this post was submitted on 04 Oct 2024
186 points (87.5% liked)

Buy it for Life

4544 readers
13 users here now

A place to share practical, durable and quality made products that are made to last, with an emphasis on upcycled and sustainable products!

Guidelines:

Things that are well-made and durable (even if they won't last a lifetime) are A-Okay!

Unlike that other BIFL place, Home-made and DIY items are encouraged here, as long as some form of instruction is included in the body of the post.

Videos links are not allowed as post titles, but you may use them in a text post.

A limited amount of self-promotion is accepted, IF the item you are selling aligns with this criteria:

  1. The item must be made with sustainable or recycled materials.
  2. If electronic in some way, the item must be open-source.
  3. The item must be user-serviceable (if applicable).
  4. You cannot be a large corporation.
  5. The post must be clearly marked with a [Self Promotion] tag in your title.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] Varyk 78 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

The product didn't fail, American business culture failed.

they should have worked this into the title:

"A company needs to grow.

In the past few decades, the idea that every company should be growing, predictably and boundlessly and forever, has leached from the technology industry into much of the rest of American business."

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I don't understand this. What is wrong with a stable company that maintains its size?

[–] Varyk 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

The thing wrong with a stable company is that it doesn't afford those at the top uncontrollable, disproportionate influence and profit.

American business culture disdains stable companies that maintain their size.

American business culture advocates for and promotes unlimited expansion and profit increase above all else, which is obviously unsustainable and distracts from creating good products or social benefit If you put a moment of thought into it, and benefits the one or few at the top while exploiting everybody else.

When that venture inevitably fails, the winners at the top get to exploit their ill-gotten profit to influence culture at large, radicalize the exploited and propagate the exploitative system.

The winners are shuffled around, and continue making obscene profit from each successive top position at the expense of their society, simultaneously creating and breaking laws to further their selfish, unsustainable gain.