in my dictatorship fantasy...
...such deliberate wastefulness would be a criminal offence.

Think about how much pollution (eg C02) is released, and finite resources consumed (eg rare metal alloys, oil); in the mining, smelting, moulding, assembly and shipping of bicycles; only for them to be sent to landfill.

Society simply cannot afford to deliberately waste in this manner. On a global scale; the more of a given material consumed by the affluent west, the less remains for subsequent generations and the rest of the world.
(The Incredible Sulk Finally remembered his password on, Sun 26 Oct 2008, 23:20, 2 replies)

Plus if the bikes don't get smashed up
our kids can have those as well as an un-fecked-up planet.
(Stu Moo winner of five nobble piece prizes, Mon 27 Oct 2008, 1:07, closed)

This.
Possibly even worse for the similar stories people have posted about electronics - Plasma TVs etc. Also applies to food, of course. Should be a criminal offence, definitely.

But then that's what the "system" is based on, with the consequence that when people start being sensible (keep stuff like cars, TVs, computers going or buy secondhand) it causes people who make those things to lose their jobs. And probably the manufacturer's share price to drop, which just so happens to then kill your pension fund or cause your bank to collapse. It's all broken, but how do we fix it?
(julius, Tue 28 Oct 2008, 9:23, closed)