Dude, you're getting a Ford

Why can't I purchase and customize an automobile in the same manner as a laptop?

No, seriously. Stop snickering at me.

I can go online to Dell.com or half a dozen other computer companies and build a laptop to my preference. I get 4 different types of processors, 4 different sizes of RAM, 5 varieties of hard drive, not to mention pre-loaded software. My computer arrives several weeks, if not days later.

So why can't I build a car online? Not like the current attempts by Saturn and other makers. I'm thinking about the details, not the major components like the chassis and suspension; real wretch heads can continue to buy and install after-market parts for those. But parts like the head- and taillights, sound system, interior styling, gauges, side view mirror styles, should all be easily customizable before delivery to the buyer. Before delivery to the dealer, even. In fact, if mass customization could be implemented to the auto industry, dealers wouldn't have to stock so much inventory. That means less upfront costs to the dealer - and lower overall costs because of no, or less interest payments on loans to buy inventory. And valuable cars would not be sitting out in vast parking lots open to damaging weather, theft, arson, and other events that add to insurance and carrying costs. This system also has the potential to do away, once and for all, with those insipid "close out sale" advertisements that your local dealer runs every other month on radio and television. (Do you have to be a special kind of jerk to produce those ads?)

Okay, I'm rambling on the financial aspects. Back to the heart of the matter. Let's take the Honda Civic as an example. Instead of my local dealer trying to find a Civic somewhere in the US with the exact options I want, I go online to select my options. Instead of just choosing the color of the interior, I should be able to select the seat style. I want 4 types of sound system, not just basic CD or 6-disc surround sound. I want a variety of spoiler and grill options.

Perhaps another question I should be asking is whether Americans will wait 2 weeks upon ordering a customized Honda before it arrives in their driveway, fresh from the plant. Unfortunately for my mix-and-match desires, I think not. People like and are excited by the convenience and thrill of driving off the lot with their new baby, I suspect.

New line of thought... is there room in the marketplace for a middleman who purchases those Hondas wholesale (plain vanilla probably), then customizes to the wishes of customers via online ordering?

I will probably devote far too much time and far too many brain cells to pondering this alternative auto shopping experience. Yet, I just can't get past thinking that that the only reason we as consumers do not see radical changes in auto manufacturing and delivery (a la other manufacturing industries) is that we as Americans attach too much sentimental value to the this industry. I, for one, reason that when Detroit represents your status quo, it's time for a change.

Pity Party?

Have you heard about this credit crisis thing? Yeah, been kinda popular in the press lately. Lots of stories of problems, write-downs, foreclosures, layoffs, fraud, defaults, and failures in the real estate and financial markets. Given that, which groups of workers do you think have been crying themselves to sleep every night?

So, imagine my grin when a friend forwarded me this flyer for a business networking event in Philadelphia.

Unless the drink special is Jonestown Kool-Aid, I don't think this will be a particulary "Happy" hour for those young professionals. My advice to them, save your money and spend your time looking for a refrigerator box. You'll need it after the bank you once did business with repossesses your BMW and your shiny new condo. But don't feel too bad, when the bank takes the condo back, it will only be worth 1/3 as much as your mortgage, so the bank is really doing you a favor. And the labor market is not all bad... I hear that demand for crop pickers is sky high. Cheers!