Comment by newccount | Hacker News Reader

Comment by newccount | Hacker News Reader

The true value of these luxury goods is likely closer to that appraised by those undergrads than by the author - i.e trash. Literally billions of dollars of unsold inventory are burnt and destroyed by Luxury brands to avoid marking them down to their correct market value. Cartier's parent company alone destroyed "400 million GBP" of watches in 2 years[1]. Why would you destroy billions of dollars of merchandise if they were actually worth that. I went down the rabbit hole recently after the LVMH tiktok scandal, and given the nature of modern supply chains and mass manufacturing, i believe the bulk of luxury clothing and accessories are likely made in Asia ( China, Bangladesh ) and Eastern Europe. Then they use various techniques to obfuscate the country-of-origin. I cant shake off the impression that the luxury goods market is mostly smoke and mirrors of artificial scarcity, paid celebrity endorsements and potemkin factories.

[1] - https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/may/18/richemont-d...

> The true value of these luxury goods is likely closer to that appraised by those undergrads than by the author - i.e trash.

The explanation might be simpler than this: as the students are moving out, taking this stuff with them might be prohibitively expensive. They might have liquidated their belongings and, as they have a hard deadline to get out, they need to get rid of things.

Also, it seems the author might have inflated some of the value. The article mentions things like $980 Valentino sneakers, but it also mentions they were worn but wearable. What's the real value of used shoes? Would someone who spends $1k on shoes bother with getting tens of dollars back by selling used sneakers?

> https://www.thepoke.com/2019/09/29/americans-cant-believe-ka...

Punchline: This is a great idea. It sure would save me a lot of money on coats.

I'm gonna bet used Valentinos, in my size, are still gonna be at least 200$. I'm not a shoes guy, but I know they are worth something.

> I'm gonna bet used Valentinos, in my size, are still gonna be at least 200$. I'm not a shoes guy, but I know they are worth something.

That might be true, but it doesn't refute the idea that a) the value listed in the blog is quite possibly inflated, b) it makes financial sense for the students to throw out stuff like used shoes. Of course dumpster divers always find valuables, but it's also a fact that people moving out often give away valuables they can't take with them. There are even expat boards in Facebook where people give away things before moving abroad. In fact, there are businesses specialized in clearing out rentals for a fee, meaning people pay companies to take away stuff they use, including furniture and appliances, even when they are in perfectly good condition.

Oh yeah, the junk hauling business is super profitable. They usually advertise their open warehouse sales on Craigslist or FBM or you can ask them. I bought an electric high fire 18" kiln for $100. They are typically worth $500-1000 for an old one. ~$3k new.

The shoes are probably the most valuable of the items mentioned.

The rest of the list was things like used leggings, used pillow cases, used slippers, used bath mat, used pyjama bottoms. Those are worth basically nothing and the author was valuing them at what it would cost to buy new.

Literally nobody is buying a used bath mat. That is worth $0 not $22

Literally nobody is going to spend $128 on a pair of used leggings. Maybe you could sell them, but not for $128.

$96 for a 2 used pillow shams is also crazy.

The author's valuation of these items is literally insane.

I got plantar warts from a climbing gym, and now I make all efforts to never get them again. You should be cautious before wearing used shoes and make all efforts to scrub and wash the shoe interior before wearing. Plantar warts is the HPV virus and cannot be killed with antibacterial methods, bleach, and requires like 30 minutes of rolling boil to destroy the virus. The best you can do is physically scrub and rinse the virus away from where it might find skin contact.

To answer your question, the cost of a used shoe could be the cost of time, despair, and anxiety spent treating a transmissible disease.

An alternative is that $1k simply isn't a lot of money to some people. I came to this realization in college when I had some very wealthy housemates who would occasionally treat expensive items as disposable single use

> the LVMH tiktok scandal

Can you tell us more about it?

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