Used tents can be very cheap, even free. Most people look at a smelly, wet, muddy (and cheap) tent the morning of leaving a festival like this and just say fuck it.
Never in my life have I looked at something I bought/received that I really didn't want to have to clean, and instead chose to just leave it there.
I either suck it up and take it home (even if I could easily afford to replace it) to avoid creating needless waste, or do the bare minimum of binning it appropriately.
I understand this person was probably just explaining the logic rather than defending it, but it's infuriating that so many people think like this. Fly tipping/littering is honestly one of the worst things people routinely do that destroys communities and it makes my fucking blood boil how little people care.
I was at Leeds fest this year and i can tell you there are no where near enough bins for the amount of tents that get left behind. For the record i took my tent home nor do i think people are right in leaving theirs behind, but throwing it in a bin at the festival isn’t an option
This was unfortunately my solution for a festival I want to this year. Got a final clearance tent for £7, found out it was way too small. Instead of carrying it back just to bin it, I packed it up and put it in the waste area with all my rubbish. No way was I going to leave it for some volunteer to do for me though.
Way more expensive than it used to be even 10 years ago, but still not prohibitively expensive. A working class person can save throughout the year and go to a big festival like Reading as their annual vacation. Plus you can volunteer to work the festival and get in free (though the volunteers are the ones picking up tents, not trashing them).
Like 80% or more of the world cannot afford a weekend festival and probably nearly as many cant take time off to work for free. A lot of people need to save up to just like, ya know, feed their family, buy their kid a xmas present, or get a medical procedure. Get a clue, most people dont take a yearly vacation.
Yeah no shit the global poor aren't going to go to a western pop music festival. That's not exactly an insightful observation.
Most working class people in the developed world have some amount of vacation/sick days and at least a small amount of savings. That's enough to afford a budget airline flight and a general admission ticket (plus food and other stuff). Also the demographic for music festivals skews younger, so childcare costs aren't typically an issue.
Obviously unexpected expenses could eat into those savings, but that would be true regardless of what "luxury" we were talking about. You're not going to say that TVs are only for rich people because a family that had a medical emergency can't afford a new one right now.
Dude, 80% of people in America are living paycheck to paycheck. I guarantee there are very few, if any people at this festival who saved for an entjte year just to go to a trashy ass festival in fucking reading. Like what is your actual argument? This back and forth started because you said tents are cheap as a reason why stuggling people can afford a festival.
...You realize that Reading is in the UK, right? It's mostly Brits and other Europeans there. Just like Americans mostly go to festivals in America.
I've been to plenty of camping fests big and small in the US (and one in Europe). Some when I was pretty darn broke. People at these festivals are all across the spectrum in terms of demographics and socioeconomic status. Sure it leans younger and wealthier (especially post-COVID), but they're far from exclusive.
Maybe if you bothered to look into the specifics of what you're talking about instead of going on broad political rants you'd know that.
I don't know what else to tell you, it being 325 euros just for tickets and camping makes it exclusive without factoring in food and travel. I used the US as an example of a 1st world country where most people still can't afford that and I don't know what the stats are for UK. This isn't a broad political rant, this was you implying that cheap tents make it affordable for struggling people to go to a festival, and then you doubling down that basically anyone can afford to go if only they just saved up for a whole year! Where is my political stance? LOL. I know the crowds are younger, but there's still a lot of adults at festivals who have kids. I'm 40 and know a lot of people who still do festivals at my age. Plus, that's just one example of things people might have to spend their money on before going to a festival.
They both were scavenged from festival sites, during cleanup. I've had to do a few repairs ,but they are still actively nicer than anything I could reasonably afford.
I am 100% sure his point is that even ticket and travel alone is £500, then you add on consumables and you are easily looking at 700-800 even if you are doing it on the cheap. Most will likely be spending well over 1k all in.
Also you often find there is a big walk from the camping to the car park, I found many people who did pack theirs up would dump it on the way to the car as it became too much hassle to carry.
They 100 percent are. I am willing to bet a lot of people going are in debt over their heads. Debt gives everyone a sense of security. I dont think you realize how many people just go into debt over this stuff and do not care
I don't think you understand the definition of struggling to get by in todays defintion of struggling to get by. People who cant afford rent but throw 400 dollar concert tickets on their credit card and dont pay it back.... or klarna or whatever other shit they have for debt options.
And the organizers, like this post BEG organizations to actually come in and do that, but they don't. It makes the festivalers feel better to say that's what happens, but if you actually read it, they are pleading with orgs to come and do that.
Not in the UK. They focus on trying to rehouse homeless, not keep them sleeping rough. Many of the tents are damaged/soiled and not reusable. The vast majority end up in landfills.
think of it like this. You spend $50-$100 on a shitty tent, that you use for 1 or 2 nights. Or you spend $200 on a hotel room each night. If you bought/trashed the tent, you're still up a couple hundred bucks.
That's the thing, people think it's an insult. I'm a white (formerly) middle class dude from the US, I'm privileged as fuck; there's nothing wrong with acknowledging it.
A lot of the people responding to you definitely dont understand how vital $50 can be for a working class family. That could be your food budget for a week. I know Im privileged but damn people need some perspective.
Leaving your mess for someone else to clean up or pollute the environment because you perceive it as too cheap to take with you is also entitled behavior.
This is nothing. My buddy works for Aspen ski resort and rich people will fly in buy all brand new top of the line ski gear and latest ski fashion. Talking thousands of dollars. Ski for a few days then just leave it at the hotel or cabin and leave.
Relatedly, Aspen has the best second hand stores I have ever seen.
A cheap 2 man tent is like £50 so just £25 each (about 30USD). And there’s a good chance it’s got mud and vomit in it.
Also it’s not uncommon - although infuriating if it happens to you - for people to sneak into a random tent to do a shite rather than queue for the portaloo’s
You can get a tent like this for a few dozen €/$/£ whatever. Its not really an indicator for your monetary situation. Unlike the tickets to the festival, or your consumption of beverages you buy at the place
Average savings in the UK per family are below the 5k mark and a lot of it is due to wasting a lot of money on meaningless purchases, so no, no one lives a life of privilege, just debt and carelessness.
All in wait for some dead relative's inheritance and for the state pension, as if going from spending 30k / year on crap to having 8-10k / year for necessities is going to be a thing to look forward to.
So somebody who's sitting in jail right now because they got arrested even if they planned on cleaning up their campsite is living a life of privilege?
If you're attending a four day music festival, you live a life of privilege. These folks are literally shelling hundreds of dollars just for food during their stay. They're into the thousands when you calculate in alcohol and drugs. They're not blinking at a shitty $50 tent from Amazon.
To put it lightly, camping festivals are not a cheap hobby to begin with. A large portion of these folks are using disposable money for supplies and such to begin with.
That being said - no amount of money would make me incapable of throwing away my trash.
I finally parted with a tent I bought 11 years ago this summer after loaning it out and getting it back destroyed. It was showing signs of aging about 2 years ago but that was resolved with a needle and thread.
I go to festivals every year. You pay it off like a holiday in small increments. The tents are just a part of that. Its easier to leave it than it is to pack a tent up after a 5 day bender.
There's about 750,000 homeless people in America. Plenty of them can read and write, have phones, or access to their local library. You wanna rethink that position and get off your fucking high horse?
The festival has nothing to do with the statement I replied to. People throwing out $60 tents after just a couple of nights are privileged. Doesn’t matter if it happens at this festival or on a camping trip.
On Amazon I could get a 2 person tend from £25-40. Weekend tickets for reading were from £238 so it’s quite a small percentage of the overall cost and may just be equivalent to 3-4 pints
Yes that’s a cheap tent but that’s what the people leaving them behind probably bought.
A comment like this leads me to believe you’d get along with these people leaving behind tents. You’re all just a bunch of dicks. Buying a cheap tent doesn’t make you privileged. Maybe learn the definition of words, rather than trying to belittle others, champ. “Entitled” is the word you’re looking for.
Even less. A cheap 2 person tent is like £20. Probably wouldn't last more than one or two uses though. But compared to the ticket price it's not a lot.
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u/Son-of-Prophet 8h ago
If you could afford to just throw away a tent like that after one or two nights use, you live a life of privilege