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NPR: 'The Best Thing You Can Do Is Not Buy More Stuff,' Says 'Secondhand' Expert
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leno...@yahoo.com
Dec 8, 2019, 2:37:50 PM12/8/19
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Maybe you've heard all this already...
https://www.npr.org/2019/12/04/784702588/the-best-thing-you-can-do-is-not-buy-more-stuff-says-secondhand-expert?utm_source=pocket-newtab
One thing that's interesting is that I remember Amy Dacyczyn saying in "The Tightwad Gazette" (not verbatim) that up until 1980 or so, the quality of thrift store goods was truly pitiful, because people who remembered the Depression clung to what they had until it was truly a shadow of its former self. But boomers were more likely to shop for the sake of shopping and then donate stuff on a whim.
But...the pendulum may be swinging back. Quote:
"...For the reuse industry, it's sort of a mixed blessing. The reuse industry thrives on having access to stuff — in particular good stuff. But increasingly, what we see in the United States in particular is that the quality of the stuff that people are acquiring — because we're acquiring more every year — is declining.
"So all that stuff that's filling up these storage units isn't necessarily what my grandmother would call 'merchandise.' It's stuff that's going to go in the donation door at a thrift store — and ultimately going to find its way into a dumpster or a recycling bin. It's not going to be reused.
"If you think back say, 20, 25 years ago, a television that was 10 years old was something that could be reused. It could be refurbished and reused. ... They were very heavy, but they were also very robust. But these days, you can go and you can buy yourself a flat-panel television at an electronics retailer. I saw it over the recent Black Friday period and you can buy that flat panel for $150. But in a sense, you get what you pay for. You get a cheap television that maybe will last three years..."
And, from NPR's "On Point," in an interview with the same author, Adam Minter (if you listen to it, there are callers as well):
https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2019/11/12/travels-through-the-afterlife-of-our-discarded-stuff-in-secondhand
Q: Why do we think objects are meaningful, rather than experiences around them?
A: “One of the things I found interesting in reporting this book is I spent a lot of time with the people who clean out other people's stuff, both in the United States and in Japan. And along the way, almost all of them said the same thing: that having seen all of the stuff piling up in people's homes, and seeing sort of the emotional effect it has on them — and their children, and other relatives and friends — they've stopped buying as much. They've stopped consuming as much because they see the negative effects of it mentally, socially, even spiritually. And they have transitioned to buying better stuff, buying less stuff, buying in terms of experiences. One cleanup professional in Minneapolis told me, ‘Our wedding gifts now are not, you know, the china. We are buying gift certificates, for restaurants or holidays somewhere.’ You know, again, it's moving to those things that bring us together as people, and away from stuff, which oftentimes separate us.”
Lenona.
https://www.npr.org/2019/12/04/784702588/the-best-thing-you-can-do-is-not-buy-more-stuff-says-secondhand-expert?utm_source=pocket-newtab
One thing that's interesting is that I remember Amy Dacyczyn saying in "The Tightwad Gazette" (not verbatim) that up until 1980 or so, the quality of thrift store goods was truly pitiful, because people who remembered the Depression clung to what they had until it was truly a shadow of its former self. But boomers were more likely to shop for the sake of shopping and then donate stuff on a whim.
But...the pendulum may be swinging back. Quote:
"...For the reuse industry, it's sort of a mixed blessing. The reuse industry thrives on having access to stuff — in particular good stuff. But increasingly, what we see in the United States in particular is that the quality of the stuff that people are acquiring — because we're acquiring more every year — is declining.
"So all that stuff that's filling up these storage units isn't necessarily what my grandmother would call 'merchandise.' It's stuff that's going to go in the donation door at a thrift store — and ultimately going to find its way into a dumpster or a recycling bin. It's not going to be reused.
"If you think back say, 20, 25 years ago, a television that was 10 years old was something that could be reused. It could be refurbished and reused. ... They were very heavy, but they were also very robust. But these days, you can go and you can buy yourself a flat-panel television at an electronics retailer. I saw it over the recent Black Friday period and you can buy that flat panel for $150. But in a sense, you get what you pay for. You get a cheap television that maybe will last three years..."
And, from NPR's "On Point," in an interview with the same author, Adam Minter (if you listen to it, there are callers as well):
https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2019/11/12/travels-through-the-afterlife-of-our-discarded-stuff-in-secondhand
Q: Why do we think objects are meaningful, rather than experiences around them?
A: “One of the things I found interesting in reporting this book is I spent a lot of time with the people who clean out other people's stuff, both in the United States and in Japan. And along the way, almost all of them said the same thing: that having seen all of the stuff piling up in people's homes, and seeing sort of the emotional effect it has on them — and their children, and other relatives and friends — they've stopped buying as much. They've stopped consuming as much because they see the negative effects of it mentally, socially, even spiritually. And they have transitioned to buying better stuff, buying less stuff, buying in terms of experiences. One cleanup professional in Minneapolis told me, ‘Our wedding gifts now are not, you know, the china. We are buying gift certificates, for restaurants or holidays somewhere.’ You know, again, it's moving to those things that bring us together as people, and away from stuff, which oftentimes separate us.”
Lenona.
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