I've got two sets of wheels, and I rotate my tires every oil change, so it's not laziness that's the motivation. Instead, it was that with 2 sets of tires after 7 years of driving both sets still had tons of tread left but were starting to dry rot. I put about 60k miles on the car during those 7 years. So if I can get ~30k miles out of a single set of snows, and use them up within 5 years, that would be a much better use of resources. The cost isn't really a factor either, I just hate wasting stuff.
I've currently got something like 15k mi on the tires and 2.5yr of year round use. They appear to be wearing evenly and normally.
I agree, I have the same problem, that's why I'm sticking with the crossclimates year round also -- we only drive about 5,000 miles per year, so my tires die from age well before they would wear out from mileage.
I assume we're both making approximately the same optimization but you're going for better snow & ice performance at the expense of some summer and wet stopping distance, and neither tradeoff seems obviously wrong depending on our driving situations.
Yeah I would prefer to run something with an actual tread wear rating, as I believe it would spew less microplastic crap into the environment, and I suspect I might pick up 1-2mpg (maybe 5-7% better?) fuel economy with a less aggressive tire. But the winter performance is really important for me, especially on this car which is my winter beater/mile maker--for now, until it dies and donates its engine to a greater cause. The winters here (northern New England, IECC climate zone 6A) are just about as extreme as it gets in the lower 48. The snow tires have the added benefit of being good in mud season. There are lots of dirt roads around here, it helps to be able to drive them without getting bogged in the spring.
I've currently got something like 15k mi on the tires and 2.5yr of year round use. They appear to be wearing evenly and normally.