's true, they don't last like they

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Speaker 1: used to. That's another thing I really really want to

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Speaker 1: say this, chuck, because I'm sure too, especially some of

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Speaker 1: our younger listeners, we sound like a couple of like

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Speaker 1: they don't make it like they used to. Know, it's

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Speaker 1: proven they don't make things like they used to. It's

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Speaker 1: not just people like pining for the good old days

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Speaker 1: or anything like that. Like there is a definite progression

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Speaker 1: of um, increasing cruddiness among the stuff you buy, and

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Speaker 1: the shortening in the lifespan and durability of the things

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Speaker 1: we buy. It's just happening. Yeah, it's funny when I

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Speaker 1: see stuff on social media about people complaining about their

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Speaker 1: fridge that doesn't work this or that, and like, what

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Speaker 1: about the lemon law. I'm always just like, oh, that's cute.

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Speaker 1: I'm sure you're gonna get real far with the lemon law.

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Speaker 1: Although we should look into that for a short stuff too,

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Speaker 1: because there is such a thing. I just don't know how,

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Speaker 1: you know, I'm sure we about it. We talked about

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Speaker 1: it before. Maybe where we How do we even did

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Speaker 1: a show years ago? Oh? Man, I harkened back to

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Speaker 1: that show pretty frequently, Like whenever I'm offered an extended warranty,

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Speaker 1: I'm like, wow, that sounds like a really good deal.

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Speaker 1: What did we say in the extended warranty episode? Oh? Yes,

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Speaker 1: never think don't extended warranty. It's never worth it if

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Speaker 1: I remember correctly. Alright, so shall we chat a little

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Speaker 1: bit about some of some of the worst offenders these days. Yeah?

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Speaker 1: First up on the t ball t is Apple. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Apple is in the news a lot um and it's

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Speaker 1: very much at the center of the um, the talk

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Speaker 1: among the skeptics and on the skeptics websites about their

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Speaker 1: evil plan to keep you on their machines every couple

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Speaker 1: of years through you know, updates that slowed down your phone,

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Speaker 1: which was proven true. Yeah, well there's a class action

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Speaker 1: lawsuit against them for it. Yeah, so here's what happened.

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Speaker 1: If you live under a rock, Apple got um. They

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Speaker 1: sent out an update this a few years ago, and

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Speaker 1: the update was shown and that they admitted that it

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Speaker 1: did slow the phones down, but their whole response was, Hey,

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Speaker 1: this is because the battery stinks. They're like, we're trying

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Speaker 1: to make your battery last longer, so we're slowing some

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Speaker 1: things down in order to give you a better battery life.

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Speaker 1: And then here's what we'll do everyone, We're so sorry.

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Speaker 1: We're gonna you can buy a new battery for fifty

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Speaker 1: dollars cheaper, uh for tars instead of seventy nine. So

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Speaker 1: they replaced eleven million batteries in did they really? I

424
00:24:31,960 --> 00:24:35,240
Speaker 1: didn't know that. Yeah, up from about you know, replaced

425
00:24:35,400 --> 00:24:39,200
Speaker 1: for twenty dollars apiece, up from one to two million

426
00:24:39,480 --> 00:24:42,320
Speaker 1: in an average year. Because I don't know if you've

427
00:24:42,359 --> 00:24:45,520
Speaker 1: ever seen an iPhone, buddy, but it doesn't have a

428
00:24:45,560 --> 00:24:47,680
Speaker 1: little switch on the back that you just pop a

429
00:24:47,720 --> 00:24:49,960
Speaker 1: little thing and put a new battery in. No. No,

430
00:24:50,320 --> 00:24:52,640
Speaker 1: that's another big part of planning opsis and said we'll

431
00:24:52,640 --> 00:24:55,560
Speaker 1: talk about is there is a strict control over the

432
00:24:55,640 --> 00:24:59,040
Speaker 1: product even after it's purchased. Yeah, they want to control

433
00:24:59,119 --> 00:25:03,360
Speaker 1: it through repair, through everything. Um So, I was looking

434
00:25:03,440 --> 00:25:05,399
Speaker 1: up on this lawsuit because I didn't know where it landed,

435
00:25:05,560 --> 00:25:08,439
Speaker 1: and I think it's still going on. And the latest

436
00:25:08,520 --> 00:25:11,200
Speaker 1: article I read was from February that said, basically Apple

437
00:25:11,840 --> 00:25:15,439
Speaker 1: is squirreling away money because they're gonna lose this thing

438
00:25:16,800 --> 00:25:20,120
Speaker 1: and literally setting aside money to pay for this lawsuit.

439
00:25:20,320 --> 00:25:23,720
Speaker 1: That's so cute for a rainy day. Yeah, they like

440
00:25:23,880 --> 00:25:25,560
Speaker 1: opened up a new account. They went down to the

441
00:25:25,640 --> 00:25:30,520
Speaker 1: bank said just call it lawsuit account, right. Um But

442
00:25:30,680 --> 00:25:34,080
Speaker 1: here's the thing with Apple. It's not just the update thing.

443
00:25:34,240 --> 00:25:36,879
Speaker 1: Like anyone who has bought a laptop from them, like

444
00:25:37,080 --> 00:25:40,000
Speaker 1: me lately, or one of the newer phones, and you're like,

445
00:25:40,040 --> 00:25:42,640
Speaker 1: oh wait a minute, I can't plug like I've done

446
00:25:43,280 --> 00:25:46,200
Speaker 1: since I had my Walkman, I can't plug my headphones

447
00:25:46,240 --> 00:25:49,280
Speaker 1: into this thing anymore without buying a little dongle, Or

448
00:25:49,359 --> 00:25:51,560
Speaker 1: I can't plug in a USB port because there is

449
00:25:51,640 --> 00:25:54,720
Speaker 1: none unless I get some little adapter that they also sell.

450
00:25:55,960 --> 00:26:01,040
Speaker 1: Um So, that's a classic hallmark of UM planned obsolescence

451
00:26:01,160 --> 00:26:06,440
Speaker 1: is creating a newer model that is incompatible with older models.

452
00:26:06,480 --> 00:26:08,439
Speaker 1: So if you want to keep using the older model,

453
00:26:08,720 --> 00:26:11,000
Speaker 1: you're gonna have to shell out some money one way

454
00:26:11,119 --> 00:26:14,680
Speaker 1: or another. Um Or even if you buy you the

455
00:26:14,720 --> 00:26:17,240
Speaker 1: newer model, which is kind of even bigger slap in

456
00:26:17,280 --> 00:26:19,560
Speaker 1: the face, you have to shell out even more money

457
00:26:19,760 --> 00:26:22,960
Speaker 1: for additional peripherals like chargers or headphones or something like

458
00:26:23,080 --> 00:26:27,000
Speaker 1: that to make them compatible. Just making stuff incompatible with

459
00:26:27,280 --> 00:26:30,680
Speaker 1: older versions, it's it's a it's a big part of

460
00:26:30,800 --> 00:26:34,080
Speaker 1: planned obsolescence. Do you know, I wonder how much money

461
00:26:34,119 --> 00:26:37,240
Speaker 1: they made on the little headphone adapter? Oh man, it's

462
00:26:37,320 --> 00:26:41,200
Speaker 1: ten bucks. Like I've got one, and I'm like, you know,

463
00:26:41,320 --> 00:26:44,720
Speaker 1: I could really use another one of those, because the

464
00:26:44,880 --> 00:26:47,520
Speaker 1: worst thing that can possibly happen to a human being

465
00:26:48,200 --> 00:26:51,040
Speaker 1: is they have two sets of headphones, one for like,

466
00:26:51,359 --> 00:26:54,280
Speaker 1: you know, the flight on delta and then one for

467
00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:57,080
Speaker 1: your phone because they have two different ends on them.

468
00:26:57,400 --> 00:26:59,239
Speaker 1: So I mean, to have to keep up with two

469
00:26:59,280 --> 00:27:02,200
Speaker 1: sets of headphone is basically as horrible as it gets.

470
00:27:02,240 --> 00:27:06,360
Speaker 1: So I'm probably just gonna a cave and get another adapter, yeah,

471
00:27:06,520 --> 00:27:12,400
Speaker 1: or just quit ingesting culture. Yeah, we'll get a flip

472
00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:15,960
Speaker 1: phone and stop watching movies and TV altogether. Yep, sticking

473
00:27:16,040 --> 00:27:19,960
Speaker 1: it to the man. Uh the other one other big

474
00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:23,520
Speaker 1: offender that really gets my goat. And I know we

475
00:27:23,600 --> 00:27:26,880
Speaker 1: are old guys complaining here, that's fine, But the old

476
00:27:26,960 --> 00:27:29,760
Speaker 1: and young alike, I think can all agree that, uh,

477
00:27:30,119 --> 00:27:35,480
Speaker 1: printer cartridges are one of the biggest, most frustrating, wasteful,

478
00:27:35,560 --> 00:27:39,640
Speaker 1: and environmentally damaging scams on the planet. Yeah, but which

479
00:27:39,680 --> 00:27:41,840
Speaker 1: I didn't know about this. I've gotta I'm just gonna

480
00:27:41,880 --> 00:27:43,600
Speaker 1: go ahead and buz them because I'm pretty proud of

481
00:27:43,840 --> 00:27:47,600
Speaker 1: what they What we got at an absent printer at home,

482
00:27:48,359 --> 00:27:51,200
Speaker 1: and it has like reservoirs that you fill with ink

483
00:27:52,200 --> 00:27:55,679
Speaker 1: then hold a ton of ink from like a refill bottle.

484
00:27:56,359 --> 00:27:59,119
Speaker 1: And um, there's no cartridges involved or anything like that.

485
00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:03,040
Speaker 1: The bottles that you refill it from are fully recyclable.

486
00:28:03,119 --> 00:28:06,840
Speaker 1: It's just is this good. Um Before we had cartridges,

487
00:28:06,960 --> 00:28:10,760
Speaker 1: but it didn't have this particular UM component, which is

488
00:28:10,800 --> 00:28:13,280
Speaker 1: a smart ship I had. So what I'm trying to

489
00:28:13,280 --> 00:28:15,040
Speaker 1: say is, I had no idea this existed until I

490
00:28:15,119 --> 00:28:19,520
Speaker 1: researched this. But some printers, ink jet laser printers, home printers,

491
00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:24,000
Speaker 1: the cartridges have a little chip on them, which is

492
00:28:24,040 --> 00:28:25,800
Speaker 1: I guess what you pull the tape off of when

493
00:28:25,840 --> 00:28:29,000
Speaker 1: you loaded into the printer like a new cartridge, and

494
00:28:29,119 --> 00:28:32,080
Speaker 1: it actually talks to the printer and says, here's how

495
00:28:32,200 --> 00:28:34,720
Speaker 1: much ink. I have laughed, what what are you gonna

496
00:28:34,760 --> 00:28:36,880
Speaker 1: do this Friday? Oh? Yeah, oh wait, I got another

497
00:28:36,960 --> 00:28:40,320
Speaker 1: job coming and excuse me. Um. And then eventually the

498
00:28:40,520 --> 00:28:43,360
Speaker 1: ink level gets down to a certain amount where the

499
00:28:43,440 --> 00:28:46,960
Speaker 1: smart ship tells the printer, no more printing. They've reached

500
00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:50,160
Speaker 1: the preset amount, not the amount where they've actually run

501
00:28:50,320 --> 00:28:53,240
Speaker 1: out of ink, but the amount that the company is

502
00:28:53,280 --> 00:28:56,320
Speaker 1: determined as enough you can use. You can go buy

503
00:28:56,360 --> 00:28:59,680
Speaker 1: another cartridge now. And these cartridges also the smart chips

504
00:28:59,720 --> 00:29:04,440
Speaker 1: prove aren't you from using other companies cheaper knockoff cartridges

505
00:29:04,880 --> 00:29:07,640
Speaker 1: because the chips won't communicate with the printer, so it's

506
00:29:07,680 --> 00:29:10,120
Speaker 1: like the printer doesn't know the cartridge is there, and

507
00:29:10,240 --> 00:29:12,600
Speaker 1: you can't refill them. They're designed not to be refiled,

508
00:29:12,800 --> 00:29:14,960
Speaker 1: so they have to be thrown away and you have

509
00:29:15,040 --> 00:29:17,760
Speaker 1: to go buy another cartridge. Yeah, and I've had that

510
00:29:17,840 --> 00:29:21,280
Speaker 1: happened before in the past, where I get down to, uh,

511
00:29:21,360 --> 00:29:24,440
Speaker 1: if I'm printing something out just like simple black text

512
00:29:25,080 --> 00:29:26,600
Speaker 1: and it starts to come out a little brown and

513
00:29:26,640 --> 00:29:29,400
Speaker 1: then it just stops. I'm like, I'm okay if it's

514
00:29:29,400 --> 00:29:32,640
Speaker 1: a little brown, right, I decide what's a llegible printer?

515
00:29:32,960 --> 00:29:37,880
Speaker 1: I know, Uh, so that's there are at the very

516
00:29:37,960 --> 00:29:39,520
Speaker 1: least I can tell you EPs and makes a printer

517
00:29:39,600 --> 00:29:41,720
Speaker 1: out there that has reservoirs that you can refill with

518
00:29:41,920 --> 00:29:45,840
Speaker 1: bottles and no smart chips. Okay, give me some money. Ups.

519
00:29:45,920 --> 00:29:50,360
Speaker 1: And the auto industry is, you know, still kind of

520
00:29:50,440 --> 00:29:53,480
Speaker 1: doing the same thing that they started so many years ago,

521
00:29:53,640 --> 00:29:58,120
Speaker 1: which is uh, discontinuing parts um that could keep cars

522
00:29:58,200 --> 00:30:02,719
Speaker 1: running for a longer time, making those minor cosmetic changes

523
00:30:03,000 --> 00:30:06,720
Speaker 1: for that new model year, retiring models of cars that

524
00:30:06,800 --> 00:30:10,240
Speaker 1: are really really popular, um, just because they want to

525
00:30:10,240 --> 00:30:12,760
Speaker 1: bring out something new and make it harder to fix

526
00:30:12,800 --> 00:30:15,120
Speaker 1: your old car, so repairs Chuck, like we kind of

527
00:30:15,200 --> 00:30:20,360
Speaker 1: teased earlier. That's a huge part of planned obsolescence. Like,

528
00:30:20,480 --> 00:30:24,480
Speaker 1: if you're the company that controls the market on your

529
00:30:24,680 --> 00:30:30,120
Speaker 1: parts and who can repair the your products with those parts,

530
00:30:30,480 --> 00:30:33,200
Speaker 1: you have a you're you're basically saying like, I can

531
00:30:33,280 --> 00:30:35,440
Speaker 1: see this product through after I sell it to the

532
00:30:35,480 --> 00:30:41,640
Speaker 1: customer to ensure that it experiences just that artificially short lifetime. Yeah,

533
00:30:41,720 --> 00:30:43,720
Speaker 1: and that the thing that's so maddening about this is

534
00:30:44,000 --> 00:30:47,600
Speaker 1: you can just hear it in the meeting rooms. You

535
00:30:47,720 --> 00:30:51,280
Speaker 1: know that that like, And here's the best thing, guys.

536
00:30:52,200 --> 00:30:55,800
Speaker 1: We control the parts, we control the repair, like. The

537
00:30:55,880 --> 00:30:59,240
Speaker 1: only thing we don't control is the shipping. And maybe

538
00:30:59,320 --> 00:31:02,280
Speaker 1: we can make some deal with FedEx on that right

539
00:31:02,360 --> 00:31:04,360
Speaker 1: to get a little kick back exactly. I don't know

540
00:31:04,360 --> 00:31:06,320
Speaker 1: if that really happens. I'm just making it up. Probably

541
00:31:06,400 --> 00:31:09,920
Speaker 1: does now I've got my tinfoil hat on, right, But

542
00:31:10,120 --> 00:31:12,200
Speaker 1: it's you can just hear it in the meeting rooms.

543
00:31:12,280 --> 00:31:16,280
Speaker 1: And that's what's so frustrating is it's it's just this ouze,

544
00:31:16,480 --> 00:31:20,200
Speaker 1: steady uze of greed with no regard for the consumer

545
00:31:20,240 --> 00:31:23,600
Speaker 1: at all. Right, And and just to lay it out basically,

546
00:31:23,960 --> 00:31:28,600
Speaker 1: you know, in explicit terms, Um, if you're a company

547
00:31:28,680 --> 00:31:31,400
Speaker 1: and you make a product, you can control that product

548
00:31:31,440 --> 00:31:34,040
Speaker 1: after you sell it by saying, if you take this product,

549
00:31:34,040 --> 00:31:37,160
Speaker 1: if this product breaks and you take it anywhere but

550
00:31:37,360 --> 00:31:39,920
Speaker 1: where we say, you can say, like to the Apple

551
00:31:40,000 --> 00:31:45,600
Speaker 1: store or an authorized repair shop. Um, you avoided the warranty,

552
00:31:45,800 --> 00:31:47,960
Speaker 1: so there's no warranty after that you just you just

553
00:31:48,040 --> 00:31:51,200
Speaker 1: avoided it um And by doing that, they can say

554
00:31:51,480 --> 00:31:54,239
Speaker 1: they control what parts are used, which means that they

555
00:31:54,280 --> 00:31:56,800
Speaker 1: can be the only people who manufacture the parts that

556
00:31:56,920 --> 00:31:59,600
Speaker 1: are used. And then you say, can I get the

557
00:31:59,720 --> 00:32:01,560
Speaker 1: fixed under warranty three you then they're like, oh, we

558
00:32:01,600 --> 00:32:04,720
Speaker 1: don't cover that underworld They're like, warranty you more on.

559
00:32:05,960 --> 00:32:10,000
Speaker 1: So the with the repair parts controlled, they can they

560
00:32:10,040 --> 00:32:13,080
Speaker 1: can raise the price or lower the price. They can

561
00:32:13,280 --> 00:32:16,160
Speaker 1: um adjust however they want to make it so that

562
00:32:16,280 --> 00:32:19,480
Speaker 1: it's actually as expensive to repair as it is to

563
00:32:19,560 --> 00:32:22,600
Speaker 1: just buy another one or close to it, to just

564
00:32:22,680 --> 00:32:24,840
Speaker 1: basically nudge you towards well, I just throw this one

565
00:32:24,880 --> 00:32:28,560
Speaker 1: away and get get the newer model. Or they can

566
00:32:28,600 --> 00:32:31,000
Speaker 1: also this is a really big one, especially also in

567
00:32:31,040 --> 00:32:34,960
Speaker 1: the auto industry, they can they can stop making those

568
00:32:35,640 --> 00:32:38,120
Speaker 1: parts which are the only parts that you can use

569
00:32:38,560 --> 00:32:43,000
Speaker 1: to repair. So it ultimately eventually becomes impossible to repair

570
00:32:43,120 --> 00:32:46,600
Speaker 1: that thing because all the parts, the finite amount of

571
00:32:46,640 --> 00:32:49,120
Speaker 1: parts that were ever produced to repair them are all

572
00:32:49,200 --> 00:32:52,000
Speaker 1: used up. There's no more parts available. Go buy the

573
00:32:52,080 --> 00:32:55,200
Speaker 1: newer model. Did you see that used UGO? The the

574
00:32:55,320 --> 00:32:59,160
Speaker 1: new used you? Go? No, someone put a you go

575
00:32:59,400 --> 00:33:02,520
Speaker 1: on eBay that had four and eighty miles on it

576
00:33:03,360 --> 00:33:06,560
Speaker 1: and had been garaged since it was you know, since

577
00:33:07,480 --> 00:33:10,080
Speaker 1: or whatever. How much do they want for nine grand

578
00:33:10,200 --> 00:33:14,280
Speaker 1: is what it sold for, which you know it's nine

579
00:33:14,320 --> 00:33:17,480
Speaker 1: grand plus. You gotta get that thing going again, just

580
00:33:17,880 --> 00:33:20,120
Speaker 1: it's been sitting there for that many years. It's clearly

581
00:33:20,200 --> 00:33:23,360
Speaker 1: not road ready, but it was Jerry, and I think

582
00:33:23,400 --> 00:33:28,000
Speaker 1: it's kind of funny that some no doubt tech bro

583
00:33:28,280 --> 00:33:30,920
Speaker 1: with a little too much money wanted to the most

584
00:33:31,000 --> 00:33:34,719
Speaker 1: ironic car in San Francisco. That is as ironic as

585
00:33:34,760 --> 00:33:37,640
Speaker 1: a kiss, for sure. Um. Every time I hear about

586
00:33:37,720 --> 00:33:40,720
Speaker 1: Hugos Chuck, I'm reminded of remember that Saturday Night Live

587
00:33:40,800 --> 00:33:44,400
Speaker 1: commercial for the Adobe. No, it was like the first

588
00:33:44,480 --> 00:33:48,240
Speaker 1: car under a thousand dollars made of clay, So when

589
00:33:48,240 --> 00:33:50,320
Speaker 1: you got an Defender better you just pour water on

590
00:33:50,440 --> 00:33:52,680
Speaker 1: it and mold it back into the show. If only

591
00:33:53,400 --> 00:33:55,760
Speaker 1: that was something like the Phil Hartman era. That's the

592
00:33:55,840 --> 00:34:00,360
Speaker 1: opposite of planned obsolescence. It is UM clothing sort of

593
00:34:00,800 --> 00:34:04,239
Speaker 1: the same deal they make UM And again there are

594
00:34:04,320 --> 00:34:06,720
Speaker 1: some clothing companies, and I think more than ever now

595
00:34:07,320 --> 00:34:09,640
Speaker 1: in recent years, well not more than ever, but more

596
00:34:09,680 --> 00:34:12,480
Speaker 1: in than in the last twenty years. There are companies

597
00:34:12,560 --> 00:34:16,800
Speaker 1: that are making really well made clothes, but they're you know,

598
00:34:16,960 --> 00:34:20,520
Speaker 1: they're not cheap. There are many many more companies, huge,

599
00:34:20,600 --> 00:34:24,600
Speaker 1: huge stores and big brands that are just pumping out

600
00:34:24,760 --> 00:34:28,600
Speaker 1: cheap clothes because you're like, first of all, the styles change,

601
00:34:29,040 --> 00:34:30,839
Speaker 1: So why do you want something You don't want anything

602
00:34:30,840 --> 00:34:33,719
Speaker 1: that's gonna last more than a year or two anyway. Um,

603
00:34:34,160 --> 00:34:36,400
Speaker 1: but my beef, and we're calling out a lot of brands,

604
00:34:36,880 --> 00:34:38,960
Speaker 1: might as well just keep it going. But when I

605
00:34:39,080 --> 00:34:41,600
Speaker 1: was younger, you could buy a pair of Levi's and

606
00:34:41,719 --> 00:34:45,200
Speaker 1: have those for a long, long long time. Yeah, no,

607
00:34:45,360 --> 00:34:49,680
Speaker 1: Russian would trade you a you go for him? Yeah, exactly. Uh.

608
00:34:49,920 --> 00:34:52,759
Speaker 1: And now like I had a pair of Levi's for

609
00:34:52,880 --> 00:34:56,680
Speaker 1: probably five months before I got a big really in them.

610
00:34:56,960 --> 00:35:02,320
Speaker 1: And that's sad. It's sad. Levi Strauss rolled over in

611
00:35:02,360 --> 00:35:04,320
Speaker 1: his grave on that day, I know, man, because that

612
00:35:04,760 --> 00:35:06,600
Speaker 1: that was the thing. It's just like these things are

613
00:35:06,640 --> 00:35:09,680
Speaker 1: tough as leather that last you so long, Like there's

614
00:35:09,719 --> 00:35:14,560
Speaker 1: nothing better than inheriting dad's old Levi's And it's just like,

615
00:35:14,760 --> 00:35:17,799
Speaker 1: you know, or five months. Yeah, that's that's pretty sad,

616
00:35:18,040 --> 00:35:20,839
Speaker 1: is here? A middle ground. Can I get five years? Yeah,

617
00:35:20,920 --> 00:35:23,279
Speaker 1: five years would be pretty good for some jeans. Take it.

618
00:35:23,680 --> 00:35:26,200
Speaker 1: I always put um, although I do less than I

619
00:35:26,280 --> 00:35:28,719
Speaker 1: did before, But my jeans would always wear out, or

620
00:35:28,840 --> 00:35:31,600
Speaker 1: my two thighs, my big fat thighs rubbed together. Sure,

621
00:35:31,680 --> 00:35:34,279
Speaker 1: that's what would go first. But then you can hide

622
00:35:34,320 --> 00:35:36,480
Speaker 1: that for a little while until one day you can't.

623
00:35:37,280 --> 00:35:39,040
Speaker 1: You just hope that that day comes and you're not

624
00:35:39,160 --> 00:35:41,800
Speaker 1: in public. I'm gonna patch these because they're still comfortable.

625
00:35:41,880 --> 00:35:44,759
Speaker 1: But um, you shouldn't have to chuck. You shouldn't have to.

626
00:35:45,120 --> 00:35:48,879
Speaker 1: That's COMI talk. I'm gonna patch these. Uh you want

627
00:35:48,920 --> 00:35:51,960
Speaker 1: to know another racket? Yeah? Yes? Or should we take

628
00:35:52,000 --> 00:35:55,640
Speaker 1: a break and talk about it. We could take a

629
00:35:55,680 --> 00:35:57,960
Speaker 1: break if you want, or we can wait. Do you

630
00:35:58,000 --> 00:36:00,640
Speaker 1: want to wait? Yeah, we'll go. We'll finish the rackets.

631
00:36:00,800 --> 00:36:02,480
Speaker 1: This is fun, by the way, I'm having fun, like

632
00:36:02,640 --> 00:36:05,680
Speaker 1: complaining about how stuff doesn't last like it used to.

633
00:36:05,960 --> 00:36:10,360
Speaker 1: How about the college textbook racket? Hey, this is a

634
00:36:10,440 --> 00:36:13,440
Speaker 1: new edition from the previous year. Oh what's different? The

635
00:36:13,520 --> 00:36:17,600
Speaker 1: page numbers right, so by the new one yep, not

636
00:36:17,760 --> 00:36:20,560
Speaker 1: the used one. Yeah? Which is I mean? Like, if

637
00:36:20,600 --> 00:36:22,640
Speaker 1: you're trying to follow along in class. That's kind of

638
00:36:22,719 --> 00:36:25,800
Speaker 1: maddening because the information is usually not that much, but

639
00:36:25,920 --> 00:36:29,239
Speaker 1: it's enough to just throw everything off, right, Whereas they

640
00:36:29,320 --> 00:36:31,440
Speaker 1: if they just put these things as like a supplement

641
00:36:31,560 --> 00:36:34,520
Speaker 1: or an appendix or something and back then you could

642
00:36:34,640 --> 00:36:38,239
Speaker 1: just or even to sell the additional stuff separately, you

643
00:36:38,360 --> 00:36:41,719
Speaker 1: could be a lot better. Yeah, this is so the

644
00:36:41,760 --> 00:36:46,920
Speaker 1: little pamphlet for and probably make money fifteen copies. How

645
00:36:46,920 --> 00:36:51,040
Speaker 1: about the toy industry? So the toy industry is frequently guilty. Um,

646
00:36:51,120 --> 00:36:53,560
Speaker 1: and this isn't the case across the board, but it

647
00:36:53,800 --> 00:36:58,600
Speaker 1: kinda is of a specific subcategory of planned obsolescence called

648
00:36:58,680 --> 00:37:02,280
Speaker 1: contrived durability. And they're not the garbage product. But basically

649
00:37:02,600 --> 00:37:04,680
Speaker 1: the toy industry isn't the only one that that does it,

650
00:37:04,760 --> 00:37:06,080
Speaker 1: but they're the ones that come to mind when you

651
00:37:06,120 --> 00:37:10,720
Speaker 1: talk about this. And this is purposefully using inferior parts

652
00:37:11,040 --> 00:37:14,160
Speaker 1: that just aren't going to last for very long at all,

653
00:37:14,680 --> 00:37:17,719
Speaker 1: especially the functioning parts of stuff that moves or where

654
00:37:17,760 --> 00:37:21,480
Speaker 1: the most stress is. Anybody who's ever gotten a switch

655
00:37:21,520 --> 00:37:24,400
Speaker 1: blade comb and spent half an hour just opening it

656
00:37:24,480 --> 00:37:26,759
Speaker 1: and closing it, opening it and closing it, and then

657
00:37:26,800 --> 00:37:30,200
Speaker 1: it breaks on the fiftieth time that comb was most

658
00:37:30,280 --> 00:37:34,520
Speaker 1: likely made through a process of contrived or ability. Um,

659
00:37:34,680 --> 00:37:36,839
Speaker 1: and it's a big problem. Part of the problem. Part

660
00:37:36,920 --> 00:37:39,719
Speaker 1: of the problem is that's another really good example of

661
00:37:40,760 --> 00:37:45,000
Speaker 1: a type of item that is just are you going

662
00:37:45,040 --> 00:37:47,520
Speaker 1: to take a switch blade comb into the switch blade

663
00:37:47,560 --> 00:37:50,759
Speaker 1: comb repair shop? And if you if you did, how

664
00:37:50,840 --> 00:37:53,359
Speaker 1: much would they charge you? Would it be any more

665
00:37:53,440 --> 00:37:56,640
Speaker 1: than you paid, you know for like the three ping

666
00:37:56,719 --> 00:37:59,200
Speaker 1: pong balls that you managed to get into like a

667
00:37:59,280 --> 00:38:02,600
Speaker 1: goldfish bowl where you won the switchblade come from? I

668
00:38:02,680 --> 00:38:06,080
Speaker 1: don't think so, right, And actually we'll talk a little

669
00:38:06,080 --> 00:38:08,440
Speaker 1: bit about some of the problems after this break here

670
00:38:08,440 --> 00:38:12,800
Speaker 1: in a second. But just an early early shout to

671
00:38:13,239 --> 00:38:18,560
Speaker 1: the death of the repair person. Yeah, and yeah, there

672
00:38:18,600 --> 00:38:20,759
Speaker 1: are still some of those things, but like try and

673
00:38:20,840 --> 00:38:24,680
Speaker 1: find a TV repair shop near you there, well, yeah,

674
00:38:24,760 --> 00:38:27,279
Speaker 1: try to find one that's open too, is the other thing.

675
00:38:27,400 --> 00:38:30,440
Speaker 1: And you can still find them in any given large city,

676
00:38:31,200 --> 00:38:33,520
Speaker 1: but it's it's not like it used to be where

677
00:38:33,560 --> 00:38:37,840
Speaker 1: it was just like, oh, in any downtown there's a locksmith,

678
00:38:37,960 --> 00:38:42,960
Speaker 1: there's a tailor, there's a TV repaired person, uh, and

679
00:38:43,239 --> 00:38:47,400
Speaker 1: or any kind of repair shop. Um. Yeah, they are

680
00:38:47,560 --> 00:38:52,240
Speaker 1: very very few and far between, but that maybe changing,

681
00:38:52,320 --> 00:38:54,880
Speaker 1: as we'll see. All right, let's take that break, Okay,

682
00:38:55,560 --> 00:38:58,279
Speaker 1: Thank goodness. I had a lot of anxiety building up

683
00:38:58,280 --> 00:39:12,719
Speaker 1: because I knew that break was looming definite ski as

684
00:39:12,760 --> 00:39:25,839
Speaker 1: watch sks should know. All right, Chuck. So, I feel

685
00:39:25,880 --> 00:39:28,560
Speaker 1: like we've kind of hit upon the idea that planned

686
00:39:28,600 --> 00:39:32,520
Speaker 1: obsolescence can be problematic. But let's talk specifically about the

687
00:39:32,560 --> 00:39:37,080
Speaker 1: problems it does produce, right, Yeah, I mean one of

688
00:39:37,160 --> 00:39:38,560
Speaker 1: the big Well, first of all, let's saw out some

689
00:39:38,640 --> 00:39:42,239
Speaker 1: stats just so people know we're not just being angry. Uh.

690
00:39:42,360 --> 00:39:44,279
Speaker 1: There was a study about four years ago in two

691
00:39:44,280 --> 00:39:49,680
Speaker 1: thousand fifteen by company in Germany, the Uko Institute um

692
00:39:49,920 --> 00:39:52,000
Speaker 1: no e on the end of institute which is so

693
00:39:52,200 --> 00:39:57,359
Speaker 1: German looking really because it's institute otherwise um they found

694
00:39:57,440 --> 00:40:00,880
Speaker 1: obsolescence was on the rise. Percentage of a electrical and

695
00:40:00,960 --> 00:40:05,399
Speaker 1: electronic products sold that were replaced because they broke within

696
00:40:05,560 --> 00:40:08,320
Speaker 1: five years rose from three and a half percent in

697
00:40:08,360 --> 00:40:12,040
Speaker 1: two thousand four to eight point three percent and two

698
00:40:12,080 --> 00:40:16,040
Speaker 1: thousand twelve. And then household appliances, which is one of

699
00:40:16,080 --> 00:40:18,680
Speaker 1: the big gripes for people because those are high dollar

700
00:40:18,760 --> 00:40:22,400
Speaker 1: items that you want to last, you know, fifteen years. Um,

701
00:40:22,600 --> 00:40:25,800
Speaker 1: large household appliances had to be replaced within five years,

702
00:40:26,440 --> 00:40:31,920
Speaker 1: grew from seven percent totent like doubled between two thousand

703
00:40:31,960 --> 00:40:36,600
Speaker 1: four and two and like it's you, I've this is

704
00:40:36,680 --> 00:40:39,560
Speaker 1: a really rare study. Most of the evidence about this

705
00:40:39,640 --> 00:40:42,439
Speaker 1: stuff is anecdotal. Like if you ever get your hands

706
00:40:42,480 --> 00:40:45,640
Speaker 1: on an appliance repair guy um who comes out, they

707
00:40:45,719 --> 00:40:50,520
Speaker 1: will talk ad nauseum about how they literally don't make

708
00:40:50,600 --> 00:40:52,880
Speaker 1: things like they used to, and that the the lifespan

709
00:40:53,560 --> 00:40:57,239
Speaker 1: is like two to three years, five years if you're lucky, um,

710
00:40:57,600 --> 00:41:00,600
Speaker 1: But prices are still really high like it used to be, Like, Okay,

711
00:41:00,640 --> 00:41:03,919
Speaker 1: I'm gonna shell out some money for um a really

712
00:41:04,000 --> 00:41:07,399
Speaker 1: good fridge and you could tell basically by the price

713
00:41:07,480 --> 00:41:09,160
Speaker 1: of the fridge how long it was gonna last. That

714
00:41:09,400 --> 00:41:12,759
Speaker 1: that ended a decade or two ago. You can still

715
00:41:12,880 --> 00:41:15,600
Speaker 1: pay a significant amount of money for a fridge that

716
00:41:15,680 --> 00:41:19,479
Speaker 1: has like a one year warranty and it's gonna last

717
00:41:19,560 --> 00:41:22,320
Speaker 1: three to five years, even though you spent a significant

718
00:41:22,360 --> 00:41:25,440
Speaker 1: amount of money. It's crazy. Um. Sometimes there's the plans

719
00:41:25,480 --> 00:41:27,560
Speaker 1: repair people get specific to I don't know if you've

720
00:41:27,600 --> 00:41:30,600
Speaker 1: ever had this happen where they say they don't just

721
00:41:30,640 --> 00:41:33,400
Speaker 1: say it like, oh, these things are junk. Now they'll say, like, oh,

722
00:41:33,560 --> 00:41:35,480
Speaker 1: you know what they started doing. It is four years ago.

723
00:41:35,920 --> 00:41:39,719
Speaker 1: They started making this part out of plastic, and I'd

724
00:41:39,719 --> 00:41:42,359
Speaker 1: see the same repair over and over and over now, right,

725
00:41:42,480 --> 00:41:45,839
Speaker 1: And and it costs X amount for them to even

726
00:41:45,880 --> 00:41:49,080
Speaker 1: come out and diagnose the problem X amount to put

727
00:41:49,160 --> 00:41:51,080
Speaker 1: in the new part, and then you also have to

728
00:41:51,120 --> 00:41:53,640
Speaker 1: pay for the part. And depending on the appliance, I mean,

729
00:41:53,719 --> 00:41:57,560
Speaker 1: like if it's a fifteen hundred or two thousand dollar refrigerator,

730
00:41:58,120 --> 00:42:00,640
Speaker 1: you know, five hundred bucks might be worth it rather

731
00:42:00,719 --> 00:42:04,600
Speaker 1: than replacing it. But your refrigerator just became a two

732
00:42:04,640 --> 00:42:09,400
Speaker 1: thousand dollar refrigerator like eighteen months later, right, Um, So

733
00:42:09,560 --> 00:42:11,480
Speaker 1: that's part of the problem is the cost of repair

734
00:42:11,560 --> 00:42:13,839
Speaker 1: when it is available can be a problem. But if

735
00:42:13,920 --> 00:42:16,719
Speaker 1: your refrigerator does manage the last five years and they

736
00:42:16,760 --> 00:42:19,799
Speaker 1: stopped making replacement parts for it four years after four years,

737
00:42:20,160 --> 00:42:23,919
Speaker 1: you're um, you're out of luck after five years because

738
00:42:23,920 --> 00:42:26,680
Speaker 1: you can't repair it anymore. Like we talked about, Yeah,

739
00:42:26,760 --> 00:42:30,360
Speaker 1: I had a we had a dishwasher that um broke

740
00:42:30,480 --> 00:42:33,880
Speaker 1: a lot from the first year that we had it,

741
00:42:34,560 --> 00:42:36,479
Speaker 1: and it got to that point where I kept paying

742
00:42:36,560 --> 00:42:40,280
Speaker 1: to repair it and getting angrier, and you know, Emily

743
00:42:40,400 --> 00:42:42,120
Speaker 1: was eventually like, neither one of us are like, oh,

744
00:42:42,239 --> 00:42:44,839
Speaker 1: just get the new one. She was like, dude, we're

745
00:42:44,880 --> 00:42:47,080
Speaker 1: spending more like we could have bought the new one

746
00:42:47,600 --> 00:42:50,080
Speaker 1: for what we're spending on repairs because you're being stubborn

747
00:42:51,040 --> 00:42:54,120
Speaker 1: about saying this thing should last longer. But you get

748
00:42:54,160 --> 00:42:56,399
Speaker 1: in that sort of conundrum where you're like, you don't

749
00:42:56,440 --> 00:42:59,560
Speaker 1: know what the right thing to do is. Yeah. Yeah,

750
00:42:59,640 --> 00:43:02,360
Speaker 1: And I actually like, just about anybody's gonna be like, fine,

751
00:43:02,400 --> 00:43:05,799
Speaker 1: I'm I've spent more money than it would have cost

752
00:43:05,920 --> 00:43:09,080
Speaker 1: or a place. Yeah, somebody's everybody's gonna cry uncle eventually,

753
00:43:09,200 --> 00:43:11,239
Speaker 1: you know. I think it's just some some people do

754
00:43:11,320 --> 00:43:14,920
Speaker 1: it faster than others. You know. Yeah. One of the

755
00:43:15,000 --> 00:43:17,880
Speaker 1: other things with plan obsolescence is a company. Can you know,

756
00:43:18,080 --> 00:43:20,440
Speaker 1: it's very rare that a company is just that company.

757
00:43:20,520 --> 00:43:24,680
Speaker 1: Usually they're owned by some huge uber company that owns

758
00:43:24,920 --> 00:43:28,600
Speaker 1: many of that company's that brand's rivals. Yeah, so you

759
00:43:28,640 --> 00:43:31,040
Speaker 1: can just you know, if something gets a bad rep

760
00:43:31,640 --> 00:43:34,960
Speaker 1: you can just retire that brand and slap a new

761
00:43:35,080 --> 00:43:37,160
Speaker 1: name on it, and it's the kind of the same thing.

762
00:43:37,360 --> 00:43:39,560
Speaker 1: So you you don't know, you don't know anymore if

763
00:43:39,600 --> 00:43:41,759
Speaker 1: it's a good or a bad brand, right, And if

764
00:43:41,800 --> 00:43:44,000
Speaker 1: you just have a couple of mega brands and they're

765
00:43:44,040 --> 00:43:46,560
Speaker 1: all doing the same thing with their multiple brands that

766
00:43:46,640 --> 00:43:49,680
Speaker 1: they all own and that which is they're just all

767
00:43:49,760 --> 00:43:52,760
Speaker 1: kind of making crud that last maybe three to five years,

768
00:43:53,480 --> 00:43:56,920
Speaker 1: then that means that there's actually technically no bad brand.

769
00:43:57,160 --> 00:44:00,759
Speaker 1: They're all bad brands because there's also no good brand either, um,

770
00:44:00,920 --> 00:44:02,759
Speaker 1: and they just trade on these brand names that you

771
00:44:02,840 --> 00:44:06,280
Speaker 1: were raised to hear from your parents are from repairman

772
00:44:06,440 --> 00:44:08,759
Speaker 1: or whatever that uh, that's a good brand, but this

773
00:44:08,840 --> 00:44:10,800
Speaker 1: brand is not any good And then you have like

774
00:44:10,880 --> 00:44:13,320
Speaker 1: a bad experience with that brand, so you switch to

775
00:44:13,400 --> 00:44:16,960
Speaker 1: another brand. But there's a pretty good chance that those

776
00:44:17,080 --> 00:44:19,480
Speaker 1: same those two brands are still owned by the same

777
00:44:19,560 --> 00:44:23,000
Speaker 1: company to whom it's all the same. You're still giving

778
00:44:23,080 --> 00:44:27,000
Speaker 1: them the money. Ultimately, Yeah, I uh, I'm sorry. This

779
00:44:27,120 --> 00:44:30,520
Speaker 1: is filled with so many anecdotal stories, but I was

780
00:44:30,719 --> 00:44:34,560
Speaker 1: TV shopping recently, and there was a TV that, uh

781
00:44:35,040 --> 00:44:36,799
Speaker 1: seemed like a really good deal and it got good

782
00:44:36,920 --> 00:44:39,680
Speaker 1: ratings on all the places. But then you start reading

783
00:44:39,719 --> 00:44:43,000
Speaker 1: the customer experience and like a lot of people were

784
00:44:43,000 --> 00:44:45,640
Speaker 1: saying this has a banding issue where you can see

785
00:44:45,719 --> 00:44:49,120
Speaker 1: like lines on the screen when the screen is darker

786
00:44:49,200 --> 00:44:53,520
Speaker 1: and stuff like that. Oh yeah, yeah. It was like ubiquitous.

787
00:44:53,600 --> 00:44:56,640
Speaker 1: It was all over the place, and these reviews and

788
00:44:56,840 --> 00:45:01,160
Speaker 1: every single one of them, the manufacturer would reply and say, boy,

789
00:45:01,239 --> 00:45:03,640
Speaker 1: We're so sorry you had this experience. We've never heard

790
00:45:03,680 --> 00:45:08,800
Speaker 1: of this and it's uh certainly um an outlier, so

791
00:45:09,360 --> 00:45:12,040
Speaker 1: to get in touch with us, and it's just so maddening.

792
00:45:12,080 --> 00:45:15,279
Speaker 1: It's like, no, man, it's like of these reviews say this,

793
00:45:16,200 --> 00:45:18,120
Speaker 1: and I say that sometimes when I'm when I have

794
00:45:18,239 --> 00:45:21,200
Speaker 1: to call about something like that, I'm like, man, I know,

795
00:45:21,480 --> 00:45:23,800
Speaker 1: it's not like I'm not the only person this is

796
00:45:23,840 --> 00:45:26,879
Speaker 1: happening to, because all over the internet and there's like, well,

797
00:45:27,360 --> 00:45:29,520
Speaker 1: you know, we're not allowed to share stuff like that, sir,

798
00:45:31,560 --> 00:45:34,120
Speaker 1: I have to say in my experience, so, Chuck, one

799
00:45:34,200 --> 00:45:36,640
Speaker 1: thing that has gotten better over the last couple of

800
00:45:36,719 --> 00:45:40,239
Speaker 1: decades is customer service. Do you think Yeah, I think

801
00:45:40,280 --> 00:45:44,600
Speaker 1: for the average person, the the companies want to please

802
00:45:44,800 --> 00:45:48,960
Speaker 1: customers enough that they make the experience of dealing with

803
00:45:49,080 --> 00:45:52,560
Speaker 1: them better than it was before. I think, how boy,

804
00:45:53,080 --> 00:45:55,279
Speaker 1: I'm gonna have to think about that Okay, think about it.

805
00:45:55,520 --> 00:45:57,960
Speaker 1: Maybe some companies I've had the experience with some that

806
00:45:58,040 --> 00:46:00,759
Speaker 1: are so big that you get the feeling that like

807
00:46:01,120 --> 00:46:05,799
Speaker 1: they think it costs more to give a hoot, Right, Yeah,

808
00:46:05,880 --> 00:46:07,840
Speaker 1: I think that's definitely true out there, But there's so

809
00:46:07,960 --> 00:46:11,560
Speaker 1: many Like I think smaller companies and tech startups come

810
00:46:11,719 --> 00:46:14,759
Speaker 1: from this place of like, we treat the customer really well,

811
00:46:14,840 --> 00:46:17,160
Speaker 1: that's just what we do. It just seems to be

812
00:46:17,440 --> 00:46:20,400
Speaker 1: more than there was before, Whereas before it seems like

813
00:46:20,520 --> 00:46:22,480
Speaker 1: it was all big companies that you had to deal with,

814
00:46:22,640 --> 00:46:25,000
Speaker 1: and they all had terrible customer service. I think the

815
00:46:25,160 --> 00:46:28,800
Speaker 1: nineties were like the the zenith of bad customer service

816
00:46:28,880 --> 00:46:33,040
Speaker 1: if if I'm not mistaken, maybe so so. So there's

817
00:46:33,040 --> 00:46:35,839
Speaker 1: a really important point that we're kind of dancing around here,

818
00:46:35,960 --> 00:46:39,720
Speaker 1: right Like, you know, thirteen percent of large appliances breaking

819
00:46:39,760 --> 00:46:42,799
Speaker 1: within five years and having to be replaced, like, um,

820
00:46:43,520 --> 00:46:48,640
Speaker 1: eight point three percent of of smaller electronics are all electronics. Um,

821
00:46:48,920 --> 00:46:51,920
Speaker 1: those things being thrown out. It doesn't sound like that much,

822
00:46:52,000 --> 00:46:55,560
Speaker 1: but when you actually translated into numbers, you're talking about

823
00:46:55,920 --> 00:47:00,399
Speaker 1: millions of things, of items of products that are being

824
00:47:00,480 --> 00:47:04,360
Speaker 1: thrown away because they broke and the vast majority of

825
00:47:04,440 --> 00:47:07,879
Speaker 1: those things are just like I said, thrown away. They're

826
00:47:07,920 --> 00:47:11,200
Speaker 1: not recycled. I think in the United States six percent

827
00:47:11,960 --> 00:47:17,080
Speaker 1: of small appliances are recycled, which is a paltry amount um.

828
00:47:17,200 --> 00:47:19,840
Speaker 1: That means the rest just going to landfill. Yeah, and

829
00:47:20,120 --> 00:47:23,640
Speaker 1: it's especially egregious because not only is all this stuff

830
00:47:23,680 --> 00:47:26,960
Speaker 1: getting tossed, but e waste or some of the biggest

831
00:47:27,000 --> 00:47:32,560
Speaker 1: offenders as far as environmental damage. So you've got three

832
00:47:32,920 --> 00:47:36,720
Speaker 1: and fifty million in cartridges in the United States tossed

833
00:47:36,760 --> 00:47:40,759
Speaker 1: and landfills every year, you know, three forty eight million

834
00:47:40,800 --> 00:47:43,879
Speaker 1: of which aren't even empty, right because those smart chips

835
00:47:44,000 --> 00:47:47,880
Speaker 1: you've got, you know, uh, refrigerators being thrown out. We

836
00:47:48,120 --> 00:47:50,040
Speaker 1: did get a new refrigerator a couple of years ago,

837
00:47:50,120 --> 00:47:52,840
Speaker 1: even though an old one that we bought used was

838
00:47:52,880 --> 00:47:55,440
Speaker 1: still working. It was kind of a workhorse, but we

839
00:47:55,560 --> 00:47:57,680
Speaker 1: sold it and I was like, you know, sold it

840
00:47:57,760 --> 00:47:59,960
Speaker 1: really cheap. It was like, I bought this thing, used,

841
00:48:00,200 --> 00:48:03,320
Speaker 1: it lasted us ten years without problems. Like, so someone's

842
00:48:03,360 --> 00:48:08,560
Speaker 1: getting a good old workhorse here for a couple hundred bucks. So,

843
00:48:08,960 --> 00:48:11,319
Speaker 1: you know, we try and recycle our stuff or sell

844
00:48:11,400 --> 00:48:13,799
Speaker 1: it or donate it these days or at least set

845
00:48:13,840 --> 00:48:18,040
Speaker 1: it on fire, so it's not somebody else's problem. The

846
00:48:18,120 --> 00:48:20,120
Speaker 1: good news is, though I don't want this to all

847
00:48:20,200 --> 00:48:22,279
Speaker 1: be poopoo, is there are places in the world that

848
00:48:22,320 --> 00:48:25,920
Speaker 1: are working on this and trying to change things. Um.

849
00:48:26,239 --> 00:48:28,840
Speaker 1: Not here in the United States, of course, but in

850
00:48:28,960 --> 00:48:32,560
Speaker 1: Europe they are working on creating some standards. There's a

851
00:48:32,600 --> 00:48:37,239
Speaker 1: program called Eco Design Directive, which would basically open up

852
00:48:37,280 --> 00:48:41,600
Speaker 1: regulation of industry based on you know, they're what they're

853
00:48:41,600 --> 00:48:44,080
Speaker 1: trying to do is set new standards for durability and

854
00:48:44,200 --> 00:48:47,359
Speaker 1: repair ability and like make it the law, right, yeah,

855
00:48:47,480 --> 00:48:51,040
Speaker 1: like they're there. Um. The resource efficiency is what they're calling,

856
00:48:51,080 --> 00:48:53,440
Speaker 1: Like you have energy efficiency, like how much water does

857
00:48:53,480 --> 00:48:57,760
Speaker 1: it use? Um? This is how long does this thing last?

858
00:48:57,920 --> 00:49:00,399
Speaker 1: Like put it on the label right exactly, like kind

859
00:49:00,400 --> 00:49:03,600
Speaker 1: of like that Bernard London's idea, but rather than it

860
00:49:03,680 --> 00:49:05,880
Speaker 1: being an expiration date to where you start to get

861
00:49:06,000 --> 00:49:08,640
Speaker 1: charged for using it beyond that date, this is, oh well,

862
00:49:08,680 --> 00:49:10,520
Speaker 1: this one's gonna last five years. This one says at

863
00:49:10,560 --> 00:49:12,399
Speaker 1: last seven I'm gonna go with the seven year one.

864
00:49:13,120 --> 00:49:15,920
Speaker 1: You know, And because of the resources these things use,

865
00:49:16,239 --> 00:49:19,040
Speaker 1: the seven year one is more efficient by definition than

866
00:49:19,080 --> 00:49:21,279
Speaker 1: the five year one and at least you can make

867
00:49:21,280 --> 00:49:25,320
Speaker 1: an informed choice as a consumer. Uh. Here in the States,

868
00:49:25,440 --> 00:49:27,840
Speaker 1: like I said that, the federal government isn't doing anything,

869
00:49:28,480 --> 00:49:31,960
Speaker 1: but when it comes to the States, there are some groups.

870
00:49:32,000 --> 00:49:35,440
Speaker 1: There's one movement called right to Repair started in the

871
00:49:35,560 --> 00:49:38,200
Speaker 1: UK and is now catching hold I think in two

872
00:49:38,200 --> 00:49:41,560
Speaker 1: thousand eighteen or eighteen states that introduced right to repair

873
00:49:41,640 --> 00:49:45,160
Speaker 1: bills UM, some of which have taken hold, some of

874
00:49:45,239 --> 00:49:50,080
Speaker 1: which haven't. But UM it basically requires companies to make

875
00:49:50,120 --> 00:49:52,840
Speaker 1: it possible to repair their devices on their own or

876
00:49:52,880 --> 00:49:54,959
Speaker 1: take it to a repair mom and pop repair shop

877
00:49:55,480 --> 00:49:58,359
Speaker 1: and not have like the warranty avoided. Yeah, these these

878
00:49:58,440 --> 00:50:00,320
Speaker 1: laws all kind of you know, they're di frint, but

879
00:50:00,400 --> 00:50:03,920
Speaker 1: they have in common the idea that, Okay, if you

880
00:50:03,920 --> 00:50:06,320
Speaker 1: guys are gonna build junk, at least make it easier

881
00:50:06,440 --> 00:50:09,200
Speaker 1: for them to be repaired, like design them so a

882
00:50:09,280 --> 00:50:12,600
Speaker 1: customer can repair them themselves or take them to an

883
00:50:12,719 --> 00:50:16,640
Speaker 1: unauthorized repair shop. And those repair shops should be able

884
00:50:16,719 --> 00:50:19,280
Speaker 1: to get their hands on parts that are as universal

885
00:50:19,360 --> 00:50:22,760
Speaker 1: as possible. And you guys, the manufacturer should be supplying

886
00:50:22,840 --> 00:50:26,400
Speaker 1: repair shops with UM repair manuals for them to reference,

887
00:50:26,480 --> 00:50:29,359
Speaker 1: like stop doing the opposite of everything we just said,

888
00:50:29,840 --> 00:50:32,400
Speaker 1: in order to make it hard to repair your stuff.

889
00:50:32,760 --> 00:50:35,080
Speaker 1: If put out junk if you want, but let us

890
00:50:35,160 --> 00:50:37,520
Speaker 1: repair it. That's kind of what the gist of those

891
00:50:37,600 --> 00:50:40,560
Speaker 1: bills are. Yeah. And you know, like we mentioned before,

892
00:50:40,680 --> 00:50:43,279
Speaker 1: there is a segment of people that think, um, that

893
00:50:43,440 --> 00:50:46,319
Speaker 1: firmly believe that this is all great for industry. It's

894
00:50:46,360 --> 00:50:49,920
Speaker 1: all great for the economy. It keeps an army of

895
00:50:50,000 --> 00:50:53,760
Speaker 1: employees working at these cell phone companies and smartphone companies

896
00:50:54,360 --> 00:51:00,400
Speaker 1: and designers and engineers because of that cycle. Uh. You know,

897
00:51:00,680 --> 00:51:02,560
Speaker 1: that's one way to look at it. If you turn

898
00:51:02,640 --> 00:51:06,200
Speaker 1: over goods really quickly, then that's a lot more stuff

899
00:51:06,239 --> 00:51:09,720
Speaker 1: that needs to be manufactured and a lot more trucks

900
00:51:09,840 --> 00:51:12,440
Speaker 1: driving things. And you know, it might be an environmental nightmare,

901
00:51:12,480 --> 00:51:15,520
Speaker 1: but those trucks are moving. Yeah. I mean, on the

902
00:51:15,560 --> 00:51:18,120
Speaker 1: one hand, though, it I do agree with the idea

903
00:51:18,120 --> 00:51:21,440
Speaker 1: of saying, Okay, we we want to replace. We want

904
00:51:21,480 --> 00:51:23,680
Speaker 1: people to buy a new phone every three years. We

905
00:51:23,760 --> 00:51:26,520
Speaker 1: have to give them a reason to buy a new

906
00:51:26,600 --> 00:51:28,960
Speaker 1: phone every three years. And one of the outcomes of

907
00:51:29,120 --> 00:51:34,480
Speaker 1: that is that technological innovation that that is happening as

908
00:51:34,520 --> 00:51:37,240
Speaker 1: a result of that, Like just you know, there's multiple

909
00:51:37,280 --> 00:51:40,160
Speaker 1: phone companies all scrambling for market share, so they're trying

910
00:51:40,200 --> 00:51:43,440
Speaker 1: to out innovate one another and justify customers going and

911
00:51:43,520 --> 00:51:47,520
Speaker 1: replacing their phones, but barely. Well, yeah, because there's other

912
00:51:47,600 --> 00:51:49,360
Speaker 1: routes they can take. They can take you know, the

913
00:51:49,600 --> 00:51:53,840
Speaker 1: the fast fashion clothing route and just do cosmetic updates

914
00:51:53,960 --> 00:51:56,359
Speaker 1: to it, or like the easy bake oven. It all

915
00:51:56,480 --> 00:51:58,920
Speaker 1: it does the same thing, virtually the same thing from

916
00:51:59,000 --> 00:52:02,040
Speaker 1: the beginning of its invention until today. It was just

917
00:52:02,400 --> 00:52:05,959
Speaker 1: mainly cosmetic changes that were made to it over time

918
00:52:06,320 --> 00:52:08,799
Speaker 1: to keep up with the times, just like fashion. If

919
00:52:08,840 --> 00:52:11,000
Speaker 1: you do that with a phone or technology, then yeah,

920
00:52:11,080 --> 00:52:14,000
Speaker 1: you're slub You're you're not doing your job. But ideally,

921
00:52:14,600 --> 00:52:17,040
Speaker 1: if you release a new version of a phone every

922
00:52:17,120 --> 00:52:20,759
Speaker 1: few years and it is just way better than the

923
00:52:21,160 --> 00:52:24,720
Speaker 1: phone before, that's okay. Yes, there's still the manufacturing problem

924
00:52:24,800 --> 00:52:27,600
Speaker 1: in the waste associated with it that can be dealt with,

925
00:52:28,080 --> 00:52:31,719
Speaker 1: but at least technology is being pushed forward. At least

926
00:52:31,760 --> 00:52:34,879
Speaker 1: it's not just a total scam, you know what I mean. Yeah,

927
00:52:35,000 --> 00:52:37,480
Speaker 1: there's also the idea of value engineering, like kind of

928
00:52:37,520 --> 00:52:41,360
Speaker 1: walking that line as a manufacturer, uh to not make junk,

929
00:52:41,440 --> 00:52:44,040
Speaker 1: but also to make something affordable for a consumer, And

930
00:52:44,800 --> 00:52:48,000
Speaker 1: if we built a card to the last seventy five years,

931
00:52:48,640 --> 00:52:50,279
Speaker 1: no one would be able to afford it because it

932
00:52:50,320 --> 00:52:54,960
Speaker 1: would all be military grade materials or the same thing

933
00:52:55,040 --> 00:52:58,120
Speaker 1: with a phone, Like if this technological progress is happening,

934
00:52:58,239 --> 00:53:02,080
Speaker 1: so that um, a phone does actually become obsolete, whether

935
00:53:02,160 --> 00:53:05,800
Speaker 1: planned or otherwise, in a couple of years, Um, it

936
00:53:05,920 --> 00:53:08,680
Speaker 1: makes more sense to build phones with cheaper parts that

937
00:53:08,719 --> 00:53:11,400
Speaker 1: aren't gonna last forever, because then you have to replace

938
00:53:11,480 --> 00:53:13,800
Speaker 1: a five dollar phone every few years rather than a

939
00:53:13,880 --> 00:53:16,960
Speaker 1: five thousand dollar phone every few years. To right, and

940
00:53:17,080 --> 00:53:19,440
Speaker 1: the and the you know, the final point kind of

941
00:53:19,560 --> 00:53:22,280
Speaker 1: is that the consumer does have a little bit of responsibility.

942
00:53:22,360 --> 00:53:26,279
Speaker 1: It's a little bit all of our faults because uh,

943
00:53:26,960 --> 00:53:29,719
Speaker 1: you might want the new phone in that color one year,

944
00:53:29,760 --> 00:53:32,520
Speaker 1: other one works great. Uh. There was a study by

945
00:53:32,560 --> 00:53:36,359
Speaker 1: the same Uko Institute that said a third of all

946
00:53:36,480 --> 00:53:40,160
Speaker 1: replacement purchases for things like fridges and washing machines were

947
00:53:40,200 --> 00:53:44,719
Speaker 1: motivated by, um, just having a newer, better unit even

948
00:53:44,760 --> 00:53:47,680
Speaker 1: though their old one is still fine. So like, you know,

949
00:53:47,880 --> 00:53:49,920
Speaker 1: that's kind of on the consumer hit him with that

950
00:53:50,120 --> 00:53:53,840
Speaker 1: last chuck. Uh, two thousand twelve more than sixty of

951
00:53:53,920 --> 00:53:59,600
Speaker 1: t vs that were replaced. We're still functioning, Mike drop TVs.

952
00:53:59,719 --> 00:54:02,279
Speaker 1: That's that's certainly a big one. Yeah, But I mean

953
00:54:02,320 --> 00:54:06,800
Speaker 1: the question is, did this like ravenous consumer society develop

954
00:54:06,920 --> 00:54:10,600
Speaker 1: as a result of planned obsolescence, or did planned obsolescence

955
00:54:11,160 --> 00:54:15,799
Speaker 1: develop to keep up with this ravenous consumer society. That's

956
00:54:15,840 --> 00:54:18,680
Speaker 1: the question we'll leave you with. That is a big question. Yeah,

957
00:54:18,719 --> 00:54:21,080
Speaker 1: I'd love to answer that. We don't have the answer. Well,

958
00:54:21,120 --> 00:54:23,680
Speaker 1: while we try to figure it out, Um, how about

959
00:54:23,880 --> 00:54:31,200
Speaker 1: instead let's listen to some listener mail from Chuck. Yeah,

960
00:54:31,320 --> 00:54:34,240
Speaker 1: this is a very very sweet email from a gentleman

961
00:54:34,320 --> 00:54:37,200
Speaker 1: named Tom about his daughter. Hey, guys, thanks for being

962
00:54:37,239 --> 00:54:40,640
Speaker 1: a positive influence on my daughter, Grace. She recently graduated

963
00:54:40,640 --> 00:54:43,320
Speaker 1: from high school will be attending the University of Minnesota

964
00:54:43,640 --> 00:54:47,920
Speaker 1: Twin Cities College of Biological Sciences, majoring in cellular and

965
00:54:48,960 --> 00:54:53,320
Speaker 1: uh organismal. I don't even know that word. Tom just

966
00:54:53,360 --> 00:54:57,680
Speaker 1: made up a new word, physiology Is that word? I

967
00:54:57,760 --> 00:55:02,320
Speaker 1: guess I've never seen that before. Because of your shows.

968
00:55:02,600 --> 00:55:04,759
Speaker 1: Oh here, he says, she's even making up new words.

969
00:55:04,840 --> 00:55:07,640
Speaker 1: There you go, because of your show's unique insight to

970
00:55:07,719 --> 00:55:09,960
Speaker 1: learning your You fan the flames of desire for knowledge.

971
00:55:10,440 --> 00:55:13,800
Speaker 1: You routinely reinforce aw awesome and cool knowledge and education

972
00:55:13,880 --> 00:55:17,000
Speaker 1: can be I started listening later than she did to

973
00:55:17,040 --> 00:55:18,880
Speaker 1: try and listen to an episode each way, and then

974
00:55:18,920 --> 00:55:20,799
Speaker 1: tried to listen to an episode each way from work

975
00:55:21,640 --> 00:55:24,359
Speaker 1: every day. I have heard you read listener mail from

976
00:55:24,400 --> 00:55:26,600
Speaker 1: other parents that complement how you always give us something

977
00:55:26,640 --> 00:55:28,759
Speaker 1: to talk about with their kids. That is also true

978
00:55:28,800 --> 00:55:31,600
Speaker 1: in our home. Recently, on our vacation to go skiing

979
00:55:31,640 --> 00:55:35,000
Speaker 1: in Colorado, we stopped at a Pony Express station in Nebraska.

980
00:55:36,400 --> 00:55:39,360
Speaker 1: Your influences beyond academics too. She's involved in her community

981
00:55:39,680 --> 00:55:43,520
Speaker 1: and articulates educated opinions for her passions. She will turn

982
00:55:43,560 --> 00:55:45,280
Speaker 1: eighteen this fall and it is looking forward to voting.

983
00:55:45,880 --> 00:55:48,240
Speaker 1: Many of the examples you've given your podcasts have empowered

984
00:55:48,280 --> 00:55:52,120
Speaker 1: her to take positions on social issues. I know you know.

985
00:55:52,320 --> 00:55:54,680
Speaker 1: I hope you know the importance and influence of your show. Guys,

986
00:55:55,120 --> 00:55:58,920
Speaker 1: we look forward to your show in Chicago. Yeah, so

987
00:55:59,080 --> 00:56:02,120
Speaker 1: Tom and the family are coming to UH from Rockford,

988
00:56:02,120 --> 00:56:07,319
Speaker 1: Illinois to Chicago. Thanks Tommy. What was Tom's daughter's name again, Grace, Grace, Grace,

989
00:56:07,400 --> 00:56:10,839
Speaker 1: thank you very much for making us look so good um,

990
00:56:10,960 --> 00:56:16,120
Speaker 1: and good luck in school, congrats and yeah, we'll see

991
00:56:16,120 --> 00:56:20,080
Speaker 1: you guys in Chicago. Um. Oh, I guess that's it.

992
00:56:20,200 --> 00:56:22,640
Speaker 1: If you want to get in touch with us, like

993
00:56:22,800 --> 00:56:25,560
Speaker 1: Grace and Tom did, you can what Chuck, go on

994
00:56:25,600 --> 00:56:27,120
Speaker 1: to stuff you Should Know dot com and check out

995
00:56:27,160 --> 00:56:30,799
Speaker 1: our social links and then you could also just send

996
00:56:30,880 --> 00:56:32,759
Speaker 1: us an email and if you want to do that,

997
00:56:33,400 --> 00:56:37,200
Speaker 1: send it to stuff podcast at i heeart radio dot com.

998
00:56:40,640 --> 00:56:42,800
Speaker 1: Stuff you Should Know is a production of iHeart Radio's

999
00:56:42,800 --> 00:56:45,360
Speaker 1: How Stuff Works. For more podcasts for my heart Radio

1000
00:56:45,520 --> 00:56:47,919
Speaker 1: is at the iHeart Radio app. Apple podcasts are wherever

1001
00:56:48,040 --> 00:56:49,280
Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.