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Diamonds Are Bullshit

blog.priceonomics.com

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Re: Diamonds Are Bullshit

#701

Post by omegant »

kamaal wrote: post #472
omegant wrote: post #420

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then buy used (the diamond) and pay for a nice ring design. But don't tell her.

..And then deal with the crap storm that would erupt when she discovers about it..

If the ring is new but only the stone is "used", it´ll be hard to be discovered and still much cheaper. Even a refinished old ring would be quite hard to tell apart from a brand new one (unless your fiance is quite an expert on ring designs, and able to tell apart if a ring is 20 years old, then of course you better buy a new one). But don´t do it if you are not good at keeping secrets...

Re: Diamonds Are Bullshit

#702

Post by HorizonXP »

enraged_camel wrote: post #304
maratd wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> so they just leave De Beers to run around gouging consumers That's kind of missing the point. If diamonds were 5 bucks a piece, women would no longer be interested in receiving rings bejeweled by them. A woman wants a man who is financially secure. If you can't afford a shiny rock, you can't afford what's coming after it either, so there's no point.

It doesn't have anything to do with financial security. Look, if your man is spending three months worth of salary on a piece of shiny rock, he is exercising poor financial judgment and that is a signal against future financial security. Women want diamonds not because of any symbolic reasons ("Diamonds are forever!") but because of reasons that are much more practical: they want to be able to show off the diamonds t…

Sure, that's definitely for some women. But you can also use that to your advantage.

An article similar to this came up six months ago, at about the same time I was getting ready to propose to my fiancee. It sparked this comment thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4536010

patio11 suggested that I wasn't "selling" her correctly. Women want the story, the status, the "Facebook status". So that's exactly what I did.

I bought her a white gold ring with a purple sapphire. It took me over a month to find the right gemstone. While it may not be as expensive as an equivalent weight/quality diamond, it is incredibly hard to replace, since they're so rare.

I also made sure that the white gold was made with palladium instead of nickel + rhodium-plating, since I was concerned about skin irritations. I had it completely custom-made, with the design done in CAD and 3D printed. As an engineer, this was awesome. My fiancee didn't quite appreciate that as much as I did, admittedly, but she did say it was cool.

Having done all that, I still spent a lot less money on the actual ring than if I had bought a diamond ring. So with the remaining money, I booked a flight to Rome for a 24 hour trip, to catch her by surprise on her last day of her Europe vacation she was on with her sister. I surprised her in a spot I had coordinated, and I hired a local photographer to take engagement pictures of us throughout Rome.

So I didn't buy a diamond, but I did end up spending about the same amount of money. However, I was able to "sell" my fiancee on the rarity and authenticity of the ring, and the story of the proposal. To this day, she looks back on the ring, the pictures, and remembers it all fondly.

So diamonds may be bullshit, but the story and memories aren't.

Re: Diamonds Are Bullshit

#703

Post by justincormack »

brc wrote: post #407
maratd wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> so they just leave De Beers to run around gouging consumers That's kind of missing the point. If diamonds were 5 bucks a piece, women would no longer be interested in receiving rings bejeweled by them. A woman wants a man who is financially secure. If you can't afford a shiny rock, you can't afford what's coming after it either, so there's no point.

If you devalued the diamond, something else would just step into the void, whether it was another gem, something synthetic, whatever. It would just have to be shiny, small, expensive, and easily seen. The need for displays of status are common to many animals, humans included. There is a fundamental need there that will be filled if you devalue the predecessor. Why pick on diamonds anyway? The fashion industry is jus…

Some of us dislike monopolies.

Re: Diamonds Are Bullshit

#704

Post by alexsb92 »

blaireaug wrote: post #375
eli wrote: post #348

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This sounds apocryphal. Women were shaving their armpits in the 1920s.

Sorry, WW1. I get those two mixed up all the time. And yeah, actually, it may be apocryphal, but here's why I believe it to be true. [1] http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/625/who-decided-wom... "The gist of the article is that U.S. women were browbeaten into shaving underarm hair by a sustained marketing assault that began in 1915. (Leg hair came later.) The aim of what Hope calls the Great Underarm Campaign w…

Though not shaving, women and men had been removing bodily hair with a variety of creams/razors way before WW1.

Re: Diamonds Are Bullshit

#705

Post by uvdiv »

triplesec wrote: post #687
uvdiv wrote: post #630

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So far you can realise why that cheap Zin blend from Lodi doesn't really do it for you with the most obvious of measurements: yield! They get even 10 tons per acre there rather than 1-3 tons in a high-quality vineyard. Fewer nutrients and flavours to go around, and more water, sugar and untasty components have to flesh it out (poor overburdened vines, eh!), I don't understand this. Flavourful chemicals aren't a scarc…

Look up, for example, why top Napa vineyards go for low yields. It's also basic chemistry. There is a finite number of nutrients in the soil, and the plant can make a finite amount of such things out of these nutrients (like phenols in the grape skins and... er.. this is not my subject, but I can look it up again myself should I have to).

Look up, for example, why top Napa vineyards go for low yields.

I tried and failed (wikipedia) -- can you point me to something informative? I don't know what I'm looking for.

There is a finite number of nutrients in the soil, and the plant can make a finite amount of such things out of these nutrients (like phenols in the grape skins and... er.. this is not my subject, but I can look it up again myself should I have to).

In general they're not finite. Phenols are just C,H,O -- they're made from water and CO2. All of these compounds, as far as I can tell:

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

I haven't found anything that says that, for example, soil nutrients correlate with phenol concentrations in vines (for example). It's not obvious.

Re: Diamonds Are Bullshit

#706

Post by Ives »

MarkMc wrote: post #439

Here's an idea for a non-profit start-up: 1. Produce man-made diamonds and sell them at the same price as De Beers diamonds. 2. Use the revenue to fund education and health-care in poor African villages. 3. Market your diamonds as 'clean diamonds' and label the De Beers diamonds 'blood diamonds'. Would that work?

The amount of startup capital required to make a sustainable supply of man-made diamonds is probably pretty high.

Re: Diamonds Are Bullshit

#707

Post by tn13 »

gertef wrote: post #75
tn13 wrote: post #40

So true. I spent more money on my marriage than on my masters degree. Fuc . My wife has more gold and diamonds than money my family ever owned otherwise. All that stuff doesn't suite her, is locked up in locker rooms of some bank 364 days a year. (And yeah I pay for that fucking locker as well). Any discussion of selling it would lead to a WWII like situation in the home. The cost of Gold might be skyrocketing but wh…

gold jewelry price is for the art, not the mass.

No boss. I am talking about India. I am otherwise poor by any world standards but I have to buy gold.

Re: Diamonds Are Bullshit

#708

Post by transitionality »

mistercow wrote: post #354
enraged_camel wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't have anything to do with financial security. Look, if your man is spending three months worth of salary on a piece of shiny rock, he is exercising poor financial judgment and that is a signal against future financial security. Women want diamonds not because of any symbolic reasons ("Diamonds are forever!") but because of reasons that are much more practical: they want to be able to show off the diamonds t…

>Women want diamonds not because of any symbolic reasons ("Diamonds are forever!") but because of reasons that are much more practical: they want to be able to show off the diamonds to their group of (female) and boost their social status among them. I suspect that the demand for diamonds for both men and women has way less to do with that kind of forward thinking (or subconscious status weighing), and way more to do…

Coke plain tastes better. They spend millions on research getting the taste just right. Most store brand colas have one overpowering flavor that ruins the experience.

Re: Diamonds Are Bullshit

#709

Post by transitionality »

tammer wrote: post #695
triplesec wrote: post #483

Earlier quoted context omitted.

csallen, thank you for thinking of making a list! I do have one or two more reasons to add to your list. 1. Cognitive dissonance reduction: he spent so much, so to avoid cognitive dissonance he's going to tell himself she's worth it. Helps keep marriages together. It is the same reason that hazing ritual happen in college and why secret societies have all sorts of strange initiation rituals, often hazardous or diffic…

I think your second point is the most salient. Advertising does one thing, and one thing only: create symbolic associations. (Well, I guess web ads are a departure, since the goal is a click). What does Coke's advertising budget actually pay for? Images of people having fun and drinking Coke, which are then distributed through every media known to man. Three billion just for Coke = fun, popular. Think about that for…

Does "I'm not stupid enough to pay insane margins on a worthlessly common piece of rock." count as a story? It sounds more like a statement of fact to me.

Re: Diamonds Are Bullshit

#710

Post by transitionality »

HorizonXP wrote: post #702
enraged_camel wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't have anything to do with financial security. Look, if your man is spending three months worth of salary on a piece of shiny rock, he is exercising poor financial judgment and that is a signal against future financial security. Women want diamonds not because of any symbolic reasons ("Diamonds are forever!") but because of reasons that are much more practical: they want to be able to show off the diamonds t…

Sure, that's definitely for some women. But you can also use that to your advantage. An article similar to this came up six months ago, at about the same time I was getting ready to propose to my fiancee. It sparked this comment thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4536010 patio11 suggested that I wasn't "selling" her correctly. Women want the story, the status, the "Facebook status". So that's exactly what I…

You spent an amount of money equivalent to what De Beers charges for a diamond ring because of the advertising campaign De Beers started about a century ago. You felt like you had to match that expenditure, perhaps subconsciously. If the diamond cartel and diamond advertising and diamond pricing didn't exist, you wouldn't have that specific financial figure to aspire to.
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