Consumers Buy Less Tech Stuff, Keep It Longer 507
Hugh Pickens writes writes "The NY Times reports that there are indications that a sea change is taking place in consumer behavior as a result of the great recession: Americans are buying less tech stuff and making it last longer (reg. may be required). Although in many cases the difference is mere months, economists and consumers say the approach may outlast a full recovery and the return of easy credit, because of the strong impression the downturn has made on consumers. For example Patti Hauseman stuck with her five-year-old Apple computer until it started making odd whirring noises and occasionally malfunctioning before she bought a new computer for Christmas — actually, a refurbished one. 'A week later, the old one died. We timed it pretty well,' says Hauseman, adding that it was not so much that she could not afford new things, but that the last few years of economic turmoil had left her feeling that she could be stealing from her future by throwing away goods that still had value. Consumers are holding onto new cars for a record 63.9 months, up 4.5 months from a year ago and 14 percent since the end of 2008, according one research firm. Industry analysts also report that people on average are waiting 18 months to upgrade their cellphones, up from every 16 months just a few years ago. 'We're not going back to a time of our grandmothers' tales of what they kept and how they used things so carefully,' says Nancy F. Koehn, a professor at the Harvard Business School and a historian of consumer behavior. 'But we'll see a consistent inching or trudging towards that.'"
Re:This is just what happends in bad times (Score:4, Funny)
>> For example I have $3,000 sitting in my bank right now.
My how you've fallen, Billy Gates.
I buy a new Apple device almost every month. (Score:5, Funny)
I'm just a barista, and I don't make a lot of money, but even I manage to buy a new Apple device almost every month.
Each month, I put all of my first three weeks of earnings toward buying a new iPhone or an iPad or an iBook or an iPod. I already have 14 different types of iPods, and 8 iPhones. Next month I think I will save up for a new Mac mini (it will be my 12th).
It's my duty as an American to buy as many Apple products as I can, even if it means that sometimes I don't have enough money for rent, and sometimes not even enough money for food.
Re:Good News, Bad News (Score:5, Funny)
Funny, I've had my desktop for 63.9 months, (Score:5, Funny)
too ...
(emerge is still running)
Re:Good News, Bad News (Score:5, Funny)
when you have cut down the last tree and poisoned the last river... etc...
only then will you realise that you cannot eat money.
When you have knocked down the last skyscraper, and destroyed the last lightbulb ... only then will you realize that shivering in a cold, dark cave, really, rally sucks.