Name: Sarah Sammis's review of Waste Makers by Vance Packard
Item: Waste Makers
Rating: 4
Author: Sarah Sammis

Vance Packard

Waste Makers

Sarah Sammis

It's an interesting look at the 1950's (and early 1960's) consumer culture. As with most theses the book starts with a nostalgic assumption that things were better twenty or so years in the past but I bet that in the 1920s or 1930s, there's probably an equivalent book lamenting the excesses of that era and lauding the frugality of the turn of the century. That being said, the book does have some fascinating and chilling examples of how marketing works to build an artificial demand for a product. I worked four years for a marketing department of a high tech software firm and I can say that the tactics haven't changed.

Some of the book's points are disturbingly modern. The chapters on car models is worth a read. In the 1950s the focus was on making the cars lower to ground, wider and longer. Wider and longer has certainly come back into fashion with those hideous SUVs but of course now these cars seem to be getting taller which makes roll overs a serious problem. The book mentions that the car manufacturers at the time listed their cars low centers of gravity as an "anti roll over" feature. Funny how those same companies have forgotten this bit of common sense in order to sell tall cars.

Some of the book's points, though, don't hold up to the passage of time. The book expected the U.S. to be far more over populated by now than it is (assuming a continuous baby boom at rates comparable to post WWII), a worse depression than what is currently happening (due to an assumed continued one income family across the board), a worse state of pollution (no EPA at all, even one currently weakened by Bush is still better than none), and a far more depleted natural resources (assuming no recycling).

Another bit of the book that struck me as odd is the discussion on product life. The example Packard uses is the television set. Clearly television manufacturers have moved away from changing styles but poor quality to better quality and basically utilitarian styling. Televisions today come in a variety of sizes and shapes but they all seem to work without needing a quarterly visit by a television repairman. The two televisions we own work just as well as when we bought them. One of them is nearly 15 years old. The second one is 7 years old. We had to get it because the older one didn't have the video input needed to play our DVD's signal directly.

One final note, the chapter on making larger purchases on credit really grabbed my attention as a new home buyer. I think Packard would have been mortified at the current home prices across the country, but especially in the more expensive urban areas. Although lending practices of banks and other mortgage brokers is far more conservative now than it was pre Great Depression, some of the sketchy practices are starting to resurface which could easily cause a similar loss of homes in the near future as it did in the 1930s.

Sarah Sammis &
Waste Makers by Vance Packard

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Waste Makers by Vance Packard