Yes, but… There are consequences. Used goods will also have price increase if new ones are more expensive.
Buying 2nd hand reduces demand for new goods, which reduces prices in the broad sense.
That’s not what happened when demand for used cars skyrocketed a few years ago
Demand for new vehicles didn’t drop, supply for new vehicles stopped.
Also, demand for cars can’t drop because Americans don’t have basic freedoms like access to quality public transit, walkable cities, or infrastructure to protect bikes from car drivers who watch movies on their phones while they drive
Yup, the US has managed to turn cars from a luxury item to what’s essentially a necessary good.
Like there aren’t cars outside of the US.
You know full goddamn well that’s not what I mean. If you’re going to argue in pithy whataboutisms then take that shit back to Reddit.
Your reading comprehension is disturbingly poor.
People with cars a couple years old were being asked to trade for a new one just to bolster used inventory. Don’t understand the economics but I know two people who traded their 3ish year old cars for brand new ones (and a little cash on top) at the behest of the dealer during that time.
I bought right after the lockdown. Six months later I was being offered more for my car used than I paid for it new. I’m still driving it, and it’s been paid off for quite awhile, three year loan.
I don’t know the economics either but I bought a used truck in Dec 20 and after 6months or a year the dealer started calling me every month or so with an offer to buy it back at more than I bought it for. It was really crazy.
My parents bought a their car when their lease was up then sold it back for a profit around the same time. Just to add to the anecdotes.
You mean when carvana started overpaying for used cars to build inventory to test their product and inadvertently crashed the used car market (from a buyers perspective)?
How complicated economics is!
But increases demand for used goods means the price increases for them, which means the deal isn’t as good so buying new becomes more interesting…
I think we just invented economics
And we just realized how silly it is!
Only those that are uneducated in the miserable science think it is silly.
There’s alternatives to the capitalist system that leads to the situation we’re in right now.
And those systems use economists too. There are whole economic departments in universities in socialist economies studying economics. The science does not change just because the system you use to allocate goods changes.
The only clothing item I buy for durability is boots. All the rest of my clothes are the cheapest possible shit I can find, because it doesn’t matter.
No one on earth can convince me a $60 pair of jeans is worth $60.
No one on earth can convince me a $60 pair of jeans is worth $60.
$60 has the same buying power thar $30 did just 15 years ago so it might be more helpful to think in living wage hours (where 50 hours of work pays for rent).
In 2025 average rent is $1650. So a living wage after taxes would be $33. In 2010 it was $890 which means a living wage was $17.
There isn’t one living wage. It varies greatly by location, and so do wages. However, there isn’t any location that consistently pays living wages.
$60 on used denim will go much further.
Learn to identify higher quality vintage denim and you’ve begun profiting. Old selvedge will last a lifetime properly cared for, newer denin barely lasts me a couple years with all the spandex in it.
Frankly, just learn to identify vintage denim at all. People have the mistaken idea that everything used to be better quality than now, and that was never true, there has always been bad and good quality stuff. BUT, the thing about buying older stuff (vintage clothing, antique furniture, old tools, etc.) is that if it was bad quality stuff that wouldn’t last, it wouldn’t be here now to begin with.
And eventually , all of the used goods will wear out necessitating new goods.
Entropies a bitch
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Thrift stores are expensive now anyway. Resale shops are worse. Garage sale season is coming up.
Yeah I’ve seen goodwill selling things for more than they cost at Walmart.
Anecdotally, my local thrift store used to sell men’s shirts for $2 to $5 mostly. Now shirts are 15 to 25. That’s crazy. Why spend 25 on a collar button down if a new one is 28 at JCPenney.
They already did, but for different reason.
Second-Hand clothing was trendy not too long ago and the prices went up to the point where the used wares almost cost more than new ones.
Just keep in mind that everything is a business and will exploit it’s current popuarity to the fullest.
Depending on the type of product there may be several times the necessary amount already laying around.
Unfortunately places like goodwill will jack up prices. eBay prices tend to go up as well. Other places not as much since they don’t usually do market research.
In my country, a lot/most of the second hand selling is done by normal people
That is good. Unfortunately many Americans “just don’t want to mess with it” themselves. They could easily give it away directly or recycle it, but instead give stuff to phony charities like goodwill.
There’s also a massive trend of reselling where people either shop thrift to sell at a markup or people trying to sell their stuff for close to new prices
I don’t really see an issue with reselling niche items. The people looking for them aren’t going to every thrift store weekly to find that exact item. They can conveniently go online and have it shipped to their door. It has caused goodwill to jack up prices and cherry pick all the good stuff for their own auction site.
I’ve bought and resold before as well as redold my old stuff on ebay but the margins can be thin unless you have a huge difference in price bought vs sold.
There’s a big difference between resellimg and scalping.
My problem isn’t with reselling but the trend of overpricing, I suppose scalping is an appropriate term.
They can try all they want. I see that occasionally on the websites people sell their stuff on. But usually even those people are willing to sell for a reasonable offer if their ad has been up for a long time.
D:
that’s just capitalism
Yes, I will buy secondhand Bell peppers.
Grow your own ;)
alas my climate lends itself to little more than carrots and potatoes.
Build a greenhouse of out junk!
I will immediately do so on my small narrow balcony. Or did you mean buy a house?
Neat life hack. If you need more space, there is a tried and true solution. Simply declare the apartment next to yours as part of your people’s historic homeland. Then proceed to occupy and annex half of your neighbor’s apartment.
There are indoor grow tents available for $100-400.
I’d probably put one of these in a spare bedroom if I had one, or at the very least next to a window in case I need to manage humidity on a short notice.
Sorry about the Google affiliate there. You can make a pretty good container garden on a south-facing balcony. I even had an ok setup on my north-east facing 5th floor balcony.
As far as buying a house goes, if you are in the US, I would wait. People are going to be underwater on their home soon and will be desperate to sell them…into a market that is saturated and few buyers with the cash to get one. Give it 2 or 3 years is my advice, and you’ll be able to get a better home cheaper.
I bought my house last year, knowing full well that trump could win and would tank the market and make me underwater on my mortgage, but I don’t really care since I don’t see the home as an investment that needs to pay off, I just need to be able to afford it.
This mf over casually talking about buying houses like that’s something I’m ever gonna be able to do. Wow. Some of y’all really live in a bubble.
Sorry that stung, feel it
Something odd:
It also feels, perhaps, respectful in a sense: a stranger mentions their small apartment and no one assumes it’s necessarily the same residence they’ll be in forever. Not that it matters either way… not to people who matter. (Obviously having a garden if you want one, more peace and quiet if the neighbors are loud, etc. is still going to be the ideal for any resident)
67.4% of all occupied housing units [are] occupied by the unit’s owner
@Bytemeister@lemmy.world, did you realize the ownership situation of your housing unit matches the majority’s? I don’t know what I would’ve guessed, but definitely less or more than 67%.
🤞 to a fairer future from this optimist
It is not a casual thing. It took every penny I had, and then some, and then even more from my fam. I’m extremely lucky to be in my own tiny house. Hopefully the market gets to the point where buying a house is an option for you.
Philosophically speaking, the difference between the “haves” and the “have nots” in my parents generation was having a college degree. I think for millennials the defining thing is going to be home ownership, which is why I stretched my budget very thin to get in one. Good luck.
I’ve honestly contemplated turning my garage into one but it’s not well insulated so heating would be a challenge but I might give it a go still
How cold are your winter temps? I was looking at building a greenhouse that would connect my garage to my house, it would essentially give me another zone of hardiness for my plants and add a month or so to both ends of my potential growing season. Plus, being able to grow without needing pesticides and herbicides (or at least not nearly as much) is a huge boon on its own.
between 0c (32f) and -20c (-4f)
i think spray foam insulation may be doable since all beams are exposed in my case, it’s a detached garage so it will have it’s own thermal envelope.
I could always try it just to see what the pain points are and work from there to avoid over building.
I’d see about a small stand-alone greenhouse for starters. The look like a rack covered in a clear tarp. Monitor the temps in that, and you can probably expect similar, if not slightly better performance out of a larger GH. That should give you an idea of what you can grow and when.
Pls post pics (maybe from burner) if you full send this project!!
Can always buy fruit and vegetables containing seeds
Don’t know if sterile seeds are legal over there for you americans though
I could be mistaken, but I’m pretty sure the seeds used to grow commercial produce are patented. I could very easily be wrong though lol
Found some info:
“In 1980, the US supreme court ruled in the case Diamond v Chakrabarty that patent protection can be used for living organisms, including plants. Seeds, which have been openly saved and shared by growers for thousands of years, could now be claimed as an invention.”
Who cares? It’s deeply immoral to patent any living organism. You’re under no moral obligation to obey patently unjust and corrupt laws. And if you’re only “pirating” organisms on a small personal scale, your legal risk is nil. If you start an industrial operation selling patented foodcrops, then you’ll get in legal hot water. But just in your backyard garden? No one is suing you over that unless you create a whole YouTube video series publicly documenting and celebrating your actions.
Fuck evil companies that dare to patent living things. The very concept is an abomination against nature and common decency. It’s not only morally allowable, but a moral obligation to violate these laws whenever it is practical to do so.
Oh, I agree with you. I was just piggy backing the statement I replied to, that questioned the legality of sterile seeds. I think the two go hand in hand, in that growers make produce with sterile seeds and/or patent the seeds to prevent any one else from using them.
Fuck the law if it doesn’t serve you (so long as you aren’t hurting anyone or anything but yours)
I like where your head is at. I’m trying to think of a thought experiment…
A genie is willing to give me a one-million dollar loan and guaranteed instructions on how to genetically modify a seed to better feed 8 billion people - heck, even solve world hunger. That catch is I have to pay the genie back TWO million dollars.
I try to work with the government so the public takes on the (zero) risk and is on the hook for the money, but they don’t play ball.
Is it better for me to reject the deal than patent the seed? (I can ‘sell the patent to public domain’ once I break even!!)
PS: I suppose the genie should just be an investor because that is kind of how our beautiful, perfect, and fair capitalism plays it out
I know we both just want a better system so this experiment is about the status quo
I reject your hypothetical. Your hypothetical is built to ensure the conclusion you desire, not to accurately reflect the possible worlds that exist. Seeds could be developed by government labs and released into the public domain. Hell, the foundational science behind patented crops is all publicly funded already. The private companies just come along later and reap the benefit of the taxpayer’s investment.
Science doesn’t happen for a profit motive. Most scientists are people who are genuinely and passionately interested in their chosen field. They are intrinsically motivated to pursue knowledge for its own sake; they’re not in it to make a buck. The actual biologists and agronomists developing these crops don’t even get paid in a portion of the profits; they’re paid a salary. They would be just as, if not more happy, to be paid a salary as part of a state-funded research lab. The people actually developing these products would happily give them away to any and all, but parasites at the top turn it into a rent-seeking operation.
Ignoring whether or not patents on agricultural products is moral or not, and ignoring whether ignoring those patents is itself moral or not:
No company is gonna bother going after you unless you try and sell product.
Oh you’re serious. Let me laugh even harder!
That’s fucked
Peppers go well from cuttings and sometimes seeds. Sorta secondhand action there
Yeah we do actually do this with peppers from friends that have more room for growing stuff when it’s not -3837473837 degrees outside.
Or, better yet, just give the stuff you don’t need to the people interested in getting it, and participate in mutual exchange.
Crush capitalism!
- Posts item for free
- Gets message “how much does this cost?”
- ”Its free”
- ”Can you deliver it to me? (Insert some excuse here)”
put item on sidewalk with sign that says “free!”
Item sits there for months
Remove sign that says free, and replace with one that says “$100 OBO”
Item is gone by morning
Free table - sits out for days
Put an 100 dollar sign on the table - stolen in 5 minutes
This is actually a tactic Antoine-Augustin Parmentier used to popularize potatoes in France. He couldn’t get people to accept potatoes, so he placed armed guards to protect the plants, and withdrew them at a certain point in the day so that people could steal them.
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Yep! This has worked really well for me! If I list things as free, I tend to get people with tons of questions and excuses, and lots of flakes or scammers. If I post things with a pretty low price, people are usually much more pleasant to deal with.
Even better to donate to a toy library, to make sure it isn’t going to someone who is just going to flip it.
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“Unfortunately, no. I currently don’t have resources to deliver stuff, but I’ll be happy to see you at my place!”
But yeah, classic on your end :D
That’s when you make them pay the shipping + a bit of extra charge for your time since they did asked for price before.
i keep trying to get secondhand underwear but the upcharge is ridiculous
Secondhand needles, on the other hand, are free. People just leave them lying about!
Wow… Just like… Damn girl good for you. She knows what she wants.
Also, check out your local “buy nothing” groups. Basically the only reason I still have facebook.
- Freecycle
- Nextdoor
- Craigslist
- Marketplace
- Yard sales
- Estate sales
- Thrift stores
- trash cans and dumpsters/ curbs on trash day
- free clothing at the laundromat
- And so many more
free clothing at the laundromat
Haha, one part of me is wondering if your local laundromat has a free bin, and the other part is thinking you snuck in a joke about taking clothes out someone else’s drier.
Either way, great list!
Pretty sure nextdoor is full of people who are scared of non white people entering their neighbourhood
My wife used to use it, it was all the neighbors hearing fireworks or trash trucks and thinking it was gun shots all the time. But we did score a few things from their for sale section, and some yard sales listed on there.
Reddit also has some of these. Is free Craigslist still a thing? Haven’t been in a while.
I miss r/gunsforsale
Or just don’t buy at all.
That’s the reduce part
But I want a bigger bike :(
OK buy secondhand. Or buy junked parts and build it. It’s not just eco friendly, it’s also fun
build it yourself after that build it for others. eventually later start a new BiggerBike company. profit … retire.
One of the best ways to save money is to always buy used. If you look in the right places everything is available.
Just the other day I found a used condom literally for free just laying on the street!
Hell yeah, just rinse that off in the sink and…
I don’t even rinse them, just remove the knot and blow them up for your next party.
I hope you stub your toe for this lmao
Get ready for used goods to cost more than today’s new goods.
Yes, but fast fashion, fast furniture, etc.
Fast global warming
fast furniture
If you make it from sapient pearwood
Nah, it’s chipboard, sometimes with cardboard as filler. My Ikea GAMER desk, while million times better as a desk than what I previously had (an old Polish socks drawer that happened to be at the correct height), it’s not very good for anything beyond that, also it’s like it’s starting to fall apart a bit.
That’s why I prefer to build my own furniture out of solid hardwood.
Which is about to be extremely unaffordable.
Much less so than imported crap from Ikea.
I significantly doubt that.
One is made from imported materials. The other is made from locally available materials. There ain’t no tariffs on lumber from within an hour’s drive of my house.
There are places that’ll make you a new top for your IKEA desk out of solid wood. Thought about doing that with my UPPSPEL. Functionally it’s fine, but the finish is looking a bit ratty.
I was gonna say, there goes my dream of buying a brand new Honda CB500F. The MSRP is ~$7000 right now. It’s gonna skyrocket.
That is a bit high, but I think it might still be worth it. And Honda’s are well made too, so it will last you a good while.
That is a bit high
Exact MSRP for my area is $6899 with a +$600 “destination fee”. Plus taxes.
but I think it might still be worth it.
Probably. But see below 👇
And Honda’s are well made too, so it will last you a good while.
I already own two other Hondas: a modified 2007 Metropolitan (lowered, stretched, some Ruckus parts), and a 1980 XR500. I know 😅
I would love to see a source for the actual claim that buying used avoids tarrifs, because all I can find says that tarrifs still apply to used products being imported.
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No tariffs at the thrift store.
Don’t give them ideas
I bought an old motorbike for 5 cases of beer this weekend.
I’ll trade you the motorbike for a red paperclip.
This
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Spoiler
Main character dies
Boooo
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