planned obsolescence

English

Etymology

Coined by Bernard London in 1932.

Noun

planned obsolescence (uncountable)

1. A policy of deliberately planning or designing a product with a limited useful life, so it will become obsolete or nonfunctional after a certain period.
   • 1932, Bernard London, “Ending the Depression Through Planned Obsolescence”, in The New Prosperity, published 1933, →OCLC:

     An equally important advantage of a system of planned obsolescence would be its function in providing a new reservoir from which to draw income for the operation of the Government.

   • 2010, Tim Cooper, Longer Lasting Products, Gower Publishing, →ISBN, page 77:

     To the general public planned obsolescence first came to notoriety through the highly popular writings of Vance Packard (1963), who slammed Stevens in his bestselling book The Waste Makers.

Synonyms

• built-in obsolescence
• programmed obsolescence

Translations

policy

• Catalan: obsolescència planificada f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 計劃報廢／计划报废 (jìhuà bàofèi)

• Czech: plánované zastarávání
• Danish: planlagt forældelse
• Finnish: suunniteltu vanheneminen
• French: obsolescence programmée (fr) f
• German: geplante Obsoleszenz (de) f, geplanter Verschleiß m, Produktvergreisung f
• Portuguese: obsolescência planejada f, obsolescência programada f
• Spanish: obsolescencia programada f

Further reading

• planned obsolescence on Wikipedia.Wikipedia