Reflections

Too much

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On Friday after work I headed to the hardware store, Bunnings, to get some things for a little project I'm doing this weekend and decided to investigate some tools I've been considering as well. I don't simply buy for the sake of wanting things and with tools and equipment I wait until the need exists then pick up what I need for that particular job if I don't already have it; this ethos has left me with a vast array of tools and equipment over the years - but there's always another project and the need for specific tools for the job.

Unfortunately I didn't find what I was looking for at Bunnings so ended up at a dedicated tool shop on Saturday morning, braving the 40°C heat in the process and...still didn't find what I was looking for.

The problem wasn't that there were none, just that I couldn't find one commensurate to my needs at a price I was willing to pay and buying a substandard tool isn't something I'm into. I know what'll happen, I'll just bite the bullet and get it done/bought, but today I walked away empty-handed which means my project will be delayed a little.

While at the hardware store, Bunnings, and the tool shop, TKD (Tool Kit Depot), I was struck by the sheer number and array of tools and equipment and was left wondering if multiple brands of the same thing is actually necessary in a world of diminishing resources.

I understand the need for competition and consumer choice - no one wants to see a single brand monopolise the market and drive prices up - but there was a lot of choice and...I don't know, it just seemed somewhat wasteful.

It used to be that a person who needed a tool or implement would go ahead and make it themselves.

Flint knapping is one example. Some bloke one and a half million years ago decided he needed to cut some flesh, skin an animal or create a weapon to cleave another person's head in twain with so he made it himself through trial and error. Another example is the wheel or the fulcrum and lever and the water pump (thanks Archimedes). Even the simple cup was something a person made themselves from clay, wood or stone and eventually basic metals, porcelain and so on. One didn't have the luxury to go to the store and find fifty seven aisles of cups to choose from; if one needed something it was made or traded for or bought...either way, there wasn't a store full to bursting point with exactly the same items but all in different colours like there is today.

I get it, time moves on and things become more modern...but when does it all become just a little too much?

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I didn't leave the store feeling overwhelmed by the tools, I know my way around a tool, but I left feeling that somewhere along the way we've became wasteful and disrespectful of the planet's resources - which certainly are not keeping up with the demand for more and more consumer goods. I also thought about the individuals and corporations getting mega-wealthy through society's constant drive for more and more things...Jeff Bezos is a good example of one suck asshole, and the way we feed that greed through our own need for more and more...even though we don't always need it.

Things aren't going to change, not in my lifetime anyway, and I think that by the end of my life - twenty to twenty five years from now -we'll see a steep downward spiral and probably chaos ensue due to the misuse of the planet's resources, consumerism and human greed.

Too much? Yep, I think so.

Design and create your ideal life, tomorrow isn't promised - galenkp

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Comments · 18

@hive-lu(65)· 544d
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@krazzytrukker(70)· 549d
Thanks For the TOOL PORN.!!

Dammit Man... You got 25 more years in you?

I will be happy if I can make another 10.

I am feeling the 59th year that comes this October already. Ok... Really I am feeling 69. It is the stress of it all.
@thelowededwookie(56)· 551d
The problem is worse than you thought. Each of those brands will go into the coffers of only about 3 or 4 different companies.

At Bunnings you've got AEG, Ryobi, Ozito, DeWalt and now Makita. In that list there are only three separate companies making those tools. The first three are made by the same company with only Ryobi being the international brand there. I think Makita is their own company but DeWalt is Stanley Black and Decker.

So you're right, we don't need all these different brands because in reality there's only 3 or 4. The rest are simply there to create the illusion that there is competition when there isn't really.

I'm not so sure that volume would be diminished if there was only those 3 or 4 brands, but the price would be so dirt cheap if the volume remained the same but reduced to the amount of companies there actually are. That's not good for the bottom dollar of the corporations. It would be good for us as the consumer.

So their workaround was to create separate brands and putting them into DIY, trades, and top of the line ranges at different price points making them slightly different connectors for the batteries so that you can't interchange with each brand so you lock yourself into one brand or "upgrade" your entire toolshed when you've "outgrown" your existing tool range.
@pizzabot(60)· 551d
PIZZA!

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@danzocal(60)· 551d
!PIZZA
@mengao(70)· 551d
Not only there are multiple brands for the same thing, but they make sure that the accessories only fit their own brand. For example, you can't use batteries from one brand on another, just to force the consumer to buy the same brand, or buy things they don't need.
@beelzael(75)· 551d
It's something I always notice going back to Germany. Here in Ecuador, there's a lot less of everything. The most of "the same" you have at the market, with 15 booths offering the same products for the same price - and probably all go to the same owner.

It's an illusion of choice, like so many things today. Freedom, they call it. But it's all the same, just in a different color.

Thank you for this post, I enjoyed it.
@enraizar(71)· 551d
Hi @galenkp. I found it very curious that your reflection originates from an experience in a store with useful things. We are surrounded by useless or unnecessary things. I am fascinated by fashion, the ability it has to make obsolete the pants I bought last year and how it invites me to buy another one I don't need, just because the color is different or there is a small change in the design.

The way the human species is going is absolutely irrational. And I have the feeling that few people care.
@dahpilot(69)· 552d
The human race is wasteful 😕

I understand the need for competition to advance and revolutionize industries, but I believe it’s too much.

In my country, it’s the opposite; there’s no competition, everything is monopolized, but neither extreme is good. Still, the exploitation of the planet and its resources is outrageous, and recycling is another joke—very much apolitical and with few actions. In other words, we’re doing very badly, but no one can change it.
@galberto(75)· 552d
Hardware store when I see this my brain was confused because this is a computer components too. Well I want one of this, to cut my bamboo but here it is not exist to buy and I do not buy a 7 inch circular saw for make a little work and have uses it during 2 or three times per year this could be a money waste. Until next time I only dream with have this for making my own cup from bamboo and make a bamboo recipes for cooking in this cane maybe the flavors would be great I guess. By the way jhon Deere too make their industry think in harvest more efficiently. Here our best tools are shtill the Germany tools, I have a saw very good. Well good luck with your little proyect if this could wait a little meaning that the proyect it is not urgent.
@bozz(83)· 552d
It is interesting how a new project usually means that you need to buy a new tool. I've been down that road several times myself. I actually read an article a while ago where they were saying if you are going to use the tool frequently, splurge for the higher end version. If you are only going to use it once a year, then get the cheaper model. Over here at Home Depot they also have a tool rental service which is kind of cool. You can rent anything from a dump truck or plate compactor to a battery drill or table saw. In the long run it is probably more expensive for some things, but it might cut down on the waste too.
@tonyes(74)· 552d
Excellent reflection and one of the lessons to be learned from this publication is that many times, in the eagerness to have and have we fill ourselves with many things that sometimes we do not even need or that we buy and throw to one side.

The big companies use all possible means at their disposal to tell us what to buy, the quantity, the quality of what they sell and we buy and they get richer to deepen a cycle that repeats itself over and over again.

The really sad thing is that many or most of these things are taken from nature and we are not aware of the damage we are doing to it.

As a Geography teacher I admire and value writings like this.

Thank you for sharing.

Happy Tuesday.

Cheers and best regards.
@claudio83(82)· 552d
@tipu curate
@coinjoe(73)· 552d
It is ridiculous how wasteful we as a species are. It is upsetting. I was listening to a story about the former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife. They were people of the great depression and lived like it even after his years as President. The story recalled how they would wash out ziplock bags, dry them out, and reuse them. How many people actually do that these days? I know we don't. It's sad really.
@avdesing(80)· 552d
I don't think it is too much what you say, I think it is going that way, I even think that there are too many things in relation to the amount of people who may need them and it is true that many people buy for the sake of buying without any need. This case of tools applies to other areas of life and the truth is that there is a lot of everything, wasting resources.
@duskobgd(74)· 552d
You didn't let yourself be fooled and you didn't give in to the "Buy Now" challenge.

When I saw the first picture, I thought you were going to write about the project you are making or the tool you bought, but after a few lines of text it was clear to me what you were planning to write about.

The commodity will come to our heads...

And our need to get to everything without difficulty is used by those powerful brands, who bury us with a lot of goods and equipment that can help us with "this or that", and which are necessary for us and without which we cannot live... And in fact, these same brands become billionaires and only raise the ladder of their goals, to sell us as many (unnecessities) as possible...
@foxkat(59)· 552d
Quite a while back, even maybe 10 years ago, I read online that the planet Earth can sustain only 1.9 billion people on it to be fully self sufficient.

That 1.9 billion number has stuck with me all these years and I always think about how we are 4 times over that number and still not respecting the scarcity of resources at all.

I did a quick google research and it says now that the Earth could sustain 4 billion people at a reasonable standard of living, but only 1.5 billion people at an American standard of living.
@ranajoy15(61)· 552d
I experience the same way. Too many alternatives, an excessive amount of waste. Quality topics more than more stuff.

Comments · 18

Hello galenkp!

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