The economics of lawn mowers

I asked a friend to come with me to help me carry the mower and put it in the car. We arrived early and my friend kept looking around saying, “Sheesh. It’s like being in Russia. You have to wait in line to be allowed to buy something.” I didn’t care. What a deal — a $50 lawn mower from a drug store. Years later I never could convince an English correspondent that I once bought a lawn mower from a pharmacy.

The Murray gave yeoman’s service: I used it for 10 years for an average cost of five dollars a year. Then I decided it was time for a “good” mower and I bought a 22-inch Lawn Boy walk-behind, self-propelled. It was very expensive — $360. I used it until this spring — a service life of 29 years. But everything that could break had broken and everything that could vibrate loose had fallen off. I was finally ready for a riding mower.

Our previous house (the one we bought in 1970) was built on a steep hill and my wife was dead-set against a riding mower. And whenever I looked at that hill I had to agree with her. So for 39 years I trudged behind a push mower. It was obvious that I was literally the last man standing when it came to mowing the grass and since our present yard is flat, and since the income tax refund had just been deposited into our checking account I bought my third lawn mower: a Cub Cadet.

In round numbers this baby cost $2,000, but what a machine: it weighs over 500 pounds, has a two-cylinder 22-HP engine, automatic transmission and a 46-inch wide cutting deck. Cub Cadet has by far the most attractive color scheme for yard implements: highway department yellow, black and cream. The quality of the paint job is better than on our car and my wife was scandalized to find me putting paste wax on it. So far, after 20 hours of use (the happiest hours of my grass-mowing life, I might add) I still use the vacuum cleaner to blow off all the dust whenever I use it.

But the economics have me concerned. The Murray worked out to $5 a year. The Lawn Boy was $12.40 per year, an increase of 250 percent. In order to keep the Cub Cadet’s annual cost to an increase of this much again, I will have to keep it for 65 years. Most likely at the age of 129 I won’t be maintaining it quite in the immaculate condition I do now, but I bet it’ll still be fun to drive.

Willis Cook is a retired electrical engineer who was born in New Orleans and grew up in the Mississippi Delta. He lives on Varner Road in Franklin County.

For all of the editorials and columns, see the July 22 edition of The Commerce News