Changing consumer behaviour: Will second hand goods become more acceptable?

For the last 20 years we have been moving to an unsustainable consumerist society. We no longer fix things; we don't value skills that enable cobblers, electricians or upholsters. We decided it was cheaper to import cheap inflation from China. As the price of goods fell we just thought we could keep buying new things to replace anything that was over 18 months old.

Those of us who are older can clearly see we were on a path to distruction, but kids in the last 15 years have known nothing else. They expect new generations of products - white goods, TVs, DVDs on a regular basis, each attempting to be better than the last. Unfortunately, new products rarely deliver significant improvements. Human beings tend to be iterative whilst a few true inventors produce the next generation of ideas to market. To replace this "invention timing gap" we decided to use advertising to fool the majority with upgrades and new colours to ensure we could continue the ever increasing R&D costs that true invention requires in large companies.

With the recession and high inflation around the world we will soon move back to our old ways. Using second hand goods and repairing are old products to ensure they give their full useful existence for the money we paid. This in-turn will have an effect on our electronic and white good stores who will begin to see sales declines as people move to a repair culture rather than throwing everything out for a cheap replacement. Websites like ebay.com will allow people to buy a multitude of items cheaper than list prices and people will begin to move away from wanting shiny new toys and expect the rich to pay the full price whilst they pick up the same goods at up to 40% off, sometimes after only a few days...

Its going to be tough for the next 6-7 years as easy credit disappears from our society - salary declines will increase due to inflation and labour costs will become more competitive with the cost of purchasing a brand new item. Perhaps this is the end of the large bricks and mortar stores churning out new products every 18 months. The service will exist but it will be usurped by online stores who can perform the same function without high overheads. Kids today (the adults of the future) no longer need the customer service and "human service" that our parents took for granted. They would prefer to shop online rather than speak to human beings.

If we're not careful this will create a more isolated society where separation is even more prevalent...comments welcome