Ban on Secondhand Sales Blunted
March 28th, 2006
Recently I reported that Japan was going to outlaw sales of secondhand electronics starting April 1st. Due to a great deal of protest, the government has stepped back from the ban, in that they introduced a gaping loophole for shops to drive through. They will allow “rentals” of the goods instead of sales. Presumably, a ¥1000 sale item will instead be rented, with a non-refundable deposit of ¥1000, followed by monthly rental payments of ¥10 or something like that, with the proviso that if one fails to pay the rental fee, the deposit is forfeit and you keep the product. I presume.
If a politician wants money for a campaign, and wants the people to be happy w/ them, it seems the need to balance these two interests. I think they can slip many small
things in under the radar for the corp guy. Yet if something is too big, it is noticed by the people, and then it becomes more of a problem. I’m surprised the politicans did not realize the people would “notice” this one.
Wait… that loophole WAS in there before. I saw them commenting it on Asahi or something quite some time ago…
On the other hand, they did give in a little to the music protesters, by easing the classification on music equipment, but I can’t remember the details now.
Cheers,