Huge manuals, often written in English and Spanish, come with almost every product. The new administration could save trees, reduce trash, reduce costs and improve the economy by offering companies a trade:
If you put your manual up online and include a web address for it with your product, then you cannot be sued for not including a manual with your product. You, dear company, get shielded from liability.
Many leading companies today already put their manuals up online. For liability reasons they also have to include a copy in the box. The manual for my new Whirlpool washing machine is 76 pages long! Does anyone really read all that. Nope. But trees get cut down to make the manuals anyway. In this digital age, it’s a huge waste of resources.
In the past, the digital divide might have been a reason to have manuals in the box. No longer. The Internet has been in full swing since 1994. Increasingly cell phones make the web available anywhere anytime.
It’s time to start saving the environment and money with this pro business proposal.
- The gang in Washington can figure out the fine print. Here’s a start: Companies would have to agree to post their manuals for 10 years perhaps in a central repository, such as United Laboratories for product manuals, as well as on their own website.
- The manuals would have to be searchable so Google and others could give us instant access to vital product information.
- Companies would have to keep the electronic manuals up to update for product variations.
And so on.
2 responses so far ↓
Michaela Barnes // January 6, 2009 at 9:28 pm |
Actually, the digital divide is still unfortunately real in this country. I deal in it with some of my PTA work — even here in one of the riches counties in the US (and most educated city according to US News and World report). There is a move a foot within the Obama group to fix this, as part of their infrastructure drive. I hope they get it right (though I’m skeptical they can).
If we fix that, I love the idea. I like it too because it’s so much more helpful to use search within a document like that (indexes only go so far).
And, if the 2D bar codes with mobile ever really happens, you could use that to get to the manual.
reggiefairchild // January 7, 2009 at 3:17 pm |
Are the people without Internet access reading / using the paper manuals? I doubt it. Most people with Internet access aren’t reading or using the paper version. It’s just a waste of resources to make the lawyers happy.
My proposal would not stop companies from including paper manuals. Based on their target audience, a company might decided it wants to include a manual. For example, the colorful paper diagrams for how to assemble Lego Star Wars are very helpful to 7 year olds. But a 70 page paper diagram on a Sub-Zero Refrigerator doesn’t do anyone any good. The people without Internet access aren’t buying Sub-Zeros.
That’s why a liability shield for companies choosing manuals on the web instead of cutting down trees for paper manuals is a good idea. Let the companies make the choices based on their markets. Get the lawyers out of the process. Save a bunch of trees, shipping costs, etc.