Say it ain’t so! (musings – again)

When I was growing up, I didn’t think anybody but G.E. made appliances. EVERYTHING, even the seafoam-green-and-white radio that sat on my dresser when I was twelve, was General Electric. To the best of my recollection, when I began buying appliances for my own home I turned to G.E. first. Even when my kids started buying things, I remember telling them that they couldn’t go wrong with the brand.

But G.E. will no longer bring good things to life.

They’ve gotten tired of us. G.E. advanced into industrial machinery and technological equipment and, after 122 years,decided they no longer need the average household consumer. So they sold the household products division to Electrolux, a Swedish company. Electrolux says they will continue production of the G.E. line.

Hmmm….I do seem to remember that my mother had an Electrolux vacuum cleaner that was pretty good. A yellow canister vac with a long hose and a wand about four feet long attached to it. My daughter just received her other grandmother’s, still working after all these years – and it’s that old turquoise color. And I run across them now and again in flea markets, all labeled “still works!”. Bo says his mom had one, too, and he remembers being swatted with that vacuum wand once when he didn’t get out of her way fast enough…but that’s another story.

In fact, thinking back over it, Electrolux branded products were considered a step up from common household names such as G.E.

So – here’s my question. Is this a downgrade for Electrolux, or an upgrade for G.E.?

BTW- Happy Birthday, Bo!