28 Jan

Should All Products Come with a Lifetime Guarantee?

Change is in the air. People are concerned about things today that they weren’t concerned with five or ten or twenty years ago. People are concerned about building stronger communities, living healthier lifestyles and saving both money and time in order to have richer experiences in their every day lives. As people’s desires and values are changing, we need to consider making major changes in society that will reflect the changes that are going on with individuals.

One of the things that we might want to start thinking about that would contribute to this type of change is the fact that so many of the products that we use today are disposable. Buying items that get thrown away quickly is something that seems to go against the grain of many of the changes that we are trying to make as a society. Take a look at just a few ways that the use of disposable items seems to be out of line with today’s values:

• Disposable items are bad for the environment. Almost everywhere you look these days, you see the term “green”. People want to be more environmentally friendly. This contributes to a healthier life for us today and a healthier planet for our children and their children after them. Disposable products have a direct negative impact upon the environment which goes against the eco-friendly values that we have today.
• Disposable items are typically not well-made since they’re intended to be used and thrown away. People today are increasingly interested in owning items that they can really enjoy. Most people would happily agree to have fewer items if the quality of the items they did have could be improved. For example, wouldn’t you get rid of the fifteen threadbare towels in your linen closet if you could have just two or three that would stand the test of time?
• Disposable items end up costing us more in the long run. Since you are a reader of this money-saving blog, you know that people today are really concerned about money. Changes in the economy have made us more aware of the importance of spending our money wisely. Big economic issues in society like the foreclosure of many homes and the stricter regulations on acquiring credit cards have caused us to not only be concerned about saving money today but also to be concerned about the long-term situation of our finances. We don’t want to save money today only to have to spend more tomorrow. Disposable items cause us to do exactly that; each individual item may be cheaper than a longer-lasting item but the need to buy more of them ultimately means that we spend more money in the long run.

Since this blog is about saving money, the latter issue is the issue that we’re most concerned about here. Let’s take a closer look at an example of how using disposable items ends up costing us a whole lot more in the long run than investing up front in quality items would allow. We’ll use the example of purchasing disposable lighters as compared to purchasing a longer-lasting lighter.

How many people do you know that purchase disposable lighters on a regular basis? They use the lighters for a short period of time and then throw them away, right? The plastic fills up the landfill and their money literally goes up in smoke. Let’s say that you spend about $1 per lighter on disposable lighters. A Zippo lighter which comes with a lifetime guarantee costs you less than $20. That means that you would start saving money on lighters after just the amount of time that it takes you to throw away 20 lighters which for most people is just a couple of years.

The important thing to reiterate about the Zippo lighter is that this brand of lighter actually comes with a lifetime guarantee. This means that you can replace the lighter as needed but only as needed which means that you get your money’s worth in the long run but you also waste less in terms of both environmental waste and the waste of money that would otherwise be spent on disposable lighters.

There’s something else to consider with this example as well. People who own Zippo lighters are more likely to take care of those lighters even with the lifetime guarantee because they have invested something to get that lighter. This goes to the heart of the desire that people have these days to have higher-quality items even if it means having fewer items in total. In all honesty, wouldn’t you rather pay up front for a high-quality item and have it last for a whole lifetime than to be filling up your life with cheap stuff that you care so little about it you’re just planning to throw it away?

Since the answer most people will respond with is yes, an interesting idea has been raised. How would the world be changed if all items came with a lifetime guarantee? Manufacturers of everything from cell phones to cars would be forced to invest in creating higher-quality products so that they wouldn’t lose money on replacement items. This means that each item that you own would be of better quality which means that you would have things that you truly want to have and can be proud of. It means that there would be less waste filling up the landfills. And it means that you would ultimately be spending less money to have better stuff.

So, what do you think? Should all products come with a lifetime guarantee? Would this save you money? And, just as important, would this mean that your material life would be more in line with the values that you have today?

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