How Consumer Reports Finds ‘Best Buys’ : This Bunch Can Be Mighty Testy

Every nook and cranny at the headquarters of Consumers Union is crowded with washing machines, wood stoves, exercycles, mattresses, toasters and other products.

Wires and gauges are everywhere. And amid this clutter, engineers armed with the most sensitive testing equipment, as well as some Rube Goldberg-like devices, determine the “best buys” that have made CU and its Consumer Reports magazine famous for more than 50 years.

Sometimes the tools for testing products are unusual. Take the “thumper,” used to test the durability of mattresses. Two bowling ball halves, meant to replicate buttocks, are attached to a piston that pummels them into mattresses to simulate years of wear.

And sometimes these serious-minded tests are fun as well.

Aroma of Barbecued Chicken

On one recent cold afternoon, the aroma of barbecued chicken filled the halls. Technicians were testing a dozen gas grills, so consumers would have the results before summer cookouts.

It is here, 20 minutes from New York City, where Consumer Reports magazine comes to life. First published in May, 1936, the magazine has its highest subscription level ever: about 3.4 million people who would not think of buying a car, a vacuum cleaner, a television, a heater or even tea or coffee without first reading what Consumer Reports has to say.

The March issue was fairly typical of what readers have come to expect. It featured comparative product reports on toothpastes, toaster ovens, IBM-compatible home computers, child safety gates, compact cars and innerspring mattresses. It also features articles on the Minolta Maxxum 35-millimeter camera and on what to do if your tax return is audited.

The April issue is always CU’s most popular. It is the annual automobile issue.

The formula--testing products for the benefit of consumers--has worked for half a century.

Consumer Reports magazine’s first issue was published when breakfast cereal cost 9 cents a box and stockings were 50 cents. That issue reported on cereals, stockings, Alka-Seltzer, milk, soap and toothbrushes. In the depressed economy of that year, few people needed the ratings for cars, refrigerators or other expensive goods that have since become the hallmark of the magazine’s product testing reports.

Lack of Trust Cited

Rhoda H. Karpatkin, executive director of Consumers Union, said the magazine’s longevity is based in part on a simple but disturbing perception: Many people do not trust businesses, advertising, government or advertising-backed media to provide them with the information they need to make educated buying choices.

Consumer Reports has no advertising and is not linked in any way to manufacturers. When Consumers Union buys products, it goes to the store and pays retail. The nonprofit organization relies on subscriptions for most of its money.

“We want people to trust us, and we think many people do,” Karpatkin said. “The reason they trust us is we don’t take anything from business. We maintain an arm’s-length relationship with business. We’re beholden only to consumers.”

At its inception, the magazine strongly supported labor unions. The first issue contained an article titled “Consumers’ Goods Makers Unfair To Labor” and included an “unfair list” for consumers who wanted to boycott the companies.

The pro-union stance was not odd considering that the magazine was born of a bitter strike. The people who began Consumers Union had worked for Consumers’ Research, an organization founded in 1927 to test products for the benefit of consumers and to publish results in a magazine.

Union Bid Fought

When Consumers’ Research fired three workers for trying to form a union, about 40 other workers walked out. When management became intransigent, the strikers decided to beat Consumers’ Research at its own game.

The first issue of the new magazine sold 4,000 copies. Three years later, its circulation of 85,000 surpassed that of Consumers’ Research.

“Our founders were very brilliant in conceptualizing the organization, what it would do,” said Karpatkin. “Basically, our magazine is not so different from the one we had in our first 10 or 20 years.”

In a recent interview at Consumers Union’s headquarters, Karpatkin identified four areas where CU intends to increase its efforts: travel, information for elderly consumers, education for children and attention to poor consumers.

CU recently began a monthly travel newsletter to help consumers sort out the confused travel marketplace sparked by airline deregulation and subsequent fare wars.

An aging population and new marketing schemes aimed at older consumers also open new markets for Consumers Union, Karpatkin said. Consumer Reports Books is now offering titles such as “Housing Alternatives for Older Citizens,” “The Heart Attack Handbook” and “Love, Sex and Aging.”

Young consumers also need more buying information, Karpatkin said. Classrooms are filled with free educational materials provided by businesses, and “we have not succeeded in becoming a competitor with business in the educational materials area.”

In 1977, Consumers Union introduced Penny Power, a bimonthly consumer magazine for 8-to-14-year-olds. It rates products such as fast-food hamburgers, toys and jeans, and it teaches comparative shopping skills. The February-March issue had a story explaining why the coming of Halley’s comet was not a good reason to buy a telescope.

Aid for Poor Consumers

Helping poor consumers is also in Consumers Union’s future, Karpatkin said. “That was a major concern when our organization was founded. And it was a major concern for the consumer movement of the 1960s. And it sort of moved off the horizon,” she said.

People who buy Consumer Reports are generally well-off, and the magazine does not reach poor people. But CU is planning a conference on poor consumers in November, as well as a book.

The results of CU’s tests sometimes provokes challenges from unhappy manufacturers. Infrequently, they take CU to court, but no manufacturer has won a suit against the magazine’s tests.

“I think our place in the world has changed,” Karpatkin said. “Some manufacturers regard us as an adjunct to an orderly marketplace. And I think many manufacturers think that we help sell products . . . . Many consumers think we help the system work better. That’s one view of us. I think there are manufacturers who wish we would fall off the face of the Earth.”