Elevators. They are most definitely a thing, and I love this detailed case study about labor, maintenance, and corporate policy. It hits close to home.

Our family, by inheritance, owns a small, provincial resort in the Philippines. (Sounds grand; it’s not. It’s a pain in the a—.) My father-in-law, extremely elderly, has been living on the top floor. He needs an elevator. The elevator broke, as things do in the Philippines. It was “repaired” (company mechanics sent from Manila), and broke again. And again. And again. After eight months, I think (?) it’s finally fixed. Lack of parts. Lack of skilled labor. Distance from the home office. Bad tech in a humid climate. Who knows? It was incredibly expensive to deal with, to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars (yes, dollars). But labor is cheap in the Philippines — maybe too cheap.

In short, as mundane as elevators are, they are crucial pieces of building infrastructure. We take them for granted, but their breakdown (or non-existence) ought to be relatable “from the consumer point of view.” Ever moved into a multi-story walk-up? Worked in a skyscraper? Been disabled? Been elderly and live in a condo in hurricane-zone Florida (like my dad)?

Elevators in any world built higher than one story might be on a par with food, water, and a roof over your head.

I was excited to see a Polanyi-esque quip about labor commodification from a conservative economist,