RINKER ON COLLECTIBLES — Column #1494

Copyright © Harry Rinker, LLC 2015

Two Three-Letter Words - New and Now

When a participant at the Institute for the Study of Antiques and Collectibles 2015 Summer Camp asked “why are young adults no longer interested in buying objects from the past,” I was ready to provide the traditional soapbox litany of reasons.  There are dozens, many of which I analyzed in previous columns.  As I paused to collect my thoughts, I wondered if there was a simple rather than complex explanation.  I responded: “The answer rests with two three-letter words, each of which begins with N.”

As a child of Depression and World War II era parents, I understood that NEW was a relative term.  New to my family and/or me did not necessarily mean new off the assembly line.  I grew up in a hand-me-down and a “it is still good, all it needs to be is repaired” era.  Products were expected to last decades, even generations.  Products incorporating new design and technology were wonderful but could be ignored as long as the older product was in good working order.

[Author’s Aside #1:  I currently am organizing, cataloging, and filing six Archival file boxes filled with family records --  bills, certificates, correspondence, diplomas, genealogical research, photographs, and other miscellaneous items.  Among the material was a June 17, 1936, receipt from the Ungerleider Motor Company of 1029 Linden Street, Bethlehem, for my father Paul L. Rinker’s purchase of a new 1936 Ford Tudor Sedan.  The cost was $718.00.  My Dad received an allowance of $95.00 for the Ford Coupe he traded in as part of the deal.  Dad paid cash.  I have fond memories of the ’36 Ford, especially standing on the running boards holding on to the window frame while Dad or Mom drove. Dad finally traded in his 16-year-old 1936 Ford Tudor in the fall of 1952 for a 1952 Ford Mainline.  Dad was practical and thrifty.  He would be proud of the fact that I still am driving my 2002 Buick Park Avenue, refusing to scrap it just for the sake of owning a newer model.  Although it has more than 210,000 miles on it, it runs well and still gets close to 30 miles to the gallon on interstate highways.]

In the digital age, it is no longer possible to ignore technological advances.  I use Microsoft’s Alta Vista as my operating program on my Dell Latitude lap top.  When I asked several computer experts what steps I needed to take to install Microsoft Windows 10, their universal advice was to buy a newer laptop.  I carefully explained that my laptop was working just fine.  All I wanted to do was upgrade my operating program.  The response was universal.  Your laptop is more than five years old.  Its technology is obsolete.  You need a new computer designed to operate with Microsoft 10.

I give up.  I know when I am defeated.  My backup Dell Latitude is powered by Microsoft X-Press, an operating program Microsoft no longer supports.  Although it still works, it is useless.  As a result, the secondary value for the machine is between zero and nil.

While the digital age has contributed to the allure of NEW, it is not responsible for the modern generation’s conversion to the concept.  My generation and the first generation of baby boomers are the culprits.  We lived in a golden age – plenty of jobs, good pay, and money to spend.  We wanted our children to have more than we did.

Further, these were “keep up” generations.  The pace of change in decorating and fashion trends increased.  If the Jones owned one, everyone had to own one.  Magazine and television advertising fueled the frenzy.  “Hot” became a merchandising concept.  The concept is as prevalent in 2015 as it was in 1975. 

Hand-me-down has become socially/politically incorrect.  Wearing hand-me-downs creates a sense of inferiority in the recipient.  Every child must be treated equally in this “participation trophy” age.  The desire for equality has become tyrannical.

It is impossible to identify an exact date when the desire to buy/own NEW replaced the ability to see value in the reuse of the old.  The shift started in the late 1960s to early 1970s.  It was firmly in place by the dawn of the 21st century.

Millennials equate old with bad.  They see little value in owning or using things that belonged to someone else.  Age taints an object.  It lessens its value, especially if the object is no longer fashionable or trendy, was not properly cared for, or does not have advanced technology features. Having grown up in an era when people smoked (my Dad did; my mother did not; my dad died before my mother), I find it amusing that a key selling point on eBay is that an object offered for sale came from a “smoke free home.”

Every object found at an antiques and collectibles auction, estate sale, flea market, mall, shop, or show is used.  Someone the buyer does not know touched it.  Its history usually is lost, not that knowing the history would matter or change the decision to buy.  Even “new” objects still in their box, stored but not used, are difficult sells unless offered at a minimum price.

New is an obsession.  It is a mindset that defies reason.  Just because something is new does not make it better.  It does make it more desirable, a curse to those working so hard to offer secondary market products at less than new prices.

In the secondary market, new means room ready.  If the object is dirty, damaged, or incomplete, it will not sell.  Buyers do not have the time or inclination to clean or repair objects.  Even Shabby Chic needs a like-new shabby appearance.

NOW is as detrimental to the antiques and collectibles industry as NEW.  I am ashamed to admit, but I have become a NOW victim.  I recently bought a new file cabinet to house my collection of merchant/trading stamp redemption catalogs, books that show the merchandise available when filled stamp saver books were redeemed.  The collection had been in boxes for over a decade.  I thought two file drawers would be enough.  The collection filled four drawers.

Once the collection was organized, I recognized gaps.  I immediately went to the internet and started looking for offerings on eBay and other websites that could fill some of the gaps.  I wanted the gaps filled now.  This was a short, not long-term project.  I even violated my rule not to purchase from a “Buy It Now” listing.  The items I bought ranged in cost from $5.00 to $10.00 plus shipping.  I weighed the time it would take to save a few dollars and reached the conclusion to “pay the damn asking” price now.

[Author’s Aside #2:  Four of the “Buy It Now” items included a make an offer feature.  I did.  All four sellers accepted my counteroffer.  Further, I set a maximum I was willing to pay for shipping.  I did not buy two low priced items accompanied by exorbitant shipping charges.]

Millennials comparison shop on the internet.  They call before heading to a store to make certain the object they want to buy is available and to confirm the price.  In a society where time is a commodity, leisure shopping has been replaced by guaranteed destination shopping.

Shopping an antiques and collectibles estate sale, flea market, mall, shop, and/or show or attending an auction is time consuming, loaded with hidden costs (transportation, meals, lodging, wear and tear on the car), and comes with no guarantees that the attendee will find the object(s) they (1) seek and (2) if found,  at an affordable price.

If I was willing to invest the time, as I did in the 1980s and 1990s, and visit antiques and collectibles advertising and paper shows on a regular basis, over time I could fill most of the gaps in my merchant/trading stamp redemption catalog collection.  The price (purchase price plus overhead costs) would increase the unit cost of a catalog over 10 times.

Harry L. Rinker welcomes questions from readers about collectibles, those mass-produced items from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.  Selected letters will be answered in this column.  Harry cannot provide personal answers.  Photos and other material submitted cannot be returned.  Send your questions to: Rinker on Collectibles, 5955 Mill Point Court SE, Kentwood, MI  49512.  You also can e-mail your questions to harrylrinker@aol.com. Only e-mails containing a full name and mailing address will be considered.

You can listen and participate in WHATCHA GOT?, Harry’s antiques and collectibles radio call-in show, on Sunday mornings between 8:00 AM and 10:00 AM Eastern Time.  If you cannot find it on a station in your area, WHATCHA GOT? streams live on the Internet at www.gcnlive.com.