Recently, Reddit user u/degreeofvariation posed the question, "What was loved by poor people until rich people ruined it?"
And there were so many relatable answers! Here are some of the top-voted responses:
1. "Food banks. My local food bank put out a news article basically saying that rich people need to stop using the food bank as a 'life hack' to lower their grocery bills."
2. "Etsy. There are SO many accounts for cheap crap from China that you could get on a bunch of other websites as well. No, I come to Etsy for homemade stuff and to support artistic individuals."
"Yep, I remember trying to avoid the temptation of Shein and almost buying some unique pearl bellydance waist chains from Etsy for $20. Dear reader, they were from Shein, just without the tags, and with a hefty 200% increase price-wise. Thank god for the reviewer who exposed them."
3. "Houses. We poor people would work our entire lives to own one. Property became a great investment and way to increase wealth, so rich people started buying them. Not to live in as intended, but to rent to the poor and keep them poor by renting so they will never be able to save enough to afford their own."
"It blows my mind. My parents immigrated in the early '90s. They worked minimum-wage and, five years later, bought their first house. With MINIMUM-wage jobs! They had the true American Dream experience. Not so much for my generation."
4. "Going to the farmers market."
"It's gone from local farmers and affordable produce to artisanal creations for the elite."
"Don't forget the borderline MLM stuff like the person selling 'Brazilian cheese bread' that they make with prepackaged mix and equipment from the parent company. And the booths trying to talk you into buying solar panels or new windows with stupid spinning wheels that you can spin to earn prizes like corporate, branded bottle openers in exchange for your name, address, make of your first car, and social security number."
5. "Counterculture-based festivals. Burning Man was on my bucket list until rich people started showing up with bodyguards and started establishing private zones."
"Recently saw this comment about Burning Man: rich people cosplaying poor people."
6. "Thrift shopping. I'm not ✨ thrifting✨, I'm fuckin' broke."
"Sometimes, I feel like it's cheaper to buy clothes at Target or Walmart brand new than it is to buy from a thrift store."
7. "Buying a 'fixer upper' home and spending weekends working on it. I was really looking forward to that."
"I will always say this. Fuck flippers. Unless the home is unusable/condemned, let someone who will actually live in it buy it. These flippers try to justify their existence by saying people want 'move-in ready,' as if people can afford it being that way."
8. "Champion brand clothes. I had a lot when I was a kid because it was the cheapest possible, and now, all that shit is considered 'vintage.'"
9. "Off cuts of meat."
"I remember when skirt steak used to be an affordable cut."
"Many ethnic foods in the US. The really tasty stuff might be dirt-cheap and off the beaten path until the yuppies and hipsters get wind of it, then it’s found in every strip mall at an inferior quality for $30 per plate."
"I remember when chicken wings were 10 cents because they could not give them away. Now, they are an industry. Plus, they break a wing in half and call it two wings."
10. "Quiet, out-of-the-way country cabins sitting by lakes. Now, they are overpriced Airbnbs."
"I'd even say Airbnbs themselves. They started as a potentially cheap alternative to hotels run by people who have extra space they aren't doing anything with. Now, people build guest houses specifically for Airbnb and treat it like a full-on rental."
11. "Pickup trucks. They used to be much cheaper."
"They're luxury commuter vehicles for guys who think a $90,000 truck that will never see a dirt road is a smart move."
12. "Van life and tiny house living."
"I live in my shitty van after almost being evicted from my apartment. Every once in a while, I'll meet a rich couple with $100k van conversions, and they ask me, 'What's your build like?!' I'm like, 'There's a mattress and not much else.' Can be truly offensive at times."
13. "Collectable card games and retro video games. Once the resellers get into it, prices go through the roof, and nobody can afford to do anything."
"Retro games are absurd now. I’m very grateful that I got most of what I wanted way before whatever this current market is."
14. "eBay. It used to be so useful to get all kinds of cheap or unique things. Then, more and more big, commercial sellers joined the club, and eventually, eBay itself forgot about what and who made their platform a success in the first place."
15. "Eating salmon. Fish used to be a poor man's food. Now, you pay absurd amounts for the tiniest piece."
"They used to feed prisoners lobster. Because it was a bottom feeder, it was classed as junk as far as seafood is concerned. Caviar and oysters were also poor people food."
16. "Carhartt clothing. Blue-collar workers needed the durability, then celebrities wore it 'fashionably' and drove up the price."
17. And finally, "Going to NFL games and concerts. Tickets have been priced out of my budget for a few years now."
"Stack on the service fees, parking, and beer to that outrageous ticket price. No thanks, I’ll take a nice vacation instead."
Anything else that rich people ruined? LMK in the comments below!
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.