“Harbinger households” consistently buy products that get discontinued (2019) • Hacker News Board

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

#201

Post by NullPrefix » Thu, Jun 23, 2022, 2:32 PM UTC

bostik wrote: post #62

tempestn wrote: post #39

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.

Clarks had an absolute killer product on their hands around 2007 or so. Full leather sports sandals, with strong but easy-to-operate magnetic clasp, and no seams on inner surfaces. Joy to wear. Practically immune to chafing and blisters. Exceptionally good for walking (or cycling!) for even long periods of time. Discontinued since ~2009 or so. While they've brought back some of their other pretty good sandals, the pe…

They just don't make them like they used to anymore

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

#202

Post by hyperpallium2 » Thu, Jun 23, 2022, 2:32 PM UTC

Very early adopters (innovators/enthusiasts) like to try new stuff. Most new stuff doesn't work out.

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

#203

Post by waylandsmithers » Thu, Jun 23, 2022, 2:33 PM UTC

hinkley wrote: post #14

ggm wrote: 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.…

My observation is that this is just how fashion works, especially for women. Trends come on extremely strong for basically anything related to appearance all the way down to nail color. And it's designed that way to make it obvious when someone has last year's styles and hasn't spent the money and energy on keeping up.

My experience as a man on the other hand... I bought a tuxedo recently, and the tailor said Ok here's this one, it has these weird lapels that are in right now, and it'll be great if you're going on the red carpet tomorrow but will be out of fashion pretty soon, otherwise here is the standard tux that will always look good, and come back and buy a vest or cummerbund if they ever come back in style and you'll still look great.

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

#204

Post by justnotworthit » Thu, Jun 23, 2022, 2:38 PM UTC

wrthfl wrote: post #105

hinkley wrote: 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.…

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.

Sambas are older than us and have their own wikipedia page and manufacturer page. Is it a color or variation you like?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adidas_Samba

https://www.adidas.com/us/samba

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

#205

Post by arprocter » Thu, Jun 23, 2022, 2:48 PM UTC

danuker wrote: post #48

lotsofpulp wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a lot of choice words for whoever decided to discontinue the red TJ’s jalapeño hot sauce. https://www.traderjoesgroceryreviews.com/trader-joes-hot-sau...

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.

That sounds similar to Puerto Rican pique

Supposedly you can just top up the vinegar once it starts to get low

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pique_sauce

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

#206

Post by patwolf » Thu, Jun 23, 2022, 2:49 PM UTC

A lot of the insight in this paper seems pretty obvious when given any thought.

> Households that leave harbinger zip codes tend to go to other harbinger zip codes.

Since they also claim that house prices in harbinger zip codes increase less than other areas, then this just sounds like people from poor areas moving to other poor areas.

> The findings indicate that harbinger zip codes are less likely than other zip codes to donate to the candidates who receive the most donations in their three-digit zip code.

There can be huge differences between two areas with the same three-digit zip codes. A rural or suburban area can easily have the same three-digits as a downtown urban area. It would make sense for a people in two starkly different areas to support different political candidates and for the candidate supported by the more populous urban area to win.

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

#207

Post by kloch » Thu, Jun 23, 2022, 2:49 PM UTC

I should contract myself out to shopping malls.

- Any store I notice as I walk by might be gone in 2 years

- Any store I walk into is likely to be gone in 1 year

- Any store I actually buy something from has about 6 months left...

(this only applies to small stores. The anchors can live on in zombie mode for decades)

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

#208

Post by kashunstva » Thu, Jun 23, 2022, 2:51 PM UTC

hinkley wrote: post #14

ggm wrote: 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, and it’s not just an issue of style and superficial characteristics. With running shoes, I have a very specific preference related to the size and shape of my feet. But it’s a crapshoot whether any newly-renamed and refreshed product is in any way similar to what I bought six months ago. It’s a freaking shoe, just keep tue same name at least.

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

#209

Post by avereveard » Thu, Jun 23, 2022, 2:56 PM UTC

evrydayhustling wrote: post #160

Found this link to the paper, since OP's SciHub link has rotted: https://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/130136/The%20... This is an interesting finding no matter what, but I think part of the splash comes from the idea that some people might be harbingers _independent of the rest of their identity_. Since it's not obvious that liking crystal pepsi and watermelon oreos are related, we can speculate that the pe…

Alternative: people that like to experiment are the first jumping on new products, and people that like routines aren't - that would be enough to bias the experimenters into the harbinger group, and it would be useful to check if there's an overlap when measuring for household that were early adopter of successful products

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

#210

Post by dmd » Thu, Jun 23, 2022, 3:00 PM UTC

tempestn wrote: post #39

hinkley wrote: 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.…

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.

In my case the shoes I liked were completely redesigned - new materials, new style ... and not only marketed under the same name but THE SAME SKU NUMBER.

Are those a scarce resource or something?