this post was submitted on 21 Feb 2025
226 points (96.3% liked)

Ask Lemmy

28575 readers
1658 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

The current hostile corporate takeover in the USA and the clear loss of political power of the common people, I started wondering what happened if people used consumption as their leverage. Since the system is designed for continuous growth, what would happen if a mass movement of people stopping buying new non-essential consumer goods?

It would send a much stronger message than angry public protests. Thoughts?

Edit 1: Received some fantastic responses one of these highlighted February 28th as the "National No Spend Day" that we can consider the rehearsal.

*Do not make any purchases Do not shop online, or in-store, No Amazon, No Walmart, No Best Buy, Nowhere!

Do not spend money on: Fast Food,Gas,Major Retailers Do not use Credit or Debit Cards for non essential spending

WHAT YOU CAN DO: Only buy essentials of absolutely necessary (Food, Medicine, Emergency Supplies) If you must spend, ONLY support small, local businesses.*

This movement is the definition of equitable, not spending means everybody can contribute within their means, and if you can't afford to buy shit anyway, you're already doing your part!

https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/2025/02/12/national-no-spend-day-economic-blackout-amazon-walmart/78410711007/

(page 2) 30 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] radix@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You see this (or used to, anyway) from time to time with gas strikes.

If it's just a month of "don't buy," it wouldn't do much in the long run. All that does is time-shift demand to when the strike is over. If the company can anticipate well enough, they'd raise prices when the demand comes back and come out ahead in the long run.

You have to use/consume less, and for an extended time period, not just change when that purchase happens.

But yes, with that caveat, use less, and choose the lesser evil when you do need to buy something. The individual effect is small, but small things add up.

[–] notsoshaihulud@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

n the strike is over. If the company can anticipate well enough, they’d raise prices when the demand comes back and come out ahead in the long run.

You have to use/consume less, and for an extended time period, not just change when that purchase happens.

But yes, with that caveat, use less, and choose the lesser evil when you do need to buy something. The individual effect is small, but small things add up.

The mitigation is to focus on used goods so it is much less painful. Unlike gas, people don't need that new TV, or that next phone, gaming console, their Nth streaming sub and use alternative (wink) ways to consume entertainment media.

[–] BettelBert@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

As a European i'd suggest to not buy nothing, but only products made in Europe ;)

[–] MajorMajormajormajor@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Don't forget about America's neighbours to the north and south too, eh!

[–] stickly@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

We have no neighbors. Only an unruly 51st tundra state and a hoard of alien barbarians being held at bay by the ~~Night's Watch~~ ICE

[–] shoulderoforion@fedia.io 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Donald Trump has broken the Constitutional binding of Checks and Balances, upon which all law in the United States is governed. Ask yourself what that means to business contracts which depend on those laws to be guaranteed, and what the loss of faith in the underlying system means to all commerce in this country and between this country and foreign individuals, corporations, and nation states.

Anycahoots, that's my long way of answering, What would happen if Americans stopped buying new consumer goods for a month? with: you are going to find out

[–] notsoshaihulud@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

Ask yourself what that means to business contracts which depend on those laws to be guaranteed,

Agree. If they feel the rules of engagement can be changed unilaterally, we can show that this can go both ways.

[–] drop_and_run@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 day ago

All the old consumer goods would fall apart because they're built to fail and non-repairable, so you'd need to buy new ones anyways.

Take that, Communists!

/s

[–] j4k3@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

I haven't bought stuff in over a year. AI laptop let me check out completely and mostly offline all the time in general except for mobile like now

[–] Mubelotix@jlai.lu 3 points 1 day ago

The small would die, the big would survive

[–] ultranaut@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

Yes. Or if everyone paid the monthly bills late on purpose at the same time. They stay rich because money flows through us to them. Demonstrating the power to disrupt that flow is going to send a message. The challenge obviously is in building and organizing a mass movement capable of taking coherent and targeted actions like these. You need a lot of people participating to have an impact.

[–] notsoshaihulud@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

We could even make an app that shows stephen miller, steve bannon, or one of the dogeshits talk whenever people got tempted to buy shit.

[–] breadcat@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago

it would be soooo badass let's do it just real quick

load more comments
view more: ‹ prev next ›