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Shaving is an example of how consumer products extract more money

johnwhiles.com

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Re: Shaving is an example of how consumer products extract more money

#321

Post by cortesoft »

jchw wrote: post #61

Add dishwasher pods to the list. It’s literally just smoke and mirrors for nearly the same formula as powder, only less of it per package. All those fancy colors? It’s die. It’s the same formula across the entire pod. So… Yep: more cost, more waste, and it has some reasonable downsides. For “convenience,” since I guess deciding how much to put into the tray is just too much work. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ll6-eGD…

The fact that it takes 3 seconds to grab a pod and put it in verse 10 seconds to get the correct amount of powder is not nothing.

Re: Shaving is an example of how consumer products extract more money

#322

Post by SergeAx »

Why author doesn't take a change in quality into account? I never used a double-edged blades for shaving, but I think that 2- or 3-bladed cartridges will generally shave better or at least quicker. Not sure about 5-bladed, but whatever.

Teflon skillets are much more convenient for cooking than cast iron, that I can tell from the experience. I once bought a super-expensive cast iron with non-sticking coating, and it became unusable after about a year, same as Teflon one. So the problem obviously a coating, not a skillet material.

All right, I am a selfish being who wants to just put the skillet into dishwasher machine and press "start", thus I have to buy a new skillet once a year instead of once a decade. But where are we heading to if we try to reverse this process? At Malta, where wood was in a scarcity, they developed a communal ovens, one for a village, where everybody was coming to prepare their food for the day. It even gave a birth to a very specifiс local cuisine. Do we want something like this in our cities?

Re: Shaving is an example of how consumer products extract more money

#323

Post by willnonya »

gruez wrote: post #158

>Other examples of products that seem to exhibit a similar trend, where purported convenience leads to higher prices >Cooking equipment: essentially indestructible Cast Iron skillets transition into teflon pans. The newer pans perform worse, and must be replaced on a shockingly regular basis. They also seem to be poisonous. They have their uses. I wouldn't try frying eggs in a cast iron, for instance (technically you…

Their point about "smart" TV's having a shorter life than older dumb TV is a valid point. Some models tend to become pretty useless and at least inconvenient when their software gets outdated. Some require internet access to function while others just make it difficult to use streaming dongles and the like.

The real issue is the lack of security in these devices. Updates are rare enough but for something that bridges your home network with the internet this is an agregious failing.

This doesn't even touch on the repairability issues inherent in modern TV design.

Re: Shaving is an example of how consumer products extract more money

#324

Post by ajdude »

zevv wrote: post #296
algoatecorn wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My wife and I got rid of our TV last year when we moved. It was a nice break, but we want at least one in the house, so we're currently shopping around for a nice 4K 70+ inch. I've come to realize the market is headed toward a TV without any ports. You'll plug it in and immediately prompted to link with wifi so you can log into your streaming services. Fuck that. I'm hell-bent on getting something with zero smart fun…

A TV without smart software and a lot of ports is called a PC monitor.

A 70" 4k pc monitor sounds prohibitively expensive though.

Re: Shaving is an example of how consumer products extract more money

#325

Post by kmstout »

i_like_waiting wrote: post #44

This will probably sound weird but, what is the point at which are you changing blades? I am using mine with just water and I always make sure that I clean/ shake off everything afterwards. My first proper blade lasted for 4 years. Then I changed just because I clicked on ad to receive free razor from Gillette. That one is already working for 2 years. So I get that new blades are bit nicer to your skin, but as blade…

Sunday night. I shave most days with a second-hand DE razor using the cheap blades from CVS and a bar of soap. It's possible that I could get more shaves out of them, but this works well enough. Also, Sunday is a day of rituals for preparing everything for the coming week--make meals, do laundry, shine shoes, etc. Changing the blade is one of them.

Re: Shaving is an example of how consumer products extract more money

#326

Post by jchw »

kstenerud wrote: post #284
jchw wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can give you at least one reason why I do not own a Sharp TV: I haven’t actually seen one for sale. The most obvious place to buy one locally is Best Buy, and my Best Buy has legitimately zero. I could, of course, buy one online, but for TVs I generally haven’t done this in the past. There’s obviously pros and cons to this. This is all getting very silly though. We went from a market where you got what you paid for…

We've gone from a market where you got shit if you weren't careful, to a market where you get shit if you're not careful. JVC and Panasonic produced garbage CRTs and VCRs and DVD players and stereo equipment for years, but they sold like hotcakes because they were cheap. You had to choose carefully what to buy, and make sure the place had a decent return policy just in case. There were some brands with good reputatio…

> JVC and Panasonic produced garbage CRTs and VCRs and DVD players and stereo equipment for years, but they sold like hotcakes because they were cheap.

Yes. That’s not the market today. If we were talking about truly cheap TVs, I’d be talking about Insignia and subsidized crap like FireTV. I’m talking about Samsung TVs with “quantum dot technology” and whatever other yahoo crap.

Back then, you could most definitely buy any decent Samsung CRT and be confident it wasn’t going to suck. Hell, the model of Samsung CRT TV I had as a kid is now often used for RGB modding because of its excellent picture quality and the fact that they’re mostly still around and working great. Was it expensive at the time? No. It wasn’t.

Certainly if you bought a Trinitron back in the day you knew you weren’t getting ripped off. Is it the same with Sony Bravia? I’m not willing to incinerate money at a high enough rate to find out, but the fact that it comes with Android TV stock makes me unhopeful. My car comes with Android 4.2 and that’s aged about as well as polio by this point.

The market today for consumer electronics is completely ass. Not only do the cheap options suck ridiculously badly, even the expensive options are hard to stomach.

Re: Shaving is an example of how consumer products extract more money

#327

Post by dublinben »

schroeding wrote: post #3

There is maybe another reason why cartridge razors are standard now, apart from the lower upfront cost: They are foolproof. It's more or less impossible to hurt yourself with it. On the other hand, it's absolutly possible to cut yourself with a double edge / safety razor, as you have to handle a razor blade and you can scratch yourself quite badly if you don't hold it at the right angle. But IMO, as with many of the…

If you don't want to give up the convenience of cartridge razors, you can still avoid paying the price for name brand Gillette razors. The manufacturer originally used by Dollar Shave Club, Dorco, sells their handles and refills directly on Amazon for 50% less than you'd pay for a comparable Gillette pack.

Re: Shaving is an example of how consumer products extract more money

#328

Post by morsch »

hedora wrote: post #283
sandworm101 wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> season and care for cast iron So they need more work and skill than other pans. In other words: they are in fact less convenient . Cast iron also has multiple issues when used with induction ranges, which are by far the most efficient/environmental cookers.

In exchange for learning how to keep it seasoned, you get to use metal cooking instruments again. Cleaning cast iron is easier than cleaning teflon or stainless. However, you'll want something to scrape it with, and a stanless steel pot scrubber. We use cast iron on our induction range with no problems. The only issues I've heard of involve scratching. The new models don't seem to have that issue (and cast is no scra…

I just put my stainless pan in the dishwasher. Doesn't get much easier than that. That's why I got it. I keep a Teflon and my old cast iron pan around, but the stainless steel one is the workhorse. If I had to let one go, it'd be the cast iron pan.

Re: Shaving is an example of how consumer products extract more money

#330

Post by jlund-molfese »

ekianjo wrote: post #281

> shaving is too expensive maybe, but many men have decided not to shave anymore anyway > about gillette and co I have used both the "disposable" blades (that barely last a week) and the more robust ones that last a month (proper razor blades), and the thing is, the shaving experience is completely difference. The proper razor blades are very sharp and can result in cuts if you are not careful, whereas it's fairly di…

Right, even if you do manage to somehow cut yourself with a cartridge razor (they usually last months for me, but I'm careful to keep them dry after every use), the cut is superficial and you don't even need a styptic pencil.

I might just be clumsy, but even after using a safety razor for about a year, I still occasionally cut myself, and due to the nature of the blade, the nicks tended to be much deeper.

The "cartridge razors are a scam, safety razors are better in every way" line has always been a little silly. Like you said, they are really different products with different pros and cons. Being able to take my razor onto a plane is a big plus for longer trips. Safety razors are much cheaper, more efficient, and better for the environment, but you're losing out on convenience and idiot-proofness.

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