Review: 'Cheap' says recent discount craze is no bargain

— -- America was not always obsessed with low prices, writes Atlantic Monthly correspondent Ellen Ruppel Shell, but over the past century our thirst for bargains has transformed the world's economy — and not necessarily for the better.

Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture explores the effects of our focus on low price. The idea sprang from a trip to a shoe store. After being shown a pricey pair of Italian leather boots, Shell opted for Chinese imports at one-fourth the price. The boots, not surprisingly uncomfortable, were soon thrown in the closet "where they landed in a heap of other unwearable 'good deals'... a bargain hunter's pile of shame."

The lust for low prices has its roots in the late 19th century, when Wanamaker, Woolworth and Sears began offering goods at much lower prices than smaller merchants. The focus on low prices often meant that quality was less important.

"This pushed hard against the American tradition of frugality, where price was only one consideration," Shell writes. "Historically, Americans sought durable long-lasting goods that they could pass among themselves and down to their children." Where re-heeling shoes and darning socks were once common, cheap goods became more disposable, allowing the common man to buy a new pair of shoes when the old ones wore out.

Although critics derided low-quality goods, discount shopping soon lost its stigma and became the norm. In the 1960s, Shell writes, the discount format took over American retailing.

"The focus switched from the object to the deal: If the deal was good, the object under consideration became less critical to the transaction."

Ads from the 1960s trumpeted low prices of goods from radios to dolls to fruitcakes, without a clue about the brand. Craftsmanship was falling prey not only to price, but to convenience as well.

In 1956, carpenter Gillis Lundgren was hired to build and deliver a table to a local furniture dealer. Unable to fit the table in his car, Lundgren pulled the legs off. The idea struck the furniture dealer, Ingvar Kamprad, who went on to found Ikea. The furniture retailer has grown by adopting cost-cutting ideas such as "flat packing," which transferred the time and effort of delivery and assembly from the craftsman to the customer.