Everything old is new again, right? That’s why, when hipsters started getting all excited about vinyl records a few years back, we were sure we knew what the next musical trend would be: eight-track tapes. We took all of our money and used it to create an eight-track manufacturing facility, and now here we are, four years later, on the brink of bankruptcy and a little surprised by the lack of consumer enthusiasm surrounding eight-track tapes.
Where’s the nostalgia? Where’s the sentimentality?
Answer: it’s in the tank, right along with our company.
When something is “in the tank,” it’s performing badly. It’s not making money, it’s not producing what consumers want, or it’s somehow otherwise mired in unsustainable business practices.
This term isn’t just for businesses, though. Entire markets and industries can be in the tank if, as a whole, they just aren’t performing very well. Like, say, the eight-track industry since about the 1980s.