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“Harbinger households” consistently buy products that get discontinued (2019)

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Re: “Harbinger households” consistently buy products that get discontinued (2019)

#101
post #69
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Guess what I do: wash and slice up some peppers, stick them tightly in a jar, and fill with vinegar so that no air bubbles are left. Not quite a sauce, but it works for me. Stores for months in a fridge. Communist Romanian recipe.

How does that not just store forever? I thought that was the point of pickling.

It's not sterilized. There could be germs inside the peppers where there's just water, not vinegar.

Re: “Harbinger households” consistently buy products that get discontinued (2019)

#102
post #61
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This happens to me a lot too. The first one that really stuck in my mind is BetaMax and I suppose the collapse of Be, makers of the BeBox and BeOS, was the most discouraging... though I've seen a lot of other brands & companies I liked fail.

> The first one that really stuck in my mind is BetaMax and I suppose the collapse of Be, makers of the BeBox and BeOS, Maybe your particular issue is with products starting with "be"

I hope you're not planning on visiting a certain European low lying country...

Re: “Harbinger households” consistently buy products that get discontinued (2019)

#103
post #2

This.Happens.To.Me.All.The.Time. All.The.Time. that Amazing Neutrogena conditioner, which was really good and lasted a year? Gone: if it lasts a year, its too good. that original low-sugar chex? gone. we invented three new flavours. that jam? gone. butter? gone. that cut of meat? gone. those pens? I mean pentel pens. How can pentel can an entire line of really good, fine writer ballpens? Gone. Sorry dude, it was you…

Same here. I like to think that it's because I have good taste and know how to find value for money. But I guess this may be why those products ultimately fail commercially; they're providing too much value for their low price; they can't stay competitive in a monetary system characterized by infinite inflation where there is intense pressure to keep prices down and consumers are forced to buy inferior products (the ones which they can afford) due to their lagging or stagnant wages. Consumer product companies which are not willing to keep degrading the quality of their products over time will inevitably become unprofitable. Unfortunately, charging consumers more is often not an option for them because there simply aren't enough high end premium consumers to make up for their loss of regular consumers... The masses of regular consumers just don't have the money anymore. The elite keep getting richer but they are shrinking in numbers. This shrinking pool of increasingly wealthy individuals is not interested in consumer-grade high quality products; they go straight for the absolute top of the range luxury products and although they spend many times more on a per-product basis, in aggregate, they spend much less than regular consumers would have as a group. Our monetary system systematically erodes total economic value by rewarding unproductive, rent-seeking members of society at the expense of productive members.

Re: “Harbinger households” consistently buy products that get discontinued (2019)

#104

I remember reading, a long time ago, that some fashion trend-follower said that it was impossible to determine what was cool soon enough to profit from it. By the time you figure it out, it's gone. But it IS possible to figure out who is cool: you can find the people who regularly jump on trends before anyone else, and see what they buy. But this! This is almost as good: you can figure who is NOT cool.

I believe the term is cool hunting. I remember seeing a doco about it a while back

Re: “Harbinger households” consistently buy products that get discontinued (2019)

#105
post #14
post #2

This.Happens.To.Me.All.The.Time. All.The.Time. that Amazing Neutrogena conditioner, which was really good and lasted a year? Gone: if it lasts a year, its too good. that original low-sugar chex? gone. we invented three new flavours. that jam? gone. butter? gone. that cut of meat? gone. those pens? I mean pentel pens. How can pentel can an entire line of really good, fine writer ballpens? Gone. Sorry dude, it was you…

Shoes are this way for a lot of people, in that some of us can keep a pair of shoes long enough that the next fashion cycle has happened and you can't find anything like that again. I got to the point where if I really liked a pair of shoes, I'd buy a second pair and throw them in the closet for nine months, and cross my fingers that I like the shoes in the second refresh more than I liked the ones in the first one.…

This is me with the Adidas samba from 15 years ago. I'm still scowering ebay for a pair since my current one is slowly falling apart.

Re: “Harbinger households” consistently buy products that get discontinued (2019)

#106
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shoes are this way for a lot of people, in that some of us can keep a pair of shoes long enough that the next fashion cycle has happened and you can't find anything like that again. I got to the point where if I really liked a pair of shoes, I'd buy a second pair and throw them in the closet for nine months, and cross my fingers that I like the shoes in the second refresh more than I liked the ones in the first one.…

I’ve been waiting 18 years for the pre-ripped jeans meme to die. It was ridiculed when I was in middle school, and now as a 30-something boomer, I’m still struggling to find decent looking and fitting jeans that don’t have some stupid tear designed into them.

You're rarely going to find good basics in cheap shops because they have to differentiate on 'design'. The same goes for t-shirts, if you want a plain t-shirt you first have to avoid anywhere with surplus graphics, pockets, buttons, whatever.

If you look further you can find high-quality denim and t-shirts in a variety of cuts. Even bespoke. But they differentiate on quality and things that matter to enthusiasts, so a brain poisoned by mass-produced fast-fashion will wince.

Re: “Harbinger households” consistently buy products that get discontinued (2019)

#107
post #10

>They tend to make above-average use of coupons, and the coupons they use have above-average values. Isn't this kind of expected? Companies will give out coupons for products that don't sell so well. The higher the coupon value, the more desperate the company to get rid of this stock. So if these households like to coupon a lot, that means they accept less than ideal market fit for a price reduction.

I noticed this for black friday & prime day sales as well. If you want an overstocked android powered device that a street sweeper found in an alley in Shenzhen, it will be listed as heavily discounted (although you don't know if it is actually a lower price than before). The flagship device you actually wanted will not be discounted at all.

Re: “Harbinger households” consistently buy products that get discontinued (2019)

#108
post #2

This.Happens.To.Me.All.The.Time. All.The.Time. that Amazing Neutrogena conditioner, which was really good and lasted a year? Gone: if it lasts a year, its too good. that original low-sugar chex? gone. we invented three new flavours. that jam? gone. butter? gone. that cut of meat? gone. those pens? I mean pentel pens. How can pentel can an entire line of really good, fine writer ballpens? Gone. Sorry dude, it was you…

Regarding your shaving foam: Look into the old-school stuff like tubes of Prorasso brand soap. Buy a good natural hair shaving brush to go with it (will last you the rest of your life) and you'll never want to go back to those cans.

Re: “Harbinger households” consistently buy products that get discontinued (2019)

#110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The shoes thing is so true. Especially runners, or any kind of athletic shoe really, where they feel the need to update not just the styling but the whole construction of the shoes every year. So when you need a replacement you basically have to start from scratch every time, because there's no guarantee even buying the new shoe in the same line will be a remotely similar experience.

I have really finicky feet and cried tears of joy when I found ASICS GT-4000 only to cry tears of sorrow when I wanted to buy a new pair and found out they only made one run of them.

I've given up on Asics after I found Mizuno Wave Rider GTX (on a sale). Goodbye heel chafing, loosening sole, and many other problems. Haven't used a more comfortable shoe than this, and works great with excellent cushioning on both asphalt and trails. Can't believe this brand isn't more popular than it is.
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