Day 153
I feel for the car companies thee days, I really do. Times have changed so quickly over the last few decades. Gas, crazily enough, is pretty much the same price as bottled water now, and this frightens and confuses me on a number of levels.
The car has never been a cheap, or environmentally healthy mode of transport. Car companies have relied for nearly a century on advertizing strategies opposed to such notions. Cars, you are told, define your youth, or your manhood, toughness, sportyness, nostalgia, need-for-speed, wealth, refinement, sex appeal, class status, or one of many other useless classifications.
But now, suddenly, car companies are forced into an incredibly difficut bind, because the fact of the matter is that if you're looking for an inexpensive, reliable, environmentally healthy mode of transport, you need look no further than your feet, or your bike, or the bus station (or in my case a scooter). Any transporting device that has the qualities we now look for is almost by definition not a car, and car companies are stuck straddling this weird line where they are trying to make everything more efficient and less expensive, while refusing to admit that the cheapest and most efficient modes of travel aren't cars at all.
One nice thing about being young is knowing that it's very likely you'll get to see certain questions about the next half-century answered before your eyes.
And, one other thing about bottled water: Please inform me if I'm missing something crucial here, but don't we get water at virtually no cost from taps already? Sure, there is some benefit to be had in a place like LA, where I admit the tap water really does taste a bit odd and disconcerting, but the water in BC (and most of the rest of Canada) is probably equal or better in quality than the water we have bottled and sold at the same price as petroleum. One of the many ironies of this price similarity is that the water bottles are made from petroleum, but the cost of each actual bottle is only a few pennies to the company. So, I pose to you, if the bottle costs a few pennies, and the water surely less than a penny, then what precisely is your two dollars paying for?
I am absolutely positive that bottled water drinkers here in Victoria are getting ripped off even worse than movie popcorn buyers, and somewhere some water executive is rolling around in cash laughing his ass off at all of us... justifiably so.
The car has never been a cheap, or environmentally healthy mode of transport. Car companies have relied for nearly a century on advertizing strategies opposed to such notions. Cars, you are told, define your youth, or your manhood, toughness, sportyness, nostalgia, need-for-speed, wealth, refinement, sex appeal, class status, or one of many other useless classifications.
But now, suddenly, car companies are forced into an incredibly difficut bind, because the fact of the matter is that if you're looking for an inexpensive, reliable, environmentally healthy mode of transport, you need look no further than your feet, or your bike, or the bus station (or in my case a scooter). Any transporting device that has the qualities we now look for is almost by definition not a car, and car companies are stuck straddling this weird line where they are trying to make everything more efficient and less expensive, while refusing to admit that the cheapest and most efficient modes of travel aren't cars at all.
One nice thing about being young is knowing that it's very likely you'll get to see certain questions about the next half-century answered before your eyes.
And, one other thing about bottled water: Please inform me if I'm missing something crucial here, but don't we get water at virtually no cost from taps already? Sure, there is some benefit to be had in a place like LA, where I admit the tap water really does taste a bit odd and disconcerting, but the water in BC (and most of the rest of Canada) is probably equal or better in quality than the water we have bottled and sold at the same price as petroleum. One of the many ironies of this price similarity is that the water bottles are made from petroleum, but the cost of each actual bottle is only a few pennies to the company. So, I pose to you, if the bottle costs a few pennies, and the water surely less than a penny, then what precisely is your two dollars paying for?
I am absolutely positive that bottled water drinkers here in Victoria are getting ripped off even worse than movie popcorn buyers, and somewhere some water executive is rolling around in cash laughing his ass off at all of us... justifiably so.
Comments