
Millennials' preferences are killing dozens of industries - samsolomon
http://www.businessinsider.com/millennials-are-killing-list-2017-8/
======
cyxxon
Some days ago I read an interview with one of the more important politicians
in Germany's conservative party, where he complained about millenials not
buying into consumerism as much, and also about his political opponents not
protecting ye olde businesses enough from this trend. All I could think of was
buggy whips: if your industry is not dying because someone invented a better
and cheaper way to meet demands, but because there is no longer as much demand
(if at all!), then, sorry, no, you do not deserve to be saved, or bailed out
even.

~~~
clarry
I feel the same way whenever people & news fixate on jobs, especially with
regard to jobs being lost with the closure of large factories or other big
employers. No, they do not exist to produce jobs. No, we shouldn't pour money
and effort into unprofitable business just for the sake of jobs...

~~~
pjmlp
Until it happens to be your job.

~~~
loco5niner
If your job isn't producing something of value, why should you be getting
paid? I realize that's harsh, but it's true.

~~~
pjmlp
Well, because if someone else doesn't offer a job, long term contributes to
degradation of society and eventually increase in crime rates.

It is easy to say to just get a job when one is young and lucky to live in
prosperous regions. Outside those criterias one can spend years trying to get
something, even just a couple of hours a week.

~~~
liberte82
And the people in those regions continue to vote ever more stubbornly for the
people who created that situation and refuse to help.

------
csmattryder
> "We believe the delay in homeownership is due to tighter credit standard and
> lifestyle changes [...]"

Being priced completely out of the market is another way to say that, given
the housing market in the UK.

A lack of guaranteed long-term disposable income explains most of the others;
diamonds, annual gym membership contracts.

~~~
christophilus
I don't know if it's that simple. I align with this study, but have a decent
income.

\- Home-ownership is a giant pain and often a poor financial choice

\- The diamond industry is corrupt, filled with human misery, and has
artificially inflated prices

\- Why pay for a gym when I can go hiking, walking, do yoga, and all the other
exercises I like on my own for free?

~~~
actsasbuffoon
> Home-ownership is a giant pain and often a poor financial choice

Yeah, this probably doesn't get discussed enough. I've had my house for a
little under a year, and it's required a new roof, a gas stove for a finished
basement that turned out to be severely under-heated, problems with electrical
wiring, and a few little odds and ends that weren't up to code, which I had to
fix to get home owners insurance.

I'm saving a bundle when you only consider the difference between my old rent
and my new mortgage, but home ownership comes with many incidental one-off
costs.

~~~
IshKebab
You shouldn't just consider the difference between your rent and mortgage.
Mortgage eventually ends. Rent doesn't.

~~~
iheartmemcache
You still have the overhead of maintenance.

Live in a cold region in a home built before natural gas was piped to your
region? Heating suddenly fails in February? That $95 dollar proprietary,
mechanical zone-controller from Honeywell is going to cost you $120 after
markup and another $600 in labor. That heating tech also saw some "green
death" on that copper, so you're going to have to call a plumber.

I'm fine with that but I went through vetting three heating techs before I
found one that one which knew his industry well enough to answer my fairly
baseline questions.[0] Eventually the guy I settled with explained the
mechanical properties of both zone-control unit designs, and why one brand is
more popular in the region[2]. He then mentioned what he observed as the more
reliable Taco lines "always go with the gold series controllers, the green
ones are poorly constructed especially if not installed properly".

All in all, I probably spent ~20 hours on top of the labor. In my NYC co-op,
all of that would have been dealt with and paid with the co-op fees (which are
more than reasonable). On the flipside, I'm perfectly fine with the home
maintenance issues-- but it's ultimately the vetting process for a well
informed[3] tradesman that takes the bulk of the time[4].

\--

[0] Generally, I get on some forum with trade masters[1] I found the answers
to after about half an hour of researching on a master plumber forum [1]
(i.e., "so how often do these units fail? How does the Tacos compare to the
Honeywells?").

[1] For EE, the EEVblog is usually second to none. Need a copy of the firmware
for a 1984 HP sig-an? Some dude will have it. Other trades have similar sites-
Hvac-talk in this case, absolutely high quality discourse. The great thing is
that most of the time these guys will have in their vBulletin signatures their
qualifications like "Master Certified ..., 1984 ". Similarly,
practicalmachinist is great for certain things. Contractor-talk IIRC was very
helpful as well.

[2] It turns out Honeywell is out of Rhode Island so there was some local
brand loyality developed out of buying local + the sales reps hit western MA
pretty hard.

[3] I.e., this 55 year old chap informed me that you apparently want to have
the unit head pointing up and positioned vertically and mounted in-line with
horizontal (not vertical) piping. This mistake is fairly common apparently and
can lead to significant issues down the line. So while I paid more for his
labor, his industrial knowledge was effective "preventative maintenance".

[4] If you don't want to/don't have the time to perform due diligence, having
a friend who is informed enough to vet the quality of work with you is worth
it. A buddy of mine is a contractor who knows all of the corner that are often
cut, the indicators of quality workmanship, etc.

------
ajc-sorin
It'd be more accurate to state "dozens of industries fail to adapt to the
needs of Milennials."

Businesses serve consumers - not the other way around. Perhaps if businesses
realized this, they wouldn't be getting "killed."

------
bencoder
[http://i.imgur.com/AT0DRAT.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/AT0DRAT.jpg)

~~~
kernelbandwidth
This is pretty funny.

"Did Millennials kill fashion?" one of those headlines reads.

No, I've seen what y'all did in the 80's and 90's. If Millennials killed
fashion, it was a merciful death after that.

~~~
falcolas
Hey! I _liked_ my parachute pants. They were comfortable. :(

~~~
kernelbandwidth
I'm not saying it was _all_ bad, just, you know, mistakes were made.

------
jessaustin
Like many GenXers I would have been happy to laugh at those silly Millennials
but TFA has me convinced of their wisdom and good taste. With the exception of
bar soap and the possible exception of Lowe's/Home Depot, I completely agree
that society needs less of everything on this list.

~~~
THE_PUN_STOPS
I would like to vote to keep motorcycles around.

~~~
clarry
I'm guessing the lack of disposable income and home ownership are a big cause.
Who wants to buy a motorcycle if they don't have a garage, or don't know if
their next rent apartment is going to have one?

~~~
cholantesh
I just got back from a trip to Cambodia and rode a bike there; I can
definitely see the appeal! My peer group has a pretty negative perception of
bikes, though: they see bike riders as reckless and bikes as dangerous and
polluting. I wonder what it would take to build a culture akin to what exists
now for bicycles.

------
x2398dh1
"Guilded Age Generation's" New Preference for Decadent, Sinful Kerosene
Killing Honest Whale Oil Dealers!

Lazy Great Generation Wants To Ride In Cars Instead of Time-Tested Horse and
Buggy!

Drug-Addled Baby Boomers Spend All Their Time Idiotically Punching Numbers
Into Fax Machines Rather than Learning Moorse Code Like They Should Be!

------
Vendan
> While millennials like to workout, they're ditching gyms in favor of
> boutique, class-centric centers. "Millennials don't want to be tied down,"
> Megan Smyth, the CEO of FitReserve, a service that lets members book
> boutique studio classes, told the New York Post. "It's a spontaneous
> demographic."

Ditching 24 hour gyms where you can go whenever you feel like in exchange for
booking classes is "spontaneous"???

~~~
falcolas
My personal feelings tie it more to the enforced year long contracts than
hour-to-hour flexibility.

Signing up for a Gym is a major financial commitment.

~~~
wil421
Not really you can find gyms as cheap as a monthly Netflix subscription or
luxury gyms that cost more than my Internet and cable bill.

~~~
falcolas
And no matter the monthly cost, they still try and get you into a year
contract. That is the lack of flexibility. You can't go for a month and decide
to switch gyms; you're tied to your choice for a year.

~~~
cholantesh
LA Fitness is month to month. However, they try very hard to convince you to
get personal training, which is contract-based. Very sneaky.

------
TYPE_FASTER
> In late July, Goldman Sachs downgraded both Boston Beer Company and
> Constellation Brands based on data suggesting that younger consumers prefer
> wine and spirits to beer, as well as the fact that they're drinking less
> alcohol than older generations more generally.

Not to mention the number of breweries has grown from 2,751 in 2012, which was
a record then, to 4,144 in the beginning of 2016.

~~~
matheweis
Yea, I wondered if they even have accurate numbers for beer - you mention the
doubling of breweries in the last few years - on a slightly larger timeline
it's even more pronounced - it has gone from next to nothing in the last
decade and shows little sign of slowing down:
[https://www.brewersassociation.org/statistics/number-of-
brew...](https://www.brewersassociation.org/statistics/number-of-breweries/)

------
lightbyte
Under Cereal:

>Instead, younger consumers are turning to convenient options with minimal
cleanup that can be eaten on the go, from yogurt to fast-food breakfast
sandwiches.

Four entries down is:

>Yogurt — especially light yogurt

~~~
zulln
They previously consumed yoghurt, now they instead prefer breakfast
sandwiches.

~~~
lightbyte
I'm fairly confident it is saying people are changing from cereal to things
that can be eaten on the go, such as yogurt or breakfast sandwiches.

------
princekolt
BusinessInsider reads more like Buzzfeed than ever before. (Millennials HATE
these industries, and you won't believe number 8!) It's also no wonder the
publishing industry is collapsing and is only still around because of
aggressive advertisement tactics.

~~~
setrofim_
Yup, it's kind of surprising "traditional news outlets" didn't make that list.

------
davexunit
I'm surprised that cereal is on the list. The reason cited is that it's viewed
as inconvenient. I eat cereal nearly every day _because_ it's pretty much the
laziest breakfast you can possibly make.

~~~
hmhrex
As with many things in this article, I disagree with their statement on cereal
very much. I would rather spend my money on better foods for my children than
the processed, sugar-filled, expensive "cereals" that are marketed as
"healthy". I prefer the actual term for
[cereal]([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cereal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cereal))
and we try to stick to that mixed with yogurt and fruits.

------
nicktelford
You can't kill an industry; that would imply some kind of obligation to
maintain the status quo.

These industries are "dying" (or more accurately, declining) simply because
they're failing to adapt to the changing nature of demand.

------
genocide_throw
"Dozens of industries fail to adapt to Millennials' preferences." FTFY.

------
jtcond13
You're welcome, America. Will anyone really miss Buffalo Wild Wings? Or Golf?
I suspect we drink just as much beer, it's just more craft beer than Sam Adams
or Corona.

The 'Millennials don't like breasts' angle is a new take. I'd figured that one
was a constant.

~~~
NoGravitas
I think Millennials realize that they can see boobs any time they want, and
don't need to go to a crappy, overpriced restaurant to ogle the topboob of a
stressed, exploited, overworked waitress.

~~~
davexunit
"but their wings are really good" \- that one guy we've all heard try to
justify going to Hooters

------
GuB-42
Generation n has different preferences than generation n-1. Industries that
don't adapt are going down, leaving the space for newer industries. That's the
normal state of things.

So why present it in such a negative view?

~~~
robbrit
So that they can cash in on generation n-1's dislike of generation n. Stating
it as the obvious fact that it is doesn't sell newspapers or generate clicks.

------
nxsynonym
Another lazy article about how Millennials are destroying the economy.

And not one mention to the dozens of industries Millennials created or helped
take off.

~~~
DarkKomunalec
I honestly don't even see such articles as negative. They're not destroying
'the economy', just a few businesses, by acting more frugally/efficiently.
People don't serve 'the economy' \- it's supposed to be the other way around.
If parts of it are no longer needed, tough.

------
0xcde4c3db
I notice that the napkin entry implicitly assumes disposable napkins. Given
that it's often said that millennials value authenticity, I wonder if part of
that decline can be attributed to cloth napkins, and the cited Washington Post
article at least touches on that but doesn't seem to have any data. The beer
entry similarly seems to disregard the explosion of popularity in microbrews.

Of course, like most such articles, this is really less about millennials'
preferences than it is about our economic situation. For whatever reason, a
lot of people seem to think that inflation ended in the 1970s and that we
aren't all running out and buying houses because we lack an "ownership
culture" or whatever.

~~~
christophilus
Interesting. My anecdote supports this. My wife and I use cloth napkins. When
they're dirty (or we're being hasty) we use paper towels.

------
dozzie
The correct emphasis: dozens of industries dying because they can't adapt to
millennials' preferences.

------
westmeal
$article_name = "$GENERATION is doing $QUESTIONABLE_ACTION";

~~~
majewsky
Fun fact: Betteridge's Law may apply even though the title is not a question.

------
matt_s
I don't think its only millennials.

I'm gen-X and would prefer to go out to dinner to a place with awesome food
rather than a meh meal at a chain restaurant where they might just be
microwaving everything that isn't grilled or fried.

Maybe because of the recession its more of a culture shift away from feeding
the greed of corporate america?

Maybe people, of all ages, are just more aware of the details on things like
handbags that are overpriced, overpriced bar food at Hooters, etc.

Maybe if we as a whole are more educated consumers, we consume less?

~~~
jazzyk
Sadly, it is the recession, not the awareness.

It is like with car sales: every time gas prices go up, people start buying
Priuses, etc. But the minute gas prices come down, SUVs (the bigger, the
better) are all the rage again.

------
knbknb
I'm GenX, but for my generation and Millenials I'd add "Fine China ownership",
"Opera visits", "Stamp Collections", and a few others to the list. With
"Matchbox Car Collections", I'm not sure if this is still a millenial thing.

------
whatusername
Interesting... Business Insuder seem to be tailoring their stock photos to
local audiences. I saw Commonwealth Bank, Myer, Sizzler, Jarryd Hayne. Those
names likely won't mean much to people outside Australia.

The article text seemed the same -- just local photography.

~~~
MattSteelblade
It seems that it just changed you to the Australia edition. You have a
slightly modified headline and some different pictures. The Australian one
also shows up as a slideshow, while the American is one long article.

------
christophilus
I'm gen-X, but align almost perfectly with millenials on that list. Good
riddance, I say.

------
badprose
Going over sme of the brands on that list, this was a bit shocking: Applebee's
founded 1980. Buffalo Wild Wings founded 1982. Hooters founded 1983.

The way they write these articles I thought these companies were as old as
Macys (1858) or Sears (1893).

------
p0nce
So, millenials are much more pragmatic and won't buy things that have zero
value in a world that heats up too fast?

------
kalefranz
Would love to see the parallel article of the 20 or so industries and products
that millennials are boosting.

~~~
criddell
That was one of the conflicts in that article. Several items were related to
decline in restaurants - Applebees, Buffalo Wild Wings, Hooters - and then
later it says millenials are spending more money on restaurants and
experiences.

So what are the new restaurants that young people are patronizing? Take out
places?

And what are the experiences? Travel? Concerts? Movies?

------
dsfyu404ed
>Hooters

Went to hooters. There was too much clothing. Food was overpriced by bar food
standards. If I want to see tits I'll go to a strip club. If I want beer and
food I'll go to a bar. The Unix design philosophy isn't just for software.

~~~
nnq
> the Unix design philosophy isn't just for software

I have mixed feeling about the "Unix design philosophy" in software. And _I
'll sure as hell fight to not let it invade other aspects of life!_

I happen to like "expert generalist" software and tools, and just as much I
like "expert generalist" people.

I can't wait to see the _reversal_ of the "worse is better" and "efficiency
first" philosophies... even if this will likely coincide with the brink of
technological singularity and the extinction of bio-humans, I hope I'll see
the short as it may be age when we use technology to _engineer plenty,
richness, artfulness and hedonistic excess in all areas of life_ instead of
the current artificially synthetized scarcity in all things for the purposes
of "efficiency" and "accelerating growth".

------
damaru
For me it just sounds like a consumer generation smartening up - no napkin,
hooters, beer and softeners... This is mostly waste anyway, our needs and
consumption will change and the industry has to change with it.

------
nkrisc
I can't wait for Millennials to kill "Millennials are killing" articles.

------
gordaco
So much emphasis on millenials not buying things and so little emphasis on
millenials being paid fairly so that they can buy things.

People are being denied the possibility of having money. Therefore a lot of
luxuries (or perceived luxuries) are disappearing. Businesses should stop
feigning surprise about it, and start handing out money to their workers.

Millenials also have the benefit of being in a world where information is more
available, so it's more difficult to scam them or trick them into consuming
things with nasty side effects.

Let's see what's in the list proposed by the article:

1) _Casual dining_ : perceived luxury. Homemade food is cheaper (probably
healthier as well).

2) _Beer_ : harmful to health. People are now more likely to be aware of this,
so a reduction in consumption is to be expected.

3) _Napkins_ : probably, perceived luxury. There are better, cheaper
alternatives.

4) _Breastaurants_ : preceived luxury. Another factor here is that the younger
generations are likelier to find these demeaning to women. I know I wouldn't
ever go to one of these.

5) _Cereal_ : this is an interesting case. My money is on two causes: one is
that they are probably perceived to be harmful to health (most are more sugary
than it seems at first glance), another one is that people are changing their
breakfast habits because of time restrictions. Because yes, millenials aren't
just money-poor; employed millenials are time-poor too.

6) _Golf_ : obviously a luxury.

7) _Motorcycles_ : possibly a luxury too. If you run the numbers (as I have,
but your results will depend on your location) you will probably found that
public transport+Uber or equivalent is cheaper than having your own vehicle.
In the case of Harley-Davidson mentioned in the article, they are definitely a
luxury.

8) _Homeownership_ : definitely a luxury; rent, shared homes or simply staying
with your parents is just cheaper. Also, homeownership ties you into a given
locations, yet the job market is likely to requiere people to move. Therefore
homeownership is not a smart move for a lot of people.

9) _Yogurt_ : not sure about this, probably it's being perceived as harmful.
However not every yogurt is packed with sugar; I wonder if healthier brands
are faring better than not so healthy ones.

10) _Bars of soap_ : probably perceived as a luxury as well. The article
mentions health concerns, whicih might be valid.

11) _Diamonds_ : this is not even a luxury. It's, and always has been, a
racket based on very effective propaganda. Congratulations to millenials for
finally starting to end the farce.

12) _Fabric softener_ : luxury.

13) _Banks_ : well, you need to have money to use them, so don't expect
millenials to use banks all the time. Also some usual banking practices are
really shady and millenials want to avoid them.

14) _Department stores_ : probably perceived as a luxury.

15) _Designed handbags_ : obvious luxury.

16) _Gyms_ : this is another interesting one; I would have bet that people are
consuming it more than 20 years ago. I guess that memberships are just too
expensive and people just go for a jog in the park. So, another luxury.

17) _Home-improvement stores_ : well, millenials don't usually own their
houses and they are not going to spend their already meagers pool of time and
money into improving another person's house.

18) _Football_ : I can't say much about this, because I'm not from the US. The
article mentions a decrease in cable TV, which is obviously a luxury. I
suspect that there is a greater cultural trend here and people are just less
interested in sport because there are so many more options to spend free time,
and so much less of that free time.

19) _Oil_ : this is a matter of political conscientiousness, so it falls under
the "perceived harmful" category.

After this wall of text, my conclusion is: yep, millenials are doing what they
are incentivized for. No real surprise here.

------
dyeje
Can this meme of 'Millenials are killing x' just die already?

~~~
Toboe
Here is to hopefully seeing "Millennials are killing '$Generation are killing
$thing'" soon

------
maxehmookau
"Young people like different things to old people."

Get over it.

~~~
nobodyorother
But, but... but those aren't the things I wanted them to like!

...Murderers! Industry murderers!

------
basseq
I was born right between Gen X and Millennials. Sometimes I am included as a
millennial, sometimes not. I'm 50/50 on this list.

\- _Applebees:_ DEAD. "Low-quality restaurant sees declining sales." _Color me
shocked._ Suffice to say, I haven't set foot in an Applebees / Chilis / etc.
in years. I was given a gift certificate a couple years ago, and used it at
their sister restaurant On The Border for margaritas only.

\- _Beer:_ ALIVE. I'm surprised here, given literally all my friends love
microbrews. I have a case of Starr Hill in my fridge right now. Is this
looking at "Big Beer" and ignoring craft breweries? They also mention that
"younger consumers prefer wine and spirits to beer", but use Constellation
Brands as an example. Other than Corona / Modelo, Constellation is primarily
wine (Black Box, Estancia, Robert Mondavi, Toasted Head, Woodbridge).

\- _Napkins:_ DEAD. Just a pain. Drives my mom nuts. That said, I do have
linen napkins for nice occasions.

\- _Hooters:_ DEAD. Full of creepy old men who wish it was still the 80s.

\- _Cereal:_ ALIVE. My wife, in particular, eats cereal almost every morning.

\- _Golf:_ ALIVE. I enjoy golf. I don't get out to play as much as I'd like,
and when I do, it's usually 9 holes. A full 18 just takes too long.

\- _Motorcycles:_ ALIVE. I used to ride a 1,000cc Aprilia Tuono R, but sold it
when I had my first kid. I miss it. Most of my motorcycle-riding friends are
on the same trajectory, but that has nothing to do with generation.

\- _Homeownership:_ ALIVE. Just bought my second house. 50% of my friends own.

\- _Yogurt:_ ALIVE. Confused here, too, as they turn around and mention that
Greek yogurt is popular. Anyway, yogurt (Greek) for lunch today.

\- _Bars of Soap:_ ALIVE. I like Caress.

\- _Diamonds:_ ALIVE. I have bought my wife a few. Just so damn expensive, and
synthetic stones have reached par in quality.

\- _Fabric Softener:_ DEAD. According to Procter & Gamble's head of global
fabric care, millennials "don't even know what the product is for." I don't
know what the product is for.

\- _Banks:_ ALIVE. Though what they really mean is: physical bank branches. In
which case: DEAD. I haven't visited a physical bank in years. Schwab is great.
My wife recently opened a business credit card at BB&T, and they told her she
had to come in person to change her address. She is considering cancelling her
account.

\- _Department Stores:_ DEAD. Sears and Macys are ghost towns. Norstrom does
better. I feel like the quality is generally lower-end, and I can get a
cheaper price online for the good stuff.

\- _Designer Handbags:_ ALIVE. Most of the millennial women I know have at
least one "nice" bag. Michael Kors and Kate Spade are kind of "young" or
entry-level. Tory Burch does well, along with stalwarts like Louis Vuitton and
upstarts like Shinola.

\- _Gyms:_ ALIVE. I belong to a "big-box" gym. I like all the different
classes I can take, or that there are other facilities available.

\- _Home Depot:_ ALIVE and I am singlehandedly keeping them afloat. I guess
this aligns with the "homeownership" bucket, but renters need stuff, too. I
went to Home Depot twice this weekend.

\- _Football:_ ALIVE. I can't wait for the fall, NCAA, and fantasy football.
We did ditch cable this year, and that definitely has an impact. Football
needs to catch up to viewer trends. Oddly enough, they miss the biggest
existential threat to football: violence and brain injury.

\- _Oil:_ ALIVE. What? Sure, electric cars and bicycle usage are going to cut
into gasoline sales, but this is just silly.

