The Car: A New Dynamic In America

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I found an interesting article on the Financial Times website (which is behind a pay wall) this morning about young adults driving less. I’ve been thinking about this ‘theory’ for a while, as I’ve read and heard about this, but nothing to back it up with statistics. This is the first article that shows a definite trend of young Americans driving less, biking more, and utilizing public transportation more frequently. This shift is not totally unexpected… As cities get more saturated, public transportation has a higher frequency of visits to each stop and bike lanes become more accepted into the culture of drivers (it’s safer to bike on roads mean for cars than ever, especially in warmer winter climates).

The article puts forward that the reasons could be economic. Less hours to work equals less pay, and less money to invest in an automobile. At this point, I’m not convinced this shift is purely financially driven. If the economy were better, I’m sure there would be more miles driven by this age group. But I have this sense that this new paradigm is not completely correlated to economic status. It also states that young adults could be using social media today that used to be a face to face interaction.

It’s only my opinion, but I think this generation of young adults are much more aware of their individual impact on the world… I don’t think that one or two cars that sit in a showroom and not on the road are going to change some outcome that we may or may not know. But I think they are more sensitive to this potential change than the generations before them.

Maybe it’s education, maybe it’s cultural, maybe it’s financial, and maybe it’s something bigger that we don’t know or can’t see yet. But now there is data that shows this trend is real.

 

 

 

 

 

The car is simply one of the most iconic symbols of America… Being American. We are the car. The car is us. The intriguing part of this story to me… How will the car manufacturers respond? How are they going to change their products to adjust to changing buyer tastes?

Here are the links to the data:

http://www.frontiergroup.org/reports/fg/transportation-and-new-generation

& a PDF file from the University of Michigan:

www.umtri.umich.edu/content/rr42_4.pdf

The image used in this post is courtesy of the U of Michigan, from the PDF file.

It’s Our 95th Birthday!!!

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Happy Birthday!

95 years is a very long time, when you stop and think about it. It’s a significant milestone, and one that makes us pause and think about all of the great relationships that have helped us get to this point.

In 95 years, we’ve seen the printed word migrate from a process that was essentially unchanged since Gutenberg invented movable type. All the way to digital technology that can publish words, thoughts and ideas faster than Gutenberg ever imagined. It is amazing…

Every so often, I go back to the type cases that we still have in the back. They’re hard to get to, but fun to look at. I know that my Great Grandfather used that very type to help people and businesses communicate. It’s a little different now, but those type cases still have a home, and they are not going anyplace soon. It is our connection to the past.

Wood & Metal Type Cases

Wood & Metal Type Case

It is a wonderful legacy to be a part of. And it couldn’t be possible without the great customers and the talented folks throughout the years who have applied their craft.

We don’t have big plans for this birthday. We’re saving up the energy for the 100th anniversary in 2017. It’s not that the 95th is not important, it’s that we’re focused on the future with a laser-like intensity.

Thank you,

Benjamin Ross