ABSTRACT
When taken-for-granted daily routines, such as consumer logistics, suddenly break down, and you find yourself unable to do what you have always done, or become responsible for practices you never have had to care for before, then you suddenly realize all the minute manoeuvres, devices and competences required to uphold them. This is what happens to elderly persons as they face ill health or pass through inevitable life phase transitions such as the children moving away from home, retirement or the death of a spouse. Mental and physical ailments associated with old age might come over night, but more often changes are slow and gradual, and consumers use patience and inventiveness to adapt, learn new skills and routines, incorporate new objects or use old ones in new ways as extensions and support.
