Cultural Critiques: A Review of “Poor Man’s Luxuries” Then and Now

The Rent-to-Own Review – Insights, History, and Advocacy from The RTO Revolution Project

Introduction

For as long as there have been alternative access models, there have been critics. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, social commentators dismissed installment plans as “poor man’s luxuries” – accusing working-class families of irresponsibility for buying pianos, sewing machines, or furniture “on time.”

A century later, rent-to-own (RTO) faces the same critiques. Commentators argue that families should “just save up,” that RTO customers are overpaying, or that flexible access is somehow illegitimate compared to traditional credit or cash purchases.

This post reviews that continuity. The cultural critiques of RTO are not new; they are echoes of older debates about who “deserves” access to household goods and on what terms.

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“Poor Man’s Luxuries” in the 19th Century

When installment plans spread in the 19th century, critics wasted no time attacking them. Middle- and upper-class commentators argued that working families were foolish to buy goods like pianos or parlor furniture on time payments. These purchases were framed as luxuries – beyond the “proper” station of the poor.

Newspapers and reformers worried that installment buying encouraged extravagance, moral decline, and financial recklessness.¹ But what they overlooked was the functional and symbolic role of these goods: sewing machines that saved labor, pianos that signaled aspiration, furniture that anchored domestic respectability.

Critics mistook aspiration for irresponsibility – a pattern that would repeat in later decades.

The Persistence of Critique

The same critiques resurfaced in the 1920s, when radios and refrigerators spread on installment credit. Social critics argued that “buying on time” encouraged consumerism and debt dependency.² The Great Depression seemed to vindicate them, as repossessions mounted. But the reality was more complicated: installment credit had already transformed household life, making durable goods accessible to millions.

The critics’ mistake was assuming that access itself was irresponsible, rather than acknowledging that rigid debt structures – not consumer aspiration – created vulnerability.

The Echo in Rent-to-Own Criticism

Modern critiques of RTO follow the same script:

• Cost comparisons. Critics point out that the total cost of ownership through RTO is higher than retail.

• Moral framing. Commentators suggest that families should simply wait, save, or rely on credit.

• Legitimacy questions. Some frame RTO as a loophole or “credit in disguise.”

But these critiques often ignore the realities of household volatility, limited access to credit, and the dignity that comes with immediate access to essentials. They also fail to account for the value of included services: delivery, setup, repairs, and replacement.

Just as 19th-century reformers mocked installment buyers for wanting pianos, modern critics often overlook why families turn to RTO in the first place: not for extravagance, but for necessity.

Aspiration vs. Irresponsibility

At the heart of the critique is a cultural question: when do aspirations become illegitimate? For a working-class family in 1890, buying a piano on installments was an act of aspiration – a bid for middle-class respectability. For a family today, renting a smartphone or a laptop through RTO is equally an act of aspiration – ensuring children can do homework, parents can work, and families can stay connected.

Critics often fail to distinguish between wasteful extravagance and legitimate access. The result is a moral framing that punishes aspiration while ignoring structural barriers to cash or credit purchases.

Why These Critiques Persist

The persistence of critique tells us more about cultural anxieties than about consumer behavior. Alternative access models disrupt traditional hierarchies of consumption. They allow households without wealth or stable credit to obtain the same goods as their wealthier peers.

That disruption makes some commentators uncomfortable. Instead of celebrating expanded access, they question whether working families “should” have such goods at all.

This critique is as old as installment buying itself – and it has always underestimated the resilience of consumer demand and the legitimacy of access.

Continuity in Defense

Just as critics have been consistent, so too have defenders. Proponents of installment sales in the 19th and 20th centuries argued that these models democratized access and modernized households. Advocates for RTO today make the same case: the transaction offers dignity, flexibility, and access to essentials in a world where income volatility is real.

The continuity is striking: every era has its critics, but every era also sees households embrace the models that work for them.

Conclusion: Reframing the Debate

Criticism of RTO is not unique. It is the latest chapter in a long history of skepticism toward alternative consumer access models. From “poor man’s luxuries” to “overpriced rentals,” the critiques recycle the same arguments.

The question is not whether these critiques will continue – they will. The real question is whether policymakers and analysts will recognize the historical pattern: criticism rooted in cultural bias rather than consumer need.

RTO has endured not because critics were wrong to ask questions, but because consumers have consistently answered with their choices.

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If you found this review valuable, please share this post and link to it. Every share helps put today’s debates in their proper historical context and reinforces RTO’s legitimacy as part of America’s consumer tradition.

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Footnotes

1. Olney, Martha L. Buy Now, Pay Later: Advertising, Credit, and Consumer Durables in the 1920s. University of North Carolina Press, 1991.

2. Calder, Lendol. Financing the American Dream: A Cultural History of Consumer Credit. Princeton University Press, 1999.