Cumulative Planned Obsolescence Drifting Over Economic, and Political Cycles
This is a series.
Extending the story of my Split Home Air Conditioner which broke down. I had to call Voltas Air Conditioner service engineer to my house. Here onwards everything went downhill.
Comparing the commercial viability of the repair cost
Voltas's service technician estimates were between 11590 INR and 19590 INR. In contrast, the local service technician billed 3900 INR for the repair. The details are in the article, Voltas Air Conditioner’s Deficiency in Service and Profiteering. (Link)
The huge price difference between 11590 INR and 3900 INR in rendering service to the customer for a retail home segment Air Conditioner is concerning. However, retail business owners like ATMs and shops may incur such a cost for rendering service. Therefore, Air Conditioner companies may need to analyze the viability of providing repair services to the retail home segment.
Planned obsolescence. Everything.
The high servicing charges of home segment consumer products could be due to poorly calculated planned obsolescence w.r.t. the economic cycles.
A planned obsolescence rough estimate of a 3 bedroom flat would be 3 Air Conditioners being installed in 3 successive years that will break down in their 5th year, which would mean since the 5th year, every year ~12000 INR for the repair of one Air Conditioner, plus ~1500 INR for cleanup of two other Air Conditioners needs to be kept aside.
Calculating planned obsolescence w.r.t. economic and political cycles. Everywhere.
I think calculating the planned obsolescence of products in the context of the Indian economy, environment, people, demography, and challenges isn’t happening.
We are simply purchasing consumer goods from foreign manufacturers (pipelines) and selling them here without trying to improve them in our context. This adds a huge repair cost and a sooner-than-expected breakdown due to the goal of achieving the demographic growth projections, resulting in a growing number of consumer goods in our houses (consumerism’s expectations from people), revising it with per capita income, and consumer expenditure power. The economic cycles overlap with political cycles at this juncture.
Nonetheless, calculating planned obsolescence w.r.t. economic and political cycles will primarily open up innovation, research, and development opportunities in hardware design, engineering, macroeconomics, etc.
Cumulative Obsolescence. All At Once.
I am concerned about minimizing the risk of electric and fire hazards in our neighborhood that might be caused by poor assessment, servicing, and repair of air conditioners.
I hope the concerns I’m about to describe will draw everyone’s attention to the research on cumulative obsolescence of all the products available in the house and all the products planned to be purchased by a household.
Suppose you have three Air Conditioners, two TVs, one double-door fridge, and one single-door fridge in your house. You have bought these things at different times. Their date of planned obsolescence is different. Their life span is different. Could a middle-class household afford to get all the products repaired by their original manufacturer if multiple products broke down successively? It’d be necessary to run statistical calculations to find the financial capacity of a middle-class household using these products. In this way, cumulative product obsolescence is directly related to product safety.
The concept of cumulative product obsolescence is similar to the ‘Platform Play Model’. Learning about platform play will also help you analyze different perspectives on cumulative product obsolescence. Here is a YouTube video explaining platform play.
What Is Platform Play? | Your Route to Security Optimisation
A need for specialized electronic gadget and consumer appliances Ombudsman in India
India has a National Consumer Helpline which works like a grievance Ombudsman for consumer products and services. However, I couldn’t find an Ombudsman in India who specialized in electronic gadgets and consumer appliances.
Why do we require a specialized electronic gadgets and consumer appliances Ombudsman in India even though the National Consumer Helpline exists which works like an Ombudsman for consumer products and services?
This is the age of consumerism. The global capitalist society expects maximum consumption from a consumer.
We have an abundance of electronic gadgets and consumer appliances in our household. Almost every electronic gadget in our household is advancing to be an AI-assisted electronic gadget. AI-assisted electronic gadgets and consumer appliances come under the category of consumer robotics. An Electronic Gadget and Consumer Appliances Ombudsman could nurture the pool of domain-specific specialists. Acting upon the consumer complaints in the appropriate context, the specialists can efficiently acknowledge the deficiencies, biases, and social phenomena caused by AI-assisted electronic gadgets, and appliances to take immediate action. This will improve the first response systems.
Over time the consumer complaint data will help check the accidents due to faulty products by analyzing the data and utilizing intelligence in advance of the design of products and services.
The grievance data collected by the specialized electronic gadgets and consumer appliances ombudsman can be analyzed by different ministries in the Government of India. It’ll help the GoI map, stack, consolidate, frame, and enforce market-friendly digital data security (DPDP Act), and artificial intelligence acts, rules, and regulations. Therefore, it will indirectly help various commerce, industries, international federations, and treaties.
Specialized Electronic Gadgets and Consumer Appliances Ombudsman is a vital entity in helping surveillance societies flourish with rapid multi-modal AI-assisted digital innovations.
I’ve shared my suggestion with GoI. Your grievance has been registered successfully in the Public Grievances Portal. Registration No. : DOCAF/E/2024/0003799. For more details visit https://pgportal.gov.in/.
Twitter link to keep up with the development on this matter. https://x.com/rat9/status/1788447153473679367
Voltas AC Service Request №24042004243.
The first in the series is Voltas Air Conditioner’s Deficiency in Service and Profiteering. (Link)
The previous post in the series is Fire, Safety, and Brand Value. (Link)
The next in the series is Professional Liability (Indemnity) Insurance and Enterprise AI Disrupting Consumer Court. (Link)
Last edited on 16 Jan 2025.
