Monday, July 31, 2006
One thing is for sure: unpacking breeds shopping. It is an unbelievable phenomenon, to have so much stuff and yet, after everything is in place, actually need more.
The coffee pot needed something to rest on. The bathrooms needed different towels. The kids had no hanging artwork (their old rooms were wildly painted). The pots with sticks needed new sticks. And so on.
As I examined exactly what we were purchasing, I began to realize that most of it could be categorized as containers. We are willing to pay a lot for containers. For things that originally had other containers. And sometimes, the new containers cost absurdly more than the contents they'll hold.
For example, cotton ball containers. Consider this one sold by Linens & Things:
It's a veritable cotton temple. I know people who live in houses less nice.
Now, turning our attention to the contents. When the Johnson & Johnson people make cotton balls, they do package them well, in a paper nonreactive lining, and a sturdy cardboard box. Most people store their cotton balls in a closet or a drawer, and the box is plenty good enough. And you could buy 2,000 cotton balls for the price of a cotton ball container.
And yet, Linens & Things does a good business in cotton ball containers. And a lot of other containers, actually. Paper clip baskets, moisturizer bottles, photo boxes, wrapping paper keepers... even a system that sorts dirty laundry. For the most part, all these things were either contained by something else for free, or don't really need to be contained by anything in the first place.
My dad used to say that the only thing left to get someone who has everything, is a box to keep it in. Given the rise of Linens & Things, Bed Bath & Beyond, The Container Store, and so many more, I think we can assume that Americans are approaching the having-everything limit. What's next? Maybe we will be buying containers by the gross at Costco?
2 comments:
Freshly moved and living as we do in the Land of the Cardboard box, and its capitol, Rubbermaid Binville, I can only remark with some slight amusement, and a little bit of irony, the demise of retail stores like Organize This! and Hold Everything in the Detroit area. Clearly there is no market here for containers which are not promoted as being emotionally linked to a specific product. I often tell people who ask what I do for a living that I make you want to buy products you never even knew you needed until I told you so. A box for cotton balls IS different from just any old box, you know, and the entire content of your character will be judged by the color and style of your cotton ball container when guests use your bathroom (good grief, what crap!).
By the way, I have enough boxes and bins to supply anyone who needs a container. Stylish, space-age polymers in a fashionable, upscale, metallic sea-spray blue. Sure to instill feelings of pity among your friends who have yet to sell their current homes and can actually find the shoes that go with their clothes. Pay your own shipping.
-Kelli
I believe you can probably tell someone's socioeconomic status as well as their self-perception by the type of container their cotton balls are in. The Cotton Taj Mahal says "lots of disposable income, in need of a hug." Mine are in the Johnson & Johnson box and at the moment, I can't find them. I believe this says "practical gal, but perhaps not that hygienic." The truth hurts.
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