Selling Bushels and Bushels of Shit

I inherited Wahl clippers from my grandpa after he died. These clippers have seen a lot of action in their time. My grandpa cut hair in the army during WW2 with these clippers; then he brought them home and cut my dad’s when he was a boy and then mine and then I used them on my son when he was younger. So four generations of my family have been using these clippers and they are still running great today.

About a year ago while browsing through a Walgreens I noticed the newer Wahl clippers with some added features like a beard trimmer. The old ones still work but this new feature intrigued me so I bought them. These new clippers are already dying after only a year and it pissed me off so I decided to write about this.

Did you know many of the light bulbs made by Thomas Edison in 1879 still work today? Why is it when I purchase a new bulb, I’m lucky to get six months out of it before it dies? Because mediocrity translates into bigger profits while excellence does not. If a new light bulb lasted forever then no one would ever buy light bulbs. Companies started realizing that producing a product which quickly breaks makes more money than producing a more durable, quality product.

I’ve been taught my entire life that capitalism breeds excellence because somebody can always do it faster, cheaper and more efficiently. But what we are finding out is just the opposite. Companies repeatedly produce and sell sub standard items in order to keep the customer coming back buying more shit.

My brother used to work for a manufacturer who built ceiling fans and sewing machines. Early in his career he sold parts for these products. Well, certain models never needed parts. When the company launched an investigation to find out why sales were down on these particular parts and why the new models where not selling, it was discovered certain older models were too well built. They just didn’t break, so parts did not sell and newer models weren’t needed because the old ones lasted a very long time.

So this company changed and started producing sewing machines with parts rigged to break after so long. Also they were built NOT to last as long. This increased sales of the consumable parts and also increased sales of the actual units. Well this is the same plan corporate America uses in everything. Nothing is produced to last, it is only made to last longer than the warranty. Everything from clippers, to light bulbs, to sewing machines, to ceiling fans, to cars are built to expire when they could easily be produced to last a lot longer and cost much less. We line up to pay for this shit everyday and what we are taking home is, literally, shit.

Just think of the natural resources we could save if common everyday items were build better and to last longer. Imagine if your car lasted for twenty years instead of ten and used one fifth of the gasoline; times that conservation by millions of drivers in the US alone. Think about haw many hundreds of thousands of Wahl trimmers are thrown away every year when they could easily be built to last longer. If they could do it in 1950 then they can do it in 2006.

So let’s look at the healthcare industry. I’ve been saying for years this industry needs to be a non-profit industry to protect us. Profiting from the illnesses of the sick and suffering should only be done when the health of the person is the primary concern and NOT what is best for the profit margin of the company. This is exactly why health care costs are out of control today.

Why haven’t cures for diseases been made when we have so much technology? Simple, there is no profit in curing diseases. The last disease we cured was polio back in the 1960’s. Does anybody else find that ridiculous? We can’t even cure the common cold yet. What a company wants is to create a drug which keeps everybody coming back for more (a legal addict). If they cure people, then the long range profit forecasts are not looking too good. There are many new drugs to treat diseases like cancer, AIDS, diabetes, heart disease and Alzheimer’s but never any to cure.

In fact, cures are not even being researched by profit companies because they realize there is no money in it. They only research new drugs to treat diseases; to make them more manageable, to prolong life just long enough to squeeze a little more money out of you before you finally kick off. An outright cure is very unprofitable.

This is exactly why we need government money for stem cell research. Big companies are NEVER looking out for you and your family despite what the ad on TV says. They only care about getting filthy rich.

Another disturbing trend is the lack of competition. There is no competition because they all produce the same bushels and bushels of sub-quality shit.