Book Review: Secondhand - Travels in the New Global Garage Sale

Humanity is drowning in a sea of… stuff. You know, stuff, things we can’t stop buying. Shoes, clothes, furniture, electrical home appliances, kitchenware, digital devices, automobiles. We buy stuff to use, to show to others, to keep up with the neighbours, to give as gifts, to store so it can be used ‘someday.’ We buy stuff for the pleasure that its ownership gives to us, we buy stuff so we can pass it on to our children someday, we buy because we fall for the marketing that makes us believe we need to ‘upgrade,’ and we buy stuff because, well, because we can. But how many of us ever stop to think, even for a minute, what happens to all our stuff once we are done with it, when we no longer have any use for it and when we don’t want to keep it any longer? Where does it go, what happens to it, where it ends up? Adam Minter’s book, Secondhand: Travels in the New Global Garage Sale is a thought-provoking read that encourages us to pause and think about the afterlife of the things we buy, once we sell, donate or discard those things. It’s an unexpectedly interesting story that takes you all over the world, exploring the world of ‘secondhand,’ which in some ways almost functions like a parallel universe, a shadow economy that barely accounted for.

Minter starts the book with the used good scene in the US and how there are entire companies that have been set up to help people clear out their houses and get rid of the stuff they no longer want. These are professionally managed setups that are primed to run with maximum efficiency, backed by a full-fledged network of sorters, transporters, warehouses, retailers and exporters. These are people who, as swiftly and efficiently as possible, sort through stuff that people no longer want, grade it according to the chances of it being resold (the resale could happen either in the US itself, or outside the country, perhaps in Asia or in Africa), transport it to a warehouse where this stuff can temporarily be stored and prepared for its onward journey and then either taken to a secondhand goods retailer, donated to a charity, exported out of the country as part of a bulk shipment, or prepared for landfill use if it can no longer be sold, used or given away. It’s a complex process that requires experience and skill, and is managed by professionals who are experts at this and who are capable of extracting every last bit of value from stuff that others have junked.

The author then takes the reader to Japan, where getting rid of old stuff is perhaps even more complex than it is in the US. With an ageing population and in a country where most people live in small houses and tightly-packed apartments, the young often don’t want the stuff their parents and grandparents leave behind when they pass away, sometimes because they have no use for the stuff and at other times, simply because there is no space to store anymore. There are laws and regulations for ‘proper’ disposal of stuff and following those regulations can be expensive. As for reselling and donating, Japan is an affluent society and people hardly ever want other people’s used stuff, preferring to buy new. And so Japanese used stuff, known for its quality and longevity, is also exported to various parts of the world, developing nations that are still able to repair, recondition and reuse.

A theme that often comes up in the book is China, and how stuff that’s made in China – often at low to very low costs, with correspondingly low-quality levels – and how it has affected the secondhand goods markets all over the world. Clothes and shoes, to take just two examples, were earlier made with more care, using better materials and more stringent quality checks, which meant they lasted longer. Much, much longer than the Chinese-made stuff that has now taken over, which is often much cheaper but falls apart quickly, after being used just a few times. Because of this, the secondhand market also suffers, since there are few or no takers for cheap Chinese stuff, which buyers know will not last and is hence often not worth buying despite very low prices.

African countries and their place in the secondhand goods economy is also thoroughly explored in the book. With major parts of the developed world exporting its discarded stuff to the African continent (sometimes knowingly, sometimes despite the legislation that exists against such activity), some African countries are the world’s biggest consumers of secondhand stuff, including consumer electronics, digital devices, clothes and shoes, furniture and automobiles. The author writes about the thousands of shops and skilled repairmen who recondition all kinds of things and make them suitable for resale, ensuring a long, healthy second innings for stuff that the rich may have discarded without a second thought. Backed by extensive research and some nifty on the ground reporting, the author takes the reader through Africa’s complex secondhand economy, which exists in the shadows but is perhaps essential for the survival of a large part of Africa, and cites the need for this economy to be studied, understood and accounted for. It’s a fascinating lowdown on how things work in other parts of the world, parts that we don’t know of or adequately understand.

The book underlines the fact that humanity is on the verge of being overwhelmed by the stuff that’s being produced and consumed worldwide at an unprecedented rate. We keep buying all kinds of things relentlessly, without sparing a thought for the aspects of sustainability and the massive footprint that we leave with our buy-quickly-throw-out-soon and replace-don’t-repair-don’t-reuse consumption patterns. A significant part of that is, for now, handled by the global secondhand market, which is absolutely massive, and way bigger and more complex than most of us can ever imagine. And it needs to be managed with care – and with empathy and understanding that affluent, developed nations need to show to developing countries – before it spirals out of control and descends into chaos. Minter’s book tells the story of what the world of secondhand is, how it needs to develop and what the world needs to do to keep it running smoothly. It’s a story that needed to be told and the author has done an absolutely wonderful job with Secondhand: Travels in the New Global Garage Sale. Highly recommended for anyone interested in the subject.

Secondhand is available on Amazon