What if Price tags shows Hours of Work instead of Money?

[mirakal]

Would you think twice before buying something if you knew how many hours you had to work to pay for it?

I don’t think it would make any difference. I know because people who live in countries where they earn per hour do the math subconsciously. Unfortunately, consumerism has such a stronghold on people today that cost doesn’t matter much to them. A person earning $15/hr working 40 hours per week will buy a product worth $1100 when they know they can’t afford it even if it’s on finance.

Perhaps it would make a difference for those people who don't just think of today and tomorrow but for the future ahead. They won't resort into easy spending because they know how every second or minute of labor counts, and life's reality is that you can't be sure that you'll still be in good health in the next days, months or year.

But maybe for those who can easily access a loan or borrow from family or friends, even if they know they can't afford it but they will still be buying the item anyway.

[freedomgo]

The cost of the time won’t be similar for everyone. In my country a daily labour cost of time would probably be $1 per hour, but higher job holders or businessmen's time costs would be $10+ or more. So it won't be possible, at least in my country.

It’s not possible in almost any country in the world because nobody earns the same hourly rate. I’ve looked at the first few comments and I’m surprised nobody has mentioned it. I say ‘almost’ any country in the world because I don’t know if in North Korea or somewhere like that everyone earns the same, but that would be the exception.

I do the maths in my head for big purchases, but not when I go to the supermarket.

And that's probably the reason why this kind of scenario cited by OP never exists, otherwise it would bring confusion to everyone as we have different hourly rate.

However, those who are earning well will definitely won't hesitate buying expensive products as long as its included in their list of necessities. But people who have high  income does not mean since they can afford it, they will surely buy it. Wise buyers still think of it a couple of times before they will decide to  finally buy it or disregard it.

[Rockstarguy]

~Snip

I think this may help some people to rethink whenever they want to make a purchase, especially low-income earners. Some people struggle to accumulate their low income for a long time, but whenever they want to spend it, they spend it on things that are meaningless or invaluable.

However, I think for people like this, if hours were shown as the price tag, it might give them the consciousness to rethink. Most people don’t really think very well when purchasing things; it is only after the purchase is done that they discover what they have acquired is not valuable, and they regret their decisions.

[CryptoBuds]

~Snip

I think this may help some people to rethink whenever they want to make a purchase, especially low-income earners. Some people struggle to accumulate their low income for a long time, but whenever they want to spend it, they spend it on things that are meaningless or invaluable.

However, I think for people like this, if hours were shown as the price tag, it might give them the consciousness to rethink. Most people don’t really think very well when purchasing things; it is only after the purchase is done that they discover what they have acquired is not valuable, and they regret their decisions.

Anyone  earning their own money should be able to work out how many hours of work it takes to pay for something. So I see it the other way around. Even if price were shown in hours, it would not help much for someone with poor financial literacy who  doesn't think  twice before spending. Imo it's financial literacy and spending habits that make the difference, not how the price gets displayed.

[henmark]

I think this may help some people to rethink whenever they want to make a purchase, especially low-income earners. Some people struggle to accumulate their low income for a long time, but whenever they want to spend it, they spend it on things that are meaningless or invaluable.

However, I think for people like this, if hours were shown as the price tag, it might give them the consciousness to rethink. Most people don’t really think very well when purchasing things; it is only after the purchase is done that they discover what they have acquired is not valuable, and they regret their decisions.

Anyone  earning their own money should be able to work out how many hours of work it takes to pay for something. So I see it the other way around. Even if price were shown in hours, it would not help much for someone with poor financial literacy who  doesn't think  twice before spending. Imo it's financial literacy and spending habits that make the difference, not how the price gets displayed.

I would disagree. If you see how many hours, then you would be able to actually calculate a lot better. If you are making hourly, for example, you can calculate based on that and would make a lot more sense. But I have another idea: a friend of mine does a "meat comparison", while that sounds dirty . It is not. He likes meat, beef, ribeye, sirloin, ribs whatever you can think of. So while it has ALWAYS been funny for me, this dude is single so he is the only one making money and only one spending his money.

So whenever he wants to buy something, and it's not like paying the bills or whatever, like it's a personal thing he wants to buy, he calculates based on how much meat he would eat. If he wants to buy headphones but it costs 10 kilos of meatloaf, then probably no or something; I am making up the numbers, but you get what I mean. So there are a lot of people who come up with these types of things, and I would say "how many hours you would have to work to pay for this" is a very real thing.