How warehouses for personal junk became a $38B industry

Re:How warehouses for personal junk became a $38B industry by xefer on Thursday March 29, 2018 @10:25AM (#16707288)

One thing I've noticed over the years reading old wills and probate records (16th -18th century) is just how few physical possessions even fairly well-off people owned. Estate inventories often list individual coats, shirts, bedding, bowls, tools, etc. I think the material wealth we have today is so incredible we don't even realize how much we've accumulated and could probably do without.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How warehouses for personal junk became a $38B industry by michaelbuckbee on Thursday March 29, 2018 @12:26PM (#16708324)

Modern manufacturing is sufficiently weird that it messes with my sense of thriftiness. That it really is possible to manufacture new items less expensively than it is to repair them (especially counting my own time to do so).

Like I can remember my grandmother knitting and darning socks.

But she wished she had one of these sock knitting machines:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7N7hsho4Sjg&feature=youtu.be...

And now you can buy a 10 pack of decent socks for $1/pair (and they may objectively be of higher quality).

I'm trying to think how I'd even explain this to someone from another time:

"10% of your net worth is this pair of socks? And they took you a day each to make? I just threw away a pair because my toe poked through the top."

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How warehouses for personal junk became a $38B industry by doomlaser on Thursday March 29, 2018 @01:28PM (#16708986)

I was shocked and pleasantly surprised recently at $3 high quality plain tshirts (in multiple colors) that you can order online: http://www.michaels.com/apparel-crafts/t-shirts/876004921

I'm wearing a magenta one now.. Then I found out there are tons of online outfits doing this. https://www.jiffyshirts.com/

I've always shopped at Salvation Army and other thrift stores, with occasional trips to malls to pick up Levi's Slim Straight jeans, but the last pair of those I bought from Amazon since I know my size. It's kind of been a revelation, and the big box stores are going to have to get creative to stay around I think. I used to be picky about favoring American Apparel shirts as well, in their heydey, but the ones I got from Michaels are surprisingly good.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How warehouses for personal junk became a $38B industry by Cyph0n on Thursday March 29, 2018 @06:00PM (#16711467)

I only realized how big this market really is when I found out that Berkshire Hathaway owns Fruit of the Loom, a Gildan competitor.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How warehouses for personal junk became a $38B industry by chiefalchemist on Thursday March 29, 2018 @06:44PM (#16711860)

Funny enough, I think I've seen them on sale for less than $3.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How warehouses for personal junk became a $38B industry by dustycowboy on Friday March 30, 2018 @08:15AM (#16715465)

This reminds me of this quote from historian Carlo Cipolla in Steven Pinker's Enlightenment Now:

"In preindustrial Europe, the purchase of a garment or of the cloth for a garment remained a luxury the common people could only afford a few times in their lives. One of the main preoccupations of hospital administration was to ensure that the clothes of the deceased should not be usurped but should be given to lawful inheritors. During epidemics of plague, the town authorities had to struggle to confiscate the clothes of the dead and to burn them: people waited for others to die so as to take over their clothes—which generally had the effect of spreading the epidemic." (Excerpt from Carlo Cipolla, 1994)

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How warehouses for personal junk became a $38B industry by sbinthree on Thursday March 29, 2018 @10:33AM (#16707346)

Based on a phase I went through involving getting rid of almost all my possessions, you can get rid of ~50% of your stuff and barely notice. But that last 10-20% is so amazingly critical, you come to appreciate it and the work that must have gone into it more. That said, having things that are useful and last never gets old, just make donating something you do as often as shopping. Also that is a pretty strange but interesting hobby.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How warehouses for personal junk became a $38B industry by sporkenfang on Thursday March 29, 2018 @11:06AM (#16707630)

I've had a thing ever since grad school (I lived in a 400 sq. ft. apartment, so it was necessity then) that if I buy a thing, I have to donate something else -- particularly for clothes. It's amazing how much less crap I've accumulated than friends and family of a similar age.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How warehouses for personal junk became a $38B industry by hathawsh on Thursday March 29, 2018 @04:57PM (#16710960)

I'm think the hobby you're referring to is genealogy. It's actually a very common and useful hobby. :-)

https://blogs.ancestry.com/cm/genealogy-second-most-popular-...

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How warehouses for personal junk became a $38B industry by fegu on Friday March 30, 2018 @06:58AM (#16715124)

A lot of divorced people know this from experience. I certainly do. Don't miss any of it.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How warehouses for personal junk became a $38B industry by klenwell on Thursday March 29, 2018 @01:47PM (#16709198)

Reminds me of the proverbial "Great Depression Mindset" that I noticed in my grandparents. Also this comment I came across on Reddit's Bestof recently that made me see the world and myself a little differently:

> Minimalism often focuses on a few high quality pieces that serve many purposes. When you're poor, you often can't afford higher quality or multipurpose...

https://np.reddit.com/r/minimalism/comments/86pkeu/meta_can_...

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How warehouses for personal junk became a $38B industry by rokhayakebe on Thursday March 29, 2018 @06:20PM (#16711635)

When you're poor, you often can't afford higher quality or multipurpose

Interesting, I have heard "Cheap is expensive, because you have to keep buying it" as well "We are not so rich we can afford cheap stuff."

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How warehouses for personal junk became a $38B industry by Antimachides on Thursday March 29, 2018 @02:58PM (#16710028)

Any examples? I'd like to see one.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How warehouses for personal junk became a $38B industry by xefer on Friday March 30, 2018 @01:01AM (#16713799)

Original documents are harder to reference directly but lots of old probate records have been transcribed; e.g.:

"The Probate records of Essex County, Massachusetts"

https://archive.org/details/probaterecordsof01dowg

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How warehouses for personal junk became a $38B industry by Antimachides on Friday March 30, 2018 @03:15AM (#16714323)

This is fascinating.

[ Parent | on HN ]