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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

#801

Post by teakettle42 »

zgiber wrote: post #723
mgraczyk wrote: post #680

I appreciate the writing style, but this article is shockingly naive to me. Convenient consumer products tend to sell better than less convenient ones, even if the product is worse. That's the entire story. People have finite time, so when they receive more income they will tend to spend it to reduce the time they spend doing things that they don't care about. I for one hate spending time doing all the things that th…

I get the convenience part but the waste reduction itself is already worth the switch. Yeah your shaving cartridge or flaking teflon pan might be a drop in the ocean (perhaps literally) but when there are billions of humans around we should think about what inconvenience does it worth to keep our environment lovable.

I don’t enjoy a sense of self-imposed martyrdom, so the switch isn’t worth it to me.

Some people do, and they’re welcome to spend their own time, energy, and money pursuing that feeling.

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

#802

Post by betwixthewires »

avgcorrection wrote: post #790
betwixthewires wrote: post #739

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, people are being steered towards behaviors that are more profitable for manufacturers and away from behaviors that are better for themselves. And the way to stop it is to stop buying that stuff. Stores get pressured to stock things, and they can only justify it if it gets bought. If a store doesn't stock the things you want, don't buy things from that store except the things it does have that you do want. They w…

It is of course true that we have some choices. But we have less power than the companies that shelf and produce all of that stuff. Each company has their own marketing department. Public Relations is the science of manipulating desire, developed for over one-hundred years now. And they just have to focus on selling their coffee machines or whatever. Take just one commodity as an example. A soda. They sometimes put j…

What items do I have to buy? This is a serious question.

I'm going online right now, telling people how I live, maybe 10 see it and say "he's right, I have to live by what I claim to believe" and make an effort to change what they do. Maybe 10000 do, maybe none. But I did this because I wanted to.

I don't care what companies do, if they don't have what I want they don't get my money. It's really that simple. We talk about marketing and propaganda, how much marketing has gone into muddying the water and poisoning the discussion just to get people to forget this one fact? If everyone just lived by their own stated rules they wouldn't be able to get away with any of this. They get away with it because we let them get away with it, by making excuses for ourselves. They want you to make these excuses you're making, convince yourself why you need their junk, convince yourself that it is insurmountable because you can control only your own behavior. You're demoralized into wanting "the collective" to change your life for you. You focus on your peers instead of yourself, and this is precisely how they can get away with what they do, because of the choices you make, because of your focus on things out of your control.

My goal isn't to save the world, my only goal is to be honest with myself and live the way I want to. And that's all it takes, everything else is excuses.

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

#803

Post by autoexec »

betwixthewires wrote: post #797
autoexec wrote: post #761

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have a choice to the extent that you're willing to be homeless and live without income and act in violation of the law. The rest of us are constrained in our choices by the society we live in and the expectations it places on us. I want a cell phone that respects my privacy, but none exist on the market today so I have no choice. I still need a cell phone though since my work requires one. We also don't all have…

We aren't talking about purchasing products anymore. We were talking about purchasing products at the store a minute ago. "If I don't participate in this economy I'll be homeless, so I have to by Gillette mach 20 disposable plastic razor cartridges." Do what you can where you can. Can you stop buying disposable razor cartridges made of plastic and still not be homeless? Then do so.

> "If I don't participate in this economy I'll be homeless, so I have to by Gillette mach 20 disposable plastic razor cartridges."

More like: "I want to get a job, the employer requires me to not look homeless so I have to shave my face, which means I have to buy a razor, but I've never heard of double bladed razors, or seen them being offered for sale and every store I can access that sells razors only sells plastic razors with disposable plastic razor cartridge so that's what I'll buy"

If you're lucky enough to have heard of a better alternative, and you have the means to get it, you should, but unless nearly everyone has the means, opportunity, and then does that thing, it will never force stores to change how they stock shelves.

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

#804

Post by cortesoft »

wyre wrote: post #475
cortesoft wrote: post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

How do you live your day where 7 seconds is a a significant amount of time?

If we do one dishwasher load a day, that is 42.5 minutes saved a year. I value my time at around $150 an hour, which means unless the pods cost me more than $100 extra a year, the trade off is worth it.

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

#805

Post by wy35 »

this_is_eline wrote: post #462

While I believe that many things stated in this post are correct, this still has that hard 'old man yelling at the internet' odor. If you are to compare stuff, stuff like modern razor cartridges and double-edged razors, you ought to mention the convenience side of the things. I hate being the devil's advocate, but shaving with 4-blade cartridge designed for easy shaving is still 'miles' ahead compared to shaving with…

I don’t have the same experience. I bought a DE razor from AliExpress 5 years ago for $7 and it shaves just as comfortably and quickly as any multi-blade razor I’ve used.

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

#806

Post by waynesonfire »

mgraczyk wrote: post #680

I appreciate the writing style, but this article is shockingly naive to me. Convenient consumer products tend to sell better than less convenient ones, even if the product is worse. That's the entire story. People have finite time, so when they receive more income they will tend to spend it to reduce the time they spend doing things that they don't care about. I for one hate spending time doing all the things that th…

No post body was provided.

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

#807

Post by michaelcampbell »

> It is, however, hard to find these sorts of razors. If you go into a shop to buy a razor, you will almost certainly not be able to buy one

Maybe where he is, but I was able to find a huge variety of DE razors both online and in a local store.

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

#808

Post by [deleted] »

waynesonfire wrote: post #806
mgraczyk wrote: post #680

I appreciate the writing style, but this article is shockingly naive to me. Convenient consumer products tend to sell better than less convenient ones, even if the product is worse. That's the entire story. People have finite time, so when they receive more income they will tend to spend it to reduce the time they spend doing things that they don't care about. I for one hate spending time doing all the things that th…

Quoted post unavailable.

[deleted]

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

#809

Post by michaelcampbell »

nzealand wrote: post #596
this_is_eline wrote: post #462

While I believe that many things stated in this post are correct, this still has that hard 'old man yelling at the internet' odor. If you are to compare stuff, stuff like modern razor cartridges and double-edged razors, you ought to mention the convenience side of the things. I hate being the devil's advocate, but shaving with 4-blade cartridge designed for easy shaving is still 'miles' ahead compared to shaving with…

Shaving. It's not a religion. It's easy to experiment. 1. Don't shave. Grow a wild and wooly beard. 2. Electric clippers. For that permanent five o'clock shadow look. 3. Electric shaver. Easy. 4. Cartridge + foam. Smooth. 5. Double edge safety razor. Very smooth. Requires some skill. 6. Straight edge razor. Super smooth? No idea personally. 7. Laser. Also no idea personally. What this article completely misses, is th…

> Shaving. It's not a religion.

Depends on where you go. The various DE/SE subreddits it absolutely is.

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

#810

Post by mellavora »

mgraczyk wrote: post #732
jokethrowaway wrote: post #727

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know what you're talking about. I use cast iron pan because everything I cook comes out 10 times better on a cast iron pan. You can properly sear meat on them. Things don't get cooked on the outside and stay raw on the inside. I thought I was shit at cooking before getting a cast iron pan - I just had the wrong tools. I'm definitely not a chef and I don't cook for pleasure, I just throw chicken, steaks, eggs…

Easy test. If I can't put the pan in the dishwasher, then it's not for me or people like me. You don't have to spend energy trying to convince us.

I've heard that you shouldn't put teflon pans in the dishwasher. I'm curious what pan is safe for the dishwasher?

Pots yes. Pans not so sure.

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