New, old, and dishonestly sold.

There's an American obsession with many with buying things new. They don't want something used. They say you can't know how well they took care of it. And you can't really. They might have rode it hard and put it away wet. They might have ground the gears like your sister on the family pillow. You can't know. But the idea that with something new you get this magic warranty that will fix everything is a myth.

I have very rarely gotten a warranty that's worth the paper it's printed on. More often then not it means spending hours on the phone with tech support after gathering up all my papers and sales information, and them often not believing a word I say when I tell them what's wrong with it.

But I'm mechanically and technologically inclined, so maybe it's different for you.

For me, it often means I can't open something up to fix it myself, and instead have to rely on someone else fixing something, and possibly doing a half-assed job.

I've had things go in for repair so many times that they ran out of warranty before they were fixed properly.

I've also been scammed by people selling things that were worse off than they said...but far less often than I've been screwed over by companies. Companies love to do shit that costs you a few bucks, so it's not worth the hassle, but it makes them millions.

See, the thing with new things is that none of them are worth what you pay. Very rarely anyway. That's how they profit of course, but the level that they profit is so overly insane.

When you buy something used, you're getting a bit of a deal for something you want, for a price that's a bit easier to swallow, and giving the person who has it a bit of a refund on something they no longer want, need, or simply need the money. For that you're also getting probably quite a bit of wear and tear. Of course, if you examine it properly and are prepared to deal with the wear and tear, you might get a fabulous deal, perhaps with the extra cost of a few hours of work to clear it up and repair a few things.

America has gotten lazy when it comes to repair though. Why repair something when you can just get something new for cheap? That's killed the repair industry and now means that even if you wanna get something repaired, you might not be able to for a reasonable cost.

It's also kinda classist to say things like "Oh, you should just get something new.", or the myriad of things people say when they push their idea that new is better. You see, not everyone can afford to buy everything new. Some people have filled their houses with things they got out of other people's trash. You might look on that with disgust, but that's just showing your classism. Some people gotta take what they can get, whether it's a used bike or TV, or a couch from their neighbor's garbage. Maybe they can't afford to spend $1000 on a new couch. Or more. Maybe they wouldn't have gotten a new TV for months or years unless they got it used...or out of the garbage.

When you get things used, they're not always perfect, and they rarely come with a magic warranty to fix whatever goes wrong with them, but they're often a pretty damn good deal for something that you might not be able to get otherwise.

_{Trash TV by With Associates October 1, 2008 (source)
Used under CC BY-SA 2.0 License}