#1 Bought It In '88 With Money My Grandmother Left Me. My Mother Was Upset That I Spent My Inheritance On Something As Ephemeral As A Bicycle. I've Ridden Thousands Of Miles On It, Including A Double Century In 2000. Now It's My Townie Bike, For Shopping, Commuting, And Errands
Our loyal readers might remember our first piece on r/BuyItForLife. However, people have made plenty of cool posts on the subreddit since then so we felt like a follow-up was necessary too.
Plus, this time we reached out to the people running the sub and one of the moderators was kind enough to have a little chat with us. "The most popular items I see based on what's posted are: Stanley Thermos, Darn Tough Socks, Kitchen Aid mixers, Red Wing boots, and pots and pans, particularly cast iron," they told Bored Panda.
#3 Rolleicord 6x6 Film Camera From The 60's Still Going Strong And Some Examples Of The Pictures It Makes
#4 Colman Snow-Lite Low Boy Cooler From The 60s. Gifted To Me From My Grandparents Who Picked It Up From A Thrift Store Nearly 20 Years Ago. Still Holds Ice For Nearly A Week!
We also asked the moderator what they think allows some of these items to persevere for as long as they do. "I'm not an expert by any means but I think there are a few factors," they said.
"Most products are built to be as cheap as possible .... and poorly assembled (maybe partly due to planned obsolescence but mostly just due to the fact that people in general like spending less). The products that you see lasting longer are often made of higher quality material and care when built. But they're also priced accordingly."
#5 My Great Uncle's Watch That Lived Through Combat In Ww2. Wound It Up And It Still Works Perfectly
#6 Oregano - Mom Got A Piece Of An Oregano Plant From Her Aunt When I Was A Kid. She Transplanted Some To One House, Then Another And Another, Then To My Place, And Again When I Moved. We Have Never Purchased Oregano In My Entire Life. It Even Pops Up In The Lawn, Makes Grass Cutting Smell Nice
But choosing longer-lasting products can be tricky. The price doesn't always tell the full story. A few years ago, The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) published an interesting study, carried out by the University of Southern Brittany, the Sircome agency, and the University of Southern Bohemia.
Its main goal was to see whether displaying a product's lifespan would influence a consumer's decision to purchase. In other words, would we choose the same products if we had this information?
#8 Graphgear 500 Mechanical Pencil. The One On Top I’ve Used For 20 Years, The Other Is Brand New
#9 My Girlfriend Uses This Sewing Machine To Make Masks. Her Great-Grandmother Bought It New Back In 1925. It Still Works Perfectly
#11 Here’s The Before And After Finished Product On My $5 Allen Edmond’s. These Bifl Shoes Were Destined For The Dumpster But I Was Able To Bring Them Back To Life. The Dye Color Is Uneven Between The Left And Right, But I’m Just Gonna Let It Bug Me For A While Until I Get Around To Fixing It
The experiment involved 2,917 participants from 5 European countries (Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Spain and the Netherlands).
"We designed a fake shopping website, which consumers could use just as if it were Amazon or ASOS," the researchers wrote. The participants, however, did not know the site was fake. "Once they had checked out their shopping basket, participants were directed to a questionnaire which gauged various socio-economic and psycho-social indicators."
#13 Bifg (Buy It For Generations): My Viking Husqvarna 21a, From Early 1960's. Belonged To My Grandma. My Son Is The 4th Generation To Use This Machine... Spending Quality Father-Son Time Teaching Him How To Sew Useful And Beautiful Things That Will Also Last A Long Time
#14 These Russian Valenki Felted Wool Boots, Made Entirely Out Of Hardened Wool That Served Me So Well Here In Texas In Ver The Past Couple Days. No Soles, No Form, Basically Like Wearing Snow Proof 2 Inch Thick Hard Wool Socks. Had Them For 5 Years, No Sign Of Wear
The results showed that if shoppers had information on product lifespan, they would choose to buy longer-lasting items: on average, a product's sales increased by 56% if its lifetime was longer than that of its competitors.
Of the products tested, purchases of suitcases (+128%) and printers (+70%) were influenced the most by this change.
#16 I Bought This Palette Knife Over 30 Years Ago And Have Created Countless Paintings With It
#17 Staplers?? Huh. Here’s My Tried, Trusted, And Tantalizing Cadet Model 302. Ain’t She Pretty?
#18 It's Time To Switch My Ipod Classic (2006) For Spotify. Have Been Using It Daily For 15 Years But Spotify Is Just Too Convenient. Rest In Peace Little One
"Suitcases are the quintessential roaming product, giving them two characteristics which makes the consumer rank lifetime as a priority: the trials of transport make resilience a key factor, and any item used solely for travel will be brought out only occasionally. If it is used rarely, the consumer has every reason to hope it will last a long time," the researchers explained.
"As for printers, they have one of the shortest lifetimes of all household electronic goods, and people buy them because they need them, not for pleasure – two more good reasons why we would want them to last."
Sales of smartphones were among the least affected by displaying their lifetime (+41%).
