Measuring product longevity as a counterbalance to planned obsolesence #145
Description
Many non-perishable products (shovel, blender, computer) can have an estimated lifetime based on:
- The quality of its components
- The quality of its manufacturing
- The environment in which it's operated
- The ability to repair / availability of components / modularity of parts
Is there a way to a) allow producers to assign some sort of longevity metric to a product and b) measure if that product's lifespan exceeds the metric?
The idea here is that in capitalist markets, producers are incentivized to sell more products, where in many cases society benefits when they sell less products. For instance, buying a new washing machine every 3 years is an incredible waste of resources, but companies are incentivized, via planned obsolesence, to limit the useful life of their washing machines.
How can we reward producers that create good products instead of create a lot of products?
Is this possible? Is this necessary if all producers are worker-owned? Expand, explain, discuss...