Earlier quoted context omitted.
What cultural difference causes this?
Pure capitalism.
Damn, never knew the USSR, China, North Korea and other places managed to abolish theft!
Buy payphones and retire
321–330 of 365 posts
Re: Buy payphones and retire
#322Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are many huge contextual differences between the US and Japan when it comes to vending machines, but the most obvious one is that Japan is eminently walkable, while the US is so pedestrian-unfriendly that there's no guarantee that people will even be around your row of vending machines in the first place.
NYC is arguably more walkable than anywhere in Japan outside of Tokyo, or in my opinion including Tokyo, but it doesn't have 0.1% of the vending machines as suburban Japan. Also, what we would call non walkable suburbs or rural areas in Japan have more vending machines than anywhere in America as well.
Being from NYC, I'd prefer not touching a vending machine that's most likely got piss all over it.
Re: Buy payphones and retire
#323Earlier quoted context omitted.
Buffett lies. He had much better investments. I likes to tell us all stories. The big-finance reality is much more inside-tradingish than he wants us all to believe.
Best doesn’t need to mean best investment. Best could simply mean what he enjoyed most. He likely thinks fondly of a simpler time.
Like i said, he likes to tell us stories.
Re: Buy payphones and retire
#324Earlier quoted context omitted.
Here's something to blow your mind: Out in the countryside, farmers have stalls where they put some of the day's harvest for sale. It's completely unmanned without surveillance and operates on the honor system; customers leave cash in a nearby container and take the produce they bought. Yes, it works beautifully because there are literally no bloody assholes uncivilized enough to be thieves. Vending machines are abun…
You’ve really never seen unattended farm stands in the rural US?
I’m from very rural USA (population: 32). I’ve only seen farm stands in very isolated towns where people generally know each other. A lot near my home town have disappeared.
In my experience, I’ve seen unattended farm stands, antique stores, and flea markets even in Tokyo.
Re: Buy payphones and retire
#325Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree, but in my very walkable european neighbourhood I don't see any vending machines either (except on the train stations, in waiting rooms, etc). Granted, there are small shops every corner, so vending machines don't feel necessary, but sometimes it would be useful to have some.
In Germany a lot of vending machines have appeared over the last ~10 years, and there are a lot more popping up all the time. And not just in the big cities. Nowhere as many as in Japan, but for example in my area there's a farmer selling fresh eggs in a vending machine, a meat packaging plant selling meat and sausages, an ice cream/frozen yoghurt vending machine (some local Ben & Jerry's competitor), a bunch of vend…
Which city is that? Here in the city center of Lübeck, I see none of those. And only one new-ish traditional vending machine.
Re: Buy payphones and retire
#326Vending machines are not passive! They need repair, management of the money, if they sell goods then they need restocking (and that restock needs to be purchased), and you have to negotiate for location location location.
And if coins are involved there is work to collect the coins and get them to the bank.
Lastly, running a vending machines company requires regular involvement to make sure everything is running.
Re: Buy payphones and retire
#327Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wonder what the longest duration has been, in the history of let's just say S&P500 or similar, between [a low so bad that people would say "sucks that I'm retiring now"] and [the point in time prior to that, where it had the same exact value but as an all-time high]. A decade maybe? So basically one would conclude that they could've begun taking withdrawals a decade ago with the same size of retirement account (wel…
Are you talking inflation adjusted or nominal? Total returns?
I guess nominal, because not having kept up with inflation would be the main source of it sucking badly. I think of it like this:
You lose to inflation badly with uninvested cash. You get close to keeping up with inflation with near zero risk vehicles (CD or high yield savings account). You hope to at least keep up with inflation with medium-low risk vehicles (S&P500 or similar funds). You roll the decide after that (leverage, timing, stock picking, etc.).
Re: Buy payphones and retire
#328Earlier quoted context omitted.
Where does the interest go
To the person that made the loan, to compensate them for the risk they took. No need for anyone to profit from the work of another forever.
That's the decision to be made by the farmer either selling equity or taking a loan.
From the perspective of the banker/lender, they're still living off someone else's labor (which is fine for me since it's the result of a voluntary exchange for something else of value, but it seems like it's not for some upthread posters).
Re: Buy payphones and retire
#329Earlier quoted context omitted.
> but the most obvious one is that Japan is eminently walkable Big cities like Tokyo or Osaka are walkable; outside of them, Japan quickly devolves into very pedestrian-unfriendly urban sprawl (I know because I live in one such place). But somehow you still find plenty of vending machines everywhere, even besides a road in an otherwise empty field.
Vending machine in an empty field just reminds me of Japan's low crime rate.
It's not noticeably low when you're from a nice country. It'll be very noticeably low when you're from a nightmare place.
Re: Buy payphones and retire
#330Earlier quoted context omitted.
Or you put it out and a week later someone has bashed it to pieces with a baseball bat
What cultural difference causes this?
Low social cohesion and high individuality. Zero or near-zero shame built into people for being pieces of shit when they're growing up. It's all very "western".