Today's Razors are like today's tractors

[MaineDad 87]

So this morning I had to shave with this new fancy razor my wife bought for me. I asked her to pick up some blades for the old razor that I have used for a long, long, time. It's getting harder to find these old Gillette blades too, so she decided to get the new Gillette Fusion something or other. So after a long terrible shave, I thought about the comparison of how a new razor of today is like a new tractor of today. Here are my thoughts;

Today's Razor and Today's Tractor...

Are made of plastic

Are over engineered (what's with the swivel slimy pivoting thing?)

Are too light and wimpy

Do not last long

Do not work as well

Are way over marketed or hyped

Are always coming up with a newer better model each year

Cost too much

Yesterday's Razor and Yesterday's Tractor...

Were made of steel

Were simple to use

Were nice and heavy

Worked well

Lasted forever if you took care of them

Did what they say they would do

Did not have to always come up with a newer model

Had a great return on their investment

Now I know you could just about compare anything made today to how an old tractor used to be made, but today the reality was looking at me right in the face.

[Sparky-(Admin) 23,138]

So Micah....wheres the pic of yer mug with small bits of toilet paper all over it?

Mike.........

[JUSS10 250]

as a design student i know exactly where you are coming from. it really is tough sometimes cause i feel thats what i get taught in school. everything needs to be extravagant and have all these crazy features where in reality any product like that you find the "styling" does nothing but get in the way and all the features allow the product to do a lot of things but not one thing particularly well. i get oppositions from all my prof's with this mentality. they always want me to do more and make it "cooler" looking. as far as i'm concerned a product should speak for itself not its marketing or packaging or crazy cool style. i find that most of products i have designed do what they are intended to do, and nothing more cause there is no reason for it to do such. most of designs take inspiration from products from the 60's and 70's when things were simpler and worked well.

And when it comes down to it, everything is ruled by cost. why is your razor made of plastic? cause it costs a ton less in materials not only that, some products are designed to fail at a certain point so the buyer needs to go and replace it. so in that case its a win win for a company producing said product. they save money on materials and then make more money when a person needs to go buy a new product.

Its rediculous. believe me i could go on and on about this but i shouldn't rant as i have to draw 50 pages of "cool" and "stylistic" ideations of a product for homework for next week... <_<

[Sparky-(Admin) 23,138]

some products are designed to fail at a certain point so the buyer needs to go and replace it. so in that case its a win win for a company producing said product. they save money on materials and then make more money when a person needs to go buy a new product.

I'm thinking thats the company motto at MTD !

Mike......

[dgoyette 12]

Great post Micah...love the comparison. Cheap and disposable products...ugh!

Well at least we have a great recycling center here.

[Gerry w 2]

I'm with ya, got the same razor, blades last about a week and a pack is $$$!

Would like to find a good old style one but then you have to find blades for them.

Thinking about going with my sheet rock knife! :thumbs:

[Roger from southern Iowa 1]

Great post Micha.

So true on both razors and GT's.

[Pollack Pete 2,273]

God.....I thought I was one of the last dinosaurs that shaved with the old double egde blades.Hat all the new ones.Electric razor? Forget them too.New is almost never better.

[Suburban 550 28]

Micah, it's not only razors and tractors, it seem like anything you buy anymore is made cheap and and not made to last, then throw it away when your done with it. :thumbs:

[mavfreak 11]

some products are designed to fail at a certain point so the buyer needs to go and replace it. so in that case its a win win for a company producing said product. they save money on materials and then make more money when a person needs to go buy a new product.

I'm thinking thats the company motto at MTD !

MTD wasn't like that I have one made in 91. just won't die. I close freind of mine as one of the same vintage has mine and it still runs but was retierd when he thought " I'll go by this newer MTD (yardman)" and I think it may have only lasted a couple of years and he has had a craftsman in there to.

coffie pots are like that. seems we go through them once twice a year no matter brand or cost.

[T-Mo-(Moderator) 4,599]

I moved this topic to the non-tractor related section.

The thing I hate about razors is this - the cost of the blades. I have an old Gillete Mach 3 - you can still get the blades for these, but at about $12-$14 for 4 blades - it's not cost effective. Razors are like printers, you can buy a new printer (which comes with the ink) cheaper than you can the ink, just like you can buy a new razor cheaper (which comes with a couple of extra blades) than you can buy the blades.

This last time I found a new product, by Wilkerson Swords. The razor with two blades total was $5 - and the replacement blades were 4 for $5. I bought the razor and 4 extra blades for a of $10 - so I get a razor and 6 blades for $10, while 4 blades for the old Gillete would have been up to $14. The Gillete Fusion replacements blades are even more costlier.

I won't comment on the newer tractors - except than the good, quality, long lasting ones are a lot of money.

[stoneman 10]

:thumbs: I don't remember what the last one was that I used . . . but it seemed to work fine. Of course that was . . . uhhhh . . . 30 some years ago( ;-}~

[GlenPettit 1,717]

Remember when our grandfathers used a simple Straight Razor and Shaving Brush/Mug, using a leather strap or wet stone to sharpen, only took 10 seconds for a new edge every day, and a bar of shaving soap will probably outlast six cans of shaving cream (all are still available, inexpensive: Amazon or google).

"Build a Better Mouse Trap and the World will . . . ", we're still waiting.

Also: check the price of your current 3-4-5-part new Razor Blades on eBay, if you buy a bulk 100 unit, price is only a fraction of local.