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We put a kitchen Aid blender on our wedding list almost 4 years ago. It's costly but rock solid, near if not industrial grade. I only wish I'd bought one years

We put a kitchen Aid blender on our wedding list almost 4 years ago. It's costly but rock solid, near if not industrial grade. I only wish I'd bought one years ago instead of buying and disposing of cheaper brands that don't last. (Penny-wise pound foolish I was.)

michaelt 7y ago
When the buy-it-for-life premium is nontrivial, I try to first buy something basic and use it until it falls apart, simply to confirm that this is something I will use After all, sometimes you'll buy a guitar then realise although you like the idea of knowing how to play, you don't much like the idea of practising. Better to figure that out with a $300 guitar than a $3000 guitar. And hell, often cheap devices last years anyway under home use, if you know how to look after them; my $7 electric whisk and $45 electric hammer drill are still working just fine after 10 years! (Of course, you don't want to go so cheap it becomes dangerous/difficult/underpowered and artificially makes you not use it - I've mostly had the judgement or luck to avoid that)
- wvh 7y ago
  Some high-end products keep their price better though. You can probably sell that $3000 guitar or guitar amp for close to what you paid for it. Extreme example is a house; luckily you can move away and get most of your money (or more!) back. What I'm basically trying to say is that for some things it makes sense to also keep the resale value in mind.
  - ethbro 7y ago
    People say this, but do the economics support it in most categories? My gut says the depreciation between new and used + your time spent finding a buyer and selling torpedo the actual benefits.
- ethbro 7y ago
  > When the buy-it-for-life premium is nontrivial, I try to first buy something basic and use it until it falls apart, simply to confirm that this is something I will use Believe it was popularized by Adam Savage, re: tool purchases. Essentially, current price segmentation means the optimal approach is buying cheapest (e.g. Harbor Freight), seeing how much you actually use it, then if you use it (or use it hard enough it breaks) buy something premium for your second purchase. You'll save enough on all the things you don't really use to more than make up for replacement costs.
  - rkangel 7y ago
    It's not just whether you use it, it's also what features you value. I gave this advice to some friends taking up skiing - it turned out the most valuable feature of a skiing jacket for me was a large number of pockets (so I didn't have to take a bag). I would never have known that if I hadn't first had a cheap jacket for a couple of seasons.
  - blaser-waffle 7y ago
    Seconded. If you're a pro or plan on using a tool a lot it makes great sense, but if you're just getting your feet wet or a dilettante then go with something cheaper until you KNOW you need something more. Source: my collection of high end crap I never use.
  - Steltek 7y ago
    Except tools may not themselves break but cheap tools can break other things. Cheap wrenches will strip hex bolts on bikes, for instance. Buy Wera hex-plus at a premium but do the job right right.
    - ethbro 7y ago
      This feels like a relatively rare scenario masquerading as a common occurrence, which is part of the point. Of people with wrenches, how many use them on engines or high-end bicycles? And so it's relatively easy for tool companies to convince people "You know what? You may only have thought about working on an engine a few times, and have no idea where the valve cover is, but by god you're a mechanic. Not like those weekend warrior types. You deserve the good stuff. A full set of Snap-On!"
- karatestomp 7y ago
  Where you get into trouble with the guitar example is going under $300 (used). A lot of the beginner instruments (think: First Act) are so poorly made they’re hard to play without having work done on them by someone who really knows what they’re doing, and sound terrible regardless. Going from $150 (new) to $550 (new) is a huge difference in quality, and even a beginner will notice. That seems to hold for a lot of instruments—there’s a price under which the quality’s so bad it could turn off someone who might have kept playing.
_red 7y ago
Yeah, this is the same selling point for Le Creuset. $200 for a pot is a non-trivial expense, except when you consider: * Has lifetime warranty * Should easily survive your use and be capable of being passed down to kids, etc. Basically the selling point is: "buy this pot one time, for life".
- ethbro 7y ago
  > capable of being passed down to kids Thank god 60s avocado green is coming back into fashion...

michaelt 7y ago

When the buy-it-for-life premium is nontrivial, I try to first buy something basic and use it until it falls apart, simply to confirm that this is something I will use After all, sometimes you'll buy a guitar then realise although you like the idea of knowing how to play, you don't much like the idea of practising. Better to figure that out with a $300 guitar than a $3000 guitar. And hell, often cheap devices last years anyway under home use, if you know how to look after them; my $7 electric whisk and $45 electric hammer drill are still working just fine after 10 years! (Of course, you don't want to go so cheap it becomes dangerous/difficult/underpowered and artificially makes you not use it - I've mostly had the judgement or luck to avoid that)

wvh 7y ago
Some high-end products keep their price better though. You can probably sell that $3000 guitar or guitar amp for close to what you paid for it. Extreme example is a house; luckily you can move away and get most of your money (or more!) back. What I'm basically trying to say is that for some things it makes sense to also keep the resale value in mind.
- ethbro 7y ago
  People say this, but do the economics support it in most categories? My gut says the depreciation between new and used + your time spent finding a buyer and selling torpedo the actual benefits.
ethbro 7y ago
> When the buy-it-for-life premium is nontrivial, I try to first buy something basic and use it until it falls apart, simply to confirm that this is something I will use Believe it was popularized by Adam Savage, re: tool purchases. Essentially, current price segmentation means the optimal approach is buying cheapest (e.g. Harbor Freight), seeing how much you actually use it, then if you use it (or use it hard enough it breaks) buy something premium for your second purchase. You'll save enough on all the things you don't really use to more than make up for replacement costs.
- rkangel 7y ago
  It's not just whether you use it, it's also what features you value. I gave this advice to some friends taking up skiing - it turned out the most valuable feature of a skiing jacket for me was a large number of pockets (so I didn't have to take a bag). I would never have known that if I hadn't first had a cheap jacket for a couple of seasons.
- blaser-waffle 7y ago
  Seconded. If you're a pro or plan on using a tool a lot it makes great sense, but if you're just getting your feet wet or a dilettante then go with something cheaper until you KNOW you need something more. Source: my collection of high end crap I never use.
- Steltek 7y ago
  Except tools may not themselves break but cheap tools can break other things. Cheap wrenches will strip hex bolts on bikes, for instance. Buy Wera hex-plus at a premium but do the job right right.
  - ethbro 7y ago
    This feels like a relatively rare scenario masquerading as a common occurrence, which is part of the point. Of people with wrenches, how many use them on engines or high-end bicycles? And so it's relatively easy for tool companies to convince people "You know what? You may only have thought about working on an engine a few times, and have no idea where the valve cover is, but by god you're a mechanic. Not like those weekend warrior types. You deserve the good stuff. A full set of Snap-On!"
karatestomp 7y ago
Where you get into trouble with the guitar example is going under $300 (used). A lot of the beginner instruments (think: First Act) are so poorly made they’re hard to play without having work done on them by someone who really knows what they’re doing, and sound terrible regardless. Going from $150 (new) to $550 (new) is a huge difference in quality, and even a beginner will notice. That seems to hold for a lot of instruments—there’s a price under which the quality’s so bad it could turn off someone who might have kept playing.

_red 7y ago

Yeah, this is the same selling point for Le Creuset. $200 for a pot is a non-trivial expense, except when you consider: * Has lifetime warranty * Should easily survive your use and be capable of being passed down to kids, etc. Basically the selling point is: "buy this pot one time, for life".

ethbro 7y ago
> capable of being passed down to kids Thank god 60s avocado green is coming back into fashion...