You can weigh all the pros and cons of hard-sided luggage versus soft-sided luggage. You can read articles and reviews. You can ask your globetrotting friends for their recommendation. But what it really comes down to is your worldview: Are you an optimist or a pessimist?
If you tend to look on the bright side, see the glass as half full, and all that crap, you’ll probably go with soft-sided luggage. The world is kind and good, after all, so why would anything bad to befall your baggage?
But you’ll gravitate toward hard-sided luggage if you maintain a cautious pessimism. Every time you pack for a trip you imagine in your mind’s eye the worst possible treatment your checked bags could receive — dropped off baggage carts, slammed into the fuselage at takeoff, etc. Your worst-case scenarios will have a happier ending when your belongings are protected by a hard shell.
Like most things in life, there’s no “right” answer. Optimism has benefits like freedom from concern and a joyful outlook. But it almost sets you up for disappointment when your bags arrive in a mangled heap. Pessimism protects its practitioner from this disappointment, but demands constant worrying.
These bags will probably sell well (again) because we expect that our audience skews pessimistic. Think about it: How long could you last as an optimistic Meh shopper, when faced with a nonstop parade of disappointing deals? The bright side looker-upon can’t handle such a stream of negativity. Only the most seasoned sourpuss can withstand it.
Hopefully nothing bad will ever happen to your bags and you won’t ever need the protection these FUL suitcases provide. But bad things have been happening a lot lately, if you haven’t been paying attention. Why should life start treating us well now?
