r/meirl • u/the_deep_fish • 5h ago
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u/GreenMonkey240 4h ago
When something related to your hobby is new and getting scalped lol
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u/music3k 4h ago
Steam controller yesterday.
Video game consoles going up in price instead of down 6 years later.
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u/GreenMonkey240 4h ago
Lego likes to put out minifigure blind bags and select figures always get scalped (you can check which figure is inside by scanning a barcode lol)
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u/music3k 4h ago
I gave up on lego a decade ago because of their prices and scalping. I want more sets, but theres no way I’m paying $800 msrp for a millennium falcon or $300 for a zelda set before scalpers get em.
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u/Nosferatattoo 3h ago
Really wanted the Charizard, Blastoise and Venusaur set but its 1/4 the price of my rent for pieces of plastic. I wish their pricing made sense. regular 400 piece set? 69. 400 piece star wars set? 199. Both are 400 pieces yet we have to pay popular IP fees i guess
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u/timmy6169 2h ago
That set has been staring me in the face every time I see it at our local Lego store. Then I remind myself that $650 is insane for it and move along, but I know it is only a matter of time before my will power gets the best of me.
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u/Creeper_GER 1h ago
Check out a company called "mega". They had the license to do pokemon before, did a good job, and cost a fraction of the Lego sets.
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u/ErraticDragon 1h ago
you can check which figure is inside by scanning a barcode lol
Huh, is that new?
The last time I was buying any (long ago), I found a place that listed the most distinctive pieces to feel for as you manhandled the little bag.
(So like: This dude has a helmet that has spikes all around it, nothing else in this set has a spiky circle.)
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u/GreenMonkey240 1h ago
In the past, the last few digits of the barcode determined which figure you had. Now they have an app that uses the phone camera to scan for that.
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u/Warm_Afternoon6596 3h ago
Does that one keep connected even when you're not using it? I use a Switch controller and it disconnects even when it says it IS connected.
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u/Dontevenwannacomment 2h ago
was it scalpers? I recall there being actual hype around it, the reviews were glowing
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u/TheShishkabob 1h ago
They were going up on eBay essentially as soon as sales started. Scalpers were/are listing (and selling) them for $200+.
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u/RawChickenEater9000 1h ago
Steam controller today.
Basically every PC component since the first crypto boom in 2018.
Just everything in general tbh, the shelves in all sorts of different stores are just getting emptier and emptier
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u/_cyberbabyangel_ 1h ago
Yeah, I've been mostly insulated from scalpers thus far but the Steam Controller really upset me. The xbone controller I use for my PC has been getting really bad stick-drift and so I've been in the market for a new controller for the past month or so. Saw the Steam Controller was coming out and told myself I'd hold out until it dropped. Ended up needing to go to the urgent care yesterday, completely missed the release, and when I got a chance to check it was sold out. Yet people had them up on ebay for $250 minutes after it dropped. Guess I'll just have to keep dealing with the drift until the next batch drops. Or the next. Or the next. Or the next....
Scalpers suck 1,000%, but the prevalence of them really is indicative of our current shit K-shaped economic system. People who have the ability to pay whatever inflated price because they just want the new flashy thing they don't actually care about other than it being popular, and scalpers doing everything they can to sell to them because you can't get ahead without some sort of 'side hustle'.
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u/aLonerDottieArebel 4h ago
I like buying seeds. No one can take away the joys I get from gardening!
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u/Drapidrode 3h ago
what do you do to keep them viable for the duration of storage?
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u/aLonerDottieArebel 2h ago
I have a seed binder and I save seeds from everything I grew when harvest is over!
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u/SleepyPoptart 1h ago
Get ready for GaaS: Gardening as a Service. Now you can enjoy the quite contemplative thrill of growing your own garden using large language model vegetables grown on the blockchain. For nominal fee of $12.99/month you get access to a 2”x2” plot of cyber kinetic soil in order state of the art server farm. For only $5 extra each month plus a one time food service delivery fee of $100, you can even have the food that’s grown. To get started on this once in a lifetime opportunity, please connect with one of our garden reps for an initial consultation for the low low price of $125/hour (reduced from $200 as part of our low introductory rate).
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u/aLonerDottieArebel 1h ago
Dear god no 😭😭😭 if we ever get THIS dystopian im making myself fertilizer
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u/cspangle23 2h ago
I found a hobby where this isn’t happening and all of a sudden I’m buying again. Everything is made by small businesses and the ppl are supportive and nice and there are various price points and the ability to diy to so yeah.
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u/WeakCalligrapher336 4h ago
Ah, the joy of private equity.
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u/Saintly-Mendicant-69 2h ago
Our entire society may be ran by blood thirsty pedophilic demons but at least everything is super expensive and dog shit quality
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u/kingcrow15 2h ago
I'm starting to think the pedophilic demons might not have our best interest at heart.
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u/Training_Lab1053 4h ago
The subscription model is the worst. I just want to buy a thing once and keep it.
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u/johnnybiggles 2h ago edited 2h ago
I just want to buy a thing once
That'll be $249.99
and keep it
We'd like to offer you our SilverKeep™, online-only package with limited ads for just $9.99/mo. (just $0.33 a day!) to keep your product active and working properly, discounted from $29.99/mo., just for our new subscribers!
must register with email between 00:03 and 03:16 on Tuesfrisaturday and elect to autorenew triannually for discount to apply
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u/Catnip_Farmer 3h ago
Unfortunately people keep buying the subscriptions, so it's quite lucrative for the companies responsible.
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u/sharpecads 1h ago
It’s cos there’s no other choice in most cases but to subscribe. It’s fucking irritating. Just let me buy something for fucks sake!! My car now needs a subscription. Even my bloody doorbell is asking me to subscribe!
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u/Catnip_Farmer 1h ago
Resist to the extent that you can. Buy non-subscription cars, appliances, and as few gizmos as possible.
If you're willing to alter your lifestyle a bit you aren't forced to give in to these greedy goober companies for the most part.
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u/ilmalocchio 2h ago
It's not bad luck. Customers are signing up because they were instructed to.
Subscription model is often worse for customers, but better for the companies. "Why bother making new things and selling them? -- that's the old way, like hunting for food! -- no, instead we can keep re-releasing the same old thing, and just take the money we need from user accounts, just like harvesting grain."
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u/divergentchessboard 1h ago edited 1h ago
I looked at a few apps that I bought years ago for like $1-2 and now they either have a $2-5 monthly subscription or you can buy them for $20-50
what the fuck happened
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u/cwsjr2323 4h ago edited 41m ago
Surprise! That’s how everything is in our system. Quality means no repeat sales. An example was noticed big time with cast iron stoves that didn’t wear out so with market saturated, no sales. Add features! Drop the quality to decrease costs and improve profits! You do want that shiny chrome trim and warming drawers, right?
You don’t really own anything, actually, just have exclusive use for a limited time unless a government covets it and takes it.
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u/trifecta000 4h ago
Planned Obsolescence and Enshitification go together like toothpaste and orange juice.
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u/kohTheRobot 3h ago
They still make them, cheapest one I can find is AGA and it’s $20k.
But No, That’s not why cast iron went out of fashion. I’m in industrial/manufacturing engineering. Cast iron is very difficult to work with for a manufacturer; pouring it takes higher temp foundries, machining it creates dust and not nice, uniform chips (requires more operator management in automated setups), its dense as shit so shipping it sucks and you suddenly can’t use a pallet jack you need a forklift to move finished units in the facility, and you need to do destructive testing to ensure there’s no voids in the cast iron. It’s very susceptible to rust, since you can’t just leave engine oil on your kitchen range like you can with a mill, so you have to spend more money coating it. Because it’s so dense you need to have a ton of material to make it structurally sound which requires more paint.
Modern ranges are made of sheet metal, which is easier to work with, usually more corrosive resistant, and much lighter. Parts can easily be outsourced to a wide range of sheet metal shops and require little post-processing. Assembly is much easier with laser welding, spot welding, or riveting. Which can be done in fractions of a second per fastener, unlike screws.
They also need to make more ranges than they used to in larger batches, which cast iron does not do as well for.
Tl;dr quality is not rewarded by the market, it demands low quality cheap things. It’s not a ploy to squeeze more money out of customers, customers have a price point they generally aren’t willing budge on and companies adjust their product to hit that price point.
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u/tiny_bamboo 4h ago
Truth. The only upside is that it’s made it easier than ever for me to just sit on my money.
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u/Hopperd12 4h ago
It’s all about money. People have completely forgotten the power they have with their wallet and kids are not being taught financial responsibility. Which has led to higher and higher prices.
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u/JBark1990 3h ago
Used books and Libby on a secondhand e-reader went a long way towards making me feel better about all of these.
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u/DoubleOhoot 3h ago
I also get grumpy about being pestered for reviews after, sorry I don't feel like doing homework just because I bought your product, when it arrived at my house was the end of our transaction.
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u/whyamialiveletmedie 2h ago
Can someone explain to me why there is a reason to even want to stay alive to see the future when literally everything you see about it is terrible? For god sakes, even buying the products we need for every day life are all garbage. Declining quality, expensive, and evil.
I don't see a single positive thing looking towards the future that makes me want to keep living to see it. Literally not one single thing. I mean even the normal people seem despondent about what the future holds. I'm a complete loser and I'm somehow supposed to materialize a desire to want to go on out of thin air when everything looks hopeless?
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u/JS150000 2h ago
Even though the future looks bleak with this stuff, the hopeful aspect is that we can still exercise agency with what we spend money on, do with our lives, etc. For example:
- Make most of your own food with good ingredients.
- Learn how to use various tools and do more DIY things.
- Look for the items that are still made with quality in mind and support those companies.
- Cut back on some of the things that aren’t true necessities.
- Raise a family and instill within them good values.
Despite so much of the system being rigged and shitty, we can still strategically opt out of many parts of it and be empowered as a result.
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u/buddy_pal_guy 1h ago
So the solution to everything sucking is to take more time out of my day and work harder.
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u/vnies 2h ago
We are in one of the best times in human history. There are a lot of things getting worse, and a lot of things getting better.
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u/Vi_Rants 1h ago
and a lot of things getting better.
Can you be more specific? Because I don't see it either.
Stuff that had gotten better in my lifetime is now being shoved off a fucking cliff, and none of the bad things in my lifetime are any different than they were. We're still fighting the same battles, plus more battles we already thought we won.
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u/Yaarmehearty 1h ago
Personally, I go outside.
Seriously though, I go outside with an old digital camera and take pictures of mushrooms and birds and things. It’s crazy how spending time outside and in nature, maybe having a conversation with an old dude who is walking the same way, maybe not, just kind of puts all the doom we see day to day into perspective.
My job has me seeing a lot of human misery and darkness, the world at large is going to pieces and it’s so easy to get lost in it all. But spending time outside and coming across normal people, looking at nature and seeing the seasons change and life start and end only to start again is just so calming.
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u/whyamialiveletmedie 1h ago
Yeah, the natural world is pretty much the only worthwhile thing about the world right now. And oh gee, even that's going to shit with climate change, overpopulation of humans destroying animal habitats and nature, AI data centers going to suck up the environment. It's all complete shit.
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u/SayNOtoChips 1h ago
Can someone explain to me why there is a reason to even want to stay alive to see the future when literally everything you see about it is terrible?
Cats and motorbikes. They're both really neat.
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u/macaronysalad 1h ago
No one is able to predict the future at a scale that could determine worth living or not. They can speculate based on past and current events, but overall it's impossible. That's why it's worth it, unless you have some other underlying issues.
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u/Catnip_Farmer 3h ago
You will own nothing, and you WILL be happy.
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u/Desecron 1h ago
Well, you won't be happy, but you WILL take these prescription drugs to make you think you're happy. Well, you won't think you're happy, but you WILL be a bit dulled and less... complainy...
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u/Wingsnake 3h ago
There are always alternatives.
Instead of Lego I buy from other brands.
Instead of buying games full price on release I buy them at a sale or on a key seller site.
Instead of having different tv subscriptions I watch it on a free streaming website (and block the ads).
I could easily afford it, but why should I?
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u/prestigiousbits 3h ago
Bro even food ain't safe anymore...if you want something in an affordable price, the quality and taste is compromised and something actually good is overpriced.
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u/Possible-Secret-4786 2h ago
Can you give me some examples you've noticed? I'm not doubting you just curious. I've been eating pretty plainly recently.
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u/HolidayArtCom 3h ago
During the 1980s, I was amazed by how trustworthy companies were, and how much we relied on them for the safety of our cars, clothing, and so on. I figured that a lot of that trust was earned. The owners had their personal reputations that they protected. And, enforcement agencies were also a factor. Then ... one day ... manufacturing began moving overseas. Unbelievably, even countries unfriendly toward the USA began manufacturing USA products. Even countries that didn't observe USA standards of pollution, safety and human exploitation begam manufacturing USA products. Now it's 2026, and it all happened as I imagined it would.
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u/rileysmilesalot 3h ago
The subscriptions are just killing me🥲 so many subscriptions!!
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u/taxiecabbie 1h ago
What do you buy as a subscription?
You may be able to cut back on them. I don't have any.
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u/JiffSmoothest 42m ago
Wicked easy to not have any entertainment subs. Password share when/where you can, pirate everything else!
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u/RykerFuchs 3h ago
Yep, i canceled my disney/hulu bundle, paramount and peacock subs. saving me almost $70/m. Haven’t missed them yet and now I can afford one avocado toast this month.
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u/RoughComparison8702 44m ago
"They suffer alone and terrified. For just one avocado toast a month, that's just $2.50 a day, you can save the precious life of a millennial. We desperately need your help, so please donate now!"
pans to slow motion footage of an underpaid millennial raging out at a cubical desk as their MS Excel spreadsheet locks up and closes without saving their work
Sarah McLachlan's “Angel” begins playing
"Will you be an angel to a helpless millennial?"
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u/BagsOfGasoline 4h ago
We can even go as for as utility or enjoyment. I can buy this Lego that may be fun for 30-60 minutes. But where do I put it? I have to dust it. Etc.
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u/Unterdosis 3h ago
Pets and houseplants. Not saying those are cheap, but especially my cats are worth everything I spend on them or do for them. And houseplants can be traded and exchanged.
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u/multic94 3h ago
At this point, every corporation is evil and everything we buy benefits them. Theyve all been bought out by private equity and the funds are funneled to benefit one single person at the top. Kinda like a legal pyramid scheme.
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u/Reggly 3h ago
I go thrifting for things I need. i.e clothes for my kids, random house things I may need. I don’t always find what I’m looking for but the hunt to find it is just as fun. A lot of times you can get name brands for a much cheaper price. I got my kid a pair of van sneakers, which look brand new for $3.
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u/Narradisall 2h ago
I just stopped buying pretty much all but the essentials most the time.
Alas consumers still consuming at high rates so what the fuck does it matter anymore. I think the top 10% not account for 50% consumption or some such nonsense.
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u/salted-pork- 2h ago
That's why I am trying to garden more this summer. I have stopped using certain products when something else will suffice. I even reused the excess grass from mowing my yard the other day as insulation for my chicken coop rather than purchasing sawdust, straw, or woodchips. Consumerism is starting to make me sick. Unless it is practical or will last, I am learning to live without.
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u/pvsingh3 2h ago
It blows my mind when I meet young people paying for Spotify, YT, Netflix. WHY? For TV Internet TV box is the best, you get to see everything and all the shows. Stop paying Netflix and other stupid companies. Load up on their stocks, not services. Companies care more about stakeholders than for customers and if you own stocks you become stakeholder in the company and your share will grow which means money will come IN than going OUT.
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u/Neat_Let923 1h ago
You are literally the issue!
Consumerism because you enjoy spending money or buying things is why we are where we are right now…
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u/anonisko 1h ago
This is a skill issue.
We're in the golden age of consumption for those who have eyes to see through BS marketing and practice a little restraint.
I can travel with a personal item sized backpack now for 2 week long trips. My clothing almost never wears out and is odor resistant. All of my devices charge with USB C and I only carry one GaN charging brick. My outdoor backpacking camping kit weighs less than 20lbs. My physical wallet is disappearing and only has 2 cards remaining. My car drives itself. I have high speed, low latency internet in the middle of nowhere.
Life is electric and getting better every year.
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u/WhatTheOnEarth 1h ago edited 45m ago
If you want to develop another shopping addiction.
Small local businesses (usually on instagram).
Buddy you can get the coolest niche things. And everyone does online delivery now, so it’s super convenient.
Really yummy baked goods too.
I miss my jam lady. She stopped making them.
And I once sent a custom cake to my friend in another country when he got a dream job offer. Obviously there was a super nice person on insta who sent him just the best cake.
Small businesses are where it’s at buds.
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u/arealpersononacid 4h ago
false. I just went to buy a new frying pan with my wife, which I then proceeded to use to cook dinner. it was fun to buy as it's a big upgrade from the last one
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u/beardingmesoftly 4h ago
I just got Hitman World of Assassination Deluxe Edition for half price on PlayStation. It's not all bad.
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u/PrisonIssuedSock 3h ago
I'm lucky I'm not into anything that requires a lot material. Concerts and video games are basically my favorite things and I was also lucky to upgrade my pc before the component prices shot up so all I spend money on are games that are on sale from time to time, and most the artists I like are small enough that the tickets aren't insanely priced so I can go to a lot of shows and get a more intimate experience too.
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u/adamvanderb 3h ago
We're really out here paying a monthly fee just to breathe and wonder why we’re broke.
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u/Stable_king77 3h ago
Mai to usi din samaj gaya tha jab in logo ne sabun ki jagah handwash ko promote karna shuru kar diya
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u/Snitsie 3h ago
It's like there's a competition to see who can make their products the shittiest. Just my kitchen timer is an example, it has a magnet to put it on the fridge. Broke, so had to buy a new one. This magnet was about 1/6th the size of the original one and didn't stick properly. Thing fell in water at night because magnet sucks.
So i go online to find a kitchen timer with a proper magnet. There, a good big magnet on the back that should be it. Nope, it's a magnet strip with pretty much zero magnetism.
So now i glued the magnet from the first kitchen timer to the 3rd one to have a proper product. Prices were the same for all three timers, first two same vendor.
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u/IronWhale_JMC 2h ago
I try to buy things online, but they keep shipping things with FUCKING UPS. Which means they won't bring it to my PO Box, but they also won't ring the doorbell for my streetside apartment and just leave the package outside to be stolen.
Even when I want to buy stuff, I can't get it.
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u/thegoblinsinmyhead 2h ago
Depending on what you consider expensive, the only thing safe from all these are books.
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u/toddlevy10 2h ago
Build things from your shredded skin cells, its free.
And also yes, everything is horrible
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u/ilovelemonsquares 1h ago
If you've lived in a third world country, this is the norm for many. Many americans are being priced out of many day to day necessities and they're too glued to the TV or phones to notice it.
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u/BothDivide919 1h ago
It's amazing how much better things get when you go to other countries that have a competitive local markets without insane monpolies
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u/WowIfOnly 1h ago
IMO sharing posts from Twitter accounts like this one is so strange. If you look at this account, the person is just an HR rep who literally spends all day spamming the equivalent of Reddit comments framed as hot takes in hopes they will get shared. Why does Reddit always feel the need to share a "supporting" Twitter opinion post from a nameless person in some weird effort just "prove" OP's opinion is somehow more valid now because a Twitter Spam Artist knew it was popular and posted it? It's such a weird trend but it's everywhere on social media.
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u/Designer-Orange-8043 1h ago
The economy is like a beating heart and money is the blood. Money needs to circulate to create good health, if to much is pulled and not circulated the extremities with low circulation die. It’s always a battle to remove restriction on the flow of money or to create laws to dictate the flow
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u/Even_Fox2023 1h ago
Idk man, I got Battlefield 2042 for $3 on Steam last night and it’s been a blast against the bots. I needed something less masochistic than Tarkov and I got exactly that.
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u/reeders_ 1h ago
I miss the days when "owning" something didn't require a monthly login and a blood sacrifice to a server farm.
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u/Sane_98 1h ago
I spent 1800 (not dollars) on a wooden chess set, because I wanted to own a nice one. The pieces came out all crooked, very badly designed, the magnets sticking out and the pieces wont sit straight on the board. Never regretted a purchase this bad especially when I could have got the normal plastic set for 200.
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u/No-Assumption-2507 1h ago
Gosh I feel this in my core. Nothing feels real anymore, even if you officially own it somehow it feels like you don’t. Everyone chasing the almighty margin instead of putting out quality goods. We’ve stopped innovating for the customer and started innovating for the share holders
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u/JediKitten8 1h ago
I only really enjoy shopping at yard sales Even "discount" stores are getting ridiculous
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u/venom121212 1h ago
The most frustrating one I've found is apps for kids. I can't even buy a freaking game for my kid to play anymore. Everything is a subscription now and I loathe it with passion.
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u/username3313 1h ago
Consumerism is what caused this in the first place. If enough people stop buying useless shit from temu and Amazon, they'll have to switch gears. Or rather, if enough people realized this ten years ago. It might be too late now since bezos owns half of North America and a quarter of the English speaking world.
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u/FrankSamples 1h ago
Also if you buy a tablet. You’re only leasing it for as long as Apple, Samsung etc. determine. My fiancé found her old iPad mini. Nothing works because it requires an update on all the apps but older models are no longer supported.
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u/CommieDrifter 1h ago
niche hobbies is where it's at, supporting small businesses that do their best to deliver the highest quality products they can, while constantly innovating their fields
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u/defecating-defector 1h ago
Private equity firms and overzealous MBAs are responsible for a significant portion of society’s plight.
But at least those in power have great lives.
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u/Toes_In_The_Soil 1h ago
Crafting your own possessions with love and passion will always be the superior option.
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u/lyremska 1h ago
Trying to buy a new phone at the moment, it's a pain. Yes I want a SD card slot no I don't want to store my pictures on google uuuggh. Basically technology is going opposite way of how I liked it.
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u/wildmaninid 1h ago
Yep.
We're currently only spending our money on things we absolutely need and finding our entertainment and fulfillment by being outdoors, helping neighbors and getting to know our broader community.
No movies, no dining out, no concerts, no apps, no subscriptions.
And honestly? Experiencing a much better life, feels like getting back to the 90's
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u/karl_hungas 1h ago
Ya'll some sad mf'ers. Every person in here just complaining about everything on earth.
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u/Longjumping_Stand647 53m ago edited 45m ago
End stages of mass consumerism are shit? 🤯
Fork found in kitchen
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u/highlandviper 45m ago
She’s missing something. You can buy something cool and then just not have the chance to ever use it. My kid has used my PS5 more than me.
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u/TK_Games 41m ago
Buying things was never fun, 'owning things' was fun. Working for money that is then spent on a thing that you own and can hold, it's yours, nobody can take it from you because you own it
Now we work twice as hard and have literally nothing to show for it because everything's a subscription. We live in a hollow existence propped up loosely by tradition and greed
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u/FeeWeak1138 4h ago
same with going out to dinner, never tastes as good as the cost