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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)

#121
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.…

> 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.

Try working from home. It's guaranteed that by the time you need new shoes nothing resembling your current shoes that you know and love is available any more.

Same for a lot of other clothing items that you only wear outside.

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

#123
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Among other problems, Botulism takes all the fun out of traditional pickling recipes.

Botulism is inhibited by acidity. Get the ph low enough, I want to say 4.6 or so, and it just can't live or grow.

In grocery stores here in the US I can buy pickling vinegar which is 9% acetic acid versus 5% for the normal stuff. Regular old 5% vinegar is around 2.5ph.

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

#124
post #38
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…

> that Amazing Neutrogena conditioner, which was really good and lasted a year? Gone: if it lasts a year, its too good. Skin care companies are the worst. After ages of comparing products and finally finding the right one, they just "improve" the formulas to the point that the product just does not work anymore for us. Even the expensive ones like Vichy. I started to look more seriously into home-made cosmetics becau…

You might find "the Ordinary" brand from Deciem appealing (or Niod for more exotic ingredients), simple products with ingredient concentration specified.

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

#125
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.

To think that somebodys underpaid job somewhere is to prerip jeans for us. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWhYdXNaDL0

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

#126
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…

I have always felt like a negative focus group.

While finding person or team that will consistently pick winners is basically impossible due to viral nature of big wins, I consistently pick losers . I assume it's because I consistently use criteria which differ radically from average consumer. I'll go into detailed list of pros and cons while my cousins will simply say "I like it" or "it's cool".

I thought Penny arcade had a strip or blog about it but I could never find it...

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

#128
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.…

If you buy stuff that's in fashion, you'll always have this problem, because fashion changes so quickly.

If you just buy classic old-fashioned stuff, then you won't have this problem. I have a pair of old-fashioned leather boots, and when they were worn out after 5 years or so, I just bought exactly the same boots again. Those type of boots have been available for decades, and I really doubt they'll stop making them anytime soon.

For jeans, I've been wearing plain Levis 501 for years, and when they break I just buy another pair. They might be making slight changes, but for the most part it's the same pair of jeans and it's always available in plain styles.

Same for the plain T-shirts I wear. Sure, colors change a bit every year, but I won't have trouble finding a replacement a few years.

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

#129
post #119
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…

Since we're talking about shaving, i have wound using something a bit weird - Epaderm emollient ointment: https://www.epaderm.com/products/epaderm-ointment/ I initially got this as an eczema ointment - it's a thick, waxy ointment intended to treat dry and irritated skin. But somehow, you can mix it with a bit of water and form a rich lather (their "cleanser" use case). It doesn't form tall, stiff piles like canned sh…

I use conditioner instead of shaving cream. It works incredibly well.

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

#130
It's gotten to the point that I'll just wait for something I like to stop getting made and then buy it in bulk when it's on clearance. This habit helps in other cases too, like when I waited for blu-ray to win the format war, then bought an HD-DVD drive and literally every single interesting HD-DVD movie ever made for the price of one blu-ray drive.
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