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Not sure how this works out. I mean, if you were throwing your car into the trash, definitely. But presumably you'd instead be selling it to someone who needs

Not sure how this works out. I mean, if you were throwing your car into the trash, definitely. But presumably you'd instead be selling it to someone who needs one, right? I had a similar debate about the 'wastefulness' of upgrading phones each year. As long as previous phone is going to someone else, was any more waste necessarily created? I feel like I must be missing something, because of how prevalent such arguments are.

reducesuffering 3y ago
It's still marginally more wasteful because there's more supply in the used market and with enough of the same decision in aggregate, the used market would go from using phones until they're 5 years old to using them until they're 4 years old, because that's what people could afford with $100. Like if there's so much supply in used market because most people buy new, then there's a lot more people who don't prioritize reselling their used item at all because it's only worth $20 (at the extreme)
- silisili 3y ago
  I think that makes some sense. Thanks.
ars 3y ago
When you sell something the price goes down. This trickles all the way down the line, and at the end of the line some marginal product (car or phone in your example) switches from "valuable enough to use" into "it's cheap enough to be trash now".
zamnos 3y ago
That's a big "if" though. Phones get held onto for a few years, then just get thrown into the trash (and not even as e-waste) because they're only worth a token amount, if anything at all. Cars, on the other hand, are a) large enough you can't just throw them out with the kitchen waste, and b) have value, even just as scrap or a tax write off.
marcosdumay 3y ago
When people talk about replacement rates, they are talking about the process of it passing through all the owners until it is actually thrown away. You may not do it yourself, but somebody is going to eventually throw that car away.

reducesuffering 3y ago

It's still marginally more wasteful because there's more supply in the used market and with enough of the same decision in aggregate, the used market would go from using phones until they're 5 years old to using them until they're 4 years old, because that's what people could afford with $100. Like if there's so much supply in used market because most people buy new, then there's a lot more people who don't prioritize reselling their used item at all because it's only worth $20 (at the extreme)

silisili 3y ago
I think that makes some sense. Thanks.

ars 3y ago

When you sell something the price goes down. This trickles all the way down the line, and at the end of the line some marginal product (car or phone in your example) switches from "valuable enough to use" into "it's cheap enough to be trash now".

zamnos 3y ago

That's a big "if" though. Phones get held onto for a few years, then just get thrown into the trash (and not even as e-waste) because they're only worth a token amount, if anything at all. Cars, on the other hand, are a) large enough you can't just throw them out with the kitchen waste, and b) have value, even just as scrap or a tax write off.

marcosdumay 3y ago

When people talk about replacement rates, they are talking about the process of it passing through all the owners until it is actually thrown away. You may not do it yourself, but somebody is going to eventually throw that car away.