10 years ago
2
The slow death of the microwave
America is tired of the microwave. Microwave sales have fallen or remained flat every year for nearly a decade in the US. Unit sales have tumbled by 25% since 2000, and 40% since their peak, in 2004. The waning popularity of the American microwave deserves a closer look. For 40 years, Americans bought microwaves by the millions, and more of them each year. Some 90% of American households now own a microwave, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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I hate stories like this. News stories that manipulate numbers and words to make something sound worse than it really is.
Unit sales didn't tumble. There's no functional way that sales would remain that level, unless microwaves exploded whenever you used it the first time. They're durable goods. Everyone who wants a microwave pretty much has one at this point. It's the same way that...
When in reality, Apple stock made a slight rise. It's just that the analysts expected more of a rise which didn't happen. So, some clever fellow decided to call the shortfall of expectations a loss, instead. Same with the microwave story. Sales analysts apparently expect people to constantly purchase microwave ovens until their houses melt down when in reality they're generally pretty good products with few moving parts and are reasonably durable. So, we're not buying microwaves so we can stack them to the moon. No worries, we're putting money in Apple stock, which dipped slightly because sales analysts are assholes and drove it down.
90%? Maybe they shouldn't have made them so well.