I just heard someone make this observation on CNN. I’d never thought of this before and never heard it before.
“Keep in mind that this country put men on the moon before it put wheels on luggage.”
Wow. That’s a good point.
“They can put a man on the moon but they still can’t wheel a Samsonite!”
We have become lazy.
One of the high school graduation gifts that I received was a piece of Samonite luggage. It was heavy, and the only way of moving it around was handle on the top. It served me well in its day, but I recently gave it away to Goodwill, realizing that I would never use it again. I had a transfer at the Dallas International Airport this Summer, and I’m sure glad that I had wheels on the bag that I was carrying. Common objects, once useflul, have a way of becomming hopelessly obsolete.
The question here is why it took so long to conceive and market luggage with wheels. It makes you wonder how many other important improvements are yet to be thought of and brought to market.
I have never heard the observation that Dale mentioned.
Skateboard development drove wheeled luggage technology. It took a few years beyond '69 to prefect the PU elastomers needed for the wheels .
I’m just glad we discovered the wheel in the first place. How long did it take us to do that? No doubt someday, when they’ve invented anti-grav units for everything, people will look back at the wheel and wonder what all the fuss was. 
djm
Anti gravity technology is impractical for everyday individual use. Hand held beam transporters are the wave of the future, hooked into a GPS they are flawless…within 2-3meters. 
That was 2G technology. The new 3G stuff is accurate to within cm’s.
djm
but we are unpredictable
- Porters & bellhops.
- Class. The middle classes and above didn’t carry luggage. They didn’t care how easy it was to move, and they’re who bought it. If it was too easy, that damn bellhop would be getting money for nothing, so let’s make him EARN that tip.
Also, the phenomenon of travel among the less than rich is pretty recent. 100 years ago, it would be pretty unusual to go on a major journey if you weren’t wealthy. And if they did, then using porters would seem like the right thing to do on such a rare occasion. I think it was a holdover and took a while for the light to go on about doing it yourself. Plus, people didn’t have so much damn variety in clothing and shoes until the last three or four decades really. We carry a lot more crap now.,
It’s interesting because to me, the idea of being defensive and self-sufficient when you travel is an unpleasant modern development. At one time, there was someone around to take care of things and it was understood that they were trustworthy. But for my socio-economic strata, there is a kind of distrust to using hired help; part of it is not feeling that I’m really that far above the help. I instinctively avoid skycaps to this day and feel more comfortable standing in line. I avoid valet parking as well. I am not in the position to be able to afford risk, at least in my head, that might occur if I lose “control” of my belongings.
With this mentality, wheeled luggage is a great development.
You should see what the average Victorian or Edwardian gentleman was required to haul around with him–from tennis whites to dress blacks (to dress for dinner) to riding outfits…
Yeah, that’s true about those steamer trunks and grand tours and such for sure. I guess I am talking about within the last 40 years or so amongst the hoi-polloi. People carry a lot more stuff than when I was a kid. It’s because clothing has so many levels between ultra-casual to formal now for the middle classes.
One of things I hate the most about flying are the carryon bags that people bring. Crikey. I definitely feel a bit less safe these days on packed planes with such poundage above.
Guilty, m’lud. I’m one of those annoying people who NEVER checks luggage if I can possibly avoid it–you can shave hours of annoying standing-around time from a voyage that way.
Hey, having known people who had their luggage lost by the airlines, I am sympathetic, believe me. It happens more than anyone wants to ponder..
With the new charges for checked baggage, I predict a drastic improvement in the capabilities of carry-on luggage.
And, frankly, I’d sacrifice those darned wheels for extra space! Some of the bags I looked at recently wasted a good 20% of their potential on wheels, wheel-housing, and struts to support them, not to mention the big whonking drag-handle and the thing it collapses into.
Geezers the world over should be thanking teenage boys.