Patrick,
I've designed trains, lift trucks, amusement parks, housewares, office
supplies, electronics, shoes, cars (interiors mostly)... all sorts of
things. The concept of "perceived value" has never sat well with me either
and I have witnessed it first hand. I think that is one reason I like what
Riv is doing. Things cost what they cost with enough of a profit to keep
the company going and keep people paid. In product design I was always
amazed that something would be designed to retail for $80, would list for
$60 (already a artificial price) and be manufactured for $6.50 + another $2
for the packaging that was thrown away! The rest appeared to cover
overhead, profits and growth for shareholders. Your rants are justified in
many cases, particularly in the consumer markets. To add fuel to that
fire, the prices of most goods don't cover things that I feel may be more
important in the long run such as disposal, environmental impact or
recycling costs. I see some movement towards improving that situation in
the future but it seems to be coming at way too slow of a pace. That is
another thing about Riv that resonated with me... 40-year bikes and other
products that you buy once unless something happens to it. I grew up
around a grandfather who ran a small butcher shop in Ohio and paid a little
more for things that he felt would last. He was also a scratch handicap
golfer who made a club with special grip he molded to teach my brothers and
I how to golf. I get to remember this fondly whenever I play golf because
I'll be using the very golf clubs that he bought for himself over 40 years
ago! I rarely golf but still keep those clubs, not because they perform as
well as contemporary clubs but because of the meaningful memories attached
to them. Given how I golf these days, performance is a much lesser factor.
John
On Sunday, February 21, 2016 at 11:44:02 AM UTC-8, Patrick Moore wrote:
>
> John -- what exactly do you design?
>
> When I took my MBA courses some 18 years ago, one of the big buzzwords was
> "perception of value" -- you want to convince customers that you are
> providing "value," so that they will give you money. I thought it strange
> that they emphasized "perception" and not "value," but the motive for this
> focus is evident when you consider that, after all, most organization are
> run "abstractly" by professional managers who "manage by numbers" and who
> have no real contact with, let alone love for, the product or service that
> their companies sell.
>
> Here beginneth a spluttering rant: A entire way of life ("economy" is,
> after all, a way of living, including a worldview) based on conning the
> customer (buy at the highest price what we make at the lowest price even if
> you don't really need or want it) can't be healthy, despite the very
> obvious technological advances made by this system. It's essentially a
> con-man paradigm.
>
> Rivendell makes and sells what it loves. Some of those things are very
> weird, but, to quote again, "we are product driven, not market driven."
>
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