Makes me feel pretty privileged to follow the "Buy the cheap one, if it breaks buy the expensive one" mantra.

And what makes things hard is that sometimes the cheap one is good enough for use you will ever get. Think of something like home renovation tools. Doing thing one time, even if badly might be enough. Not that nicer tools wouldn't do it faster, easier and better. Though price difference can be huge.

It’s quite common.

I heard exact same anecdote about boots from my grandfather loooong time ago. It’s possible that author hadn’t had chance to hear in “in the wild”.

I believe it’s one of those wisdoms passed from generation to generation.

I believe this was a marketing strategy of some boots maker that went viral

I was curious and decided to check - there’s Wikipedia page about it. Looks like it Pratchett wasn’t first and took from general wisdom but that specific anecdote was popularized by the book.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boots_theory

My (Polish) grandfather used to say that too. I’d guess it’s either a Polish or a Yiddish proverb.

If you don't have the money to buy it once, you definitely don't have it to buy twice.