Upgraded?

This entry is about what our society considers an upgrade - something of greater value received for the price of something of lower value. While value is a subjective notion we generally equate it to some type of monetary measure. Money after all was invented to create an easy way to not only purchase items but to allow us to draw comparisons between the worth of different good or services. While money does serve a purpose in assigning a value there may also be other measures that one could use to determine whether one has been upgraded.

So this ideeah occurred to me recently when I was renting a car. As I have started travelling regularly for work I have become a "frequent traveller" - not a frequent flyer. In my case this means car rentals - the town I need to travel to weekly is not served by airlines or trains. As a result I have become a Hertz Gold member and, likely very soon, will move up to the next level. Tangent --> By the way, if you need to travel for work you are much better off having to travel often because that seems to be the only way that you become a valued customer....one that is truly taken care of. You get an upgrade in service, if not product.

So I went to the Gold Counter to pick up my car. I bypassed the crowds waiting, and hoping, for available cars and, within 60 seconds had my keys in hand and was off to my reserved compact class car. When I got to parking spot 103 I saw a Ford Taurus. A full-size car, two categories up from the class I had rented. So within 120 seconds of arriving at the rental office I had received upgraded service and an upgraded product. The service is fantastic and I appreciate it. The product?? Hmmmm......

I had requested a small car for two reasons. One, they are more fun to drive and two, since I was travelling alone, I did not need anything bigger. In this case the value for the upgrade was that bigger was better. And bigger happens to also be worth more money in this case.

This idea of bigger is better really is another example of how we tend to consume and want more in our society. As a result of this upgrade I burned litres more of gasoline. I emitted kilograms more of CO2. In some respects this was not an upgrade. The Taurus is a piece of crap that is horrible to drive. It is a heavy boat on wheels. Rather a smaller, sportier car with a turbo diesel engine would have been nice. Or a hybrid vehicle. If value is considered something that pollutes less.... Or just hand me the keys to that Corolla I had asked for to being with.

I'll keep the upgraded service. You keep the upgraded product.

Let me know what you think about what you have just read. Please and thanks!