Prolonging life: Appreciations of a secondhand ‘capital’ machine
Prolonging life: Appreciations of a secondhand ‘capital’ machine
In this paper I look at a farm that diversified its business and within this process bought a secondhand sausage vacuum filler. I do this in order to question how this machine came to be understood and valued by the farmers who bought it. The themes discussed include the role of the machine in changing the working practices of the farm, as well as factors unknown when buying secondhand—purchasers can only ever truly know the reliability and levels of performance of the machine retrospectively. While much work has considered the secondhand cultures of goods such as clothes, brick-a-brac, or cars, the departure I make here is to consider goods bought and used in commercial contexts. I consider the calculations made when a secondhand commodity is invested with the risks and tensions of expanding a business. There are critical and additional pressures resting on the machine: for example, if the machine fails to work, it may be detrimental to the business. The paper focuses on the appreciations of two farmers and how the machine they bought was used and appreciated.
Capital, Commodities, Farmers, Secondhand, Value
2848-2863
Spiller, Keith
d0ea9172-6ef6-4f80-9f34-2285b41ab237
1 December 2014
Spiller, Keith
d0ea9172-6ef6-4f80-9f34-2285b41ab237
Spiller, Keith
(2014)
Prolonging life: Appreciations of a secondhand ‘capital’ machine.
Environment and Planning A, 46 (12), .
(doi:10.1068/a130071p).
Abstract
In this paper I look at a farm that diversified its business and within this process bought a secondhand sausage vacuum filler. I do this in order to question how this machine came to be understood and valued by the farmers who bought it. The themes discussed include the role of the machine in changing the working practices of the farm, as well as factors unknown when buying secondhand—purchasers can only ever truly know the reliability and levels of performance of the machine retrospectively. While much work has considered the secondhand cultures of goods such as clothes, brick-a-brac, or cars, the departure I make here is to consider goods bought and used in commercial contexts. I consider the calculations made when a secondhand commodity is invested with the risks and tensions of expanding a business. There are critical and additional pressures resting on the machine: for example, if the machine fails to work, it may be detrimental to the business. The paper focuses on the appreciations of two farmers and how the machine they bought was used and appreciated.
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e-pub ahead of print date: 1 September 2014
Published date: 1 December 2014
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© 2014 Pion and its Licensors.
Keywords:
Capital, Commodities, Farmers, Secondhand, Value
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Local EPrints ID: 471920
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/471920
ISSN: 0308-518X
PURE UUID: b42315e1-7350-4ca4-9c0c-17aa0cdfaee2
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Date deposited: 22 Nov 2022 17:45
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 04:14
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Author:
Keith Spiller
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