Deaths from falling out of bed in the USUS secondhand/thrift store market
American thrift-store sales going up, American deaths from falling out of bed also going up. Somewhere there is a person who acquired a vintage bedframe at a thrift store and has therefore contributed, in a small way, to both datasets. The world is generous with its causal pathways.
US thrift and consignment retail revenue roughly doubled across the 2010s as Gen-Z secondhand culture, Depop, and Poshmark normalised pre-owned shopping. Deaths from falling out of bed climbed across the same window for an unrelated demographic reason: most such deaths involve adults over 65, and the over-65 share of the population grew significantly. Two trends produced by completely different mechanisms — one a cultural shift, one a demographic curve — sharing a window because both were running through the 2010s in the same country.
A young trend and an old risk, in the same span of years. America aged in two separate aisles.
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Want to learn more about why correlations like “Deaths from falling out of bed in the US” vs “US secondhand/thrift store market” don't prove causation? Read our guide to statistical thinking.
