Neither the slaughterhouse nor the government are watching your back. Where does this leave the American carnivore? Should we inspect all of the meat packers’ operations ourselves? Just how would we do that?

The hugely popular Ford Pinto of the ‘70s is a textbook example of Big Business putting profits ahead of safety. Ford rushed the Pinto into production to combat stiff competition from abroad, slashing the 43-month process to a mere 25. A faulty design left the fuel tank vulnerable in a rear-end collision. This flaw was discovered before production had actually begun but, because the assembly line was already tooled, they decided to go ahead anyway. According to documents presented in court, Ford had calculated that at $11 per car, it would be less expensive to handle the inevitable lawsuits than to fix the problem. A number of people were killed or badly burned when their fuel tanks exploded upon impact and they were trapped inside. “The barbeque that seats four” resulted in lawsuits that ultimately cost the automaker hundreds of millions of dollars and the recall of millions of Pintos. Ironically, a safer fuel tank design existed and was already in use in the Ford Capri, but was discarded for the Pinto because of strict guidelines for maximal trunk space.

Like NASA’s subsequent Challenger disaster, Ford’s Pinto experience confirmed that manufacturers rarely take actions that cost them more money if they don’t absolutely have to, even in matters of safety. As Lee Iococca, president of Ford and captain of the Pinto project, famously claimed, “safety doesn’t sell.” Iococca and Ford certainly weren’t looking out for you. They were looking out for themselves.

The American Consumer: How We Choose What We Buy

How we spend our money says a lot about who we are and what we value. How do we choose what we buy? We look at quality, features and, of course, price. With big-ticket purchases, the process becomes more complicated, and the quality of the service department becomes an important factor. We spend a lot more time with the service department over the life of any big ticket item than with the salesman who sold it to us.

For big ticket items, I like to do some research and for that, I head to the library and Consumer Reports. Consumer Reports is an equalizer, putting the consumer on a more level playing field with the powerful manufacturers and retailers. L.L. Bean still fully guarantees its merchandise 100% for as long as you own it. This gold standard for customer service is an endangered species nowadays. “You bought it, it’s yours. Now, whaddaya gonna do about it?” is what you’re more likely to hear upon voicing a complaint. That is why we all need someone to stand up for the consumer.

Consumer Reports – towards “a fair, just and safe marketplace”

Consumer Reports (CR) has been a household name for decades. Consumers Union (CU), which publishes Consumer Reports, describes themselves as:

An expert, independent nonprofit organization whose mission is to work for a fair, just, and safe marketplace for all consumers and to empower consumers to protect themselves. To achieve this mission, we test, inform, and protect.

Consumers Union is now the largest independent consumer testing lab in the world. Their command center is a state-of-the-arts complex in Yonkers, NY, with 50 labs for investigating various consumer goods. Fifty-five cars are tested each year at a separate, 327-acre compound in Connecticut.

 1  |  2