lorata asked: re millennial killing stuff post: so at my second job I edited a dissertation on how young consumers are changing luxury brands, like they won't just buy the same identical handbag bc "oh it's $designer!" like they'd rather spend that money on an experience etc, so brands have had to COMPLETELY change how they approach the new generation - I mentioned this to an older friend cause I thought it was neat & she went "yeah it's weird how young people expect companies to bend over backwards for them"
THIS EXACTLY
My (much older) co worker was talking recently about how she wants the new $300 whatever designer bag, and I was talking about how me and the husband might set $300 aside to go up to House on the Rock for a weekend.
That seems to be pretty standard for the older people I know vs. the younger people I know. For $300, we could get a hotel room overnight, a couple good meals, into House on the Rock, and some money to spend on whatever while we’re there.
And she was just like “But it’s a kate spade bag.”
And I was like “And???? My purse has a unicorn on it I paid $5 for it at Goodwill and I can hold things in it to take up to House on the Rock.”
And you goddamn right that if a company wants my money, they’d goddamned better bend over backwards for me.
I’m doing them a favor by choosing their product. I don’t owe them shit. If they want my continued business, they’d better goddamn well earn it.
And if I’m not happy, not only will I tell them so but I’ll tell literally everyone I know, and then go on to never patronize them again.
It pays to be cheap/spend wisely. I make 1296/month. Many of my coworkers make the same if not ten cents per hour more because they’ve been there years. I support two people on this income while most of my coworkers have two incomes coming into their household. I however have about 300/month to put into savings or spending while my coworkers complain of not having funds because they are in tens of thousands of dollars of debt from buying expensive items on credit. I had to argue with myself recently about even shelling out of money to get a phone with $50/month service.
I decided to take off the 21st to go see the eclipse where it’ll be full. This will cost me about $100 (wages lost + gas). My coworkers seem incredulous that i would spend money and take a day off to go see an eclipse rather than spending all my funds on a bigger tv or alcohol.
The previous generations obsession with things over experiences is quite depressing to me. Things will always be lost, broken, or stolen eventually. Experiences are yours to keep.
The corporate brainwashing of the previous generations is starting to crack, and it is fucking terrifying to entrenched industries who now have to innovate for the first time in decades.
Look, don’t get mad because kids want, actual fucking VALUE, for the things they’re willing to pay their hard-earned money for. My Gen has been buying utter crap with pretty lights & tinkly bells sticker-taped onto it for SO long, we literally know no other way. I mean, how do you justify paying exorbitant amounts of money for a handful of shit JUST because it’s got an over-stylized BRAND NAME stuck on it? ‘It’ll impress your friends/neighbors’? STILL a handful of shit. Better off using the money as toilet paper.
Kids are figuring this bullshit out ON THEIR OWN and I’m here for it. Not just ‘Git it y'all!’ But ‘Make sure it is/does EVERYTHING you need and NOTHING you don’t, before laying your money down’. About, gotdamn, time SOMEBODY did.
Another interesting thing is that millennials take pride in doing things like making their own clothes or shopping at vintage/secondhand stores. I love my purse, which is ivory white with a gold unicorn on it. Conversations about it go one of two ways;
With a person under 40;
Them; “That’s a cool purse, where’d you get it?”
Me; “Goodwill! It was $5!”
Them; “NICE aw man I got the neatest vintage quilt/used bread machine/whatever else there awhile ago, I love thrift stores.”
(Cue 30 minute conversation about our favorite thrift stores)
Person over 40;
Them; “I like your purse! Where’d you get it?”
Me; “Goodwill! It was $5!”
Them; “…oh.”
Conversation ends.
(There’s some cases where the older person is appreciative. Markedly, it’s mostly among MUCH older people, like people who lived through the Great Depression.)
Even when I was a kid, I remember people judging my mom for dressing us in clothes she made and thrift store finds (Mom and dad had 3 kids and 1 teacher’s salary to feed and clothe us with)
Now? There’s no shame whatsoever. People my age with kids just straight up say “Yeah I made his shirt/found it for super cheap.” And people don’t ridicule them for this, they applaud them for being crafty and thrifty.
The measure of status has flipped. Rather than bringing admiration from fellows, paying for designer stuff is seen as wasteful, while being thrifty is seen as desirable.
And many brands have no goddamned idea how to cope with this.
