I remember hearing a statistic--maybe from a William McDonough talk
about his book "Cradle to Cradle"--that suggested the average lifespan
of a Walmart product (that is, the time between the product being
bought and then thrown away) is on the order of a couple weeks.
Similarly, I know that children's toys typically have a very short
lifespan from check-out counter to garbage dump.
I am looking for support for the hypothesis that many commercial
products are designed for a short lifespan, that industry anticipates
that many of their products will very quickly wind up as trash. An
ideal result would be a clearly attributable short quote or figure of
merit from someone like William McDonough along the lines of the
Walmart quote above. |
Request for Question Clarification by
czh-ga
on
30 Apr 2005 14:33 PDT
Hello tprestero-ga,
Please make this question more manageble. Wal-Mart sells thousands of
products, including perishables. Just look at the list of categories
on their Web site. http://www.walmart.com/ It's very difficult to
figure out what would make a satisfactory answer to your current
question.
As a new user I suggest that you review these Web sites so you can get
the most out of using Google Answers.
http://answers.google.com/answers/faq.html
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=google+answers+pricing
Good luck.
~ czh ~
|
Clarification of Question by
tprestero-ga
on
30 Apr 2005 16:09 PDT
The statistic I'm looking for is, in fact, the most general. What is
the average lifespan of an average Walmart product (rather than a
product in any specific category)? This would be an aggregate for all
Walmart products.
To clarify, what I'm looking for isn't necessarily a rigious
statistic, but a general rule of thumb from a credible source--for
example someone like William McDonough.
|
Clarification of Question by
tprestero-ga
on
30 Apr 2005 16:18 PDT
Another clarification. Walmart does sell toilet paper and diamond
rings, for former in presumably massive volumes with very short
lifespan, , and the latter in miniscule volumes with very long
lifespans.
Imagine it as a function of total revenues--X millions in toilet paper
with Y lifespan, and A millions in diamond rings with B lifespan.
Average lifespan is then (X*Y + A*B)/(X+Y). Anyway, I'm not after a
hard number (although it'd be great), but rather a compelling "figure
of merit" from a reasonably credible source.
Thank you!
|
Request for Question Clarification by
czh-ga
on
30 Apr 2005 17:21 PDT
I'm afraid your clarification doesn't help. Here are some numbers to
help you understand the scope of the problem. According to various
sources Wal-Mart carries 100,000-120,000 SKUs. The estimate for
jewelry alone is 4,000 SKUs.
It would be a lot easier to try to get an answer for you about the
assertion that products are deliberately designed with short life
spans. I took a quick look at McDonough's Web site and see that you're
looking for others who agree with his philosophy.
Considering the price of your question, I have no idea what would
constitute a satisfactory answer.
|
Clarification of Question by
tprestero-ga
on
30 Apr 2005 21:05 PDT
My examples of how to calculate "average lifespan" were more confusing
than intended. You are correct that the end goal is to support the
idea that most consumer products in the industrialized world are
designed for a short use-life (or even designed to be thrown away).
The original McDonough quote about Walmart's products--which I believe
I heard in person but haven't been able to find anywhere in
print--would've been perfect for my intended audience, in that it
paints the picture in a way that's shocking and compelling (if not
entirely rigorous).
Given the vagaries of memory, I'm not comfortable using the quote
without some kind of validation in terms of orders of magnitude. Is
the two-week figure for Walmart products too mushy and ill-defined to
be credible, or if anything meaningful can be asserted about the
"average" commercial Walmart product's use-life, are we talking weeks,
months, or years before they go to the dump? Says who?
|
