We Live In A Disposable World

I recall a time in America when folks would save up money for a car or college tuition or on a smaller scale a pair of ice skates for a child.

Most of us had credit at the grocery story and the gas station, but that's where it ended. If we couldn't pay for “it,” we didn't buy “it.” Charging a candy bar or a soda pop was unheard of. We paid cash for the luxury items.

Oh, sometimes if your current mode of transportation blew a gasket and put you afoot you would have to make the decision to use your saved-up money for a down payment on a second-hand car and suffer the monthly payments. Today, with all the automobile “deals” offered, we can use the rebates and cash discounts as a down payment to purchase our greatly overpriced pickups and cars and be saddled with monthly payments the amount of which would have been yearly payments back in my day. I mean. $63,789.00 for a new pickup?? Yikes! But you drive off in it and instantly become an IGGY. (Instant Gratification Guy or Gal. Or in polite circles, a chargeaholic.

The first credit card made us a country of I want “it” and I want “it” NOW. Instant gratification was the common buzz word. IGGYs have amassed incredible debt with the average credit card debt today a staggering $18,000.

We have also become a throwaway society. China pirates American made things, then produce these goods with inferior materials and sell the items for less money than the American-made stuff.

But don't get me started on China or we'll be here all day.

My point is this. Why don't we get things that break repaired instead of simply tossing them and buying new?

I spent last Friday afternoon with my head stuck in the engine compartment of a JD combine trying to remove, repair and replace the alternator. See, I'm not a mechanic. They tend to get hurt hands and blackened fingernails but on the plus side, their hands will never rust.

(My prowess with a guitar – I'm the 158th best picker in Valley County – has forced me to get my hands insured thru Boyds of Langdon (Kentucky) for the princely sum of $18.47, so I must take careful care of my digits.

I finally got the broken alternator out and headed for town to get a new one. When I got to town the thought hit me like a sloppy cow pie. “Why not take it to Ben's and see what he can do with it.” See, Ben fixes things like that.

To shorten this story, Ben put a 15 buck fix on the alternator, checked it out on his machine and pronounced it healed up. I reinstalled it and it works fine, saving the boss about 150 bucks. He was pleased.

Ben told me he was considering closing his repair shop. Too many parts stores and cheap China made stuff was his story. People just don't get things fixed these days – unless it's a dog or a cat. They just buy new and toss the fixable thing in the dumper.

Sad commentary indeed.

I have the same dilemma here in beautiful downtown Hinsdale. I have a boot repair shop which puts me in the same boat as Ben. People buy $200 a pair throwaway boots these days. Boots that can't be fixed without costly, specialized equipment. Wide-toed boots that can double as canoe paddles with soles that seem to last fairly well but when they're done they can't be fixed.

What I'm saying here is buy something that can be fixed when it wears out. If it's a pair of boots ask the seller if the boots can indeed be repaired when needed.

Back in the day when Nocona or Enid Justin or Tony Lama still made good boots, they could be resoled and reheeled at about a fifth the cost of a new pair. Still true today if the cowboy wearing them will bring them in before they are totally wrecked!

If this sounds like a commercial pshaw, it ain't. It's simply a sad commentary on our “I-want-it-and-I-want-it-now" and disposable society.

The next time something breaks look around for someone who can fix it before you go out and buy a new one. Then put the money you just saved in the sock drawer where it will draw about the same interest than if it were in a bank and watch it grow.

That's it for now folks. Thanks for listening.