In the cupboard on the landing at home sits a rather sad-looking old filter coffee machine. Perhaps you have a similar cupboard yourself, containing other well-intentioned wedding gifts such as the juicer, the bread-maker, the pasta machine and so on.

It turns out that product obsolescence, as experienced chez Stern, is a familiar phenomenon in workplaces all over the world. Filter (or "drip") coffee makers are on their way out. Individualised "pod" coffee makers - Senseo, Tassimo, Nespresso - are on the way in.