Consumerism Hits a New Low: "Tin" Cans from...Tiffany & Co.???
This morning I was doing my usual ritual of checking on my website and browsing my social media sites when I came upon a post on Facebook that made me do a double take. The picture was of, what appeared to be, a tin can. But it was the title of the post that caught me off guard. The post read "Tiffany & Co. - Everyday Objects: Tin Can". I immediately started looking for the source, expecting to see "theonion.com" or "duffelblog.com". But the post seemed to be from Tiffany.com. "Everyday objects tin can in sterling silver and vermeil." You HAVE to be kidding me. So of course, I clicked on it and, friends, this is not a drill.
For any of you who may not be familiar with Tiffany & Co., they are most well known for their signature silver bracelets and wildly expensive engagement rings (this one is $21,500 for example).
I guess if you've been in business making high-end jewelry since 1857 you get to charge a bit just for your name.
Now, to most people, Tiffany & Co. just makes jewelry that would take them an entire year's salary to afford. But now it seems, they are branching out to make even the most mundane items ridiculously consumerist and overpriced.
Exhibit A
Now I know what you're thinking....that's a tin can...But it's not just any tin can. THIS tin can is made of sterling silver, and vermeil. If you're like me, you have never even heard of vermeil, so I looked it up. Apparently, vermeil is silver that has been gilded....with gold. So this is a silver can with gold plating on this inside.
Not convinced yet of just how much you DON'T need this item? You might want to check out the price tag.
Yep, that's a $1000 tin can. And it doesn't even come with food!
The fact that this product exists at all saddens me enough, but it is, unfortunately, only one in the "Everyday Objects" line. Other extravagant offerings include:
$650 leather, walnut, and silver ping pong paddles
$90 bone china "paper" cups
And a $950 "paper" plate
I want to say that it blows my mind that a major company like Tiffany & Co. believes there would be enough demand for items like this that they decided to produce them. But honestly, even though I thought it was a joke at first, I suppose it really shouldn't surprise me that much. We've been duped into believing that being able to afford expensive, useless items somehow means we've "made it". When we can't afford all the "stuff" we believe we should have, we let ourselves spend money we don't have (money that doesn't even really exist) to get all these items anyway. Pretty soon we have mountains of debt we're struggling to manage, houses full of stuff we don't need, and we are massively missing out on what really makes life worth living.
Getting out of the rat-race, out of the control of people who just want my money, and living life is my family's goal, and the ability to get closer to that goal is one of the things I love about the whole cryptocurrency movement. While we're still a work in progress, I'm happy about the changes that we've made and I would love to share them with you. If you're interested check out my website at Of Earth and Hearth.
I've love to hear your take on this new line from Tiffany & Co. Leave your comments below! I'd love to chat about it.