Making a product "too good". Has this ever been a problem with a product?

Western Electric phones

I have doubts that we can't make a washing machine that would last for all of your adult years. We can send a damn robot car to mars for pete's sake.

It's basically true. Many modern appliances last "too long." So the makers come up with bullshite filters and maintenance procedures to make up for lost revenue. See annual water filters on refrigerators.

An off shoot from your subject would be product advertising. Examples:

During the OPEC oil boycott (long lines and flags saying 'we have no gas today' there were huge numbers of TV ads from Texaco, Shell, Exxon, etc encouraging you to buy their gas. Why? They didn't have any gas to sell. I never see gas station ads now.

During the early 90s there were tons of Chain Saw commercials on TV. But a chain saw is a product you tend to buy once. The majority of people never buy a chain saw in their life. Since the 90s I haven't seen a single chain saw commercial on TV.

Windows XP was so good that Microsoft had difficulty getting customers to upgrade to their new operating systems.

See LED light bulbs.

Companies will make better products that last longer if they can sell them for a higher price.

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This discussion was started because he said that US auto makers purposely made cars that would wear out so you would buy a new one. I disagreed.

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Planned obsolescence was less about making them not last and more about changing the designs regularly. So that if you bought a new Ford Mustang in 1975, by 1977 it was "the old design". If your target audience contains a lot of "early adapters" or enthusiasts (electronics and some automobiles), you can pull this off and have them buying a new model every few years even when they don't need one.

I think the shitty cars that Chrysler made in the 1980s was more about them being unable to offer decent fuel efficient cars than anything else. They basically made disposable K cars by accident and it ruined their brand.

The big 3 have always made good pickups and SUVs because they are bigger and higher margin. It's their core competency.

We can argue that Apple subscribes to this "planned obsolescence" model with their iPhone models. It's as much them trying to stay ahead of the competition. Either way, they have lines outside of their stores every time they release a new iPhone. Did the old iPhones suddenly stop working? No. They just are no longer the "latest and greatest" thing.

You can't really do that unless your product attracts early adopters. Think 1960s Ford Mustang, 2000's iPhone, etc. When you make a durable good (consumer products that last 5+ years), you have to provide reasons for the consumer to return. It's not like you are building ink jet cartridge or paper plates.

Another current example of "planned obsolescence" would be performance cars. You wait in line and get the brand new Corvette....but next year there is a Corvette Z06 model that's out, and your Corvette is no longer the coolest new model. The year after that, there's a ZL1 model that's out with even more performance and gadgets. There's nothing wrong with the Corvette you bought, but as a fan of the car, you are likely drawn to the new models that come out with minor changes every year.

Only the biggest car guys buy a new Porsche every few years, and they won't do it unless Porsche offers something new almost constantly. If the 2017 Porsche is the same as their 2015 model, they'll just hang on to their 2015 model....so Porsche adds new colors or options that they kept out of the 2015 model.

Bridget Fonda. Now that is a hooker that lasted a long time.

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Had a discussion with a friend about this. If a company makes a product that lasts a very long time, they will sell very few "replacements". But on the upside, everyone will want to buy it because it's the best.

This discussion was started because he said that US auto makers purposely made cars that would wear out so you would buy a new one. I disagreed.

I used the Toyota Land Cruiser as an example.

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Planned obsolescence was an accepted strategy in the American auto industry until the late 70's-early 80's. But the Japanese adopted a manufacturing/production strategy (TQM) which focused on quality. It was promoted by Dr. W. Edwards Deming, an American engineer/professor/management consultant, whom the American automotive industry initially ignored, enjoying a comfortable market advantage after WWII. It didn't take many years for Americans to catch on but not before the Japanese had captured a huge global market segment.

Deming Prize

Some of the new light bulbs might be too good for repeat sales