Landlines have definitely gone the way of the Dodo Bird for Millenials. Even H and I ditched ours years ago. Cable TV too, has stopped being a thing for the younger generations. Perhaps if the cable companies had listened to consumer demands for ala carte subscriptions, the streaming services wouldn’t have ascended in the way they have. I’m convinced Verizon, et al., killed net neutrality in order to more fully leverage the profit potential of fully controlling internet content access. >:P I subscribe to several streaming services, along with Netflix. And though we do have a cable TV package, we only take advantage of about 5% of available content, mostly local affiliates, cable news channels, and whichever channel my H uses to watch yet another epeisode of NCIS.
My D recently bought one of those LG OLED flatscreen TVs. But she uses it mostly to stream YouTube videos, and game. Also to watch nature programs like the Planet Earth series.
She a also recently bought a townhouse in NOVA, which she definitely sees as her “starter home.” This girl is not the tiny house sort. / Lots of millenials seem drawn to them nowadays, though. And veganism.
But when we speak of “millenials,” we’re really referencing college educated, middle to upper income young people. The consumer habits of lower income young Americans are not the topic of that article.
We prefer local restaurants than chains. This is a shift.
I don’t see the starter home shift here.
Paper towels > napkins
Cereal lacks nutrition, so we rarely eat it.
Greek yogurt > light yogurt
Body wash > bar soap
We still use fabric softener and D prefers the liquid
There’s rarely a reason to go into a bank branch
We still frequent the remaining stores on that list and we buy designer handbags from the outlet.
I think the point with starter homes was that millennials rent for longer and then buy something beyond what we often thought of a “starter home” when they do purchase - maybe not the “forever home” but not the 1000 square feet bungalow.
Not saying I agree with these statements just sharing what the article says.
Light yogurt
-i honestly don’t know what this means
Bars of soap
none of us has used bar soap in well over a decade
Diamonds
my diamonds are lab grown. Neither of us will ever buy a diamond again most likely
Fabric Softener
both use
Banks
dad uses, rest of us use mobile
Department Stores
all hate shopping but will use when needed
Designer Handbags
-we don’t do designer anything
Big Box Gyms
don’t know what this is either. They go to the Y and we use the local rec center
Big Box Home Improvement Stores
both use
They cut cable before I did. We both have tvs and cable alternatives though.
We drink way more pop than they do.
All go to the dentist.
None of us have landlines.
My parents do organic and homeopathy before doctors. We don’t.
We’ve all cut newspapers.
I got married about the same age as my parents did the first time. Neither of their first marriages lasted as long as ours has.
My parents like consignment shops.
I’m a vegetarian, no one else is.
My millennials have given up most of the things listed here and we have as well. One other that I’ve noticed is not popular is expensive china and crystal. I’ve purchased gifts from several wedding registries recently and none have had formal dinnerware listed. I have a couple different sets myself and am thinking of selling what I have to Replacements.com - When my kids come to visit in a couple of weeks I’ll ask each if they are interested in what I’ve got - if not, I think I will sell what I have. I’m finding that I’m just not as attached to things anymore, especially things I rarely use.
Forbes should check out the Purse Forum… that place is buzzing, and most posters are from the generation that is “not into designer bags.” The only reason they are not buying them in quantities - too darn expensive.
Yesterday I was reading a thread on Purse Forum started by a millenial and wondering how much savings one should have before buying a $3000-$5000 bag. And I wondered what percentage of posters on this board would say it was impossible to ever justify such a purchase.
Interesting discussion. Neither of my daughters have televisions but they do stream videos and binge watch series online. DH and I watch television more than streaming anything however that is primarily because our smart TV is upstairs in our bedroom and we watch more together in our den. Could have that set up as well but we are dinosaurs and actually take DVD’s out of the library for free. There are a few network shows that I will watch and we watch lots of PBS programs as we have 3 PBS stations - NY, NJ and Long Island as well as specialty PBS stations. DH watches lots of sports on multiple channels and I watch PBS Newshour and MSNBC every night and Washington Week on Friday if at home and once again Colbert is making me stay up too late every night. I rarely frequent any kind of chain restaurants of any kind, did stop at MacDonalds for coffee a few months ago driving to Florida , cancelled my Amazon Prime went it went up to $99 and I looked at my purchases and saw that mostly were for registries and I was very unhappy what Amazon did to authors with the renegotiated ebook contracts a few years ago so see no reason to support them at all. I have shopped online however at Zappo’s, Nordstrom, Lord and Taylor, J Crew, Anthropologie and Lands End, L. L Bean. The d’s do order from Amazon and at least one of them is Amazon Prime member. As far as I know we all use paper napkins, paper towels (not interchangeable to me) and cloth napkins. We all enjoy wearing diamond stud earrings and pearl earrings, bracelets and necklaces. To me, pearls are timeless and never out of style. The girls are well past the Kate Spade and Longchamps designer bag stage and we are all very picky about our bags. When dresses are needed the first place we gather is the flagship Lord & Taylor on 5th avenue and go from there. Am I among the few people in the U.S. who has never been to Walmart? I have shopped at Target but it is never the first place I think of to go for for anything. We do shop at Trader Joe’s and so I suppose you might consider that a chain, as it certainly is when compared to my older daughter’s primary shopping destination, the Park Slope Food Co-op.
“Designer” bags at outlet stores are not really designer bags. They are made specially for the outlet stores (with just a few exceptions, and are of much lesser quality. My millennials (and us) have given up outlet malls. Used to love them!
No golfers in our family. We all still like cable TV- especially for sports. The female millennial and I like diamonds. The male athlete millennial and we like cereal on occasion. Neither millennial is a big soda drinker, now that I think about it, but we (parents) continue to be although I’ve cut way back.
Dining chains—neither we nor our kids like these, prefer local restaurants
Starter Homes—we still live in the only home we bought and our kids aren’t sure where they want to settle so haven’t yet purchased any real estate
Paper napkins (in favor of paper towels)—we all prefer paper towels—more versatile
Cereal—we all eat oatmeal over cold cereal—not as sweet and more satisfying plus very cheap
Golf—we gave up golf when we had kids—took up too much time and expensive; our kids tried it but found it boring
Motorcycles—none of us have ever wanted this—way too dangerous
Light yogurt—don’t like taste and aftertaste plus varying degrees of lactose intolerance
Bars of soap—we all still use
Diamonds—I have one from when we were engaged in 1985, no idea what our kids think
Fabric Softener—none of us have ever used this
Banks—we and the kids bank at an assortment of places, soñé of which we rarely ever visit
Department Stores—all of us rarely shop at these and there are fewer to visit
Designer Handbags—I have one and D has declined several i purchased for her. Neither of us are very interested in this.
Big Box Gyms—we have a rowing machine at home plus we walk; S has a gym in his condo building and at work. I believe D is contemplating joining a gym. We don’t like how LOUD most gyms are
Big Box Home Improvement Stores—H still shops at those; the kids don’t own anything they need to maintain yet.
The article makes me feel younger. We have never liked chain restaurants or Home Depot.
The things we do and have in our house (which we waited to buy):
Bar soap
Paper napkins
A landline phone: I am not sticking that transmitter next to my head for as much as we talk on the phone.
A diamond bought in 1991
A $100 designer handbag; not sure this counts
Do Costco and REI count as big department stores? Amazon? If so, we shop at those.
Our kids have none of these but will eat at Subway on occasion.
I read an article a few years back that said retail space was way overbuilt in our country due to the favorable tax treatment. This will inevitably lead to a string of closings.
The biggest difference between my kids and us (me and my wife) … My kids don’t use the TV or radio at all. They stream videos to their computers and use Spotify on their PCs, phones, and Google Home speakers. They also use Spotify in the car via their phones.
Funny to run across this thread because this morning I clicked on an ad up at NYTimes for Enso Rings. Silicone, and light metal wedding rings, for active people who apparently are not into spending gobs of money on a ring.
We have identical inexpensive light metal wedding bands with a simple Celtic design. Each of us engraved something for the other on the inside.
I still see a lot of traditional wedding rings on women but I also know a lot who go ringless. My dad never had a wedding ring and used to get comments about it all the time. No one says anything to my millennial ringless friends.
Biggest differences between us & our kids - we have a landline, the don’t; we still get a newspaper on Sun, they couldn’t imagine buying a newspaper; we use paper napkins, they use paper towels; DH uses bar soap, the rest of us don’t.
OTOH, we cut cable 2 years ago, while my sons both have cable (mainly for sports).
I have used cloth napkins for a long time. Don’t buy paper towels either—I keep tons of dish towels/cloths and sponges for cleaning and Chlorox wipes. I wait to wash all the dish towels/dish cloths once a week.
My kids use paper towels and don’t have a regular tv—both have Apple tvs. They also never write checks—they pay online or if check is to a private individual (rent) they use Venmo. I still write a check once in a while.
Lots of millenials seem drawn to them nowadays, though. And veganism.
The only reason they are not buying them in quantities - too darn expensive.