You no doubt have noticed over the past few years that companies have figured out a way to maximize their profits while pretending they haven’t passed any cost increases onto the consumer. They have done this by shrinking the size of their products but charging the same amount of money they did when the products were larger or more voluminous. Toilet paper is a good example. I’ve seen some rolls that I swear are the size of caps, those little paper rolls of explosives I bought as a kid for my toy guns. Some of these products are so small you feel like a giant when you hold them in your hand. Here’s what could be the next step in this shrinkage process, living space. I just saw a press release for the ground breaking of a condo building in Chicago. The release outlined the details on some of the units describing the condos as “micro units.” And boy they are not kidding, one unit is 350 square feet. They also touted a 3 bedroom space for 850 square feet. Now at one point in my life I lived in a 500 square foot studio apartment which was a living room slash bedroom a kitchenette and a bathroom slash closet. I can’t imagine hacking off 150 square feet, what, the bathroom is moved into the living room slash bedroom?! How they can squeeze 3 bedrooms into 850 square feet is, well, quite a feat. I grew up in a house that was 1800 square feet with 7 other people and it was tight. How you can shoehorn 3 bedrooms into something that’s almost 1000 square feet less seems impossible but I’m sure the thought process is less space at about the same price as units used to sell for with twice as much space back when. Or maybe they’re a little “cheaper” because they can load more units in a building. Another thing these developers are doing with new construction is making bigger common areas for tenants to congregate in. In essence what they’re saying is “you can be a laptop hobo in your own building because your condo is so small you’ll want to get out of it as much as possible and hobotown is just an elevator ride away.” And there you are in your condo you paid 750k for with your little toilet paper rolls and miniature cans of soup. Now you’re qualified to be a magician’s assistant because you can squeeze into small spaces and you’re aware of how veal is raised.

Gunga, galunga,
Garry