Life, Liberty, and the Right To Keep Stuff

Is it possible that the number of vacuum cleaners, ovens, and coffeemakers have tripled in the past decade? Considering my parents bought new things when we couldn't find old ones, yes. But it means everyone else has been collecting multiples too.

This article from the New York Times Magazine takes a look at the storage industry and their clients, who use on storage as everything from a transitional service when being between homes, to being an excess garage letting them store what won't fit in their bedrooms and backyards. What was most interesting was how a storage industry spokeperson deemed the storage as downright American. Because with success, growth and freedom comes to liberty to have stuff.

I really think there’s a spirit that things will turn around,” Jim Chiswell, a Virginia-based consultant to the industry. “I believe that my children — and both my children are proving it already — they’re going to have more at the end of their lifetimes, and more success, than I’ve had. And so will their children. I don’t believe the destiny of this country as a beacon of freedom and hope is over. And I believe there will be more growth, and more people wanting to have things and collect things.

via New York Times Magazine.