If you've never heard of rim wear problems in wet weather regions then I can't imagine that you commute a lot in the rain. It's possible to go through a set of rims once every 1-2 years in Seattle if you commute every day, depending on your mileage, obviously.

I went out of my way to purchase a bike with disc brakes for a number of the reasons mentioned in this thread:

- wet weather stopping power
- rim wear
- squealing rims
- brake muck & grime
- short pad life
- fouled cables

I do commute every day, rain or shine, and all of the problems that I mentioned above were a reality of rim brakes. I no longer have any of those problems. The maintenance on my brakes & cables and grime on my bike decreased significantly with disc brakes.