2 percent before the end of the world

[Christophe]

[izentrop]

I stopped at 7 mn because we went on a conspiracy track. The chip that blocks the printer has existed and has been repressed, but I'm not sure that the manufacturers are still playing on this register.
I had lasted my old printer, because I reload the cartridges. Sometimes she refused and had to make a reset code and it was gone again. Lately she was mechanically tipped, I took advantage of sales to buy a wifi with cartridges provided, cheaper than the price of the cartridges.
Ink exhausted, I reloaded them and no worries (I weighed them new). More indication of the ink level but it continues to work. I touch wood, it was the first refill.

When Mr hack spoke about 1000 hours for a light bulb, it must have been incandescent. Current LEDs are rated 15000 on average.
After that, the service life is also a function of the price and therefore the quality of the materials.

[Grelinette]

Ha this growth based on CONSUMPTION! ...

And if consumers do not want to consume themselves ... they are consumed without their knowledge ...

Free imposes a paid option, Youboox One, to its customers. Charge them to terminate if they wish. SFR, Bouygues and Orange are not left out. By Guerric Poncet
source: https://www.lepoint.fr/high-tech-intern ... 125_47.php

We do not know how to classify Free.
Is he still the beneficial troublemaker who has lowered the price of fixed and mobile telecom plans for all in the 2000 years? Or did he become a giant who despises his subscribers?
Since December 6, we look a little more for the second. What is worse, in fact, than to increase the price of a subscription by trying to hide it from the customer? This is what Free does by automatically subscribing to its millions of fixed and mobile subscribers (except the 2 euros packages) the option Youboox One, which gives access to 250 000 books, comics and press titles for 0,99 euro per month, an increase from 2 to 10% depending on the package. This allows the operator to increase its average revenue per subscriber (ARPU), the most important economic indicator for the sector.

Free is right in his boots: "A message has been sent to all concerned subscribers, they are aware," says a spokesman for the group. Yes, but what a message! Does its object mention a price increase? No. The email is called "Information about the service Youboox One": when we have never heard of this service, we immediately think of spam. If we open the message, is the headline clearer? No more. "You will soon enjoy additional content on Youboox One! "Get excited Free. We have to wait until the end of the third paragraph to find the essential information: "We have decided to make you automatically benefit from this service (...) from February 1er 2020, for only 0,99 euro per month. The ultimate affront to his subscribers, Free boldens this part of the text, while it would have been so much easier to put it in title for it to be read.

A legal practice: If Free automatically enrolls all his customers, he reminds that this offer is "without commitment". "Everyone can cancel the option in one click," says the spokesperson. It is enough "to connect to the customer area using its identifiers (sequences of numbers and letters difficult to memorize) provided in the subscription email received years ago, then click on" Manage Youboox One "and finally" disable ". Let's transpose this to another act of purchase: Imagine in a store that would discreetly add an article on the treadmill during checkout. And if, by chance, we realized it, we would have to go put it back on the shelf, otherwise we would pay it. The situation would be perceived as scandalous, for good reason.

If this practice is not illegal as long as clients are warned, it is frankly immoral. It is even contrary to the promises of ... Free! Indeed, the tariff brochure in force at the time of writing (December 9) states that "after the January 31 2020, the option Service Youboox One will be automatically removed from the Free offers, without any intervention on the part of the subscriber ". "This brochure will be updated before February," promises at Free. But those who read it when signing their contract will be deceived.

All operators are concerned
On the side of Youboox, which adds up to half a million paying users, the founder Hélène Mérillon says she is "very happy" with the operator's approach. "Free is free of its pricing policy, like all our partners," she explains to the Point, deeming the method "fairly transparent". Depending on the number of Free subscribers who will retain the option by February 2020, Youboox could end up overnight with millions of additional active users. "We will manage it," promises the leader.

Xavier Niel's operator is not the only one to use these practices. SFR uses it regularly and has, for example, started the 5 December to impose its option "SFR Security" in some packages, for 3 euros per month, with again the obligation for the customer to refuse the price increase in his client area but with a period of six months to do so. In recent years, Bouygues Telecom and Orange have also played with these small contract arrangements. Sometimes, the increase is even mandatory, without it being possible to terminate a new service, for example when Bouygues started to charge the rental of some Bbox for 3 euros per month.

Of course, those who suffer the most from these practices are the loyal customers, especially those who do not monitor their subscription or bank account every morning, foremost among which are the elderly and the vulnerable.

The customer lives in anguish
The conclusion of all this? On the one hand, do not be faithful! Every year, you have to think about changing the operator to take advantage of call offers (with number portability and termination by your new operator, it's very easy). And, on the other hand, as long as traders treat their customers as a financial algorithm would, they should not be trusted, and check every penny paid to them.

While paying, the customer must live in agony, monitor his monthly bills in search of a paid option that would slip. He must conscientiously read each little character of each message, in the event that this warns him of a tariff increase never agreed, and check every month that the bank levy corresponds to the tariff for which he has signed. So that, from the company or the client, one ends up wondering which one is in the service of the other.

[Ahmed]

Izentrop, you write:

I stopped at 7 mn because we went on a conspiracy track.

Why see conspiracies where there are only constraints common to any industry?
In your strict representation of the world, the market that imposes the big gap between abstract value (the only objective pursued) and use value (which is only the approximate condition of the first) is enough to explain these behaviors.

[Petrus]

Free imposes a paid option, Youboox One, to its customers. [...]

Thank you for this reminder, grelinette!
I had seen the mail of free, but not being interested, I immediately deleted it. I was far from thinking that these guys could impose a default option

[izentrop]

Izentrop, you write:

I stopped at 7 mn because we went on a conspiracy track.

Why see conspiracies where there are only constraints common to any industry?
In your strict representation of the world, the market that imposes the big gap between abstract value (the only objective pursued) and use value (which is only the approximate condition of the first) is enough to explain these behaviors.

The arguments moldy to denounce something is just brewing wind, I do not want to listen more, that's all ... As usual I do not understand what you are writing.

[Christophe]

It is true, for this I saw (= not integrally) that the documentary seems to me to miss a little ... maturity (see depth of reflection) on behalf of its authors ... but they are young and so say hat off all the same to have dared and done!

Perhaps they should have come to take good societal ideas on this forum before starting?

[Christophe]

Ha this growth based on CONSUMPTION! ...

And if consumers do not want to consume themselves ... they are consumed without their knowledge ...

Free imposes a paid option, Youboox One, to its customers. Charge them to terminate if they wish. SFR, Bouygues and Orange are not left out. By Guerric Poncet

I have been at Free for almost 2 years: I have never heard about this option paid but on my bill it appears like that (I think it's only been a few months):

Yooboox: + 9.9
Yooboox Promo: -9.9

So I have the subscription or not? I never had my access codes anyway!
But what is Youboox One ??? Ah an online book service?

By cons when I read this, I'm wrong:

The customer lives in anguish

Anything, the author has obviously never experienced the real anxiety!

[eclectron]

... As usual I do not understand what you are writing.

In simpler, finally I hope , it would give:
This is my interpretation of the video, with some additions.
There is a lot of planned and voluntary planned obsolescence (of the "conspiracy" as you say)
For example with this incandescent light bulb lit from 1901 and following the manufacturers agreement to reduce the life of the bulbs, see in the documentary

If there are any, do not believe that the deal is done in the public square.
Another example, having worked in the medical field, an engineer from Philips had found a way to make an indestructible x-ray tube. Result the patent was buried, no financial interest to kill this chicken with the golden eggs that is the periodic replacement of these expensive strong tubes.

Apart from these extreme cases, which I hope are few, the other reason for obsolescence is simply economic competition.
This is what Ahmed points out.

for a manufacturer, you have to sell.
To sell it must be like the competitor but cheaper.
It is necessarily at the expense of quality and ultimately at the expense of sustainability.
It is always a compromise, it must still last a little, otherwise nobody will want more of the mark.

Look at all that is low-end Chinese, it's cheap but it's worthless.
and for the price we are sometimes tempted ...

[eclectron]

It is true, for this I saw (= not integrally) that the documentary seems to me to miss a little ... maturity (see depth of reflection) on behalf of its authors ... but they are young and so say hat off all the same to have dared and done!

Perhaps they should have come to take good societal ideas on this forum before starting?

Personally I found it interesting that young people become aware of the problems and the brake on change which is summarized from this sequence and the next few seconds:
He speaks of managers who "sell sustainable" while knowing full well not to do so.