Interesting Economist Article

[Ecriveur]

There's an interesting article in the June 14 issue of The Economist, titled "Second Wind." It's about the surprising resurgence of old technologies many thought were at death's door. The majority of it deals with mechanical watches, now Switzerland's third largest export after pharmaceuticals and machinery. But fountain pens get a couple of mentions as well. The gist of the article is about why these old technologies survive. According to the article, sales of fountain pens collapsed in the 1950s with the arrival of cheap ballpoints, but have seen a steady revival since the mid-1970s.

[estie1948]

In my particular area of the earth, there is quite a bit of this "resurgence of old technologies". It ranges all across the board of consumer items. Here, there is not enough rainfall to keep a lawn fully green and growing from early spring to late fall unless one is willing to pay extremely high water bills to irrigate said lawn. The continuation of a drought now in its fifth year, means water is rationed in most areas even if one is willing to pay the high price. This all means that keeping "fresh" gasoline for a lawn mower is difficult. As a result, locally sales of the manual push reel mowers of the 1940s and 1950s are robust.

 

High winds in this area often mean that electrical power is frequently interrupted. The power company is not nearly so quick about repairing downed lines as they are about mailing out their bills. This once caused a spike in the sales of gasoline generators. That was short lived here. Now, people are buying kerosene lamps and lanterns instead of generators.

 

The fact that people are returning to the hand written letter is not surprising to me. It falls right in line with this "resurgence of old technologies". Unfortunately (at least in my opinion) people in this portion of the earth only revert to ball point or roller ball pens. They don't seem to know what a fountain pen is.

 

I believe that in a certain number of limited cases "regression" can actually be progressive. I am ever hopeful that in this part of the earth people will eventually regress to the point that they rediscover the wonderful characteristics of the fountain pen. If and when this happens, the quality of written communication as well as the quality of handwriting will progress far beyond the point at which it rests today.

 

One can only hope.

 

-David.

Edited July 27, 2014 by estie1948

[Charles Rice]

Here's a link:

 

http://www.economist.com/news/business/21604156-some-traditional-businesses-are-thriving-age-disruptive-innovation-second-wind

[napalm]

http://wallstreetjobreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/email-vs-snail-mail.jpg

[82Greg]

Old technology does not equate to ineffective technology. A handwritten letter stands out as unique (an investment in time) in these days of computer generated "personalized" mass mailings -- very few of which every make the complete trip from post box past the trash bin to my desk.

[rochester21]

Old technology does not equate to ineffective technology.

 

 

Very true, although many miss the obvious. Example: roller bearings have been around since the Antiquity, and i don`t see production ever dropping.

[_Stormin_]

A handwritten letter stands out as unique (an investment in time) in these days of computer generated "personalized" mass mailings

 

This is why all of my clients get a handwritten birthday card and holiday card. Not the damn "non-denominational holiday card - #34582" that my company lists in our purchasing catalogue, but an actual card personalized to them and even their faith if I happen to know it. It's one of the things that I don't ever leave to my staff or my back office. I set aside the time to write them out. They all have seen my pens in the office and most ask about them. I believe that it goes a long way vs the generic cards that I seem to get from the businesses that I work with.

[napalm]

I guess that in our obsession with "enhancing productivity" we forgot what we were trying to achieve in the first place.

[Ronchamp]

Thanks Charles by the article.

 

The current technology understand of effectiveness but the pleasure have other ways.

[Runnin_Ute]

Thanks for providing that. Outside of a couple of nits I could pick I don't have issues with it. So I won't.