Inflation of good with no matching inflation of pay.
Phone upgrades even though there’s barely any change from the last model.
Since 2018, the trend seemed to be going toward removing features instead… sd card slot, headphone jack, physical buttons, intrusions of screen space…
consumers have noticed, since sales of smartphones have plateaued
Foldable are pretty neat, but still too expensive for most
Been eyeing that (still on a 6 year old phone), actual compactness is one of the few things I’d be willing to sacrifice most of the smartphone things I like for.
I have the fold and I wouldn’t call it compact, the flip style phones seem better for that aspect, I just enjoy the large screen when I use it for gaming or watching videos, it’s certainly more compact then if I had a tablet instead I suppose.
Might be better to wait and let it mature a bit if size is your main concern.
I was going to go with the Z Flip over the Fold, I’d want that half size phone.
The flip is pretty great, you can close the pockets on the front of your shirt now if you wear those type. First phone I’ve managed to not smash or send up a grain auger.
Smartphone sales are at their lowest since 2013. Everyone has figured this out now.
I think that’s the hidden cause of increasing phone pricing. I’m still using my note 9. The battery is starting to give so maybe this time next year I finally upgrade.
Cars are a huge one. I know Lemmy is very radically against cars, but they are basically necessary for many (most?) Americans.
What is not necessary is the average price of a new car nearly doubling in 10 years. A $50k car should be a big luxury, not the fucking national average.
In order to afford a car that pricey, most people will have to severely compromise their savings, and/or get a loan that will last as long or longer than the car.
Cars have also become extremely reliable (in the EU at least) over the last ten years. Car companies have slowly convinced millions of people that leasing is the way to go, and nobody realised they were being sold a car on subscription lol
Then they have to give back a perfectly fine car with at least a decade of life left in it, and get hooked into another subscription
Fucking mugs tbh
See, that’s interesting because in America they seem to have gotten worse over the last decade or so. Domestic manufacturers have started designing things in an explicitly maintenance-hostile manner, even if they aren’t exactly less reliable.
I’m super interested if European cars are finally pulling it together. They’ve been an upkeep trap here for years due to the cost of maintenance and likelihood of problems.
I wouldn’t say that. In my experience even domestic cars are on average more reliable. BUT when they do break, it’s a fuck ton more expensive to repair anything. There is a genuine feeling of dread in newer-older vehicles because one part might require dismantling half the vehicle to get at, or that part is only available as part of a larger assembly.
I have been thinking of getting a new car, but didn’t want to use the dealers finance system, so I went to the bank. Turns out, banks will only give auto loans if you’re buying a car that’s only 3 years old.
yeah right, since I can barely afford a new car, lemme just buy a BRAND fuckin NEW one. Nah, gimme that 2012 for 30k less thank you.
Some banks will probably loan you money for a used car, but you won’t be able to use an old car as collateral (as easily). And it may be more expensive.
Hmm, rapid price increases are consistent with inelastic demand, whereby sales remain high even in the face of rising prices. Why wouldn’t car manufacturers raise prices, if it doesn’t affect sales numbers? It’d be breach of fiduciary duty to the shareholders to do otherwise!
What could cause inelastic demand for cars? Making them basically necessary for most Americans, perhaps.
Cars have also ballooned in size since the 90s. In the 90s, sedans were the most common type of car. Now, it’s SUVs and light trucks, which use tons more materials.
True, but materials used did not double within 10 years, and materials are not the entirety of the cost of the car.
I’m not surprised they’re more expensive, I’m surprised that they’re so transparently being gouged. Like housing. And food. And gas.
Nevermind, I’m not surprised anymore.
Agreed. I think both are part of the picture. Consumers are buying the wrong kind of car (or manufacturers are selling the wrong type of car), too big and too inefficient, and there is price gouging, especially during the pandemic shortage. It’s telling that car prices were the fastest to come back down of almost any consumer category last year. Shows how much they could come down.
OP using word ‘convinced’ is relevant here because whilst most people in USA ‘need’ a car (because there is no practical alternative to driving), they are being convinced every day that a private car is the only viable solution to transport in general…
… and then of course you get everyone freaking out when someone has the audacity to suggest that installing a dedicated bike / bus lane would mean less people need a car, and that would save everyone time and money.
Also while I’m ranting, I’m so over people harping on about how they can’t rely on public transit and that’s why they need a car. Like reliable and affordable public transport is some magical and unobtainable goal.
But then when gas prices inevitably get crazy high, or they get in a wreck, or traffic is a mess then that’s just The Way It Is and in no way an indication that maybe everyone driving a personal car for every single trip isn’t the most reliable or sustainable way to run a city.
That last paragraph is the big thing I face most often. We got Amtrak service in my city and I hype that shit. I’ve talked to a bunch of people who are firmly anti-Amtrak because they caught one delay, but they’ll sit in daily interstate gridlock to go to work without batting a fuckin eye.
A thread on rising credit card debt in the US, combined with news of sustained spending levels and a rosy outlook on the economy at the surface got me thinking about this.
Recent trends that I thought of:
- Those “Pay over X months” schemes for smaller purchases than before.
- Tip amounts appearing in more places than they need to be, and increasing.
- Inflation of the prices of basic necessities and everything else
- Everything becoming a monthly subscription
- Deregulation of online gambling and related ads
I’m hoping for more recent trends and things I might not have considered like social media, but I also welcome personal experiences, expanding on any of the above and historical examples.
The subscriptions are out of control now. Sometimes we have to throw a tablet or phone at the kids, and of course they want the play the parts of the game they can’t click on because it’s locked. I have no problem shelling out something reasonable like $2-7 to just unlock all the crap and be done with it, but now most of these developers are asking for $10 a MONTH just to have access to all of the game assets. And they’re not live service games, have online, or even in-game currency; they just single player offline basic games like driving Thomas the tank engine around a map. Like, get fucked dudes.
Mobile games are so twisted and it’s plain to see.
You reminded me of this video, 20 minutes of the basis of how to psychologically manipulate people into spending money for your game. 3:45 is the “Hook, Habit Hobby” part which is worth a watch too. It’s from 7 years ago and elements of it may be beginning to crawl everywhere.
I’ll definitely give this a watch later, thanks!
There are ads that portray people in humiliating situations, like not being able to afford their groceries while holding up the line at the checkout, so they download an app that gives them “free cash.” This is portrayed as a perfectly normal, reasonable thing to do in this situation.
NGL I’ve bought a lot of people their groceries over the years
I’ve been that person and the child of that person who couldn’t afford groceries, so I do what I can to help others
Wow, that’s dehumanizing…
I’ve been behind people who used price match for every item in their cart. I try to smile politely and not look annoyed, people do what they need to to get by.
Yeah I’ve been the person who couldn’t pay too, and had to take items out
It feels like everyone is ignoring your reference to apps like “Dave” that bombard me with ads to essentially payday lend me money if I have direct deposit.
Oh, do they think I’m saying that people are bad for not being able to pay? Damn, that’s the opposite of what I’m saying. These apps are predatory.
Those “Pay over X months” schemes for smaller purchases than before.
Some people don’t realize each one of those is a new line of credit…
You can fuck your credit up for a very long time messing around with those on stupid shit.
The scarier thing is that they are designed to be less than six months to avoid federal loan regulations and are reported to credit agencies as some new kind of installment loan (I forget the exact term/acronym). Many lenders are refusing to lend to anyone who has even taken one out in the past 2-3 years since they are seen as such a high risk indicator.
It’s not just one, it’s that credit checks are big factor in credit scores.
Normally you get an infinite amount in a 2 week period as one check for when you’re shopping around
If someone does one of these every other month, that’s 6 credit checks in a year. Even if you pay them all back asap, it fucks your credit up.
And it’ll show as an open line of credit on your report forever. Which is normally a good thing, but it brings your average credit per account down which hurts you further.
People do t know all that, and their fucking up their credit without knowing it. Then if they have to do a big loan for home/car/whatever, they get a worse rate
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Buy now pay later schemes like Klarna.
You can spread the cost of a takeaway over 6 weeks. Wtf? If you can’t afford a takeaway make a fucking sandwich.
During the pandemic an old friend of mine and myself reconnected abd played video games together. He told me a couple of times that money is kinda tight and whatever. He worked way different shifts than me so i invited him to eat at my place 4 times a week or so. I love cooking and cooking double doesn’t really makes much of a difference. After a few weeks i was at his place for the first time ever and he had two full ass garbage bags full of delivery and fast food on his porch. Motherfucker that’s where your money goes. I can coock for the both of us a good healthy meal for a week for what he spends alone in two days. He basically said: well, i can’t cook, so there is nothing he can do, really. Wegot out of touch again, aside from talking on discord every bow and then, but i seen him recently and he’s almost doubled in size now, so i assume nothing has changed.
I don’t get people who say they “can’t cook”. Anyone can cook basic recipes…. No, the real issue is that they lack the willpower to cook. I say this as someone who dislikes cooking. I can do it if I need to (or rarely, if I feel inspired), and hell, I can do it well! But I detest the idea of spending like an hour cooking every day when I could just buy premade things like frozen meals or whatever and save myself the time. If my wife didn’t like cooking, that’s what I’d be doing for dinner each night (I already do it for lunch basically).
That’s sad. I don’t mind cooking, but after a typical work day, I often don’t have enough mental energy leftover to cook for myself either though. If I didn’t have a wife who loved me, I’d probably end up a lot like your friend. We try to save eating out for special occasions or when we’re both pooped and there’s no leftovers at least. But I can totally understand how that can happen to a person.
Subscriptions everywhere. Video, credit, energy bills (subscription for repairs/maintenance), music, news sites, YouTubers, CARS, etc. I can’t fucking escape this hell!
Energy bills aren’t really subscriptions like the others though. You pay for the energy you use.
Whereas with the others, you’re paying the same price every month regardless of how much you use.
I have seen plans where you pay a fixed price/kWh; almost seemed like a decent deal, until I read the fine print - the regular fees & transportation/kWh is on top of the fixed cost.
Yours doesn’t come with a delivery fee that you’d have to pay every month regardless of any usage?
Oh yeah. Does that count as a subscription too?
The maintenance plan is in addition to the gas usage
Other than energy bills, you’ll just have to dodge the rest of the subscriptions as best you can.
I am doing my okayest.
I’ve done pretty well so far. Only subscription I have is for Spotify and 1Password.
Why 1password when you can use bitwarden, its free for most features, and 10 bucks a year for features I don’t need
Is it a password manager? I’ve been wondering if there’s a good alternative to Keeper, which is what I use. I like that I can access my passwords on different devices, and it tells me if a password has been compromised or is weak. But, I’ve also been trying to save money. I think the one I’m using now is $30 a year so free or $10 a year for similar features would be an improvement.
Yes, bitwarden is a password manager, and A very good one at that
I like the convenience of the 2 factor being included with the paid version, and password autofill with TOTP seems to work much more often than Bitwarden (S23 Ultra, latest version of Android) So with that being said, I really like Bitwarden, but prefer 1Password for the convenience.
2fa is included in bitwarden, just not in the free version
Buying giant SUVs no one needs with huge loans. Paying through the nose for corporate chain coffee.
I work with a guy who recently bought a 100k truck
We make a bit over 50k, this dude’s interest rate is 12% and he got an 8 year loan
He’s never going to pull himself out of that rut
And he’ll never use it as intended, will he? Most that thing will ever haul is a cooler full of Keystone or a few random pieces of wood.
He uses it as his daily commuter vehicle
40 miles per day at 15mpg
50 gallon diesel tank for hauling his ego around
This vehicle will bankrupt him for sure
The cost of a gallon of gas? $3.25
The cost for yearly maintenance? $2,750
The cost of interest paid each month? $585
The joy of bringing a smile to children under the age of 10 pointing and saying “that’s a cool truck!”? $100k
It’s got a 50 gallon tank and runs on diesel
It cost over $200 to fill the tank
He commutes 40 miles per day in that monster
If were more reasonably priced, a 40mi commute sounds like a decent reason to get a vehicle you love.
A 40 mile commute is a reason to get a cheap, fuel-efficient vehicle. Save money on gas, insurance and maintenance.
Stop ruining my devil’s advocate with your logic and reasoning.
S/tank/gallon
You can’t see children under the age of 10 in that truck. I guarantee you the nose on that thing is at least 5 feet high. “Kinderplow”
Holy geez, I knew that medical costs were out of control, but that’s a stupid amount of money to treat fragile masculinity!
8 years! That’s insane to me.
When I talked to him today I found out his payments were $1600 per month!
I don’t know how the hell he affords it
It’s literally more than my rent
That’s more than my mortgage. Crazy.
Cries in Vancouver. Entry level mortgages here wind up around $5700 which is somehow more expensive than my rent on a 2 bedroom 1990s era decor apartment sitting at a market average 3850/month.
We’re not super wealthy, and manage our expenses well but holy shit we’re never gonna get ahead in life if this is what’s in store.
Yikes, and I thought house prices were out of control in Minneapolis!
Good god, that is absolutely hilarious.
The most sinister is an almost inescapable one, where companies intentionally build things (larger appliances are a huge offender) to fail within 3 to 5 years.
It’s the “a poor man can’t afford cheap shoes” thing.
They love to “sell” this concept that making items cheaper means consumers can more frequently replace as their styles change. Fuck you, give me a white fridge that never breaks, I don’t care if I have to pay double up front.
I realized this was a significant part of my expenses about a decade ago now, and started researching and budgeting for higher-quality products that don’t get as much advertisement as their cheaper counterparts. It’s been great! What started as a larger expense on the front end has already broken about even on potential replacements that I didn’t end up needing, plus I get high-quality items to use the whole way through as well!
It’s definitely a good thing to pay attention to just how much you spend on replacing things that broke down unexpectedly quickly. The higher-quality items often exist, but a lot of times you need to seek out the niche communities that focus on those products to help find them and parse through the available options. I’m sure a lot of people just aren’t able to front the charge to make the change, though.
Got any tips on researching these things? I’m always concerned that “buy-it-for-life” testimonials are only so trustworthy when the item was made years ago already, and the manufacturing process could have changed since.
Professional grade items are usually a great start. Not normally advertised, ugly as hell, but powerful, reliable and have a spare part/repair market. A professional vacuum will be expensive but you will be able to give it to your children.
One thing that you can look for is repair manuals, schematics, and spare parts. If those are easy to find, the product may have been made to be repairable.
Use survivorship bias in your favour. I’ve a fridge from 1953, wonderful 60s gas stove, a can opener from 1915, pickup from 1983, motorcycle from 1969 etc.
So, just need to swing by 1953, 1960s, 1915 and 1983 on the way home.
I’ve collected most of that except the bike in the last 5 years, grew tired of new stuff failing and being mostly disposable. The can opener is really neat, seems like 110 years ago they knew how to make something that actually worked and opened cans without leaving sharp edges, much better built than what you get at a store today. theyre 10 bucks on ebay. https://www.ebay.ca/itm/335171281718?hash=item4e09c3e336:g:7LIAAOSwPrFlZofk&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA0Exx8HDDFCXcyRYMrVHWpfpb4KkPCs685zBXJr%2FZxP3vXqGhnb8Gz0hHopfDa%2BvUWB9Ul925P1z9C20IVf%2FMQyeN2cM75RwAQg4AMY8FoGc5XXor6AwQgO4mNJjIprA0RHqrSpsqQjSOkugWUJ5oAFiKYhwjMUJrROWGaksLXdLCuFHpVPzolYKOTB5dEPW7uTRpUULrD0YXtrKGZktbDCaKSCA%2F59wj2sh0FiXtT2OTNhFVaTllTptmBt57QcY9NSySvgwxX63NDsK9Xg47wEY%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR4iR0YGwYw
I try to find as many forums as I can for people who are more likely to know about the product, like enthusiast forums for things like headphones, and professional forums for things like washing machines. I try to get a feel for what parts of a product fail most often, then try to find products where people have specifically reported those things holding strong. There’s probably more I could do, but even just that has led me to finding products that have lasted far longer than buying the cheap stuff on amazon had gotten me.
Buying expensive things and imagining that they last longer just because of their price tag is also a good way to lose money faster.
Correct. That’s why I talked about finding niche communities to help find and parse through options. For example, I didn’t just buy an expensive vacuum, I found a few vacuum enthusiast forums and looked through several threads discussing the best products for my budget price.
I’ve spent the majority of my life connected in some way or another to the internet, starting as a kid on niche bbs in the 90s, and it never ceases to amaze me that there are vacuum enthusiast forums.
Everybody’s got a thing, and they’re usually happy to talk about it to someone who’s genuinely interested. Definitely helpful if you’re looking into that exact thing.
Yeah 100% and I’m glad that people have a place to talk enthusiastically about their thing!
It doesn’t even have to be intentional. So much shit is plastic now so everything breaks faster.
Producing superfluous items uses energy which also has to be paid for. A cost we all pay.
They are paying 2/3rds of their income from a 80 hour warehouse job for a 1 futon closet in the middle of bumfuck nowhere, and then being told they are living too frivolously by assholes.
Trucks (In the USA)
I’m in this FB group that does financial advice with a little sarcasm and jokes mixed in. Suggest that someone should downsize to a car or get rid of their gas guzzling truck they have no real utility for and it’s like you’ve insulted their religion. Never seen such a group of grown adults throwing temper tantrums like that in my life.
thats just an average facebook group, for anything
Exactly
Dishwasher pods are convenient and cost 5x as much as the powder.
Laundry detergent pods are another one
And fabric softener ruins your clothes over time
Get that hypoallergenic laundry soap with no additives, it’s usually better for your clothes as they keep the extras to a minimum
I just buy the giant free and clear liquid detergent from Costco. I’ve got a thing of scent beads, too, but I only use that on my towels and sheets because I like them to smell nice.
It’s important to note that when you buy liquid detergent (or liquid anything in most cases) you’re paying for both product and water. In most cases buying powder instead can lead to a lower ‘cost per load’. At Costco I have to admit the difference is only ~$0.01-$0.02 per load, so it equates to $8 over a few months anyway.
That small value delta could ostensibly be argued as convenience fee but I still order powder on principal.
They really ain’t even that much more convenient, and a box of powder lasts forever
And the pods notoriously have way too much soap in them which often leaves a film on the dishes
In case someone hasn’t seen it and might, I’ll mention that Technology Connections has a few great videos on dishwashers and detergent on (your friendly ethical alternative to) Youtube.
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🤔
Snack tips 😂
I was talking about groceries with a friend over in England a few nights ago. Apparently my pasta prices are 4x hers. And that’s just the store brand dry noodles. If I found the cheapest deal I used to see from various places, it’d still be 2x. I’d need a pound of noodles for $0.49 to even be in the ballpark.
If a simple item like that is casually 4x more expensive, I’m sure everything else is also up there. I’ve been lucky that my income allows me to be a single family income provider and have money left over to throw around wherever I want, but just finding this out the other day really left a deep impression of just how sorry of a state things are in over here.
Yeah it’s always surprising when I hear Americans say that eating healthy is more expensive that eating fast food / eating unhealthy.
When I was veggie and just eating vegetables I could buy a week’s worth of food for about £10 a Kilogram of carrots was about 50p potatoes were 60p/kg brocoli and salad item were a little bit under £1/kg
Then as you said basic things like pasta is pretty cheap, I used to get 1kg of pasta for 30p and then a jar of tomato pasta sauce for 60p and that could last me 3 meals.
“10 pounds a kilogram” is a funny phrase out of context
Some folks don’t have access to fresh groceries like that. Food deserts are a major issue in the states.
Additionally, going out to eat has many hidden costs, like liquor tax in some cities on an already overpriced drink. Soda or Iced tea is $2.50 or more. Now add tax and tip and your $7 cheeseburger & coke is $25.
It’s not for everyone, but my family has been enrolling in CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) produce. It’s cheaper and local. Granted, I’ll get 3 eggplants in a box one week and I need to get creative to be able to use it, but that’s part of the fun. I’ve expanded my produce repertoire 5-fold and now know how to cook fennel.
- Quarter the fennel lengthwise
- Spread olive oil, coarse salt and pepper
- Roast in the oven until the edges starts to brown
- Devour
devour indeed. I also had a recipe for fennel lemonade that I made with the tops.
I’m assuming that’s the bulb. What about the stalk?
Put them in a salad maybe? I usually buy just the bulbs…
Just a persistent culture of materialism. That things will bring you happiness in some deeply rooted way that can’t be matched. Add in an unhealthy dose of capitalistic mentality and there’s also the push that if something costs more, it must be better.
So you get trapped in a cycle of buying things that have no real purpose, or can be better served by something cheaper, and feeling unfulfilled. So you look for something new to fill that emptiness that persists throughout the cycle.
I will never be happy until I have my own private train, I guess ;)
Just pretend you own the metro but let everyone else use it out of the goodness of your heart.
Damn communist freeloaders
Aw, I like that idea!
Can you give me an example?
For me, if I am buying a tool (e.g. pliers) I will always look for an item that will last longer and be of better quality. But I will probably not go for the most expensive ones.
In contrast, I don’t give a fuck about many car features. So, I would always prefer to buy a small city car.
“here’s a new credit offer, just spend X in 90 days and get free money!”
Yeah that one bit me
I really wish there was a government program where you can simply opt out of categories of junk mail. I don’t need a mailbox full of catalogues trying to get me to buy stuff, credit offers, or “charities”.
There is for some junk mail if you’re in the US: https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-stop-junk-mail
Oh yeah. That’s a great example. Just reading that sentence makes my eyes focus on the ‘get free money’ and less on the ‘spend X’.
The good news is having those credit cards actually helped in in the long run as I had a means of paying for the 3 dental surgeries I needed in a 6 month span
Of course I’m still paying that all off but my interest rate is crazy low due to moving the money close to the end of every “0% rate” period
I was talking about this with a friend just the other night. A lot of those services can actually be helpful. The problem is they’re so often predatory and just target people with the idea that they can buy things they can’t afford.
They can be super useful that’s for sure but damn can they really be predatory that’s for sure
I swear when COVID hit my mailbox was getting stuffed with offer letters for cards every week
And one of the cards I got I got in anticipation of having a dental surgery, then it got hit super hard and ended going over 10k really quick due to the 3 surgeries I ended up having
I just see a big red flag. But those need some practice and upkeep since advertisers keep coming up with new schemes.
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Iphones being some sort of standard
Peer pressure on behalf for corporations is such a silly thing in my opinion…
My preferences only extend to what I want, I don’t really care what others use unless they are looking for suggestions/advice.
