Why Millennials are Killing Industries
It’s not intentional. Not always, anyway.
The phrase “millennials are killing the ____” industry is overplayed, enough that it has become a joke among said generation. The origins of this economic slaughter may not be nearly as lighthearted.
A generously shortened list of these companies includes things expensive and cheap: Cars, diamonds, and houses, to napkins, detergent, and fast food. What’s the connection? What on earth is causing younger generations to turn their nose up at previously traditional American favorites?
It’s simple: they’re broke.
As stated best here:
Or maybe, just maybe, the generation that graduated both with more debt and into the worst recession in 80 years simply cannot afford to spend money like the ones that preceded it.
Millennials are not buying detergent because it is not essential. It is a luxury. Same with napkins, and all the other minute details that come with the American dream. They cannot afford to spend their money on motorcycles, they need food! They certainly can’t buy houses, not when the average price for homes has increased from around $3,000 to around $120,000. Diamonds? Forget it.
But it isn’t plain ol’ poverty that keeps millennials from purchasing as wildly as their Gen X predecessors. It’s also that millennials are more educated regarding the faults of these companies than before. (I mean, they’ve gotta be spending their money on something, right?)
Perhaps millennials aren’t purchasing cars because of global warming, because the earth is becoming so polluted at certain times of day you cannot see the sky.
Perhaps millennials aren’t as loyal to their employers, either, because they feel their employers are not loyal to them. The previous article mentions that older generations are trying to hire newer workers: workers that know their value. While before, workers were often left as bottom-feeders and were taught that they were “lucky to have the job in the first place,” millennials nowadays refuse to accept that mistreatment. They don’t want a dead-end job, they want to advance. More than anything, those millennials want to buy diamonds and houses and cars, but workers being paid minimum wage simply cannot (and should not!) ever prioritize material possessions over the ability to eat.
Millennials do not want to “have their cake and eat it too.” They don’t even want cake, they just want to be able to afford to stay in their apartment. Is it really so horrible for millennials to request being paid beyond the bare minimum? Is it so awful that millennials ask to be paid appropriately and treated as valued employees rather than expendable money-burners? Is it a crime to try to advance society where no one is left behind?
The problem is not millennials being selfish. It is not millennials being self-absorbed. The problem is the world millennials were born into is far too flawed and far too unwilling to change.
Fortunately, if there is one thing millennials’ impatience can benefit, it is that they will not wait for the world to change for them.
