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This is all true, but people voted for it with their wallets. At all levels, people understood that when their electronics break they would be paying for it aga

This is all true, but people voted for it with their wallets. At all levels, people understood that when their electronics break they would be paying for it again, making the ownership of the product more like renting with recurring payments. People understood the term "planned obsolescence". But they saw the cheap shinny blinky lights and decided they wanted it. The consumer is far more guilty than the company that gave them what they wanted.

WaxedChewbacca 5y ago
I don't think people understand the trades they're making. They see that one offering seems to do approximately the same stuff as another one, but it only costs half as much, and don't understand that the cheaper offering is one one millionth as fixable as the more expensive one. By the time it fails, they forgot the circumstances under which they bought it, so they may never connect cause and effect.
- reader_x 5y ago
  As a consumer, I find string light packaging almost useless to estimate (1) lifespan until it breaks, or (2) possibility I can repair it when it does —therefore I hesitate to spend more than I have to on the theory that at any price I’m lucky if string lasts more than 2-3 seasons.
JaimeThompson 5y ago
Given the lack of wage increases in many parts of the world perhaps the consumers, as a whole, aren't buying the better stuff because this is all they can afford.
convolvatron 5y ago
if I have a choice between a $10 X and a $20 Y, is it necessarily the case that Y will be a better product than X, last longer than X, and/or result in more wages being paid to the workers that made Y?
Freak_NL 5y ago
Aside from the points noted by other commenters about this being a choice most consumers cannot reasonably be expected to make, the notion that there is choice at all is simply false. Almost all Christmas lights sold in shops last year were of the current generation of fixed LED light strings sold in a plastic tub. The year before these were sold mostly in cardboard packages. For the basis indoor Christmas tree light product, this accounts for 95% of the product available, and almost all of the offering in physical stores¹. There's no reasonable chance of voting with your wallet against those numbers. Sure, I might be able to get some fancy hand-crafted Swedish Christmas lights with a ten year replacement part availability guarantee on some website, and who knows, perhaps a very effective word-of-mouth campaign will make them quite successful! — and still not make a dent in the global market. Realistically, it won't have any measurable impact in the greater scheme of things. This product is driven by sellers and manufacturers going for the absolute bottom in price because it is technologically feasible, externalities (like the environmental impact) are not part of the cost, and most consumers have plenty of other worries and simply crave a bit of Christmas cheer. 1: Here in the Netherlands, although likely globally applicable.
carapace 5y ago
If we must assign guilt, one the one hand I do kinda blame people for being thoughtless consumers, on the other we've been subject to a relentless and ubiquitous system of commercial propaganda (advertising) promoting that lifestyle. What's the way forward?

WaxedChewbacca 5y ago

I don't think people understand the trades they're making. They see that one offering seems to do approximately the same stuff as another one, but it only costs half as much, and don't understand that the cheaper offering is one one millionth as fixable as the more expensive one. By the time it fails, they forgot the circumstances under which they bought it, so they may never connect cause and effect.

reader_x 5y ago
As a consumer, I find string light packaging almost useless to estimate (1) lifespan until it breaks, or (2) possibility I can repair it when it does —therefore I hesitate to spend more than I have to on the theory that at any price I’m lucky if string lasts more than 2-3 seasons.

JaimeThompson 5y ago

Given the lack of wage increases in many parts of the world perhaps the consumers, as a whole, aren't buying the better stuff because this is all they can afford.

convolvatron 5y ago

if I have a choice between a $10 X and a $20 Y, is it necessarily the case that Y will be a better product than X, last longer than X, and/or result in more wages being paid to the workers that made Y?

Freak_NL 5y ago

Aside from the points noted by other commenters about this being a choice most consumers cannot reasonably be expected to make, the notion that there is choice at all is simply false. Almost all Christmas lights sold in shops last year were of the current generation of fixed LED light strings sold in a plastic tub. The year before these were sold mostly in cardboard packages. For the basis indoor Christmas tree light product, this accounts for 95% of the product available, and almost all of the offering in physical stores¹. There's no reasonable chance of voting with your wallet against those numbers. Sure, I might be able to get some fancy hand-crafted Swedish Christmas lights with a ten year replacement part availability guarantee on some website, and who knows, perhaps a very effective word-of-mouth campaign will make them quite successful! — and still not make a dent in the global market. Realistically, it won't have any measurable impact in the greater scheme of things. This product is driven by sellers and manufacturers going for the absolute bottom in price because it is technologically feasible, externalities (like the environmental impact) are not part of the cost, and most consumers have plenty of other worries and simply crave a bit of Christmas cheer. 1: Here in the Netherlands, although likely globally applicable.

carapace 5y ago

If we must assign guilt, one the one hand I do kinda blame people for being thoughtless consumers, on the other we've been subject to a relentless and ubiquitous system of commercial propaganda (advertising) promoting that lifestyle. What's the way forward?