They Don’t Make Stuff Like They Used To!
Some 20 years ago I owned a vintage Hoover Upright vacuum cleaner manufactured sometime in the 1940’s. I’d inherited it from a gal pal who had moved into a 4,000 square foot McMansion with a central vacuum system so she had no more need for this venerable household gadget. It was green and battered and it wheezed but it still mostly worked. It was quite heavy, and the belt tended to slip so it had to be babied a bit.
One day I was overcome by a fit to have a new vacuum. I purchased a brand new Hoover Upright, for which I coughed up a hundred and fifty smackeroos.
It wasn’t as cool looking as the old Hoover, but it was much lighter and easier to maneuver and man o’ man, it vacuumed like crazy! It practically sucked up my old Oriental rugs along with the dust bunnies. Those rugs had never been so clean!
I packed up the old Hoover and donated it to the Goodwill, bidding it a fond farewell but sure it would find a good new home.
Then, I got Remy …who was three pounds of Jack Russell Terrier puppy mischief.
In pretty short order my floor became littered with the detritus of Remy’s search & destroy missions. Nothing was sacred to her sharp little teeth, and she was particularly enamored of demolishing pencils, pens and toilet paper rolls. And, believe me I tried to keep stuff out of her reach but she was diabolically clever. A moment’s distraction on my part and she had yet another forbidden object to annihilate!
But, hey, no problemo, right? A handy-dandy new Hoover ought to make short work of the debris, one would think.
Sadly, this was not the case. I broke out the new vac to clean up the evidence of the crime. As I swiped over a little pile of shredded cardboard., the vacuum gave a shuddering little squeal and died on the spot.
I certainly did not have the receipt to return it, as I had bought the thing months before I got the puppy. But, not to worry, there was an actual vacuum and appliance repair shop just a few blocks away. In fact, this guy had tuned up the old Hoover for me once upon a time.
When I marched into his shop with my shiny plastic Hoover in hand he literally laughed at me. Then he informed me that it would cost more to fix the thing than I had paid for it. And then I got a lesson on Planned Obsolescence in the world of vacuum cleaners. Old Hoovers never died, he said, and so Hoover redesigned their vacuums. These new vacs, like mine, were designed so that if you tried to suck up anything bigger than a scrap of tissue it would blow the motor. In other words, my motor was completely shot and I was now the proud possessor of $150 worth of scrap plastic.
A harsh lesson, I must say. And one that made perfect sense…nothing new lasts anymore. We’ve become a take, make, break and throw away society. What was I thinking! I gave up a groovy old chrome & steel vacuum cleaner for a cheap piece of plastic? I must have been temporarily insane!
But I still had a floor to vacuum so I asked the repairman for advice. What kind of vacuum should I get?
To my vast amusement he pointed to an old re-furbished Hoover Upright that was for sale, very much like the one I gave to the Goodwill. “That vacuum,” he said, “can suck up ball bearings.”
I paid the man $70 for the new old Hoover, and I have it to this day. It’s heavy, it has its issues, but it can indeed suck up gravel.
I think about this experience often, especially now that stuff is even cheaper and crappier and gets more so every year. People used to repair their TV’s, radios and appliances. Now they go into landfills.
Stuff that lasted needed repair people, which made for more local jobs.
A toaster, for instance, used to be something that lasted for years. My mother used the toaster she got when she got married all her life. Now you can get a plastic toaster for 6 bucks, use it for a few months till the element burns out, then get another one. Sheer Corporate genius! And we keep them rolling in profits when we continue to buy cheap.
Cheap Stuff
Disposable
Devoid of craftsmanship
Devoid of pride
Devoid of value
