You'd be more successful going into business for yourself at selling this high priced crap than your gonna be asking those fools who do buy it, to stop.
Teenagers and teeni boppers still in grade and high schools without or not old enough to have part time jobs, have for fact, more money than their parents. Makeup and clothing sales to the tune of 4-5 billion a yr.
And why stop when all you have to do is ask, money does not grow on tree's, that much they do know...it grows in mom and dads pockets, so until h*ll slaps on a new coat of paint it's gonna continue.
Even in times like these, with depression going into a double dip, those fore mentioned industries are barely feeling it, because every 6 months it's "all" out of fashion.
I do vounteer work at a secondhand store, i used to think i knew what a "throw away" society we were until i started working there and there is little "2nd hand" to it.
We get 1-2 dozen large garbage bags full of clothes a wk pack full of band new clothes, shoes,purses, toys,etc with the price tags still on and this stuff isn't even out of style. A lot of the stuff, one can tell is from vacationing, new bathing suits, cruise and beach wear, fur coats, evening wear, imported designer shoes and boots that might have been tried on or even worn for a whole hour or two. Ppl who own stores often drive up with trunk and back seat full of boxs of brand new items, that are overstock, they can't sell or are a few months out of style and if a store is closing down we get it all. With many well of ppl changing/renovating almost yearly we get toasters, coffee perks, kettles, microwaves, tv's, vcr, older computers/accessories, sets of dishes, lamps, radios, walkman and disc players, almost anything you can think of and only months or a yr or two old, we test everything before it goes out. It does wonders for teens of poor families to have these new fashionable clothes and if we know them from the community we will quietly mark it down further or in many cases give it away, but we do ask ask them to keep it on the hush, hush. We also save all the new toys for poorer adults to give their kids at Xmas and on birthdays, these parent often turn to tear on us, it's fantastic to know they and kids will wake up at such events and do nothing but smile all day or longer.
And the saddest of all, is that today, the young ppl don't seem to have any sentiment, they give us valuable family heirlooms for our auctions, the most beautiful things that should have strong sentimental value and often say "it's not my taste". We haven't the room to take larger pieces of furniture, but we often put smaller pieces in outside in front of the store very cheaply, such as dinning table/chairs, small bookcases, childens beds, etc.
At xmas, as schools close for for the hollidays, the teachers come in and it 's dam incredible what they get from their students today, when it comes to the high school kids, i always joke that one can tell who's not doing to well or who's plainly failing the grade, take for example a $200. ornimental bowl, clock incased in Royal Dulton crystal, ect, tell me if those don't add up to a failing mark and a bribe??
This is not all second hand stores of course, we happen to be a favourite in our region as it's run strickly on vounteers, we keep our prices lower than any secondhand store around, we've been in business for 22yrs, we supply Africa with shoes, clothes, pots and pans, school supplies and most anything else they request that comes through our store, we also supply the same to isolated Native communities in the Northlands, hostles, women shelters, single mothers birthing homes, immigrants escaping poverty get a new start welfare gives them special requests notes with ages, clothes and shoe sizes, and/or special needs of their children to start anew, since Jan 2010 we've had a request for help from an Afgani oganization as few know, most women in Afganistan "were" only allowed to own one pot or pan for cooking. A few yrs back, one of our managers put the word out on the streets through the homeless, to come for a changes of clothes or winter coats/boots, we do not sell secondhand undies of course, only new in packages, but the second hand undies are washed and given to the homeless, one of our community pools has opened it's doors twice a wk for the homeless to shower in summer, we supply them with free towels, travel soap, shampoo, as we get tons of it, I find it really funny when you see these ppl wear the type of labels you speak of, only wish the company execs could see it!!
We also get canes, walkers, cribs, strollers, wheelchairs, car seats, comodes, etc, disability/senior devices that we are not allowed to sell, but we do collect and give to anyone who is in need. And proud to say, we recycle 100% nothing goes to waste. It's about the only place you see the fairly well off, mingle with the poor.
Yes, as foolish as it may appear, their is always a brighter side to such wasteful spending.
One may not be able to buy happiness, but they can certainly sell it cheaply, as well as give it away.