Have you ever suspected your perfectly good gadget has a secret self-destruct timer, one that’s conveniently set to go off the moment its warranty expires? You’re not just being paranoid. This frustrating feeling prompted one online user to ask a powerful question: “What’s the most obvious case of a company ruining their own product on purpose so you’d have to keep buying replacements?”
The question clearly hit a nerve, as the floodgates opened with a deluge of responses. From fragile phones to appliances engineered to break, people shared their most frustrating stories of “planned obsolescence,” and we’ve compiled the most infuriating examples.
More info: Reddit
#1
Volkswagen just released a subscription based car where you can access the car’s full performance only by paying a monthly fee (no, not a rental car).
This needs to be boycotted into the ground.
Image source: AirUsed5942, Chris Osmond
#2
Google/nest thermostats. The thermostat itself will probably last forever. Starting in October the older ones will no longer connect to the internet, no more remote control. Remote control is the reason people bought it in the first d**n place. Google is offering a discount on the new thermostat that will do the same thing the one you already have used to do .Until Google decides that it doesn’t. You no longer buy products, you rent them. If there’s a more blatant example of planned obsolescence I haven’t seen it.
Image source: Adventurous-Line1014, Getty Images
#3
Any company that doesn’t let you outright own the product anymore because they moved to a subscription model. Adobe Photoshop immediately comes to mind.
Image source: WilliaMiBoy, Onur Binay
#4
Any product that magically malfunctions the month after the warranty ends. It’s uncanny.
Image source: mdmenzel, Getty Images
#5
American cars from the 60s and 70s most drive trains would fail after 100,000 miles. It wasn’t until the Japanese came in showing that drive trains could easily go 200,000 to 300,000 miles. It really changed the industry.
Image source: waldo0708, Helena Jankovičová Kováčová
#6
I bought a pair of plant lights and both of them died at the exact same time in the exact same way after exactly six months of use. After going to the product page and reading all the one star reviews, there’s dozens of people reporting the same thing, that their lights died at exactly six months. When I cut off the timer controls replaced it with a simple on-off switch, they magically worked just fine. Then it happened again with another pair of plant lights (different brand, style, and power adapter) I had purchased sometime after the first set. Then I noticed they used the same timer control as the first set.
Image source: katzevonstich, Getty Images
#7
Singer Sewing Machines.
They were THE standard up through the 70’s. Even their machines from the 80’s can still be going strong today (except when the plastic gears break you can’t buy parts anymore, so they’re solid till they aren’t…)
But the Singer machines you can buy for $150-500 at Walmart (used to be Joann’s) today can’t be fixed at all. They are all cheap, brittle plastic. You can barely pull the covers off to regrease them without them breaking in a way that they’ll never go back together right.
They aren’t meant to be maintained or repaired (and why would you when they cost $150 and a standard machine service costs $100-150 from a reputable sewing machine tech?). Which means they have a lifespan of 2-4 years depending on how much you use them. If they last longer than that, you got lucky!
Even a $200 Brother machine can be serviced and repaired (you can buy parts for it). Low end Singers are essentially disposable.
Image source: OrindaSarnia, Evelyn Verdín
#8
Scrub daddy. I am 99% sure the first I bought was thicker denser sponge and lasted far longer. I’ve stopped buying them because they get to a point where they just shed nonstop now.
Image source: Chronodox, misschanandlerrrbong
#9
Nylon stockings (panty hose) lasted forever in the 1940’s Then they began making them so thin that they were only good for about 6 uses. There’s a ton of articles about it.
Image source: Scorpioben24, BĀBI
#10
Any appliance advertised as “smart”.
Image source: FlibblesHexEyes, Jakub Zerdzicki
#11
The company that makes McDonald’s ice cream machines.
Image source: Beaglescout15, Boshoku
#12
Appliances! Most of the companies except the ones that charge huge amounts! If you want old time quality with home appliances, you have to be somewhat wealthy today!
Image source: Bitter_Resolve_6082, Daniel Norris
#13
I had bought a water purifier which had a timer, it shuts off after every two months and the service guy has to be called who replaces the filters and resets the timer.(And charges money for replacement filters)
Needless to say I threw out that purifier and bought another one.
Image source: some_guy_5600, Water Lovers
#14
Google Pixel 4a
One of the most popular phones of all time. They nuked the battery life with an update, just straight up destroyed the entire phone. It lasts about 90 minutes now. Will never buy another Google phone again, and neither should you.
Image source: Slave35
#15
Apple products.
reimaginealec replied:
iPhones don’t last long enough for their price, I’ll give you that, but a Mac? I think my MacBook might outlive me. Get the batteries replaced once a decade and you’re golden.
Image source: Bear-Cricket-89, Saad Chaudhry
#16
Car batteries aren’t made like they used to be. I just had to buy one yesterday ($255!). 3 year warranty, lasted 3 years and 3 months.
Image source: Hey_cool_username, Kumpan Electric
#17
Jeep, I doubt they are so unreliable on purpose.
Image source: nottool, Brett Sayles
#18
Xbox controllers. Those things used to be able to take an absolute beating. Stepped on, sat on, thrown, etc. Now I have to replace mine after just playing it normally for a year or two, and I play way less now.
Image source: Spirited-Avocado-777, Tekeshwar Singh
#19
A majority of digital downloaded games are not owned by the end user, you merely purchase a license that lets you use the game.
Even though it has been sorta known in gaming circles for years, it is only in the recent couple of years that it has become widely known. The thing that broke it through to the mainstream was Ubisoft closing down *”The Crew”*. A game that could be played just fine in singleplayer. So they could have opted to just remove the multiplayer elements if they didn’t want to pay for servers anymore.
This lead to the “Stop Killing Games” movement that have gotten the attention of EU legislators to make some changes.
Image source: Barl3000
#20
Printers and ink/toner.
Image source: dballing, Mahrous Houses
#21
My label maker at work prints like 5 inches of blank space with every label, and there’s no way to edit that. Such an obvious intentional waste of tape.
Image source: ScamCallLikely, Mikhail Nilov
#22
I think majority of home appliances are like that nowadays. I remember buying a TV last year and it broke just this year. Went to the store and mentioned that with the salesperson there and he literally said that they don’t make appliances to last longer anymore.
Image source: ladyybloomm, Glenn Carstens-Peters
#23
Any car with “lifetime” transmission fluid.
Image source: SortByCont, Kateryna Hliznitsova
#24
Insulin manufacturers having the use by date a full year and a half short of real time while being 4000 times the price.
Image source: Snappingslapping, Getty Images
#25
Philips electric shavers. Can’t be used when plugged in (plugged = charging mode). So when the internal battery eventually dies, you can’t use them at all. Pure electric waste. Never again.
Image source: Junin-Toiro, Matthias Oben
#26
Keurig. They used to last a long time, now you’re lucky to get 1-2 years before it fizzles out. Cheap junk.
Image source: tchocthke
#27
Ant baits sold in stores like Terro.
The ingrediants make the ants die so fast that the queen will never die and the ants will always come back.
Image source: Juli9969, Maksim Shutov
#28
Basically any electronic device at this point, either through hardware or software planned obsolescence.
Image source: InkStainedQuills, cottonbro studio
#29
Microsoft with windows 11 and ending support for 10, but having the threshold for compatibility very high for an upgrade. A perfectly solid operating system, like 10. However the threshold for 11 I so high that many perfectly usable and fast computers cannot be upgraded. The cut off is 8th generation intel I series. The odd thing is there are many many substantially faster cpus in earlier generations that don’t have the instruction set/on board encryption device required for windows 11 than what comes with the low end cheap cpus.
Windows 11 can happily bumble along on a third gen intel and can be overridden with the know how to do so.
Image source: AdTop47, Clint Patterson
#30
Bic. They were the best at making disposable stuff that you will just continue to buy. Razors. Pens. Lighters.
Image source: Bennilumplump
#31
Gillette Fusion razor blades. They used to make them so strong, I would use them way past recommended expiration. Then they added blue stripes. They don’t do anything other than turning white after a while and then getting worn out. So you end changing the blade, not because of the razor but the padding is worn out.
Image source: fohgedaboutit
#32
Disposable razors in general.
I bought a proper straight razor 13 years ago, and spent maybe a half hour learning how to use it without slicing myself up.
The only downside is it takes me a few more minutes to shave in the mornings, which is perfectly fine with me, given the money I’ve saved buying Gillette’s overpriced c**p.
If you regularly shave, and you’re paying to replace razor blades, you’re just wasting money. Buy a straight razor, learn how to use and maintain it, and stop shelling out your hard-earned bucks for a sub-par shave.
Image source: Sagacious_Zhu, Castorly Stock
#33
Most car manufacturers are now doing this, and if you live in Australia new houses and units have been ‘discard-able’ for the last 20 years, clothing no longer lasts, most electronics and appliances, it’s all very obvious… hell, is there anything that isn’t suffering from Planned Obsolescence.
Image source: Killathulu, Daeva miles
#34
Xbox controllers. I’ve gone through a few now that all end up getting stick drift and become unusable. Hall effect joysticks help to solve that but they will never add them because they just want you to buy more. Shout out to the Vader 4 Pro for being a much better alternative.
Image source: PizzaTacoCat312
#35
Bounce dryer bars were discontinued because they worked so well and lasted so long between replacements that the company wasn’t selling enough of them. They eventually went back to selling regular dryer sheets to keep consumers spending money to replenish once the box of sheets ran out.
Image source: ElevatorRepulsive351, anon
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