Hidbin - a reminder of Celtic Tiger stupidity
Posted on Friday, August 13, 2010 at 09:21 AM
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Yesterday I received a newsletter from our garbage company that contained a small item about a new product they were offering for sale: a hidbin. The hidbin is basically a fake bush front & top for your garbage can.
Later on, each time the image of the hidbin popped into my head I chuckled to myself. Were there really people out there who were so embarrassed by the fact that they had a garbage can (in Ireland, your "bin" is your trash can, so hidden bin or hidbin. See?) that they felt they needed to pay $128 (€99) to surround it in fake, plastic bush leaves?
Today when I thought about it again I thought to myself, well, back before 2007, during the Celtic Tiger years, lots of people would probably have bought hidbins. To my mind this is just the kind of silly item that people were prepared to pay for during those days when the nation took leave of its senses.
When I first came to Ireland I used to get a lot of good-natured ribbing from people here about some of the things Americans would spend money on. When they spoke of dishwashers and clothes dryers - things that were only then becoming the norm in Ireland - they were clearly speaking about items that they'd love to own themselves.
However, I remember in the mid-90s listening to a woman on the radio here talking about her daughter who was in America as if the daughter was now a member of an alien species. Her daughter had been waxing lyrical to her Irish mother (in her mid to late 50s, I guessed) about her bread-maker and how she couldn't live without it.
The woman explained how she'd reminded her daughter that she had taught her how to make bread when she was 7 or 8 years old and what possible need could there be for her to own a bread-maker now? Each time she said the word bread-maker her tone conveyed equal amounts of scorn and disbelief, as if only a fool wool would spend money on such a thing.
Yet, not long after that interview I saw bread-makers for sale here. To be honest I don't really have much of a problem with bread-makers, although I'm pretty certain families can survive without them seeing as my wife and I have never owned one.
I guess the hidbin is to me what the bread-maker was to that woman 15 or so years ago - a complete waste of money, something you can easily live without. If this were 2005 or so I'd feel the same way, but I'd also be pretty sure that hidbin would be a winner with homeowners because, well, everything seemed to be a winner with them then. Back then Irish homeowners spent money on all sorts of ridiculour things and I see no reason to assume a hidbin would not have been a 'must have'.
Today, however, I'm not so sure, although I imagine that some people will buy one.
Today, however, I'm not so sure, although I imagine that some people will buy one.
Believe me I'm not knocking the people behind the company because I admire entrepreneurs. If they can sell these things and make a profit and a successful business for themselves, I'll tip my cap to them. However, that won't stop me laughing at anyone whose trash can I see surrounded by a plastic bush.
9 comments
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TheYank | Aug 27, 2010, 05:21 PM EDT
Heard from one of my children that one of the families in our neighborhood has a Hidbin.
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sanctuarymark | Aug 27, 2010, 12:40 PM EDT
fair play.
Long live the house proud!
-mark
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TheYank | Aug 26, 2010, 09:53 AM EDT
Mark,
Again, I admire your energy and enthusiasm and wish you every success. And, for the record, I still find it amazing people will pay good money for bottled spring water when perfectly good water is available in the tap. So, you could easily have the last laugh.
Also I never imagined that such a product wouldn't find a market in America. Americans are no less prone to silly house pride than are Irish people.
Good luck to you.
Again, I admire your energy and enthusiasm and wish you every success. And, for the record, I still find it amazing people will pay good money for bottled spring water when perfectly good water is available in the tap. So, you could easily have the last laugh.
Also I never imagined that such a product wouldn't find a market in America. Americans are no less prone to silly house pride than are Irish people.
Good luck to you.
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sanctuarymark | Aug 24, 2010, 04:57 AM EDT
xyz
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sanctuarymark | Aug 23, 2010, 09:55 AM EDT
Hi Yank-
In defence of the hidbin, if I may, first of all I thank you for noticing and commenting on my invention. There is no such thing as bad publicity i'm told.Its gratifying to hear the image of the hidbin kept popping into your head and I do appreciate your support of our enterprise, however amusing it might be to you.
For the record however I must point out that most Irish householders DO NOT like the sight of their wheeliebins and ours is a practical and visually inoffensive solution. We also consider it good value and I'm pleased to report that, recession notwithstanding, Sales have been rather brisk to date with literally hundreds of satisified customers in Dublin alone. We've recently started shipping to London and have only this morning gotten an enquiry from Hawaii where at least one of your compatriates thinks its a great idea!
Finally I am hopeful that you wont be laughing too much as the whole idea is that the casual observer does not in fact notice the non descript but neat looking hedge (and the now invisible bins contained within!).
I too draw the line at plastic Flamingos.
(...though I suspect you guys may be seeing Cranes which work like scarecrows to protect fish in garden ponds).
Kind regards
Mark
www.hidbin.ie
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jacersisityourself | Aug 22, 2010, 07:51 AM EDT
Good story Yank – yes the hidbin would be a novelty for the silly people to fall for. Aj mentions flamingos... I’ve seen fake art statues placed in peoples’ front gardens or outside their front doors only to see they’ve been stolen later. And then there are people who place matching pairs of white statues on display in their upstairs and/or downstairs front windows. The laughs are incontrollable when you see neighbours in the same street or road with exactly the same statues similarly displayed. No uniqueness, "keeping up with the Jones" stuff. I digress... what is going to happen when the law forces us all to have a black bin, green bin, brown bin and blue bin for the different types of household waste? Never mind how we’ll need to ‘hid’ them, where on earth are we going to find space in our postage stamp-sized gardens to put them??
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TheYank | Aug 16, 2010, 12:04 PM EDT
Ajreaper,
Yeah, plastic birds on the front lawn are lost on me too. Grass and hedges is all you'll find in my front yard (which is barely bigger than a postage stamp).
Yeah, plastic birds on the front lawn are lost on me too. Grass and hedges is all you'll find in my front yard (which is barely bigger than a postage stamp).
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Ajreaper | Aug 13, 2010, 03:39 PM EDT
LOL, Yank how many Irish homes have plastic Flamingos or plaster garden gnomes on display in their yards? I can at least see some redeeming value for the hidbin but placing a few plastic flamingos in your yard (often rather then some good old fashioned work to tidy up your yard) in order to improve it's look from the street- that's completely lost on me.
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