Most shops are just landfill waiting to happen.

This is a really good illustration of the issues with capitalism and modern life in general. It used to be if you wanted to extend the life of cheap shoes, repair was a viable and affordable option until you could buy new. Now it's cheaper to buy new in the moment.

The reason why such repairs are becoming more expensive is because those who do them have to pass on their ever rising costs to the consumer, which depends on continually increasing trade etc. Repairing one's own shoes is possible if they are already good quality, and you have accessvto the right tools eg. Leatherworking etc. But cheap man made shoes, which we are encouraged to buy because of animal welfare and the benefits of veganism to the environment are trickier. The right glue for the right synthetic for example. How many times as a teen did I stick a flapping sole back on, for it to start flapping half a day later because I didn't have "the right glue" or an industrial vice to clamp it or the weather intervened?

I'm honestly not trying to say we shouldn't bother repairing when we can etc but as I said before,many problems come with their own solutions.

As to modern cars, which according to friends that own them, everything is computerised and electronic, exclusive to the dealer and you'd need NASA qualifications for things that the average motorist used to do themselves. Which feeds into other ways of sucking more money out of the owner under the guise of vital industry and jobs etc.

It's like going round in ever decreasing circles when you start digging in.

I think we're in a bad place as a species if regularly buying random stuff is seen as necessary for taking part in society, and a solution to feeling depressed or empty. It's easy to see how we've got there over the past century, but very hard to see how it could be scaled back when so many very wealthy people and corporations have an extremely lucrative interest in perpetuating it.

The problem underlying this is that most of what we have now is so cheap (and cheaply made) that it's not worth trying to repair it. We're funneled towards throwing away and replacing. A lot of things have built in obsolescence and are made to fail after a limited number of uses. Lightbulbs are a prime example of this. It's possible to make lightbulbs that last for years, but obviously that limits how many people buy. So the light bulb manufacturers made the decision to make the filaments thinner, so they would burn out sooner, and people would have to replace/buy more often.

Look at DeBeers, peddling the notion that an engagement ring should cost 3 months wages as they control the diamond market by limiting how many stones are released for sale. Diamonds aren't rare. And diamonds don't hold their value, either. Second hand value is a fraction of the original cost.

It's a massive problem for charity shops because they have to deal with thousands of tons of cheap clothing that has no resale value. People give themselves a pat on the back and tell themselves it's not waste because it went to a charity shop. But Primark/new look/H&M and Shein clothing is worth nothing because it was cheap rubbish to begin with. It is put on cargo ships and taken to countries in Africa and added to their landfill, because they don't want our cheap second hand crap either.

We are manufacturing far too much and throwing most of it away unused, with a constant race to the bottom to see who can produce the cheapest, and we are told that the solution to every problem is to buy more. And we've got used to having too much.

Or maybe it costs too much for repairs in some cases ? I got two pairs of shoes re-soled and re-heeled recently (loafers) and they cost almost £50 each. For some, the original cost of the shoes wouldn’t have been that much. These shoes were Russell & Bromley, so were expensive enough but I’ve had them for three years and I did hesitate before agreeing to the price.

If you look at price and demand just on economic level it’s the effective way to lower demand.

Would people want higher prices though? Look at US tariffs and the reaction to those. If it came to it would people want tariffs on Chinese goods here? I’m
not sure they would, but perhaps given this thread.

Just watched this. It's very interesting - but people just don't want to hear it.

Yes - charity shops have become far too expensive and they charge £5 for t-shirts that were probably £2 originally.

I buy things like non-fiction books, ceramic pots for my plants and art frames and some of the prices for these are also increasing hugely. Used to be 50p - £1 now £3.00 upwards.

Probably because they're depressed and want to cheer themselves up!!?

Humans have produced art and music for thousands of years. I think it is very much necessary as it is a way of communicating.

My dad used to go on about plastic tat and mindless consumerism all the time, until my sister pointed out his collection of CDs - 400+ of them, in plastic cases, in specially bought racks. Alongside were the VHS tapes and DVDs (never got to bluray). And 2 different hobby magazines every month.

So it's definitely not a new thing. Just that music, film, mags, books can be got online now, so maybe the "collector" habit has moved to other "stuff".

Following SM trends is sad and chavvy.

Problem is that most electrical items are sealed. I remember my parents bought an element for their Russell Hobbs kettle in the 80s as could be removed from unscrewing screws on the outside and it slid out of the hole. Now the element is sealed at the bottom. I don’t think you could buy kettles with exposed elements for the past 25 years.

One of the kettles I had, the thing that keeps the switch on broke. So had to keep finger on the switch in order to boil water! When kettle boils, you do other things. Such as breakfast - get mugs, tea/coffee out, put bread in the toaster, pour cereal into a bowl etc. I wasn’t able to do these. It hurt my finger. I doubt that piece would have been repaired

Interesting how the judgement and classicism can't be escaped, which is also part of propaganda and marketing.

I'm honestly really fascinated by it. We start with the subject of mass production, and the fact that it's out of control, bad for the environment etc. It's tied into "progress" because for the last 100 years or so, technology has kept advancing, so we have new "essentials" with practically limitless scope for upgrades. Plus, old essentials such as fridges, cookers, etc are being tied into the tech so before long, we'll have an illusion of choice but will we really be able to find a fridge that doesn't answer back or prompt you to buy kale?

In terms of the "non-essential" but nice to have stuff, as humans we all mostly want a comfortable nest or den. Whether we're buying from John Lewis or B&M we're meeting a natural urge that is ripe for exploitation in very sophisticated ways.

So we can take more "individual responsibility" and make more sustainable choices such as "pre-loved", and that's brilliant, but then suddenly, the market gets a whiff of another orofit stream to grow and exploit, and there's an app for that (which feeds into the whole tech being bad for the environment anyway thing), so even making those choices is theoretically good, but practically there are issues behind that too.

Who drives the demand for the tat indeed? I'm not sure entirely, but I don't think it's actually us at the consumer end. Most of us don't wake up one day and say "You know what would make my life complete? A special giant sized water cup with heat controls that come in a variety of styles and I'll need them all because there's a whole fun community for that." But these trends etc are shoved in the faces of certain age groups and demographics thanks to algorithms and smart phones, and while my generation (56) rolls our eyes and scroll on by, it's because in my case I can hear my Mother saying "and if all you friends jumped off a cliff, would you?" When I would whine for the trendy thing of my era that she couldn't afford / didn't approve of.

Sorry this has turned into a bit of a ramble. This is such a complex subject really. The solutions could be simple, but I think the economic fall out would never be allowed.

Agree with all of this.

But most people look at you as though you have sprouted an extra head if you say so.

If we really need something these days, we try to purchase second hand.

Our library has an electrical drop off point so at least broken stuff can be recycled

my kettle broke but I still have the matching toaster itms

maybe people buy all this because they can’t afford the bigger things and it cheers them up

Would be great if more people embraced mending and repairing. There are a few "repair cafes" in my city where you can take along electricals which aren't working or clothing which needs to be adjusted which is a great concept. But it involves EFFORT and many just prefer to chuck something away and get a shiny new one.

The trend for matchy matchy christmas "schemes" which have to be a certain colour(s) is crazy and definitely a social media thing.

Some of these fast fashion/SM trends are just too chavvy. Matching PJs at Xmas, decorate half the bed with cushions. A friend badly twisted her ankle from tripping over the cushions she threw onto the floor to get into bed. She got up in the middle of the night to use the loo. She got rid them all after that.

I bet most of these people who change their Xmas decs every year, replace both their matching toaster and kettle when just one of them broke, summer scatter cushions etc don't take the working/good condition stuff to the charity shop. They either tip it or worse, fly tip it.

YANBU. It’s just depressing. We’ve know about climate issues for decades (I remember learning about global warming in the 1990s) and here we are wasting energy and resources more than ever. The focus on continued ‘growth’ is just leading to more and more unnecessary stuff, it’s all so futile.

Components for lots of today’s essentials are made in China.

Sounds a little bit like the flea markets we have here in my home town. There are usually 3-4 every weekend and they are amzingly cheap. I just bought a cardigan, a T-Shirt and a dress for 9€, about 8 pounds. I.don't think Primark is much cheaper, the quality at fleamarkets is usually better though.
I also do clothes swaps, book swaps and repair cafes.

We also have a huge charity shop here which is two factory buildings with furniture, clothes, electronics, etc. I bought a smart TV for 44 pounds and a kitchen table for 9 pounds. They also have seasonal tat 😉

About 90% of my clothes and 70% of furniture are second hand.

I am on befits so I know what it means to be tight. That's why I buy mostly vegetarian, from the market and second hand. I don't get the argument if you can get clothes at better quality for less.

I am german though it might be different in the UK. I kind of get the feeling that flea markets are less common there.

Ha yes - I thought that too with that name 😳.

I am fairly frugal about stuff (im a lot shorter than average which means its hard to find clothes to fit....so when i do , i wear them forever- even primark stuff, some items have lasted 10 years!) but then I think if shops/pubs/hairdressers were only used by people like me they would all close! Which also isn't a good thing!

We don't celebrate Halloween and have never had any Easter decorations. We make a wreath at Christmas (DH made a frame that gets reused) and we have a bow that we save each year. Decorations are mostly 5+ years old, some are more than 10 years old.

Sales Taxes on plastic goods (including clothes) would be a start.

We desperately need to look at what things are made of - I don’t know if anyone saw that that the liquid run off from landfill is being poured into sewage systems, then onto fields as fertiliser to grow our food. Absolutely grim. At some point these things have to be dealt with.

I would probably start off banning things like Shein and Temu and purchasing stuff direct from China on other platforms like Amazon or EBay. None of that stuff meets UK/EU safety standards - think of all the dodgy toys that are floating around from these sites. It wouldn’t solve the whole issue but it would be a start, and if people need to buy tat at least a physical shop employs people and pays VAT.

Long term though I’d love to see a cultural shift away from acquiring lots and lots of STUFF being a seen as desirable. I think all the defensiveness on this thread shows how tied up with lifestyle, class, really deep seated feelings shopping is - it’s a massive challenge.

I completely agree with you.
I’m frugal by nature and I automatically consider need vs want in every aspect of my life.
Consumerism is a deadly sin