The great single life-enhancing step you can take in early summer is to change your lawnmower blade. It’s a thing that get ever duller with use, and you adjust and adjust to the diminished cutting ability with each mow, until the point that you think it is normal that it takes all your strength to shove the thing across the yard and leave a trail of clippings and unevenly cut grass in your wake.
You can do something about this, and it doesn’t involve sharpening with a whet stone. A new blade costs ten bucks or so. In a few minutes, you will find yourself gliding across the lawn as if on rollerblades.
Maybe you think that your mower is an old, off brand and it’s not likely that the hardware store will have it. Not so. There is one right there on the shelf that fits perfectly, as you will see. The length will be right, the holes for the screws will be in the right place, and it will have the right groove things that make it settle in there like it was meant to be.
The existence of replacement parts of this sort is nothing to take for granted. Note that the replacement part is probably not made by the same company that made your mower, which might be very old, even by a defunct company. An amazing market standardization has taken place, and how? To me, it is not intuitively obvious why this sort of standardization would happen.
Imagine that you are the king and in charge of economic planning. It occurs to you that people need new lawnmower blades, lest summers in your kingdom be a relentless source of frustration for all the people. Perhaps the first thought is that we need some sort of regulation that will impose a sort of uniformity so that new blades will fit old mowers and that blades will be compatible across brand names.
In any case, this is how someone who has no faith in the market might think. But look at the market in fact: the best possible standardization has occurred in a way that provides the highest benefit to the broadest swath of consumers. And it happens without a single edict or vote, and without any commission meetings or bureaucratic investigations. It turns out to be in everyone’s interest, and so it is done.
The problem of replacement parts is a huge part of the engineering process for any good you buy. This is because capitalist production considers the long-term value of a good, and how it will be used in real life. This is not the norm under socialism. In the experience of the Soviet Union, fantastic amounts of machines of all sorts stood idle, year after year, because the users couldn’t find replacement parts, which weren’t typically part of the central plan, or, if they were, they were the parts you didn’t need. When anything broke, it stayed that way or was replaced with an entirely new machine that broke in the same way, and so on. This problem tended to play havoc with the production data. It means nothing for 50,000 farm tractors to be produced in a factory for each of three straights years if one-third of them are useless at any given time.
That’s not to say that all capitalist production encourages fixing things rather than replacing them. When I was younger, it was common to fix everything: clocks, irons, radios, stereos, televisions (I vaguely remember tubes). Now of course you have guarantees that guarantee replacement, and, if the guarantee is out, you just toss it in the trash. My mother had the iron she received at her wedding shower for 20 years. Now we think nothing of tossing them out and getting a new one for $6 at Wal-Mart.
So whether something should be replaced or fixed isn’t something you cannot know a priori. This is an economics questions that is entirely dependent on economic conditions that are known only in the real-world experience of the market economy. We might, for example, someday advance to the point that farm equipment should be tossed out rather than fixed – just as with microwaves, stereos, iPods, and so many other small machines. Again, no central plan can determine in advance what is the most economically advantageous practice apart from real market experience.
It turns out, for example, that there was more wrong with my lawnmower this year than just the blade. One minute it ran fine, and then when I tried to restart, it would run for 3 or 4 seconds, and then sort of sputter out like it was out of gas. Now, I knew all about air filters, oil, blades, but how the fuel gets to the engine involved a part of this machine that I just hadn’t had any experience with.
I took it to the repair guy at the small-engine shop, who said he would be happy to work on it but it won’t be ready for two weeks. This of course is ridiculous. I asked him if he could fix it right now, since it will probably only take ten minutes. He said no, that would not be “fair to other customers.” I pointed out that fairness had nothing to do with it since his existing customers have already contracted to wait up to two weeks, whereas I would like to have mine fixed now. Still, even in the face of this impenetrable logic, he refused.
The next step was perfectly obvious. I had to go to a convenience store at the outskirts of town and wait for a customer who had the look of someone who knew about lawnmowers and ask him. Finally, the obvious candidate appeared and I marched up to him and told him what my mower was doing, replicating the sound. He knew immediately that it was the carburetor and explained how to clean it. Back home, I did what he said and the mower started right up again, and it gave me great satisfaction to know that the fool who was babbling on about fairness was denied my business.
Now, part of the reason it was urgent that I get this fixed right away had to do with an unlikely charitable act on my part, which brings me to an other life-lesson giving to us by the lawn experience. One day about a month ago, my neighbor’s lawn was looking pretty shabby but she was out of town. I waited as long as I could, and finally decided to undertake the good deed of mowing it. I did one better: I edged it, weed-and-feeded it, and weed-whacked it.
Glorious results, and when the neighbor returned she praised me to the skies.
Now, the wise reader is right now laughing at my incredible stupidity. Apparently the whole world knows a rule in life that had entirely escaped me: never mow your neighbor’s lawn lest you be stuck with the unpaid job for 20 years. It’s like giving a stray cat milk. It only seems like the right thing to do but you end up having to do it at regular intervals. Since my unfortunate act of charity, I found several people who have stumbled into this precise situation in which they end up mowing several people’s lawns on the weekend, and resenting the heck out of it.
So as I mowed and mowed, I begin to think about opportunity costs. I wonder what I could be doing right now that would actually earn me money. Perhaps, just perhaps, it is in my interest to actually pay someone to mow my neighbor’s lawn, pay someone to do my act of charity, so that I can earn money doing something else. Maybe everyone would benefit.
This really got me thinking about paid charity in general. What are the ethical issues associated with, for example, paying someone to stand in your place at the soup kitchen? Perhaps you could pay many people to do all your volunteer work for you, provided it is not too specialized and that the opportunity costs associated with your doing it exceed what you would have to shell out to volunteer by proxy. Isn’t this what we are really doing when we donate to charity?
You might say: hey, you are giving up the spiritual benefit that comes from doing the work yourself! Well, I can assure that the benefit I get from mowing my neighbor’s lawn is subject to the law of diminishing marginal utility. It is at least conceptually possible that doing good deeds should also be subject to the logic of the division of labor like everything else. You might say that is crass, but this much we learn from a weekend’s experience with the lawnmower: the market may not give us a perfect world, but market-based thinking can get us closer to the best possible world on which no amount of central planning could possibly ever improve.
(I’ve edited this in light of several reader comments.Thank you!)
{ 13 comments }
“my neighbor’s lawn was looking pretty shabby but she was out of town. I waited as long as I could, and finally decided to undertake the good deed of mowing it. I did one better: I edged it, weed-and-feeded it, and weed-whacked it.”
“Glorious results, and when the neighbor returned she praised me to the skies.”
then:
You might say: hey, you are giving up the spiritual benefit that comes from doing the work yourself! Well, I can assure that I get none from mowing my neighbor’s lawn.
JT,
how do you reconcile the above? it would seem that the first two items would be ‘spiritual benefits’..
I work in a copy center and deny immediate service to plenty of people, not because of fairness, although most people respond well to that sort of nonsense explanation. The fact is, such a small order may not be worth the labor and time it takes to complete, and we push higher paying customers to the front of the production schedule.
Working on a 10 minute small order is 10 minutes that I don’t have to consult with a more spendy customer on a more valuable order; there is a lower margin involved and a much higher opportunity cost.
He might have used the fairness reason because it is usually effective crowd control.
While this article doesn’t discuss patents. IMHO, this touches on an important argument against patents that is rarely brought up. Patents disincentive making compatible parts and improvements. In any technology, it constantly forces companies to re-invent the wheel to put out a product. That not only drives up cost (eg pharma), but also waste (like cars designed to fall apart, and incompatible parts across all sectors rather than be maintained, interchangeable, and upgradeable) One notable exception is parts of the PC industry … IBM was in such a rush to come out with a PC, they made a system with interchangeable parts (interfaces can’t be patented) …. and the rest is history.
(cynical) Gee, that PC boom sure hurt inventors, … sure retarded innovation, …
It isn’t common to pay someone directly to volunteer for you but it is common to donate money to a charity which can be the same thing. Habitat for Humanity, for example, does pay for a few skilled laborers to help out the volunteers who are a mix of skilled, semi-skilled, and can-barely-hold-a-broom.
Ok, so these are all excellent points. I’m going to improve this and submit to LRC, and credit you guys. thank you so much for this charitable work!
this: http://www.nvca.org/philanthropy.html
might be another good ref.
Remember to use fuel stabilizer (such as STA-BIL) in your gasoline. The reformulated gasoline that the EPA mandates often messes up carburetors.
With the growing number of foreclosures, more people might think about mowing the lawn of an unoccupied house. It is better than alerting the local gang to extort money for a lawn that is too high.
As for mowing the grass on property that one doesn’t own, it still can bring the benefit of mowing one’s own grass. If it is the view that bothers the person doing the mowing, the improved view will benefit him regardless of who actually claims title to the land. This is assuming the title holder doesn’t prefer high grass and view this act as trespass. (I’m sure Jeffrey knew his neighbor.)
I have planted trees in places where I will see them with this thinking, even though I do not own the land. Some people have assumed that I was trying to sell them this service, but I only cared that they were at least neutral about it, and let me do it. When planting on land claimed by the local municipal gang, I don’t ask permission of the gang members. Maybe someone could claim that I have rightly homesteaded this land that currently has an illegitimate title.
Haha, I had fun reading this article, thanks
No good deed goes unpunished…
Clare Boothe Luce
I used to enjoy helping my neighbors. I am partially disabled and can only work part time. Occasionally, I would find myself with too much time on my hands, so I would offer to help my neighbors with babysitting, their shopping, drive them to their doctor’s appointments, be a shoulder to cry on, etc.
It was not long, however, before my generosity was taken for granted; and calls for assistance would start at 7:00 a.m. and would at times continue until 11:00 p.m.
As much as I enjoyed helping my neighbors, it became too much; and I had a relapse that lasted 6 months. Not one of my neighbors so much as offered to make me a cup of tea. As a matter of fact, they became rather aloof with me once I was no longer at their disposal.
The worst of it is that someone used me as a sounding board for a series of very sad stories. Here I was being supportive and non-judgemental, and it turns out that the stories were bogus. This person had a great time capitalizing on my desire to help people. It was a particularly painful lesson.
Ever since then, I donate to reputable charities and let them do the work.
As a motorcyclist, gasoline lawn mower owner and operator much of my life, and in general a suburban/rural guy with lots of experience with small engines, one of the best things you can do is put an in-line fuel filter between the gas tank and carburetor.
They’re cheap, available at any car-parts shop, and very easy to install. Replace it when you replace your blade, and don’t forget the mower’s air filter too.
Check the oil level, if it has oil, and get good synthetic oil. Pure synthetic (Mobile-1, Castrol Syntec, Amzoil) lasts much longer and lubricates better in a small engine than petroleum oil.
Where I live now has lots of pine trees. The pine needles dull the mower blade faster than anywhere else I’ve lived. I have two blades for the mower, swap them out mid-year, and then get them both sharpened. At $3 per sharpening, it’s even cheaper than buying a new blade, but the sharpening place is not in a convenient location.
Opportunity costs are everywhere!
It is unbelievable that the lawn mower reapairman didn’t offer to fix your mower on the spot for an extra charge. It is such a simple thing to have a two-tiered price structure for “drop off” and “while you wait” service.
Jeff, how did your neighbor know you mowed her lawn? That was the problem. Anonymous charity is the best charity. No future obligations, guilt, associations etc.
Jeff,
If it takes you ten minutes to get to Wal-Mart, or twenty minutes to Lowes/Home Depot, plus gas, plus the cost of the new blade, you’re already in the ‘false economy’ hole on buying a new lawn-mower blade vs. just sharpening the old one. With a good grinder or even a good file, you should be able to sharpen and hone your blade by the time it takes to make to the end of Moores Mill Road.
Do you throw out your kitchen knives when they need to be sharpened?
If you’re cutting Zoysia, you’ll probably get a couple of seasons out of blade (sharpened/honed three or four times a year). If you’re cutting Bermuda, plan on replacing the blade once a season, and sharpening/honing every time you mow.
As a last resort, just put some baby oil on it!
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