Plagued Consoomers / Consoomer Culture - Because if it has a recogniseable brand on it, I’d buy it!

[Cowboy Kim]

Some of my relatives have gotten sucked into these nu-credit type deals (klarna and PayPal's pay-in-four) and it seems to have succeeded.
They have constant Amazon boxes showing up, and use it for virtually everything, from ornaments and decorations to their fast-food purchases. I can't help but feel bad, since I know damn well they probably have hundreds to pay off.

 

[Vingle]

Oh absolutely. It seems to be an opt-in for a lot of online shops these days and again, it seems to be catching Zoomers with something new disguised as something old.
Klarna and Afterpay are basically store credit cards with a middleman instead of a charge card.

I don't see anything wrong with Klarna, it's actually my preferred payment of choice. Because I fucking can't get a credit card, and not because I have a bad credit history. Because Klarna ban you for life, if you do anything wrong. Probably not immediately, but I care not to find that out. But Klarna is just like credit cards, it's genius for those who have their shit together. And awful for those who don't, like everything else.

Anyway, the credit limit in my country is only 3500 usd. Which I pay off in a few months, because it's retarded and of course it's going to get expensive as fuck to follow the payment plan.

It's the casino-dilemma again. Don't blame the game, blame the gamers.

 

[whitepumpkin]

Anyway, the credit limit in my country is only 3500 usd.

I mean, I guess that's a smart way to make sure people don't go into stupid amounts of debt, which seems to be a real problem in North America. My bank always asks if I want to increase the limit on my credit card and I tell them no. It's at the right amount for me and I prefer using cash anyways - but that's apparently unheard of these days.

It's even stupider that stores try and discourage you from using cash despite our gay-ass money here being made out of plastic and can literally go through a washing machine just fine. It's probably because using cash really does limit how much you're willing to spend instead of just whipping out cards and swiping no matter what the total is.

 

[Vingle]

I mean, I guess that's a smart way to make sure people don't go into stupid amounts of debt, which seems to be a real problem in North America. My bank always asks if I want to increase the limit on my credit card and I tell them no. It's at the right amount for me and I prefer using cash anyways - but that's apparently unheard of these days.

It's even stupider that stores try and discourage you from using cash despite our gay-ass money here being made out of plastic and can literally go through a washing machine just fine. It's probably because using cash really does limit how much you're willing to spend instead of just whipping out cards and swiping no matter what the total is.

Yea, but it is such a stupid little amount. Because even though you have a good amount of debt, it's very possible to pay it down. Unless you're a dumbfuck.
A way to increase your credit score faster, is to increase the credit limit and just don't use it. It shows to the banks that you don't max out your credit all the time. It's just nice to have high credit limit if something happens. Washing machine or some shit breaks.

Was going to say its illegal of stores to not accept cash, but it's not.

The Fed - Is it legal for a business in the United States to refuse cash as a form of payment?

The Federal Reserve Board of Governors in Washington DC.

www.federalreserve.gov

 

[whitepumpkin]

Was going to say its illegal of stores to not accept cash, but it's not.

Private businesses are free to develop their own policies on whether to accept cash unless there is a state law that says otherwise.

What the fuck.

I honestly cannot conceive of what businesses would reject cash, but maybe someone can enlighten me? I use cash to pay for almost everything. If I couldn't then, well, shit. I'd better start working on becoming off-grid and self-sufficient.

 

[NoReturn]

It's probably because using cash really does limit how much you're willing to spend instead of just whipping out cards and swiping no matter what the total is.

Was going to say its illegal of stores to not accept cash, but it's not.

I honestly cannot conceive of what businesses would reject cash, but maybe someone can enlighten me? I use cash to pay for almost everything. If I couldn't then, well, shit. I'd better start working on becoming off-grid and self-sufficient.

We began to see things like Square about ten years ago, and they're definitely still around:

Then we had the rise of things like cashapp, apple pay, etc. which brought the "ease" of sending money digitally to the masses.

Then, more recently, things have been getting really weird with 'rona.

So here are the reasons businesses are currently refusing cash, please let me know if I've missed any big ones:

• It's more difficult to convert into digital currency. If most of your money comes in digitally, and you pay your employees digitally, then cash is the odd man out.
• Cash requires a place to store it, meaning you need to pay for things like a register and a place to store the money. This puts you at risk of being robbed as well.
• Cash is icky gross dirty and covered in germs.
• Cash can get stolen by the cops and/or glowies through civil forfeiture without there being a record. If your money is in a bank or an app, now there's a third party private company involved.
• It's faster (because you don't need to store change) and there are some coin shortages happening anyway.
• In high-cashflow businesses, it saves money on armored trucks.

 

[𝕺𝖑' 𝕯𝖎𝖗𝖙𝖞 𝕱𝖆𝖙𝖘𝖔]

Oh, fuck off Amazon. The only thing I buy from there is books I legitimately cannot find anywhere else and half the time they come from a third party distributor or bookstore anyway, which ticks me off but I can't do much about that. Now they want to really force you to consoom crappy plastic MADE IN CHINA shit for clout? Like actually fuck off.

Amazon is extremely useful when you live in the middle of nowhere, though. I mostly use it for purchasing practical items that I can't find in an irl store without having to drive an hour or two each way.

 

[Kuchipatchi]

Like, if someone asked you "hey who are you" what do you answer to that. What would a consoomers answer be and what would a fan or a average guy say.
Genuine question.

That's something I've been thinking about recently. People pin their identity on consoomerism as well as what they look like, what politics they support and what gender they wanna bang.

If you remove all these labels and ask someone "What are you?", can they even answer? No because their lives revolve around corporate creations and what other people believe.

It kinda is. Especially in times like these when pathological shopping is widely encouraged (has anyone else noticed how they introduced payments in installments even for small amounts?)

Don't even get me started on the subliminal tricks that shops employ to make people buy something.

 

[Airbrushed Van Art]

I admit that I stopped telling people that I’m a fan of different geeky things (comics, Star Wars. Star Trek, dungeons & dragons etc) because of the immediate assumption that I am a shallow collector with rooms full of stupid paraphernalia (or that I thoughtlessly binge-watch every new show or movie).

I actually never really collected shit and anything I had I gave away when I had kids.

Edit: the only star trek stuff that I still have are two finished model kits of space ships that my dad made for me. They have sentimental value, not “consuumer” cred.

 

[Minx95]

I'd imagine the average guy-on-the-street response to that question would get responded with his name, age, job, and family status. "My name's Brandon, I'm a 30-year-old penis inspector, and I'm the father of two kids." A consoomer would say "I'm an avid Harry Potter enthusiast, and have collected the entire line of Harry Potter Funko Pops, among many others", as if it's a life accomplishment he could put on a resumé.


The consoomers I've seen in my life have based their entire life around a brand, treating it like they're very devout to it, as if it's their religion. They don't have true friends, as the only people they call friends are other consoomers of the same thing. They fundamentally judge others based on whatever their community deems the barometer of a person's value - the size of your collection, your rarest curio, maybe even your Xbox gamerscore. No matter how you look at it, it's an empty, unsatisfying life, where you surround yourself with soulless bullshit, and people who would gut you to steal your soulless bullshit if they could.

Welcome to KF, @Minx95, you're already a good poster and I hope you stick around.

I'm not sure.
I don't think thats a consoomer per se.
By that logic most of the population are consoomers.
Consoomers to me take it to the very extreme.
Like the VERY extreme.
The stuff I believe consoomers to be is in my previous posts.
There's an inbetween.
I'd say most people would state something they enjoy as well as that stuff.


Like, I've seen some of the stuff you guys think are consoomer stuff, but I don't think so. Having a mancave, going to disneyland if you want.
I don't think its consoomer to get into communities from your interests, have a normal life outside of your hobbies (a job or a student)
whilst at the same time caring about stuff you enjoy.
I think you can be passionate about stuff without being a consoomer.

RedLetterMedia spents time making videos about movies. Mike loves Star Trek. By that logic, they and him are consoomers. The guys doing RLM aren't real friends. The Top Gear trio (Jeremy, James, Richard) aren't actual friends because their friendship came out of consooming cars.
Null spends a lot of time on this site and believes in free speech. Is he a consoomer because he spends most of his time on computers?

I do spend time on sim racing as I said, and I've won semi serious championships.
I think people can be proud of that or enjoy winning a race or something.
I want to get into motorsports and have a job in that area. Is that bad?

If your hobby and job are the same thing, does that make you a consoomer? I don't think so
If you are YouTuber are you a consoomer? I don't think so
If you made online friends are you a consoomer? I don't think so (hell some meet up for real)
What if you are into history and want to get into that?

If you don't have a job without any reason, have the maturity of a child all the time, consume everything and always low on money because of it.
Yes, I'd say you're a consoomer.

I wouldn't say someone who doesn't want want kids or isn't interested in marriage, but has a job/occupation (or searching)
believes deeply in his beliefs and enjoys hobbies while socializing at a pub or the local football match or whatever is a consumer. I'd say that's a respectful citizen.

I personally think that you don't have to restrict yourself on what you enjoy so long as you don't go too far.
One of my main philosophies is Aristotle's "golden mean"

Don't be miserable telling people what you can/can't do
Don't waste your life doing nothing.

If you have a balance of adult stuff and stuff from your childhood, you are fine in my book.
Act like an adult while having some child like spirit, contribute to society and I don't think you are a consoomer.

I absolutely agree with @GentlemanFaggot and his months old post.

we should probably keep an eye on anti-consoomers or people who are adamantly miserable about people enjoying things. I don't think there's really an organized enough community of them but when I see them, they definitely exhibit lolcow tendencies.

Balances it out the same way the alt left/right are made fun of.
EDIT: Thanks for merging the posts

 

[Moguro Fukuzou]

Now one question, when exactly does stuff you consume become your entire identity.
Like, if someone asked you "hey who are you" what do you answer to that. What would a consoomers answer be and what would a fan or a average guy say.
Genuine question.

It's an interesting question, personally I find with many consoomers there's a lack of real 'depth' in their interest, something that separates them in my mind from passionate fans of a thing. To use one of my own hobbies as an example in movie collecting, many of them would describe themselves as 'movie/film fans' when asked their hobby.

You have people with large collections with little to say about the actual films inside them and are rather more interested in showing off all the limited editions they've managed to grab or how 'complete' their label collection is, there's very little conversation to be had of interest with them. In most cases said person hasn't even watched most of those films, or even taken off the wrapping, much less looked into the special features most of those boutique releases are bulging with. I wouldn't consider this person a 'real' fan nor an average movie fan, but rather a consoomer they just happens to consoom films.

A passionate fan could still have that same exact large collection, but discussion would instead be focused on mentioning their favorite films (along with endless pushing to borrow it to watch yourself) or pieces of their collection they believe are important. Typically these types also have a clear favorite genre which upon being brought up will trigger an absolute endless amount of trivia or history because in most cases they've spent quite a bit of time reading about it and can't wait to share. They get boutique releases not because of the 'status' they bring, but usually because they are the best releases full of a large amount of special features for them to dig into and help them learn more about films. It's also highly likely that these types are interested in filmmaking in general or have begun looking into the craft/theory. Passionate fans can range from endearing to loathsome in their own right, so it can be a mixed bag actually interacting with them.

An average guy would have a small/medium sized collection of their favorites likely to be made up of mostly major studio releases with some boutique mixed in. Most of their film watching though is through streaming. You might not be having the same 'depth' of conversation you'd have with the film buff (which is sometimes a blessing depending on how obnoxious said film buff is being), but you'll certainly be able to have a conversation about any of the films they've bothered to buy or something around what they've recently watched.

 

[Minx95]

One final thing.
Say, you like simulation stuff (DCS, iRacing, Assetto corsa)
When do would you say someone becomes a consoomer then.

I may be power leveling here a bit but to give some info.
So iRacing has a thing called "irating" to determine what split you are in.
Splits are made so people with the same pace race each other and people dont get blown away by faster people.

Sometimes people do care about irating as it defines whether you are in top split or bottom split.
Sometimes I've made it a target to reach a certain irating.

As I said, I also compete in leagues as well. These are semi serious championships for those who want a full season racing the same people.

iRacing also has a subscription service and you have to pay for most cars and tracks.

But I'd say its not exactly "consoomer" either.
I think the big names in sim racing always stress that sim racing is for fun and don't take it too seriously.
Be competitive, have passion for it but don't take it too seriously. Most of us aren't going to make the pro stuff which involves some serious money.
Buy only what you want to buy.
You do get arguments over "which sim is more realistic" which devolves into nonsense, but I'd say most people who love this thing
aren't consoomers and just do it as their hobby or it extends from their love of motorsport. I know thats the case for me.

 

[Moist Nugget]

Decided to browse r/Collections for low hanging fruit

What a goldmine of cringe. Majority of these aren't collections, they're assortments of random trinkets and junk they've amassed.

"Here's my collection of 1943 Steel Pennys. I have one from every mint."

"This is my collection of native american arrowheads"

"Here's my 'collection' of random crap I put on my bookshelf"

 

[whogoesthere]

I’m very tired and stressed today so I can’t articulate my thoughts as well as I would like but... something something YOU become the products. We could call it commodification of the soul.

You’re a product or better: you’re the base of a product. You’re like a Pandora bracelet without charms and you need to buy all the charms and accessories to look your best and express a personality. A well equipped bedroom is just one of the many many things you need.

Well that's a fucking dark thought...cheers.

 

[Retired Junta Member]

Well that's a fucking dark thought...cheers.

Well... it’s kinda dark. The good thing is that this is a fight that you can personally win by not falling for the trap. I guess it may be more difficult for parents tho.

 

[Dread First]

Having worked in retail for much longer than I should have, cons00mer culture has been the bane of my fucking existence. Multiple 12-hour shifts for dogshit pay during the holidays all to satisfy the urges of manchildren and entitled parents who lack the discipline and the resolve to say "no, we already have enough shit at home." Not only that, but the waste of product that happens behind the scenes for arbitrary reasons (i.e. opened packaging, product is still fine, but customer wanted a different colour) made my skin crawl. Like fucking hell man, I remember being an 18yo way back when who just wanted to have a bookshelf full of manga and a couple of figurines but now? I can't even imagine myself wanting to indulge in that level of consumerism.

Spoiler: tangential trivia that relates to consoomer culture

Fun fact: in Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey, the third level of the game is literally a gigantic shopping mall with posters everywhere telling you to buy, sell, and consume product. The boss of this level is Horkos, the self-professed Glutton of Hell. In the lore of the game, Sector Carina (despite being a production powerhouse that can easily outproduce the human world) can't keep up with Horkos's consumption as several demons you can interact with will point out.

Spoiler: screenshots

This game came out in 2009 and it was dismissed in the West as being too overly preachy with its messages. Considering how overproduction and overconsumption are legitimate societal problems, I don't doubt that Sector Carina touched a nerve with the journos at the time.

 

[RX-78]

Having worked in retail for much longer than I should have, cons00mer culture has been the bane of my fucking existence. Multiple 12-hour shifts for dogshit pay during the holidays all to satisfy the urges of manchildren and entitled parents who lack the discipline and the resolve to say "no, we already have enough shit at home." Not only that, but the waste of product that happens behind the scenes for arbitrary reasons (i.e. opened packaging, product is still fine, but customer wanted a different colour) made my skin crawl. Like fucking hell man, I remember being an 18yo way back when who just wanted to have a bookshelf full of manga and a couple of figurines but now? I can't even imagine myself wanting to indulge in that level of consumerism.

Spoiler: tangential trivia that relates to consoomer culture

Fun fact: in Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey, the third level of the game is literally a gigantic shopping mall with posters everywhere telling you to buy, sell, and consume product. The boss of this level is Horkos, the self-professed Glutton of Hell. In the lore of the game, Sector Carina (despite being a production powerhouse that can easily outproduce the human world) can't keep up with Horkos's consumption as several demons you can interact with will point out.

Spoiler: screenshots

View attachment 2780884
View attachment 2780887

This game came out in 2009 and it was dismissed in the West as being too overly preachy with its messages. Considering how overproduction and overconsumption are legitimate societal problems, I don't doubt that Sector Carina touched a nerve with the journos at the time.

SMT games were better when they criticized humanity. For Strange Journey specifically I remember the urinalists sperging that it was too hard and didn't have enough power of friendship, which in hindsight paved the way for that Goddamned meme.

Your story reminds me that cumsooming isn't enough for a lot of these retards, they have to turn their shopping trip in to an adventure. I can't count how many times I've seen 108lb men taking selfies in front of transformers toys at this point, one faggot even took the whole shelf's worth off and buried himself in them.

 

[Dread First]

Your story reminds me that cumsooming isn't enough for a lot of these retards, they have to turn their shopping trip in to an adventure. I can't count how many times I've seen 108lb men taking selfies in front of transformers toys at this point, one faggot even took the whole shelf's worth off and buried himself in them.

Spoiler: mild PL about retail autism

Whenever I had to work the return counter at my old job during the holidays, the result was always the same: countless totes filled to the brim with opened product that's designated "return to manufacturer." The problem? Our back end received so many incoming shipments on a weekly basis to the point where there was literally no space in the back room to bring back the totes full of returned shit. This often meant that there would be upwards of 10-15 stacks of totes just lying around near the return desk in plain sight because there was no other place to put it.

On top of this, we'd often receive so... much... fucking... OVERSTOCK that we simply couldn't get rid of. Why the fuck did corporate decide that we needed a million seasonal toys to sell when we don't even stock toys for the rest of the year? I don't fucking know. No one except parents who waited too long to get a decent Christmas gift for their kids would ever fucking buy them. By the time the season would be over in February (because my fucking store had an extended return period for the holidays), we'd literally have so many of these seasonal toys lying around to the point where they'd just sit in a bargain bin for the rest of the year being sold at a markdown of like 90-95% off just so we could get rid of them eventually. Why couldn't we send it back to the manufacturer? Because corporate SOP specifically says we can't return new-in-box merchandise to the manufacturer; either we sell it at a discount or the returned product gets sent back to the corporate supply chain before getting taken out of the store's profit margins.

TLDR without PL - consoomers don't give a shit about the how or the why behind their ability to buy/consume shit as long as they can get their instant gratification.

 

[Minx95]

If you remove all these labels and ask someone "What are you?", can they even answer? No because their lives revolve around corporate creations and what other people believe.

See, what if someone was to be engaged in sports/movies/gaming their entire life and decide to get into the business. They spend their lives in that business.
By this logic they are consoomers.

Honestly I think its fine to keep your childhood stuff for sentimental value.
Send toys to kids and they'll be ruined in minutes.
Now I'm not saying HOARD stuff.
But to me I'm fine with someone being a normal human being whilst enjoying some autistic stuff as well.

I can guarantee someone will find someone else autistic on this site.
Hell if we have this argument on what makes consoomers
then I think its fair to say consoomers are subjective based on what one thinks is "over the line"

 

[Dread First]

See, what if someone was to be engaged in sports/movies/gaming their entire life and decide to get into the business. They spend their lives in that business.
By this logic they are consoomers.

Honestly I think its fine to keep your childhood stuff for sentimental value.
Send toys to kids and they'll be ruined in minutes.
Now I'm not saying HOARD stuff.
But to me I'm fine with someone being a normal human being whilst enjoying some autistic stuff as well.

I can guarantee someone will find someone else autistic on this site.
Hell if we have this argument on what makes consoomers
then I think its fair to say consoomers are subjective based on what one thinks is "over the line"

No one disagrees with the assertion that some level of consumerism is okay. The problems that I personally have with consoomer culture go like this:

• New products are constantly coming out all the fucking time with no real regard for whether or not people need said products in the first place. Consumer electronics are the most egregious example of wasteful production considering the mountains of e-waste that pollutes landfills everywhere in America.
  
  
• Most places that manufacture shit like China, India, and Indonesia have absolutely fuck all for environmental protections, regardless of what is being produced. Fun fact: solar panels create a shitload of toxic waste as a byproduct of the production cycle and that shit is never disposed of properly. Ever wondered why the Chinese have an abnormally high rate of cancer? I'll give you a hint: it ain't because they were outside all day without sunblock.
  
  
• 2-day shipping being omnipresent means that logistics companies, postal companies, and other such businesses are constantly working against the clock to make sure that products get to consumers on time. Have you ever worked in a shipping warehouse before? I definitely wouldn't recommend it unless you wanna do an IRL speedrun of how quickly you can get fired for being too slow.
  
  
• Companies nowadays are coming up with more and more ways to pamper the customer while putting unnecessary strain on their ops teams. Y'know, because curbside pickup definitely won't put added strain onto overworked retail employees who are responsible for store pickup, checkout, and customer service.
  
  
• We normalise massive amounts of consumer spending during holidays that are specifically meant to be the antithesis of rampant avarice and consumerism (i.e. Thanksgiving and Christmas). I turned off my car's bluetooth to listen to the radio for a little bit this morning and I can tell you this right now: I lost track of how many fucking Christmas sale ads I heard from the likes of Target, Walmart, Best Buy, et al.

To be absolutely clear here, I'm not trying to say that we should just abandon all frivolity and live a utilitarian and frugal existence. That would be fucking miserable. Some frivolity is okay, but people genuinely forget that it's literally impossible for all 8 billion humans on the planet to consume like any "developed" country does.