Throw Away Culture

[Too Tall]

Over the years, while riding my bicycle, I've found and taken home or come back with a car: garden cards, hand made boots, YSL hoodies, live cell phones (I found the owner), countless sockets, tubular tires (!!!!). The list seems endless. Today, I was taking the pooch out for a walk and my neighbor had throw away a barely used Honda HRX mower. The oil was practically fresh and no gas smell. Are you kidding me? Because the gas was wet, I'm guessing, they gave up. It's a freakin $800+ mower!!!!

Thank you very mulch I'll drop this off at my local fix it. That will replace my other "rescue" Honda that was unfortunately drowned when our creek inundated my storage shed. Yeah yeah that old mower is worth rescuing and I will fix that and give to someone.

Maybe this one put me over the edge. How the heck, regardless of income or need, can folks toss away things like this without even TRYING to get these things into the hands of people who will use them?

Bicycles are a soft spot for me. It is hard to see a bicycle lose its purpose just because the brakes are sloppy or has a flat.

[bigbill]

I feel that way about appliances. I kept a set of Kenmore washer and dryer alive for 15 years and four cross country and one overseas (Hawaii) moves. When they were 14, I replaced the control dial, bearings, and belts in the washer, and cleaned out the dryer and replaced a few wear parts. The next year, while I was unaccompanied in Sardinia running a NATO base closure project, my now-ex bought new washers and dryers and had the old ones hauled off. I hope someone continued to use them because they were good as new. The only consolation for me is the "new" washer and dryer went with me to Arizona and are now 16 years old and working great. I replaced the wear parts and belt in the dryer in 2019 and cleaned out the washer (front load). I feel a sense of accomplishment when I can fix things to make them last longer.

[Saab2000]

We're all guilty of this at .some level

My brother (the one in Arlington, near TooTall) is a believer in buying more experiences and less stuff. He's spot on. His iPhones are so old they're almost laughable. But guess what? They work. Same with his cars. He maintains them until his Toyota mechanic has a sit down and says, "This ain't passing next year's Virginia inspection. It's time...."

Meanwhile, he takes great trips with his family that provide a lifetime of memories.

The rides I did with TooTall and Co. (Ballers Rides and spring training camps) provide me with many smiles, to this day. They were experiences and the bikes involved were fun, but just tools for the adventure.

Definitely on board with the idea that buying stuff for the sake of buying stuff provides just a short term shock of dopamine and then after that's worn off it's often just clutter and ends up being discarded one way or another. Far too much of this in this society but other places aren't immune to it. More experiences and less stuff is good for the soul and the landfill.

Typing this on an 11-year old MacBook Air that I want to replace but I can't justify it.

[steve garro]

And people wonder why they never get ahead, I swear.

I know people who have worked sideways for over 20 years never getting ahead because of shit like that.

- Garro.

[jclay]

Don't get me started. Please don't get me started.

Our Whirlpool W&D date from abut 1988. Still going fine the only problem being from when I checked the lint filter while the dryer was running and an inkpen ...or maybe it was pencil, that slipped by security got lodged between rotating and stationary components. Easy fix. When something fails on either of those machines I'll repair it if parts are available.

Long live hard-relay logic and simple instrumentation.

[PaMtbRider]

I'm with you 100% on this. After buying a new mountain bike I was trying to decide on how to sell / get rid of a 15 year old mountain bike. I was going to part it out and maybe make a few hundred bucks. I hated the idea of an old, but still very useable bike going to waste. I ended up getting in contact with forum member JoB who is the head coach for a local youth interscholastic mountain bike team. He is going to see that it gets some more ride time by a youth who might not otherwise get a chance to ride.

I am guilty of being a consumer of the latest and greatest just because I want a new toy. As my interest moves to the next greatest thing I try to make sure last week's / month's / year's toy doesn't end up in a landfill or the back of my closet.

[TonyP]

A friend lived down the street from an old guy that rebuilt and sold old, discarded lawnmowers. Pat would buy one, always cheap, and use it till it started running rough, and then he would push it to his neighbor and trade it in on another. Did that till the neighbor passed or moved, don't know which.

[Scott G.]

Still have a corded drill, 'cause there are no batteries to wear out
and throw away.

Old engineer's maxim "If it's not there, it can't break."

[Chik]

The irony these days is that the so called latest and greatest are not designed or made to last, in one sense or another, whilst the products of yesteryear are often repairable and can carry on with its duties for a very long time, even for more than one generation.

Nothing new of course, cf., "Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing." -- Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Grey, 1890

But it seems to have go a lot worse in the new millennium.

[vertical_doug]

Over the years, while riding my bicycle, I've found and taken home or come back with a car: garden cards, hand made boots, YSL hoodies, live cell phones (I found the owner), countless sockets, tubular tires (!!!!). The list seems endless. Today, I was taking the pooch out for a walk and my neighbor had throw away a barely used Honda HRX mower. The oil was practically fresh and no gas smell. Are you kidding me? Because the gas was wet, I'm guessing, they gave up. It's a freakin $800+ mower!!!!

Thank you very mulch I'll drop this off at my local fix it. That will replace my other "rescue" Honda that was unfortunately drowned when our creek inundated my storage shed. Yeah yeah that old mower is worth rescuing and I will fix that and give to someone.

Maybe this one put me over the edge. How the heck, regardless of income or need, can folks toss away things like this without even TRYING to get these things into the hands of people who will use them?

Bicycles are a soft spot for me. It is hard to see a bicycle lose its purpose just because the brakes are sloppy or has a flat.

SO you just outed yourself as that neighbor! The one who goes through everyone else garbage.

Some day, you'll bring him a nice upholstered chair only to discover your home now has bed bugs.... Your wife will not be amused.
Better stop now

[jclay]

Still have a corded drill, 'cause there are no batteries to wear out
and throw away.

Old engineer's maxim "If it's not there, it can't break."

The version I learned from my engineering laboratory machinist who had worked for GM was, "parts left off cost nothing and don't break".

The only battery powered tool I have is a drill and the throw away reality is the reason; I have three corded ones though, two of them inherited.

[johnmdesigner]

We have a little shelf in the basement of our apartment building I refer to as the "Enterprise Transporter Room".
I place an unwanted item on it and in 20 minutes "poof" it's gone.

Sometimes I encounter the new proud owner in the elevator...

[bigbill]

Still have a corded drill, 'cause there are no batteries to wear out
and throw away.

Old engineer's maxim "If it's not there, it can't break."

My wife is an artist and makes most of her frames and backing for copper repouse works. She has all rechargeable tools. Once, I came to the rescue with my 1988 vintage corded Black and Decker drill. It still has the chuck key that slides into the grip. I love my electric chainsaw, but my gas one still sees action for bigger stuff.

[Peter Polack]

... buying stuff provides just a short term shock of dopamine and then after that's worn off it's often just clutter and ends up being discarded one way or another...

That's my contention for much of why Americans buy stuff. It's like sex; they're in the hunt of that hit of dopamine. That's the foreplay. Purchasing the item is the climax. The afterglow soon wears off and the craving for another dopamine hit begins. The same has been said for society's addiction to their smartphones. Part of that constant dive into the phone is for a hit of dopamine. No different than nicotine or heroin.

[Scott G.]

That's my contention for much of why Americans buy stuff. It's like sex; they're in the hunt of that hit of dopamine. That's the foreplay. Purchasing the item is the climax. The afterglow soon wears off and the craving for another dopamine hit begins. [snip]

The show 'American Pickers' is a cautionary tale of what happens when you get too much stuff,
your children get stuck with 2 barns full stuff or a giant garage with 30 cars slowly rotting.

[gregl]

I love re-using the unusable. I have a 17 year-old Garmin Edge 305 and a 15 year-old Edge 705 that I’ve taken apart and replaced the batteries. I’ve replaced bearings in Shimano outboard bottom brackets. I’ve repaired many home appliances and consumer electronics devices (e.g., iPhone screens, etc.). My snow blower just completed its 27th season. Not only spiritually rewarding, but I managed to put my daughter through her undergrad and graduate educations with zero debt. Saving tens of thousands of dollars each year in consumer goods and repairs is smart finance.

Greg

[j44ke]

One of the best things that Patagonia came up (maybe they didn't come up with them, but they have started offering them through their repair department) with are the stick-on patches for repairing holes, tears or pulls in down and synthetic insulation jackets. Seems based on the old duct tape repair climbers used on down parkas when they started getting worn. The stickers are thin pieces of stretchy and supple nylon fabric that has been coated on one side by a very sticky adhesive. I've seen them in different colors, but most of my jackets are black and the black-colored repair stickers nearly disappear when they are put on a jacket.

[sk_tle]

What, another culture? Again?

[bigbill]

One of the best things that Patagonia came up (maybe they didn't come up with them, but they have started offering them through their repair department) with are the stick-on patches for repairing holes, tears or pulls in down and synthetic insulation jackets. Seems based on the old duct tape repair climbers used on down parkas when they started getting worn. The stickers are thin pieces of stretchy and supple nylon fabric that has been coated on one side by a very sticky adhesive. I've seen them in different colors, but most of my jackets are black and the black-colored repair stickers nearly disappear when they are put on a jacket.

I have a Showers Pass Elite jacket I bought in 1996. In late 2021, the pit zips de-laminated. I love that jacket so I contacted Showers Pass to see if they would repair it, and they said to send it. For the price of return postage, they repaired my jacket and made it as good as new. I received emails from the company telling me how much they enjoyed seeing a 25 year old jacket still being used.

[j44ke]

What, another culture? Again?

We will do Chaco culture next. Not sandals.