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>Wheels on luggage. Why were they so late in coming along? Was it not obvious? Only in hindsight, in my opinion. You needed the inconvenience of hauling it ar

>Wheels on luggage. Why were they so late in coming along? Was it not obvious? Only in hindsight, in my opinion. You needed the inconvenience of hauling it around to recognize there had to be a better way, just like all other forms of innovation it comes with experience and something to correct or smooth over.

Jtsummers 5y ago
It's also most useful when you only have one or two pieces of luggage. When travel was often longer, people took more luggage with them. Faster (air) travel and shorter trips (or better access to reliable laundry services on longer trips) reduces the need to carry multiple large pieces of luggage. If you're carrying multiple large pieces of luggage, wheels are, at best, unused, and at worse a nuisance (they stick out and make stacking harder). Retractable wheels would be even more of a nuisance as they reduce the carrying capacity of the luggage. It's also worth noting trends in how people dressed. Even in the 1960s my great-grandfather was wearing a suit to work. He worked in a mechanics shop as a mechanic. That's what people wore to work, now consider what they wore on trips. It was going to be at least as nice as that, and not the sweatpants and yoga pants that you see today. This greatly increases the amount of things (by bulk or quantity) that you need to carry.
- AlbertCory 5y ago
  No, I don't think that's it. Only in 40s movies do women travel with great piles of trunks, hat boxes, and odd-shaped luggage. Most people had regular hard-shell suitcases with handles, and brought just one or two with them, just like now.
  - Jtsummers 5y ago
    Since, according to you, everyone else is wrong and you have the answer, what is it?
    - AlbertCory 5y ago
      Patience, @Jtsummers. I'm hearing lots of ideas I'd never thought of before.
ffhhj 5y ago
Autonomous self-navigating luggage, that's obvious, why do I need to haul it?
- AlbertCory 5y ago
  still not available, AFAIK! Now that one really IS dependent on computers being small enough, and on there being high-quality indoor maps available. Also, sensors to keep it from running into things & people.
AlbertCory 5y ago
Air travel was pretty common in the 70s, and had been for 20 years at least. Rail travel had been around much longer, of course, and as I said, the stations had hard, flat floors and so did the walkways to the trains.

Jtsummers 5y ago

It's also most useful when you only have one or two pieces of luggage. When travel was often longer, people took more luggage with them. Faster (air) travel and shorter trips (or better access to reliable laundry services on longer trips) reduces the need to carry multiple large pieces of luggage. If you're carrying multiple large pieces of luggage, wheels are, at best, unused, and at worse a nuisance (they stick out and make stacking harder). Retractable wheels would be even more of a nuisance as they reduce the carrying capacity of the luggage. It's also worth noting trends in how people dressed. Even in the 1960s my great-grandfather was wearing a suit to work. He worked in a mechanics shop as a mechanic. That's what people wore to work, now consider what they wore on trips. It was going to be at least as nice as that, and not the sweatpants and yoga pants that you see today. This greatly increases the amount of things (by bulk or quantity) that you need to carry.

AlbertCory 5y ago
No, I don't think that's it. Only in 40s movies do women travel with great piles of trunks, hat boxes, and odd-shaped luggage. Most people had regular hard-shell suitcases with handles, and brought just one or two with them, just like now.
- Jtsummers 5y ago
  Since, according to you, everyone else is wrong and you have the answer, what is it?
  - AlbertCory 5y ago
    Patience, @Jtsummers. I'm hearing lots of ideas I'd never thought of before.

ffhhj 5y ago

Autonomous self-navigating luggage, that's obvious, why do I need to haul it?

AlbertCory 5y ago
still not available, AFAIK! Now that one really IS dependent on computers being small enough, and on there being high-quality indoor maps available. Also, sensors to keep it from running into things & people.

AlbertCory 5y ago

Air travel was pretty common in the 70s, and had been for 20 years at least. Rail travel had been around much longer, of course, and as I said, the stations had hard, flat floors and so did the walkways to the trains.