The boots theory is an economic theory that people in poverty have to buy cheap and subpar products that need to be replaced repeatedly, proving more expensive in the long run than more expensive items.
Um, excuse me, the FULL name is the Captain Samuel Vimes ‘Boots’ Theory of Socioeconomic Unfairness.
I’m a bit of an authority on it myself. Sammies are still taking the theory to every corner of the Disc.
And isn’t the point of the theory that poor people are mostly locked into buying poor quality things and being trapped in that loop, and it’s not something they choose to “do to themselves” as OP put it?
OP does say in their description that the poor are forced into this situation. It’s a little clumsy in wording but I don’t see any blame attached.
I was just directly quoting the book in which the theory is originally expressed
Fellow Sam!! There are dozens of us! (That’s right, named after my Lad, Sir Sam)
Sam me lad, say hello to Keel next time you are him
Bless you, sir; I’ll have my finest Lilacs on.
How they do rise up
…. They rise arse up, arse up, arse up…
Thank you all for being here lol
I came to the comments hoping to see these references :P
Related concept: buy twice. Buy cheap the first time. If you use it enough to break it then buy a higher quality option.
So far the buy cheap options haven’t broken, so…
Yes! We call it the Harbor Freight methodology. When we’re buying something unfamiliar, we get the cheapest and use it.
When it breaks, we will have learned about using it and why we use it, on what we use it for, we can make a smarter purchase in the next price tier (or top, depending on the outcome)
The trouble with that is that sometimes you don’t know how much time you’re wasting with a poor quality tool even when it’s not broken. A couple examples come to mind. I got a cheap detailing sander. The sheets that came with it disintegrate quickly, and the unit overall just doesn’t work well. I regret that purchase. At work I had to drill a few dozen holes through 2 in thick aluminum. I spent forever on the first machine and broke multiple bits. When I had to do it again, I ordered new drill bits. The job took me half the time and was way easier on my arms. Using the used and abused worn out bits cost the company more in my labor than purchasing new bits. Some things, like taps, can cause damage that takes more than they cost to fix. A broken off tap can’t be just drilled out. They’re too hard and will shatter a drill bit. I’ve also had poor quality screw drivers and sockets round over fasteners that led to horrible times drilling out fasteners on vehicle/machine parts that are expensive to replace.
If you can work on projects with others and occasionally use their tools, you can get a better sense of which tools are worth being more discriminatory on. Unfortunately, that’s not always an option.
You wont know that before buying. Its just as likely if not more so that you buy the expensive version of something when the cheaper version would have been just fine.
There was a brief moment in ecommerce when you could figure that out by looking at product reviews, before reviews turned into something for companies to manipulate.
Now I just hope project farm evaluates something I’m interested in purchasing.
There are a lot of well-off people in the off-roading community who swear by Harbor Freight’s Badlands winches. Certainly a bunch of YouTubers, and I might say that’s all because of paid promotion but they and others also swear they’ve been running them for years and years. But I do understand what you’re saying.
That’s the thing with harbor freight stuff. It might be great at a lower price, and last forever, or it might be the worst piece of garbage imaginable but you aren’t out too much money to find out.
I’ve broken harbor freight tools on my motorcycle. I took them to get replaced for free because of the lifetime warranty on some of their stuff. However, most of it has worked great for years. I’ve abused the hell out of some of it both in and out of the garage.
I wouldn’t use the wood router I got from them to make a pocket in a particularly soft piece of cardboard, but the great majority of their other tools have been fantastic for me.
I find that works well for something like a wrench where the cheap version works ok, but for some things the cheap version works so poorly compared to as least the mid-line version that whatever money you saved wasn’t worth it.
The only tool I used enough to get an expensive one was my multi tool. Everything else is usually lost by the time I need it again, and cheap enough thats not a big deal.
I’ve lost every single multitool I’ve ever owned. I only buy aliexpress now. But everything else is either older than I am, or priced to outlast me.
This has been my strategy for power tools all my life. Has worked out great so far.
When we painted our house. We got estimates from a dozen different companies. I asked them all what kind of guarantee they offered. All but one responded with, “there’s no way to guarantee paint”
The most expensive guy said the paint came with a 10 year guarantee and he’d guarantee the workmanship for 8 years.
He explained that he used a probe to test the moisture content of the wood, and wouldn’t paint it unless it was dry enough for the paint to adhere properly.
While he was painting the house, he came to me to explain that he was having trouble with the front porch. The roof was leaking and he was concerned it would never dry out enough. He said he’d do his best, but he was sure it wouldn’t work
With the exception of the porch, we got a good, solid 15 years out of that paint job.
Of course, we’ve needed to repaint for 10 years, but we can’t afford him anymore :-(
Edit: it cost about $17,000 in 1998.
just the quality of paint fits. I bought cheap primer once cause it cost half the expensive kind. Not only ended up having to buy twice as much it also wasted a lot of time going back over all the walls a second (and sometimes third) time. I learned my lesson.
The wuestion was about the time you did the wrong thing tho.
D’oh!
This is called, “it costs more to be poor than to be rich.”
I bought a Herman Miller chair 12 years ago when I started working from home full time. It was close to $1,000 and I was hesitant to spend that much, but I’m sure I would have gone through at least 3 office chairs by now had I bought cheap ones. This chair will probably still be solid until I retire. Definitely worth the investment.
I’ll take this opportunity to plug Crandall Office Furniture, since I learned about them in a similar reddit thread a couple of years ago. My girlfriend was looking for a new office chair because all the cheap ones she’s tried have destroyed her back. We got her a refurbished Leap v2 for about $600, compared to the $1200+ it would be new. She absolutely loves the chair and has had significantly fewer issues with her back. And you’d never know the chair was used, they do an excellent job refinishing everything. Highly recommend, I’ll be going with them when I need a new office chair.
+1 to this! I bought the same chair from them a couple years ago, and as a remote worker it’s been worth every cent. Oddly enough I had the Leap v1 as a previous job and hated it, but the v2 has been great for me. I found the armrests a bit uncomfortable but some cheap memory foam covers solved that.
In the Toronto, Canada area there’s UNRC Furniture in Markham, that sells overstock and refurbished brand name office chairs for relatively cheap.
Also, you can buy replacement parts years afterwards further extending the life of the product.
Same, but mine are dot-com surplus Aeron chairs bought second-hand for $300.
My steelcase leap was ex lehman bros lol
15 years ago I bought designer chairs for the living room, each one was north of 400 Euro, although my flat is really small and looks the opposite of posh.
High quality, massive steel and thick leather, will last for the rest of my life.
I had one of their stupid chairs for years, foolishly thinking “well it’s really expensive, it must be good!”, it wasn’t until I replaced it with something cheaper and more comfortable that my back pain went away
What is this ‘retirement’ you speak of and can we all have one too?
I mean, everyday? With most purchases? Can’t afford quality most of the time.
The idea isn’t that it’s something you choose to do “to yourself”, it’s that income inequality makes it the reality of being poor.
I was ridiculed for wearing a cheap shirt to my dissertation defense in college by somebody wearing a Hugo boss shirt.
I figured I could buy 10 shirts for the duration of his one shirt. He bent over to tie his shoe and the shirt ripped.
All was well that day.
From someone who makes clothes: a cheap, but tailored shirt (or anything, really) will always look better than an expensive off-the-rack piece.
Until you get into stuff like high end suits, but if you’re spending 2000 bucks on a suit, you’re an idiot for not getting it tailored.
Mobile phones: I’m gonna throw the one I have away because the usb-c port worn out, just like the one before. After just 2 years.
I’m going to spend the extra money now and get a FairphoneI nearly threw out a pixel 3 thinking the usb c port had worn out- in fact it had just got gummed up with fluff. A quick dig around with a pin (no shorting risk - checked) got it all and restored the port. Phone still going strong, but I do need to that about once a year
I had to do the same thing with my previous phones. Since my new phone has good wireless charging, I put a dust plug in the USB port and only do wireless charging now.
Is there a concern of wearing out the battery faster using only wireless?
Not an expert on this, but the battery itself does neither know nor care where the power comes from, so the only thing making a difference afaik is how fast you charge (slower = better) and how much (keeping it at 20 to 80% is recommended).
(I’m not the person you replied to)
I’m unsure, I use both. In theory it should wear out less, since you’re loading slower and with less current. In practice it generates heat and this gets generated in the coils that are right near or on the battery, which then again causes wear… I’m not sure which effect is stronger, or whether it’s a trade-off and doesn’t do much of a difference.
Batteries primarily wear out from charging cycles, the more drain the worse. So constant cycles down to 5% and up to 100% are the most taxing. If you keep your battery between 20% and 80%, that is less damaging than 5% and 100%.
Batteries do have issues with fast charging and discharging. Discharging a phone fast isn’t really a concern. Fast charging can be a concern, but most phones that can do fast charging will manage the charge rate to be within the design specifications for the battery. Charging within the tolerances of the battery, but at the upper limit, isn’t ideal so slower charging is better for the battery long-term.
Wireless charging is a slower charging than being plugged in, which is generally better for battery health.
So if you treat your battery right, wireless charging is better for battery health. If you are always using your phone enough to kill the battery and then fast charge it up to 100%, your battery will not have the longest life. If you are killing your battery and wireless charge it to 100%, your battery will take less wear than wired fast charging. If you are keeping your battery between 20% and 80%, the difference in longevity between always fast charging or always wireless charging will not be night and day but the battery should have a longer life only wireless charging. If you change phones every one or two years and don’t run the battery dead, you probably won’t notice much of a difference wired vs wireless.
My S23U wireless charges at 10w(15w with OEM charger) and 45w wired. I also have the charge limit of 85% set and don’t generally use my phone enough to run the power down lower than 20%. I use 100% wireless charging because my work causes phone ports to get construction dust in them and may expose it to water while it is in my pocket, so I keep the port plugged and removing the plug to charge is a pain. My phone case(Rokform) supports wireless charging and Apple Magsafe accessories so I can use a magnetic wireless car charger and wireless charging puck; not having to plug my phone is such a huge convenience for me. I only change phones when the phone becomes unusable and batteries are what has kept me from keeping phones for more than 5 years. I don’t see myself ever going back to wired charging.
Have you tried cleaning the port out? My last phone had issues with a wobbly cable and not always connecting when I plugged it in. Turned out a bunch of pocket lint and other debris got packed in there, and once I cleaned it out it worked like new. Had to do that twice in the 6 or so years I owned that phone.
Just in case the other 4 comments didn’t hit quite right:
Have you thought about cleaning the USB port out?
I guess uncovered ports on mobile devices is the new planned obsolescence.
Spending a little more on a case gets you a little flap to cover that opening. Or a very cheap plug that keeps everything out
Are you sure it’s worn out and not just dirty. Gunk and fluff from your pockets get in the port over time and each time you plug a cable in it pushes the gunk down to the bottom.
Eventually there’s so much crap in there the cable doesn’t push in fully anymore and doesn’t “grip”.
You can simply clean it with something small and non-metallic like a tooth pick. I usually cut a little sharp sliver off a plastic guitar pick.
Get to the bottom and scrape it all out. Try to avoid damaging the contacts in the middle.
It was like I had a new phone when I did this. And yeah a lot of dirt can build up in 2 years.
Second cleaning it out - makes a world of difference. I usually shave a toothpick down a little sharper with scissors, then gently fish out gunk and dust.
I second this, but woult deny the “gently”. I didnt get anything iut until i used some force.
I had that problem with a phone once. Turned out the port was just caked with lint from being in my pocket all day. It wasn’t enough to simply fire some canned air in there and blow it out, I had to get a thin piece of plastic (don’t use metal so you don’t wear out the connector pins) and scrape the inside of it, and I couldn’t believe how much kept coming out. Get a bright flashlight and keep going until you can see the wall at the bottom of the port.
I also started using a wireless charger to reduce how often I need to jam a cable in there in the first place, and now my current phones has been going strong for 4 years.
If cleaning it doesn’t work, check if it can easily be replaced and use an old phone in the meantime if you fuck something up (if you don’t have one someone you know must).
FYI, (and mostly for others) one can get magnetic usb cables. There is a part that lives in the port and the plugging/unplugging is via magnet. Works for power, I don’t know about high power or data.
Have you tried replacing the cable? My xiaomi ate the connectors on usb-c cables every six months for some reason.
Get a case with a USB port cover, or a little plug to fill in the hole so it’s not collecting pocket lint all day.
I dunno. I feel like expensive boots have turned to crap over the last few years.
I’ve got a pair of Keen hiking boots I inherited from my late uncle. They were very well-worn when I got them, and I’ve continued using them for a decade since and they’re just now starting to wear out.
My parents used to do this a lot, I guess that’s what made me so obsessed with !buyitforlife@slrpnk.net stuff.
Paying rent instead of a mortgage.
It depends on where you live. Take Florida for instance, with the insurance companies abandoning you or filing bankruptcy just before paying a claim. It gets more expensive and as you age, maintenance gets harder to do, much less replace big appliances without paying someone to do it.
If you’re young and strong and not working in an industry that breaks you, a mortgage may be smarter (and cheaper) than renting.
Both has pros and cons; one strong con is that if you have a mortgage, you become geo-locked to your land and when you get a job offer that moves you outside of reasonable commute range, you have the extra headache of fixing the property up for sale and having the split attention of working at your new job and keeping in touch with the sales leads.
If you’re older, renting may be better as if something breaks, the apartment manager takes care of it.
So there’s a hidden cost to owning a home versus renting. You can almost count on renting being a fixed cost each month (rent + utilities + insurance) whereas a mortgage, you cannot.
You can almost count on renting being a fixed cost each month (rent + utilities + insurance) whereas a mortgage, you cannot.
Big lol. My mortgage has been the same for five years; my rent went up every year, or worse just kicked us out, forcing us to pay moving expenses as well. Mortgage is much more stable than renting.
I believe their point was repairs and maintenance of ownership that goes with it. The mortgage is stable…but then the roof wears out. The water heater leaks, the stove goes out. The landlords problem for a renter…or yours as a homeowner.
The reality though is it sucks either way, rent goes up always on the one option, and repairs and maintenance hit hard sometimes on the other. Intermittently as a large sum, or as a monthly spending increase if you take loans or payment plans. The owners equivalent of the rent going up.
I do think the stability of the mortgage is preferable though. As long as you can meet the mortgage payments, you have somewhere to live. Even if the stove has to wait. But you can always budget yourself some “rent increases” money and set it aside for repairs if you want the best of both worlds. :)
I will take the ability to repair something myself over waiting weeks for the landlord to do it.
Lots of people thought 3.5% was too high and it would go back down. So they signed variable rate mortgages and their payments kept going up, especially if they didn’t pay extra off.
If they’re able to keep their house, they usually don’t understand that rent has still increased faster.
There were people getting variable rate mortgages when fixed rates were at record lows? I guess I’ve just never understood the appeal of variable rate, either. I don’t want my mortgage to fluctuate, makes it more difficult to budget.
Yep, you can always refinance at a lower rate if it actually does go down substantially.
You don’t even have to switch lenders, they know they’ll lose you if they dont
There’s zero reason for variable rate. Lock that shit down.
Adjustable rate mortgages change with interest rates. The ‘real’ value of a fixed mortgage changes with inflation.
Landlords are passing on costs in the same way that banks pass costs to them or mortgage holders.
The kind of people that get ARMs are already in trouble.
Gaming headsets.
Kept buying whatever I could for ~60-70€ at the time, and they kept breaking within a year. Bought proper headphones for 120€ which lasted me 8 years.
I’ve been burned several times by products that had the word “gaming” attached to them. Gaming chairs? A fucking scam. Gaming headsets? Overpriced and either overbuilt or poor quality. Gaming mice? The only one that hasn’t disappointed me is the G502.
And on the topic of headsets, allow me to introduce this wanker: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_gf8TZ1M6g
I bought the Samson SR850, which is a budget studio headset, after watching that video, and compared to my previous HyperX Cloud Flight (the good HyperX before HP bought and ruined the brand), it’s a massive improvement in sound stage and audio quality both in music and games. The construction is dead simple - wired, no built-in mic or volume knob, which might be a deal breaker for some - but it’s a lot sturdier than the Cloud Flight. The only thing I don’t like is the velvet-covered ear pads that soak up head sweat and grease like a sponge.
Even those are mostly overpriced.
I used to just use Sennheiser headphones, but now they’ve partnered with some microphone company and sell them under the EPOS brand-name.
Except for a weirdly bad volume knob they’re awesome. And should last essentially forever
I buy a mic that sits on my desk so it is separate from the headphones. This kind of mic can be better quality and last longer that one attached to a headset.
100% what I used to do with Sennheisers.
But legit, check out EPOS. It’s one of the best microphone companies in the world, teaming up with arguably the best headphone company (Sennheiser). And they cost the same as shitty gamer headsets.
I made the switch maybe 6 months ago
Interesting. I will check them out. You think they’re significantly better for the same price?
ETA: This them? https://www.eposaudio.com/en/us
Yeah.
I went 558 to H6pro.
Just for the headphone part: For gaming it’s a lateral move, and I don’t expect music would be as good. But in this case “lateral move” is still better than the best headsets.
But they cost less then regular Sennheisers without a mic.
So I wouldn’t recommend them as audiophile quality headphones if you’re super into music, but if you are you likely have multiple sets already and wouldn’t mind dropping $100 on a set just for gaming.
When listening to music/movies, even single player games, just keep using what you’re using now.
This is the way. I dabbled with a modmic but even that developed a cable issue after a couple of years. Now everything I have is modular and all of their cables can be just swapped out.
I’ve so far loved my pro x gaming headset (less than a year with it) but some highlights to me as someone that values longevity and repairability: the aux cable is disconnect able on both sides. This means if the cable is damaged, I can buy a spare vs having to solder or replace the whole thing.
Pretty much anything “gaming” branded won’t be worth it. These days it seems to just mean “cheaper quality with RGB”.
This is great stuff but I want to warn folks about expensive luxury goods vs expensive durable goods.
Some things are expensive because they are luxurious or have lots of features but they still wear out fast. These days fewer and fewer things are expensive because they endure lots of use.
I learned the hard way with boxer shorts. I found the perfect boxer shorts after years of searching. Silky and light but warm in winter yet somehow no swamp ass in summer. Amazing combo of merino wool & some synthetic fabric.
The problem was they were $35 a pair on clearance… $75 regular. But I bought 10 pairs anyway. Well, the thing is, I didn’t realize they were no more durable than a typical pair of cotton boxers. Maybe less so. A year later, I had to replace them all.
That’s when I realized that it was a rich person’s only product. To them, a $1000 annual boxer short expense is nothing. But I can’t live that way. It hurt to give up wearing them.
You went through 10 brand new pairs of underwear in a year? And spent 350$ on underwear at one time?
I may have dragged it out to 2 years, but yes.
As for $400 in one go, yes. It was new underwear time. The expense was bigger than normal so I didn’t spend money in other areas to make up for it.
You and I are living very different lives.
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Is it literally about sitting or more that you can’t be still? My dad has tried a bunch of walking treadmills etc while coding and nothing really worked well (hard to walk while you code, messed with his wrists) until he got this chair that basically just had pedals on it. Easier to cycle than to walk and his issues went away.
Also they’re very small!
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In most cases, and what drove the trend, is that sitting 8 hours a day is terrible for you. The human body isn’t built for that and it has strong impacts, long term, on metabolism, heart health, and many things that follow on from that.
At this point, for most of us, the answer is “every time we buy anything”. Thanks, enshittification capitalism!
