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The Cheapest Generation

theatlantic.com

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Re: The Cheapest Generation

#21

Post by graeme »

Back of the envelope calculations put the cost of car ownership around $7,000 per year. I'd have to earn an extra $10,000 before tax to cover that. That pays for a lot of "overpriced Apple products" that we millenials are constantly blamed for overspending on. And my electronics are a business expense.

I can't see the use case for a car. I live in the Plateau Mont-Royal neighborhood of montreal. Everything I need is literally a five minute walk away in any direction. A bike gets me downtown about as fast as a car does in summer, the metro can often cross town faster, and taxis are a minute's call away. You can pay for a lot of taxis with the money saved not buying a car.

Meanwhile, if I had had the cost of running a car, I would have gone bankrupt on several occasions while bootstrapping my business. For no tangible benefit. Now that I've got financial stability, I still can't see why I would want one. If I car to drive myself, there are communauto stations all around me (Montreal equivalent of Zipcar).

If I moved to the suburbs, things would be different, but I have no intent of moving to the suburbs.

Re: The Cheapest Generation

#22

Post by BadassFractal »

angersock wrote: post #7

Here are some scattered observations and opinions as somebody in this generation. I'm basically just dumping gut feelings here--don't expect a lot of well-written explanations. There is not a lot worth buying that is long-lasting. Most everything feels mass-produced and cheap, and the things that aren't are pretty obviously marketed at people trying to buck that trend. I don't want to pay 10x more for something witho…

Signed.

Re: The Cheapest Generation

#23

Post by sliverstorm »

probably_wrong wrote: post #4

I'm not sure which letter applies to me, but I'm still under 30. Whenever I think about a car, I think about where I'd park it (either on the street and risk nature damage, or fork some extra cash every month for a parking spot), the cost of gas (more cash), the nightmare that is driving in the city center, finding a place to park it (usually, involving even more cash), maintenance (cash) and the cost to the environm…

I'm not sure which letter applies to me

The commonly accepted cutoff is 1981/1982. So, anyone 31 or younger is GenY.

Re: The Cheapest Generation

#24

Post by eli_gottlieb »

angersock wrote: post #7

Here are some scattered observations and opinions as somebody in this generation. I'm basically just dumping gut feelings here--don't expect a lot of well-written explanations. There is not a lot worth buying that is long-lasting. Most everything feels mass-produced and cheap, and the things that aren't are pretty obviously marketed at people trying to buck that trend. I don't want to pay 10x more for something witho…

Congratulations. You've worked up a pretty good set of bullet points for why our generation is full of firey nonstop rock-shattering MOTHER-GODDAMN-FUCKING RAGE when it comes to most every institution we lay eyes on.

EDIT: This comment is very low-content; please stop upvoting it out of plain agreement.

Re: The Cheapest Generation

#25

Post by sliverstorm »

angersock wrote: post #8
probably_wrong wrote: post #4

I'm not sure which letter applies to me, but I'm still under 30. Whenever I think about a car, I think about where I'd park it (either on the street and risk nature damage, or fork some extra cash every month for a parking spot), the cost of gas (more cash), the nightmare that is driving in the city center, finding a place to park it (usually, involving even more cash), maintenance (cash) and the cost to the environm…

"why would millenials buy a car on the first place?". That's exactly it. It's not the status symbol it used to be, because it should've never been one in the first place . You can't work on cars much anymore, and it's clear that the car-centric planning we've gone with was a terrible fucking idea and has been setting us up for much sadness.

You don't understand status symbols. The less practical and more of a pain-in-the-ass something is, the better its potential as a status symbol.

Yachts aren't status symbols among the rich because of their immense practicality & utility.

Re: The Cheapest Generation

#26

Post by scotch_drinker »

jnbiche wrote: post #18
fierycatnet wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in my mid 20s and this is exactly how I feel.

I'm in my 30s and this is exactly how I feel.

I turned 40 last year and this is exactly how I feel. So if more and more of the population feels this way, at what point does it become a movement. Is that even possible? When does the reboot happen?

Re: The Cheapest Generation

#27

Post by stdbrouw »

It's an intriguing idea and there's probably something to it, but what kind of shitty journalism is this?

> Needless to say, the Great Recession is responsible for some of the decline.

Yep, but somehow that's a boring assumption that doesn't gel with the authors' thinking so they just brush it aside completely.

> First, gas prices more than doubled, which made car-sharing alluring.

Because the cost of a car-share is somehow independent of gas prices? Really? (Gas prices may make people less likely to drive everywhere, making a car less of a useful purchase, making car-sharing more alluring – I'll grant them that.)

Then it continues with three examples of the "sharing economy", because obviously three examples is enough to declare a trend.

Sigh...

Re: The Cheapest Generation

#28

Post by cenhyperion »

“We just think nobody truly understands them yet.”

I don't think that's true. I think that auto manufacturers don't want to accept that millennials don't associate cars with freedom, independence, maturity, and sex in the same way that cars were viewed by previous generations.

At most they're a way to get from point A to B for most millennials, at worst (if you're a car maker) they're viewed as dirty machines that the world would be better without.

Re: The Cheapest Generation

#29

Post by nether »

scotch_drinker wrote: post #26
jnbiche wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in my 30s and this is exactly how I feel.

I turned 40 last year and this is exactly how I feel. So if more and more of the population feels this way, at what point does it become a movement. Is that even possible? When does the reboot happen?

I think everyone feels most of these, or at least says they do. If anything, all the head nodding in this thread is a nice example of a Dunning-Kruger effect.

Re: The Cheapest Generation

#30

Post by Filligree »

scotch_drinker wrote: post #26
jnbiche wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in my 30s and this is exactly how I feel.

I turned 40 last year and this is exactly how I feel. So if more and more of the population feels this way, at what point does it become a movement. Is that even possible? When does the reboot happen?

Impossible to say; we've never been in a situation like this before.

Traditionally, a "reboot" happens when things get bad enough that people feel - rationally - that the risks and costs involved with attempting to force a solution are worth it. Part of the risk is the risk that others won't help, so once a real movement gets started it tends to be somewhat explosive.

However, thanks mostly to technology, things have gotten better on an absolute level even as inequalities have gotten larger. "A rising tide floats all boat" isn't true, but it's not entirely false either. Today, there's no real risk of starving to death in the USA, not for 99% of the population.

Time will tell if relative differences are enough. The situation is quite unprecedented.

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