Customer Reviews

The Waste Makers

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In our hectic world of the 21st Century it seems easy to "Wax Nostaglia about the 1950's. Images come to mind of Donna Reed, homemade fudge on the table, and innocent children playing in suburbia.
Thankfully, Mr. Packard had the courage to write this book (back then), and expose the truth behind the "housewife in pearls".

American society had been changing at a hyper rate since the eve of World War 2, and with the wars end, the march to suburbia started, highways started being built, and a pent up demand for consumer goods (many not available during the war years) resulted in strong years of economic growth. As our nation entered the 1950's something started to change. Returning Vets from the Korean War were barely noticed, the youth of the time were branded soft and weak, and our President, Dwight Eisenhower, was a decorated war hero, but seemed ineffective in confronting domestic issues. As an exmaple when Mr. President was asked to comment on what American's could do to end the economic slump in 1958, he responded, "Buy, Buy ANYTHING".

It was clear that as the decade wore on American Industry had a hard time keeping the economic engine humming, and they seemed to resort to shoddy workmanship, and over the top designs to ensure that durable goods would be replaced very couple of years, either out of desire, or need.

This book foreshadowed many changes in our society that had yet to come, but have. It also mentions some
ideas that thankfully never occured, such as the idea of creating a national Holiday, known as Friendship Day, on August 1 of every year, as a way to keep retailers busy during the summer doldrums.

Read this very real take on a very misunderstood time in American History.

Ken

This book is a real eye opener and helps us to understand just how we've been duped by manufacturers and big business into buying products we don't need, or buying products we already have, by planned obsolescence.

If you were angry at the constant new products that make perfectly good products obsolete, say such as VHS to DVD, or records to CD's you've got good reason. If you're angry at overpackaging this book will make you livid at it.

Though the book is a period piece(1960) it is still valid today as little has really changed...except for the worst. In light of the current economic crisis this is an insightful book indeed, and even to an extent predicts many of the current problems due to the ongoing business practices of the day.

This book might infuriate you and make you fight back by making smarter choices. In our day of trying to be conservative with resources this is an essential book to help us see clearly not only the society around us but at our own buying habits.

It reads pretty good too. Admittedly he does a bit of over kill in the research end so by the end of the book you've had enough. But this is truly an excelent study and a must read.

It has been years since I read this book, but its message is very timely. It deals with the strategy of companies to manufacture goods that wear out or break down so they need to be replaced. As I recall it deals heavily with the automobile industry. But in truth, the US auto industry could not hold a candle to the computer and software industry of today. This is also true of many other consumer goods. GDP is literally a measure of our garbage! Waste Makers is worth a read.

In our hectic world of the 21st Century it seems easy to "Wax Nostaglia about the 1950's. Images come to mind of Donna Reed, homemade fudge on the table, and innocent children playing in suburbia.
Thankfully, Mr. Packard had the courage to write this book (back then), and expose the truth behind the "housewife in pearls".

American society had been changing at a hyper rate since the eve of World War 2, and with the wars end, the march to suburbia started, highways started being built, and a pent up demand for consumer goods (many not available during the war years) resulted in strong years of economic growth. As our nation entered the 1950's something started to change. Returning Vets from the Korean War were barely noticed, the youth of the time were branded soft and weak, and our President, Dwight Eisenhower, was a decorated war hero, but seemed ineffective in confronting domestic issues. As an exmaple when Mr. President was asked to comment on what American's could do to end the economic slump in 1958, he responded, "Buy, Buy ANYTHING".

It was clear that as the decade wore on American Industry had a hard time keeping the economic engine humming, and they seemed to resort to shoddy workmanship, and over the top designs to ensure that durable goods would be replaced very couple of years, either out of desire, or need.

This book foreshadowed many changes in our society that had yet to come, but have. It also mentions some
ideas that thankfully never occured, such as the idea of creating a national Holiday, known as Friendship Day, on August 1 of every year, as a way to keep retailers busy during the summer doldrums.

Read this very real take on a very misunderstood time in American History.

Ken

A companion volume to Packard's "Hidden Persuaders" The Hidden Persuaders
and "The Status Seekers" Status Seekers, "The Waste Makers" documents our descent from a waste not want not society into the depths of a throwaway culture. The fact that he did this long before anyone else even noticed the change is just another mark of Vance Packard's keen insight and observation.

The thing you need to remember in reading these books is that at the time these were written advertising was in its infancy; branding and logos were not ends in themselves. This was groundbreaking work then, and still gives you invaluable insight into how the machine works to drive consumer demand and planned obsolescence.

What foresight this author had! This is one of the earliest, serious books about us humans trashing the planet for everyone. A must read for anyone interested in the history of the "green movement".