Hypes and changing fashions can lead to stagnant sales and overproduction, as can declining consumer spending, we all know that better than ever. This may happen just as easily to clothes as to photographic film material. A tv-documentary showed the containers and shiploads of fashionable clothes that had become superfluous and – after the labels had painstakingly been hand removed – were now sent far away, hopefully never to be seen again so they might not be linked to their makers and not be competing. The documentary showed yesterday’s computers and never-used printers being disassembled for the valuable gold of their contacts that had served no purpose. The photographic films had been sold to another company that would take out the unused silver. The many big boxes with all the bulk film were opened by a patient man, who took out the single films one by one , calmly pulling them out of their cassettes, the whole length. Perfect film, not obsolete. Never used. Heartbreaking. The commenting voice said that mentally handicapped people were good for this job because it was repetitive, and they weren’t bothered by all the waisting that was going on. Indeed, the man said he liked what he did. Come to think of it, I probably would go mental.