Get used to buying used
The world is changing at a rapid pace with everything from the pandemic to shipping supply shortages. And even if those issues were not affecting the goods you purchase — new revelations about the seriousness of the climate emergency are making us all reconsider how to buy and use products sustainably.
In short — since most goods, bikes and bike parts included, used to be produced in stages around the world, coronavirus disrupted the supply chains which enabled seamless delivery of those goods. Now just as things were slowly picking back up, ports around the world ran into a shipping traffic jam. Ports have either too many ships backing up waiting to unload or containers are backing up waiting for ships to pick them up. This in turn leads to shortages of items from your favorite brands when attempting to buy your perfect bike or obtain the special part necessary to complete a repair.
The bigger looming problem has to do with how globalizing economies prioritized perpetual growth over climate sustainability. Many of the worlds products are made in poorer countries where pollution regulations are lax due to the incentive of increased margins. To top it off, sole-profit-motive corporations have learned they can earn even more with planned obsolescence and quarterly marketing campaigns to convince customers to buy newer versions of things they already purchased. In most countries these items are not repaired or recycled and are simply thrown away. If someone were to attempt to recycle them they would quickly learn that more often then not the products of the modern global economy are actually unrecyclable.
The best way to actually recycle anything is to give it a new life within your community. Rather than try to break up an object into its various potentially-recyclable constituent components, giving it as many cycles as possible takes multiple counts of itself from being needed by someone. Many things are not passed on simply because its not currently trendy or culturally embraced to do so. Most repentantly, the internet has not matured to the point where owners can find buyers for their items quickly enough that a monetary time limit does not exceed the potential total value of the item for sale. Time is money after all
Enter — the many new mobile app used-item marketplaces representing an economic incentive to recycle items in this manner. It seems obvious now that a bunch of used items have more value than bags of glass and aluminum cans, but this simply wasnt the case before we all had pocket computers. These marketplaces, some general and some specialized like Sprocket, allow sellers to quickly list what they have to sell. Using the phones camera, GPS, portability and many other features makes listing items relatively hassle-free. In fact listing items on multiple marketplaces at once can get the items sold even faster at higher prices!
And now that so many people are choosing to sell through these mobile app marketplaces there is a very diverse range of stuff to buy. Not only that but many of the things are of a fairly high quality, some even practically brand new! Getting into the habit of starting the search for an item with used marketplaces can yeld the same item in cases for as much as 50% off or in some cases 80%+! Astoudingly it can even lead to the discovery of similar items in even higher quality ranges which would usually have not been accessable — and still at very competitive prices.
On the Sprocket bicycle marketplace for example we have all manner of high, medium and low tier bicycles. Riders in many cases may be selling perfectly rideable bikes at amazing prices due to extarnalities having nothing to do with the state of the bicycle, such as lack of house space, in anticipation of a move or because they finally upgraded to something in the current model year. This often can and does result in huge savings as you find bicycles a few years or decades older and with a ride quality that would be hard to match on a new $3000 bike fresh from your local bike shop. Buying bicycles and other used items at a lower cost can have other advantages like learning as well. New riders in particular need to experience different bicycle types with little financial risk and also figure out the bicycle height for their specific body. Buying a ~$200 frame and then having the experience to be able to talk to a bike mechanic about what worked and didnt is a great way to dial in your first LBS purchase to be a sure success!
As retail businesses continue to become less relevant, more of us will find ourselves starting our shopping journey from our smartphone and often with used marketplaces. Discovering what your community members have to sell is a smart way to save money while optimising your budget as well as find items from time to time which are better than new. But most importantly shopping used will bring a sense of pride to all who participate in keeping our stuff out of landfills, lowering demand to remanufacture perfectly good objects and having a direct hand in curtailing climate change!
Get used to buying used and have fun sharing what you find with the rest of us ;)
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Check out our used bicycle and bike part marketplace Sprocket, available on iOS, macOS (M1), Android, ChromeOS, Web: sprocket.bike/app
