When I was a kid . . .

I played a lot of board games. For a few years, I played Monopoly with my best friend every other day; a few months ago I pulled that old Monopoly game out of our garage to play with my daughter and everything was a little yellower but still in good working order. Recently, we bought Candy Land and a few other games for our daughter and I was shocked at how cheap and disposable board games today have become.

The boxes are made of almost paper-thin cardboard held together with tape at the corners; the playing cards are little more than heavier-weight paper. Everything seems built to a barely acceptable, minimum standard. I find the same thing with kitchen appliances. The ovens and blenders from years past were comfortingly robust and heavy. But invariably I find that appliances on store shelves today feel flimsy and cheap. The price is more than cheap enough, and I’m sure that functionally they are fine, but I’m always left wondering if there isn’t something just a bit higher in quality that will last longer. In fact, a friend in the industry told me that coffee machine manufacturers design their machines to break after a certain number of cycles.

Built in obsolescence – what a great idea for business; what a terrible idea for the planet.

Something else that pains me is how quickly our kids go through their toys. A few months and the toys that we have for our kids are no longer interesting. So many of the parents we know end up with huge boxes of toys that are no longer age appropriate for their children. A Swiss friend told me that in Switzerland, there are toy exchanges: children can check out toys, play with them for a few months and then check them back in. What a fantastic idea! But this is all predicated on good quality toys that can stand some serious abuse. What I find is that there’s often a big difference in the quality of goods that I find in Europe or Japan compared to what I find in many U.S. big box stores. Why is it that products are built to a more disposable quality in the U.S.? Do we blame it on the stores for lowering quality standards or is it the fault of the consumers – all of us – for choosing products based on price rather than quality.

The problem with disposable products of course is that our earth’s natural resources are finite and we are quickly going through all the wood, iron, aluminum, and oil that is available. And creating cheap products that quickly break down only means that we are constantly replacing what we own and dumping them into land fills.

So I’ve recently adopted a new mantra – something that I call “Buy Less, Buy Better”. Basically, I’ve resolved to buy fewer “things”. I try my best to only buy things that are really necessary, nothing that’s trendy and fashionable but that will be out of style in a year or two. And when I do buy, I’ll search for higher quality products that will last. Sure, the prices will be a bit higher, but if the product lasts as long as several cheaper products, I’ll have come out ahead financially and I’ll have tossed less waste into a landfill. Plus, I’ll get a lot more enjoyment out of using that higher quality, better designed product.

So when it comes time to select for toys for the kids, my wife and I try to avoid the plasticky, battery-operated toys that you see at all the toy stores and opt for things like hand-milled wooden blocks from Vermont that our kids will enjoy for years and which are sturdy enough to hand down to their kids.

Why do I mention this? Well, I think it’s a pretty good personal motto. But it’s also a guiding principal behind how we at Dahon design our bikes. As we go about choosing materials, parts, and manufacturing processes, we tend to avoid things that are trendy and choose things that are functional and will stand the test of time. If we all, as consumers, make a conscious effort to choose better products, it will force companies to meet that demand and the planet will be a bit better off.

- Joshua Hon, Vice President September 2007