Bert, did it ever occur to you that the average guy of today's "baby-boomer" generation, is a hell of a lot smarter than what you MIGHT give him credit for, ?? Sure EVERYBODY wants the most bang for their buck, but you say, everybody is just "cheap" ..our kid's generation, and today's generation did NOT grow up in the same world we did, baby-boomers learned a lot of good traits handed down by preceding generations, for instance, if I needed a good quality tool, I sure as hell wouldn't get it at Harbor Fright, UNLESS, I saw it was of halfway decent quality, but only because it would serve it's purpose on a rare occasion, NOT for an every-day depend on tool . I think most B/B's can recognize a quality piece of machinery, or tool, or whatever, as compared to the junk flooding today's markets. We see how piss-poor these machines are made today compared to what Dad and Grandpaw bought back in the day, and recognize the fact, we DON'T wan't to to pay good money, for a low quality item, in other words, B/Bs DON'T mind paying for a top quality machine..... IF, they can AFFORD it ! trouble is, wages have NOT followed the costs of living, therefore the average "Blue-Collar" working guy (home-owner) NOT a Lawn-Service Pro, will buy the junk he can afford, but would buy the top of the line IF, he could afford to, and remember, back in the day, things were built on a reputation of trust and reliability ( only found in the very expensive machines of today ) that were designed to last, and be fixed if a break-down occurred, Hell you even got printed manuals, and some machines even had a simple tool kit ! Today it's all about the bottom line ...MONEY ! it's become a throw-away world ( or re-cycle this junk to make NEW junk) another thing, today's folks aren't into fixing thing's as much as the B/Bs were taught to do, Yes us B/B rs THOUGHT we were giving our kid's a better world some of it IS better, and some of it ... well ... you see what this world has turned into. A lot of fault falls upon OUR shoulders, we've formed today's generation into "I DON'T fix thing's, I just get another NEW one " Quality and trust have become a scarcity these days, much like the desire and ability to "fix" things .
Boo.
No where did I say stupid. Stupid they are not. Greedy, lazy, selfish and self obsessed yes, stupid no.
If you can afford to buy a property big enough to need a ride on mower then you can afford to buy a decient quality mower for a reasonable price.
I see the same thing happening down here. $ 300 for a night out , fine ; $ 500 for a pair of sunglasses with Paris Hiltons name on the side , good :$ 200 for a t-shirt with some clebrity name tag on the outside , fabulous .
The "we can not afford it" aruement is rubbish.
If there is anything that they think will raise their esteem they will find the money for it.
House sizes have trippled since WWII , like we realy need a house with 4 double bedrooms including walk in robes for all of the high fashion highly overpriced poor quality cloths, an ensuite in each bedroom + a common bathroom on both floors, an indoor & outdoor kitchen big enough for the Red Cross to do disaster relief in, a lounge room with a 10' TV screen and quadrophonic surround sound and a lounge big enough for a horse to sleep on + a theatre room, + a family room + a home office or two.
The very dissapinting thing about all of this is WE created this monster and then Monsters WE CREATED went on to have bigger monsters of their own.
WE dressed our 5 year olds to look like Elvis , or Jagger or Marolyn or Princess Di etc etc etc telling them their value was what they looked like.
WE perfected the art of brand recognition to the point that 10 year olds kill themselves because they do not have the "right brand" of sports shoes to wear to school.
We perfected the art of advertising ( thought control ).
and no it is not that they can not afford it ,'It is because they want to be SEEN as having it all today, right now because I am so great I have everything.
If people could distinguish between junk & quality HF & Walmart would not exist, Sears would be the biggest retailers.
Very few people HAVE to get the absolute lowest possible price.
THEY JUST WANT TO BRAGG ABOUT HOW SMART THEY WERE FOR FINDING THE LOWEST POSSIBLE PRICE, a sick sort of one up man' s ship which totally disregards the effect of their spending on other people.
And it was US our GENERATION who created a board of directors that continued to make cars with killed people because the plastic fuel tank ruptured , rather than to recall the product because the cost of paying out the family of the deceased was cheaper than the cost of replacing the fuel tanks.
What is missing totally is any sort of ETHICS, in business or in personal spending.