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Americans Own Less Stuff, and That’s Reason to Be Nervous

bloomberg.com

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Re: Americans Own Less Stuff, and That’s Reason to Be Nervous

#71

Post by Someguywhatever »

EADGBE wrote: post #60
Someguywhatever wrote: post #7

>We used to buy DVDs or video cassettes; now viewers stream movies or TV shows with Netflix This I don't care about really. Although I remember Richard Stallman wrote a satirical article about there being no libraries and having to pay to read anything (as in pay to read per page or something kind of ridiculous) now his article doesn't feel so ridiculous anymore. https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.en.html T…

Sometimes it's just not worth it to own everything. Renting makes a lot of sense for a lot of people. Blockbuster et al were doing this forever ago. If you only cared to watch/use something once; renting it made a lot of sense, and still does.

I agree especially with stuff like DVDs, and music media etc. It does make a lot of sense, until you get to bigger more important things.

Re: Americans Own Less Stuff, and That’s Reason to Be Nervous

#72

Post by tootie »

> Perhaps we are becoming more communal and caring in positive ways

I think I this is a big one. There's a very degree of trust that public services and even private ones will be there whenever we need. Not just things like reliable hospitals and electrical grid, but also one-day shipping on whatever we need. There is no longer a need to keep things on hand.

Re: Americans Own Less Stuff, and That’s Reason to Be Nervous

#73

Post by dfxm12 »

>the erosion of personal ownership and what that will mean for our loyalties to traditional American concepts of capitalism and private property.

I don't understand the author's premise. The author is largely lamenting that people are buying services over goods, but that doesn't show a dwindling loyalty towards capitalism in the slightest. I might think it strengthens loyalty to capitalism, as many of these services require an ongoing relationship with the market.

I'm also unsure about how "private property" is a traditional American concept and the author does a poor job explaining why changing loyality to it is a reason to be nervous...

Re: Americans Own Less Stuff, and That’s Reason to Be Nervous

#74

Post by Sir_Cmpwn »

michaelt wrote: post #68
Sir_Cmpwn wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think replacing one bad thing with another is the right solution. Planned obsolescence should be illegal, plain and simple.

Planned obsolescence should be illegal Is there a clear line between planned obsolescence and just making a cheap, low-quality product?

Definitely. A key example is phones whose batteries cannot be replaced by the end-user (and end-user repairability in general). Forcing users to update their phone's OS to newer versions which require more power from the newer models is another example. Printer ink cartridges often contain chips whose only purpose is to disable the cartridge - even if it's still got plenty of ink - after a certain amount of time passes. Also consider video games which require an internet connection to play, but do all of the logic on the client - when the servers disappear, well, time to buy this year's game instead.

Legislation against this practice isn't unheard of, there are fines and jail time for it in France.

Re: Americans Own Less Stuff, and That’s Reason to Be Nervous

#75

Post by drivingmenuts »

Semaphor wrote: post #59
seibelj wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anecdotal, but every reader I know (including me) flirted with ebooks and then switched back to paper. For me, it’s less strain on my eyes, it always works even without electricity, I can lend it out to friends easily, and I like to expand the aesthetic of my bookshelf. I’m also more likely to reread all or part of a physical book. Ebooks are simply inferior.

Opposite for me (for fiction). I started reading ebooks with the original Kindle keyboard and never looked back. I always felt that books were cluttering everything up (I read 20-60 per year), I enjoy not having my arms hurt from holding books in an awkward position and I feel that the eInk display is just as good as books, but it's better for reading in some light conditions. I still buy books once in a while, but t…

Same here - I tend toward military sci-fi (most of it is very bad) and so disposability is key to not building up a huge collection of junk. The few physical books I own now are tabletop RPG manuals, because they are needed as reference during games when batteries running down would be inconvenient.

Certain reference manuals (The O'Reilly Zoo, for example) are more useful as physical books, as well.

Besides, if I got hit by a bus tomorrow (not planning on it today), it's not there's anyone to inherit my stuff.

Re: Americans Own Less Stuff, and That’s Reason to Be Nervous

#76

Post by amelius »

Sir_Cmpwn wrote: post #74
michaelt wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Planned obsolescence should be illegal Is there a clear line between planned obsolescence and just making a cheap, low-quality product?

Definitely. A key example is phones whose batteries cannot be replaced by the end-user (and end-user repairability in general). Forcing users to update their phone's OS to newer versions which require more power from the newer models is another example. Printer ink cartridges often contain chips whose only purpose is to disable the cartridge - even if it's still got plenty of ink - after a certain amount of time pass…

Do you think that Apple will be fined for not making the battery replaceable? I don't see this happen, and certainly not in the US.

My guess is that Apple will simply claim that they can't make the phone as small/thin when the battery has to be replaceable.

Re: Americans Own Less Stuff, and That’s Reason to Be Nervous

#77

Post by aaron_m04 »

michaelt wrote: post #68
Sir_Cmpwn wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think replacing one bad thing with another is the right solution. Planned obsolescence should be illegal, plain and simple.

Planned obsolescence should be illegal Is there a clear line between planned obsolescence and just making a cheap, low-quality product?

Yes. The distinguishing feature of planned obsolescence is that the customer doesn't know the real design lifespan of the product. Just require companies to declare that and the problem goes away. Looks like the EU already does: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_obsolescence#Regulatio...

Re: Americans Own Less Stuff, and That’s Reason to Be Nervous

#78

Post by ddevault »

amelius wrote: post #76
Sir_Cmpwn wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Definitely. A key example is phones whose batteries cannot be replaced by the end-user (and end-user repairability in general). Forcing users to update their phone's OS to newer versions which require more power from the newer models is another example. Printer ink cartridges often contain chips whose only purpose is to disable the cartridge - even if it's still got plenty of ink - after a certain amount of time pass…

Do you think that Apple will be fined for not making the battery replaceable? I don't see this happen, and certainly not in the US. My guess is that Apple will simply claim that they can't make the phone as small/thin when the battery has to be replaceable.

350,000 phones were being into landfills every day in 2010. Fuck Apple's "thinnest phone ever", it's not worth the social cost. Dumb consumer vanity isn't the metric for optimization here.

Re: Americans Own Less Stuff, and That’s Reason to Be Nervous

#79

Post by grogenaut »

ModernMech wrote: post #69
grogenaut wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If how+mortgage is even slightly more than rent you still end up doing well as soon as you are able to clear the agent and closing costs in recouping. Renting is easier to move for sure. But stay there 3 years and the story may be different. Stay there 8 years and you're making out well over rent. But being statitioned I can see why you might not. Then again I have friends with rentals in 5 cities for the same reason…

> it's also nice to say well this one didn't start today oh well how bout this one. It's also nice not to give zero fucks about a dent or scratch. Some people get so worked up keeping their cars perfect, like its jewelry or something.

Oh definitely. The Accord I bought for my son that I drive cause millenials don't or mine doesn't... it'd got a slightly banged up roof and a black front bumper on a gold car. I think it looks great and terrible. which for $1700 is what I'm going for.
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