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04/24/2004: "Rite of Passage"

In consumer culture, products have a lifespan with certain definite milestones along the way. Take a legendary invention like the Kodak: it really has two births, one when it comes into being privately, and again when it meets its public, when it is introduced for sale. It struggles, it succeeds, it changes to meet challenges, it becomes prosperous and complacent, younger rivals come along and do battle with it. These days, I guess, we are watching the dying days of the snapshot camera. Rummage illuminates another milestone in the history of a product. At some point in its life, the product has become so ubiquitous that an owner of one is willing to get rid of a perfectly good example, just because he's lost interest in it or because a more attractive example is available -- there is an instant when the first Kodak, say, appears at a garage sale. When I started doing Rummage, we never saw a donated cell phone, or a pog, or a Britney Spears CD, or found euros in a wallet. I'm not sure about the euros, but the rest sure are coming in.