Chapter 45 Question ○39

Why is it more and more common to hire professionals to help you change tires these days? (Timothy Alder) One student asked sixteen of his relatives if they knew how to change a tire. Nine said no, and the remaining seven said yes, but several of them admitted they had never done it.There was also a clear pattern: the nine who said they would not change their tires were younger than the seven who said they would.Why are fewer and fewer people mastering the skills of changing tires? To answer such questions from an economic point of view, we must first look at changes in relevant costs and benefits.The cost of learning how to change a tire doesn't seem to have changed much over the past few decades, and it's even dropped slightly thanks to improved designs of the jacks that support cars.

But the benefits of learning how to change tires have changed dramatically.One is improvements in tire design that have resulted in far fewer flat tires than in the past.Many cars are also equipped with flat tires, even when the tire pressure is ridiculously low, the car can drive safely.Another notable change is that most people now carry mobile phones when driving, and even if the maintenance personnel are far away, it is very convenient to call them. Considering the above two points, the benefit of learning how to change a tire has become less than before. The quality of the tire is better, and the opportunity to use this skill is much less than before. Even if the tire has a flat, it is easier to find someone to help .Because of such changes, many young drivers seem to believe that the benefits of learning how to change tires are not worth the cost of doing so.