I got an email from a company saying something like:

Hey, you've been inactive for months. Log in within 60 days, or we'll delete your account and data.

Honestly, I was super happy with this email. It was a service I tried once and forgot about. They had some test data from me there that I didn't care about anymore. I had nothing to do and someone else who automatically clean my mess. As a dad who cleans after the mess of a kid this is a blessing! (1)

Setting expiration dates isn't something we can use only for inactive accounts. You can apply it to subscriptions, unused features, or any old data clogging up your service.

Action question

Where in your service can you set expiration dates to help users get rid of what they don't use and save resources?

Footnotes

(1) This principle builds on the principle: Don't be a digital hoarder

Daniele's notes

• This is the first shitty draft of this principle

• This principle might one day make it in the fifth book in the "Service Design Principles" series that explores how to better serve humans and the planet.

• If you're curious about service design principles, you can get the four previous books in the series, with proofread principles and less grammatical creativity.

Written with AI help
This principle draft is based on an audio note I took while walking that was transcribed and cleaned using Audiopen. I then reviewed and improved the text by hand.