Food for Thought: Planned Obsolescence

One of my pet peeves is that manufactures deliberately make things so that they will wear out sooner than they need to. The idea is that they can use cheaper materials to make the item, and they can then sell another iteration of the same item again, just a few years down the road. Whereas the expected lifespan of a washing machine used to be at least ten years, and many lasted much longer, the expected lifespan of a washer today is about five years and many break down before that.

When I bought my new washer, five years ago, the installer (who also repairs washers) asked if I wanted to buy the extended warrantee. I asked him if he thought it would pay. He said that a few years ago he would not have recommended it. “Now” he said, “washers break down much more frequently and wear out at a much faster rate,” and he did recommend it.

My last washer had lasted over twenty years, with no needed repairs, and it was still going strong when I sold it with the house, I had been living in for the length of time I had owned the washer. I was actually forced into buying a new machine because the apartment I moved into only had space for a stacked laundry system or I probably would have still been using my old reliable washer and dryer.

Some people would have bought a new laundry pair anyway, just because they like the looks of the new machines. They would have been ashamed to move my old “almond” colored machines into a new apartment. They would want to have the latest, most fashionable equipment. Advertisers want us to believe that we really must have the most fashion forward version of everything, but do we really need it?

Matthew 6:28 asked it this way: “Why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They don’t toil, neither do they spin.” In other words: all the time, effort, money and worry wasted on fashion, meant to make us look good in the eyes of others, is misspent. What matters is that we spend it on what really matters, which is doing God’s will. I do not believe it means that we should deliberately look shabby or unkempt. We simply need to get our priority straight.

“What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their own soul?” Mark 8:36