6 ms·

Frankly, people buy a lot of stuff they don't need. But I wonder how the dependence on disposable items plays in. I could never understand stressing one bit ab

by dpweb 5y ago

Frankly, people buy a lot of stuff they don't need. But I wonder how the dependence on disposable items plays in. I could never understand stressing one bit about the most disposable items like paper towels. Completely non-essential items.

InitialLastName 5y ago
re. paper towels: strictly non-essential items, yes, but it takes some lifestyle reconfiguration to make the alternatives work. My household is (I speculate asymptotically) approaching zero paper towel use, but we have ready access to laundry, the capital and bandwidth to have built up a comfortable supply of rags and towels, and our only occasionally messy coinhabitant is the cat (and you can bet that if he vomits, I'm using a paper towel to clean it up). We can make the conscious choice to reduce our dependence on disposable products, but at some point (for everyone, for every "easy" solution x) it's not worth reducing any more.
- Natsu 5y ago
  I've really cut down on paper towel usage and I used to use a lot due to having several small animals who are entirely too prone to accidents. I found it best to keep a box of a few dozen small cloths that I got as a bundle, and a small hamper nearby that I throw the dirty ones into, which also happens to be near the washing machine. I end up doing quite a lot of washing of said rags, but it's far more economical than the paper towels ever were and quite a bit more convenient in general to boot.
- EdwardDiego 5y ago
  The whole point of paper towels, or disposable nappies, is removing the labour cost of cleaning them. My ex-wife was a stay at home Mom for her religious reasons, and was determined to be the "best" Mom, only healthy food, no TV or devices, cloth nappies etc. Once we hit kid #3, the time needed to launder cloth nappies wasn't viable with two other kids on the go. I encouraged her to give disposables a go, and she was hooked, but very guilty about it. But yeah, disposables saved us (well mainly her) many hours of scraping shit, stirring a giant bucket of nappies with Napisan, washing them, hanging them out in the sun to let the UV sort the stains etc. So while paper towels are technically non-essential, I'm reminded of the old sarcastic comment that "Linux is free, if your time has no value".
  - erikbye 5y ago
    > I'm reminded of the old sarcastic comment that "Linux is free, if your time has no value". Wow, a thread about supply chains and you manage to take a cheap jab at Linux. In response, try running Windows on a computer you only use once a month. You can watch it update every time instead of getting work done. Linux you can update while working.
    - DonHopkins 5y ago
      Not only: "Linux is free, if your time has no value." But also: "Free software: more expensive than money." Those old sarcastic comments remind me of Cygnus Solution's more up-beat slogan (they ported and supported free software like GCC, and were bought by RedHat): "We Make Free Software Affordable" Instead of just whining about cheap shots, Cygnus Solutions deftly channeled the doubts and problems raised by the first two slogans (which they didn't originate, but were going around at the time), into a successful service under the last slogan (which they did originate, in response). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cygnus_Solutions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cygnus_Solutions https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1641664 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1641664 http://www.h-online.com/open/features/GCC-We-make-free-software-affordable-1066831.html http://www.h-online.com/open/features/GCC-We-make-free-softw... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23884395 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23884395 https://minnie.tuhs.org/pipermail/tuhs/2020-May/021225.html https://minnie.tuhs.org/pipermail/tuhs/2020-May/021225.html
    - lucumo 5y ago
      Once a month? No. I hardly even reboot my Windows machine once a month... Only the major releases of Windows 10 need a stop the world reboot. Those happen once every six months. And it's usually only a few minutes. That's for a home machine. I've seen some enterprise machines take forever. I have no idea how they managed to fuck that up, but it's on the IT organisation of those enterprises, not on Windows.
      - erikbye 5y ago
        I said once a month, because if you use your computer once a month there is no point having it powered on 24/7, not economical. What happens is you power it on when you need to use it, Windows starts downloading updates in the background, the next time you power on, installation starts on boot.
- throaway46546 5y ago
  >but we have ready access to laundry Thank you for recognizing this point. It costs me $6 to do a (small) load of laundry at my complex and the time cost of going to a laundromat makes it economically unviable.
  - InitialLastName 5y ago
    Laundry is one of those things I've lived without comfortable access to for long enough to appreciate what I have now.
steve_adams_86 5y ago
I think my family’s spending since the pandemic actually geared more towards stuff we use a lot. Perhaps the original comment is right about purchases moving from services to goods. We ended up buying things we may have otherwise used through services. A paddle board we’d otherwise rent, roof top tent (otherwise used to pay for camp sites that were closed during the pandemic), cooking equipment to satisfy cravings for food from restaurants that were closed or shut down, etc. Overall it’s been money well spent though.
nigerian1981 5y ago
People also get sent a lot of stuff they never asked for: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brushing_(e-commerce) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brushing_(e-commerce)

by dpweb 5y ago

InitialLastName 5y ago

re. paper towels: strictly non-essential items, yes, but it takes some lifestyle reconfiguration to make the alternatives work. My household is (I speculate asymptotically) approaching zero paper towel use, but we have ready access to laundry, the capital and bandwidth to have built up a comfortable supply of rags and towels, and our only occasionally messy coinhabitant is the cat (and you can bet that if he vomits, I'm using a paper towel to clean it up). We can make the conscious choice to reduce our dependence on disposable products, but at some point (for everyone, for every "easy" solution x) it's not worth reducing any more.

Natsu 5y ago
I've really cut down on paper towel usage and I used to use a lot due to having several small animals who are entirely too prone to accidents. I found it best to keep a box of a few dozen small cloths that I got as a bundle, and a small hamper nearby that I throw the dirty ones into, which also happens to be near the washing machine. I end up doing quite a lot of washing of said rags, but it's far more economical than the paper towels ever were and quite a bit more convenient in general to boot.
EdwardDiego 5y ago
The whole point of paper towels, or disposable nappies, is removing the labour cost of cleaning them. My ex-wife was a stay at home Mom for her religious reasons, and was determined to be the "best" Mom, only healthy food, no TV or devices, cloth nappies etc. Once we hit kid #3, the time needed to launder cloth nappies wasn't viable with two other kids on the go. I encouraged her to give disposables a go, and she was hooked, but very guilty about it. But yeah, disposables saved us (well mainly her) many hours of scraping shit, stirring a giant bucket of nappies with Napisan, washing them, hanging them out in the sun to let the UV sort the stains etc. So while paper towels are technically non-essential, I'm reminded of the old sarcastic comment that "Linux is free, if your time has no value".
- erikbye 5y ago
  > I'm reminded of the old sarcastic comment that "Linux is free, if your time has no value". Wow, a thread about supply chains and you manage to take a cheap jab at Linux. In response, try running Windows on a computer you only use once a month. You can watch it update every time instead of getting work done. Linux you can update while working.
  - DonHopkins 5y ago
    Not only: "Linux is free, if your time has no value." But also: "Free software: more expensive than money." Those old sarcastic comments remind me of Cygnus Solution's more up-beat slogan (they ported and supported free software like GCC, and were bought by RedHat): "We Make Free Software Affordable" Instead of just whining about cheap shots, Cygnus Solutions deftly channeled the doubts and problems raised by the first two slogans (which they didn't originate, but were going around at the time), into a successful service under the last slogan (which they did originate, in response). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cygnus_Solutions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cygnus_Solutions https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1641664 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1641664 http://www.h-online.com/open/features/GCC-We-make-free-software-affordable-1066831.html http://www.h-online.com/open/features/GCC-We-make-free-softw... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23884395 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23884395 https://minnie.tuhs.org/pipermail/tuhs/2020-May/021225.html https://minnie.tuhs.org/pipermail/tuhs/2020-May/021225.html
  - lucumo 5y ago
    Once a month? No. I hardly even reboot my Windows machine once a month... Only the major releases of Windows 10 need a stop the world reboot. Those happen once every six months. And it's usually only a few minutes. That's for a home machine. I've seen some enterprise machines take forever. I have no idea how they managed to fuck that up, but it's on the IT organisation of those enterprises, not on Windows.
    - erikbye 5y ago
      I said once a month, because if you use your computer once a month there is no point having it powered on 24/7, not economical. What happens is you power it on when you need to use it, Windows starts downloading updates in the background, the next time you power on, installation starts on boot.
throaway46546 5y ago
>but we have ready access to laundry Thank you for recognizing this point. It costs me $6 to do a (small) load of laundry at my complex and the time cost of going to a laundromat makes it economically unviable.
- InitialLastName 5y ago
  Laundry is one of those things I've lived without comfortable access to for long enough to appreciate what I have now.

steve_adams_86 5y ago

I think my family’s spending since the pandemic actually geared more towards stuff we use a lot. Perhaps the original comment is right about purchases moving from services to goods. We ended up buying things we may have otherwise used through services. A paddle board we’d otherwise rent, roof top tent (otherwise used to pay for camp sites that were closed during the pandemic), cooking equipment to satisfy cravings for food from restaurants that were closed or shut down, etc. Overall it’s been money well spent though.

nigerian1981 5y ago

People also get sent a lot of stuff they never asked for: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brushing_(e-commerce) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brushing_(e-commerce)