3 ms·

Bad example. That $90 mower works as well as a $600 Honda, it just has fewer fancy features. Walmart is the master of the commodity. It’s dumb not to buy many

Bad example. That $90 mower works as well as a $600 Honda, it just has fewer fancy features. Walmart is the master of the commodity. It’s dumb not to buy many things there. Whole Foods will sell you a gallon of vinegar for $7, Walmart will same the same product probably made at the same place for $2.50.

jsiepkes 3y ago
Can you buy a spare part for your $90 mower if it breaks?
- selestify 3y ago
  Does it matter if the whole thing costs less than the replacement part for a more expensive mower? (Disclaimer: I have no idea about lawnmowers or their costs. I’m engaging based purely on economic decision making.)
  - CapstanRoller 3y ago
    >I’m engaging based purely on economic decision making. Unfortunately the environmental cost of producing disposable junk continues to be externalized and not factored into the economic decision-making spreadsheet.
    - selestify 3y ago
      That’s a fair point. How could we ensure disposal-related externalities are factored into the cost of a product?
      - jsiepkes 3y ago
        The EU is working on legislation to take the full product life cycle cost in to account when importing products. It means taking in to account the cost of disposal or recycling in import duties. Which seems fair. I mean why do I have to pay for the disposal of someone's 90 Euro lawn mower? Aside from environmental cost this is clearly also intended to reduce reliance on low-labour cost countries. Since these usually tend to have regimes which might not "philosophically fully align with ours". Western countries went to China and started selling opium. China went to the west and started selling low quality cheap stuff. I think the later might even be more addictive then the former...
- mcpackieh 3y ago
  Even if you could you'd probably have to fix it yourself, because the guy in town who used to run a general repair shop retired/died from old age 10 years ago and never managed to find a young guy to take over the business. I knew a guy who used to repair anything from work boots to sewing machines to televisions, but he gave it up in his 80s with nobody to replace him. I've heard this is very common, those kind of handyman repair shops mostly don't exist anymore.
- Spooky23 3y ago
  For the engine, sure. It’s all made by like 2 companies. I use a Murray lawn mower that my dad bought for $40 in 1995 at Walmart. The evil of Walmart isn’t the products, it’s their predatory destruction of competition in rural areas. Once you hit the suburbs, they lose that power.
GauntletWizard 3y ago
There's a ton of both. And there's a consumer problem where it's slow and painful and most importantly - expensive in the most valuable commodity, time, to do the research on products. America is built on the assumption that people have agency to make choices. We have been robbed of that time and agency by the deluge of things competing for our attention, but also by the amount of things that we need to think about. There should be economies of scale - it shouldn't matter which toothpaste you buy, because journalism should keep them honest, but it doesn't because there's too many options for that and they're all corrupt.
- Spooky23 3y ago
  There’s always someone who trades convenience for $, is ignorant, or doesn’t really care. I don’t think toothpaste is “corrupt” per se, I think everyone needs toothpaste, and very subtle differences may equate to millions of units of sales.

jsiepkes 3y ago

Can you buy a spare part for your $90 mower if it breaks?

selestify 3y ago
Does it matter if the whole thing costs less than the replacement part for a more expensive mower? (Disclaimer: I have no idea about lawnmowers or their costs. I’m engaging based purely on economic decision making.)
- CapstanRoller 3y ago
  >I’m engaging based purely on economic decision making. Unfortunately the environmental cost of producing disposable junk continues to be externalized and not factored into the economic decision-making spreadsheet.
  - selestify 3y ago
    That’s a fair point. How could we ensure disposal-related externalities are factored into the cost of a product?
    - jsiepkes 3y ago
      The EU is working on legislation to take the full product life cycle cost in to account when importing products. It means taking in to account the cost of disposal or recycling in import duties. Which seems fair. I mean why do I have to pay for the disposal of someone's 90 Euro lawn mower? Aside from environmental cost this is clearly also intended to reduce reliance on low-labour cost countries. Since these usually tend to have regimes which might not "philosophically fully align with ours". Western countries went to China and started selling opium. China went to the west and started selling low quality cheap stuff. I think the later might even be more addictive then the former...
mcpackieh 3y ago
Even if you could you'd probably have to fix it yourself, because the guy in town who used to run a general repair shop retired/died from old age 10 years ago and never managed to find a young guy to take over the business. I knew a guy who used to repair anything from work boots to sewing machines to televisions, but he gave it up in his 80s with nobody to replace him. I've heard this is very common, those kind of handyman repair shops mostly don't exist anymore.
Spooky23 3y ago
For the engine, sure. It’s all made by like 2 companies. I use a Murray lawn mower that my dad bought for $40 in 1995 at Walmart. The evil of Walmart isn’t the products, it’s their predatory destruction of competition in rural areas. Once you hit the suburbs, they lose that power.

GauntletWizard 3y ago

There's a ton of both. And there's a consumer problem where it's slow and painful and most importantly - expensive in the most valuable commodity, time, to do the research on products. America is built on the assumption that people have agency to make choices. We have been robbed of that time and agency by the deluge of things competing for our attention, but also by the amount of things that we need to think about. There should be economies of scale - it shouldn't matter which toothpaste you buy, because journalism should keep them honest, but it doesn't because there's too many options for that and they're all corrupt.

Spooky23 3y ago
There’s always someone who trades convenience for $, is ignorant, or doesn’t really care. I don’t think toothpaste is “corrupt” per se, I think everyone needs toothpaste, and very subtle differences may equate to millions of units of sales.