THEY'VE GOT STRAPS FOR A REASON:

Nice wheels: An ode to wheeled luggage, by a reluctant convert (Julia Keller, January 7, 2005, Chicago Tribune)

We were magnificent.

We were a small but determined band of iconoclasts, holding tight to our principles, cherishing our independence. We were the Tecumsehs of transport, the Che Guevaras of conveyance.

Let the rest of the world go soft, we said. Let them walk around with their wheeled luggage -- which included, we noted with bitterly amused disdain, wheeled briefcases and back-packs and duffel bags -- like freckled tykes with their Radio Flyers.

Wimps, we thought to ourselves. Weaklings.

We continued to lift and hoist and haul and curse. While everybody we knew was buying wheeled luggage, we remained steadfast: pure of heart, crooked of spine.

But now this reporter must confess:

I have given in. I recently purchased a piece of wheeled luggage. Seduced by ease, comfort, convenience and the possibility of healing a beleaguered back crinkled by years of dragging super heavy suitcases and chronically over-stuffed briefcases, I have capitulated.

Now I am just one of the crowd. It is, in fact, a very large crowd, because virtually the entire world uses wheeled luggage.

Approximately 98 percent of all products sold these days in the nation's $3.5 billion luggage market has wheels -- a remarkable number, when you consider that the idea of sticking wheels and a plastic handle on suitcases didn't really take hold until the mid-1990s, said Marcy Schackne, marketing director for Travelpro, the company whose founder dreamed up the idea for wheeled luggage.

Another good reason never to travel--everyone who does sold out.

Posted by Orrin Judd at January 18, 2005 3:23 PM