Expiration dates on products: LiveSimplicity discussion forum

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We all know about expiration dates on food, but what about expiration dates on all products? Could a manufacturer realistically set a date of obsolesense for a product? Would this make purchasing technology easier since we know when we might have to replace it?

View A

Adding an expiration date to everyday products would ensure that the product is made to last for a certain period of time. We can easily know if the term is up so that we can expect a product to begin to have problems or replace if necessary.

View B

Why have an expiration date? Isn't that what the warranty is for? This is the reason warranties exist. Warranties allow a consumer to have an estimate as to the expected life span of most products as judged by the manufacturer. Plus, if I don't abuse the product, it should last longer.

6 comment(s) so far

henk thinks: I think it's up to the individual and how they use the products. Like anything, if you take good care of a product, it will most likely last longer. If you abuse it, it could fail in no time. Warranties serve as some sort of a guarentee that the product will last a given amount of time. It would be a huge liability for a company to attempt to assume the future of technology and guess the obsolescence rate of their products.

Champ thinks: Does this mean that the product will cost more due to the research involved in determining the end of life date? No thanks. I can decide that for myself.

awakened thinks: An expiration date? I guess it depends how this would be marketed. And of course, how the standards would be set. I mean, think of products that would be released with a shorter lifespan and a much lower price. The products wouldn't be "faulty" but have a certain lifespan, so the world couldn't complain to the company. Think of the environmental impact this would have. Tons of "short lifespan" products sitting in dump sites. I think a more proper idea would be standards in the lifespan of products, and whether the product meets or not those standards.

An example to consider is the PS2 laser assembly which broke down after about 3-4 years of usage, a period unacceptable to me, mainly because of the initial price tag of the device. Plus, the fact that around the same period PS2's started breaking down, the next version, pstwo, the slimmed down version of PS2 showed up ready to replace the older units, while doing the exact same job! That's just recycling your own product with malfunction as an excuse!

idesign thinks: Interesting article from wired magazine discusses the buy-die-buy cycle of technology products. It seems if something doesn't change soon, we will have land fills full of obsolete products that are only a few years old. We need to find a way to either mae products last longer or make them completely disposable and environementally friendly at the same time.

tommyd thinks: Leave it to the user to decide, seeing as THEY ARE paying for it..

abum96 thinks: I agree with tommyd. Regardless of the product, it is up to the consumer to judge the quality and decide if a product is truly worth buying.