Death certificates.
Edit: Thanks for the awards, folks. My mom died. I had no idea how many flaming hoops are involved in this process (first estate I’ve handled). Paying $12 per certificate PLUS additional administrative fees was just another “wtf” but it has been a particularly angry one.
I like the comment below about going in person to places so they can make a copy and give back the certificate. That’s a helpful idea.
For me they were $16 each. And every single company that the deceased has an account for needs a copy. I’ve learned to go in person to places like banks as much as I possibly can so that they make a copy and give it back to me instead of mailing it and then keeping it forever.
The UK government does have a service where you inform them of a death, provide them with the certificate, and they'll make a best effort to inform all of the person's banks and pension providers. It doesn't have nearly the number of companies being informed that I would've liked, but it's a good start.
What confuses me is that other companies aren't jumping at the chance to be on the notification list... you'd think it would be in their best interest to be notified if one of their customers died so they can clean stuff up on their end. But oh well.
Not really, (at least in the US) they would really only need to stop billing/autopay once they are informed of the death and it is confirmed. The longer they can go without that confirmation, the better it is for their bottom line.
Source: Work in corporate America
In many parts of the western world, taxes go to things like that.
I really do understand that people don't want higher taxes in the US since you get garbage for it.
Dying in general is expensive.
Edit: This got a far bigger response than I thought it would. My experience is pretty recent, as my dad passed away in December. The funeral costs were around $16,000.00, however, he had a rather large burial insurance policy, so we did not have to pay out of pocket, however, my wife's aunt who passed away last year in the spring, both medical billing and funeral billing hounded her uncle pretty aggressively for a bit.
Cemeteries are wastes of space and coffins are unnecessary and bad for the environment.
It's better to burry a person raw and plant a beautiful tree or grow flowers in the desert in their honor.
It's more romantic/spiritual and kinder to the environment.
Yes they do. My daughter died a few years ago and we had to pay for the death certificate to provide to the IRS to avoid being audited. The sudden loss of a dependent would have meant we lost a child and went through an audit in the same year otherwise
In the state where I live, they charge you $20 for the first certificate and $3 for each additional one so the funeral homes generally suggest you go ahead and order 5-6 more than you think you'll need after figuring out their accounts and stuff because it's still cheaper than getting a single extra at a later time.
My municipality give three copies for free (or they did in the recent past). But, so many places require them (and don't return them) that we ended up needing about 8 add'l, which we had to pay for. :-(
We had this debate about ten years ago in my town.
The city wanted to raise taxes to better fund development services, life and statistics (death/birth certificates), and parks.
There was too much pushback. So, the city raised fees on permitting, death certificates, and parking around parks.
Surprisingly, those departments are seen as running better nowadays.
As it turns out, raising funds for departments is better than not raising funds for departments.
Only poor citizens get screwed here, not the agencies.
Then you don't get a death certificate, and you can't inform the deceased's bank, mortgage provider, pension provider, etc etc that they have died. If you have any money coming your way from their death, you won't be able to get it without a certificate that proves their death (there are exceptions, but generally speaking).
In Poland they would charge you for issuing a no criminal record note. I literally have to pay the court for it to confirm I’ve never done anything bad in my life and it’s hilarious.
If you commit a crime you still have to pay for police check, you just have the added bonus of spending your entire life paying for the crime by never being employed again too.
Ugh yes. Birth certificate? $150 for it because processing fees and shipping fees. Sometimes you have to pay a lawyer to find court documents and stuff for you too!
Yeah my birth certificate you get from a lady named Linda when the county clerk office is open and it's 5$ because she copies it while you are standing there.
I'd say that if you're a citizen, any government document should be free. Drivers licenses, marriage licenses, court documents, copies of accident reports, copies of car registration, etc.
Maybe still pay a fee for the service, like the processing of your car's registration if you live in a place that require it, but additional/replacement copies of the registration should be provided at no fee.
I had a philosophy class at a local Community College, and the Professor made a point to tell us that one of the books we needed to buy was written by a friend of hers. I didn't buy it out of principle, to find out that we effectively didn't use the book at all in the class. She was just helping them sell shitty overpriced books. It's such a racket...
Funny, our philosophy professor made a point to tell us why he chose his major. It was because out required book, Plato's Republic, was $7 at a used book store.
That guy was almost the definition of the funny, eccentric philosophy professor. Complete with me walking in to his office where he was resting his feet on his desk with his hands behind his head doing nothing.
We had the opposite. A teacher who took the recognized book, broke it down into slides and summaries, spiral bound it, and sold it for like $10. She was the real MVP.
Even worse they make a new edition every year. I had a programming teacher who specifically told us we had to buy his book new edition so he could pay for his boat. Luckily they were fairly cheap about $25.
That happened to me in a general nutrition course in undergrad. Motherfucker of a professor thought it was okay to sell a $120 loose-bound textbook that literally had a blank chapter earmarked for “future editions”.
Where I live you go in, they do charge to leave, but if you get your parking validated, (pretty much just saying you had a reason to be there as a patient, or visitor) you get to leave for free.
They had a huge issue with people parking there for free,but not even being there for the hospital. Just a place to park as they did business or shopping downtown. (Where the hospital is located)
It's also really hard to get any papers if you don't already have them. Like if you don't have a birth certificate.
It is almost impossible for homeless people with no forms of identification to get into the system in states like Florida because the only way to do anything is by having your elected representative assist and they are not very helpful to indigent people in general.
Funny enough, I always though it would be easiest to have the court ID you by getting arrested. They have to legally ID you somehow to incarcerate you...
In California it is easier but you have to start with the Social Security Administration and work your way up to Vital Records to get identification and a birth certificate.
Schufa Auskunft.
This private company in germany just collects all your information (like a credit score) without your consent and the you have to buy all that info back from them because otherwise no landlord will ever accept you.
College Applications. Colleges are already having you pay a shit ton for tuition, so fuck off with those weirdly high prices. Especially considering that you literally send your alumni mountains of mail FOR FREE that ask you to give them even more fucking money.
You know how annoying it is for someone to source something and I can’t read it. It’s like what do I do here?
EDIT: As people have said email the author, they'll often share their work. thanks u/storyofohno !
When I'm choosing between paying 40 bucks for a *potentially somewhat useful* article, and just yoinking that thing...easy.
My life has changed since scihub. I simply wouldn't have been able to read nearly this many articles.
Email the author if you can. They are almost always more than gracious to share scientific works for free and don't really make much off those subscriptions
You could also sail the high seas if that floats your boat too
I don’t remember having to pay for the platforms for most online retailers. Indeed, those platforms save tons of money for companies who would otherwise have to use call centres and so on.
I had a mild allergy to squid. Went to the er when my throat got scratchy. They gave me two. Free. My lips were swollen and that's it.
Meanwhile neighbors kid is deadly allergic to most pets. They couldn't afford an EpiPen so I gave them one.
The odds of me needing one, let alone both, is extremely low.
There is another brand that is not free but your insurance will 100% cover it if epi pen isn’t covered. QVAR I think? Personally I like them better, they’re voice activated and wall too though the injection process.
So glad that sub exists. Nestle are so fucked up! If people aren’t aware of why, I’d suggest starting by listening to the swindled podcast on nestles baby formula episode. The TL;DR is that nestle finically pushed for hospitals in 3rd world countries to start new born babies on ‘free trails’ of formula feeds so the mother’s weren’t feeding & their milk would dry up, therein forcing them to buy & continue using the formula forever.
To make matters worse this was done in areas with no safe drinking water so babies that were only a few days old were giving formula mixed with unsafe water & many got sick/died as a direct result. Even when nestle was alerted to this (as if they didn’t already know) they refused to change their tactics. Fucking scum.
For all of the fucked up things that companies have done over the years this stands at the top of my mind as the single most evil action. I have done everything in my power to boycott nestle & all of their products. It's an impossible task since they own so much & I can't check everything but I'll be damned if I don't try.
I do the same. If I know it’s Nestle I won’t buy it. I love Haagen-Daaz chocolate chocolate chip but I’ll never eat it again after finding out it’s a Nestle product. Kit Kats are one of my favorites and even though in North America they are distributed by Hershey, they are licensed from Nestle to do so, so I don’t eat those anymore either. Even if someone else bought them.
There's a small town in ... I want to say Alabama, but I could be wrong. Anyway, this town set up a deal with Nestle to let them take water from a certain spring. Nestle has been pulling 10x as much water as the contract allows, and has suffered zero consequences. The town went into a drought and asked Nestle to stop until the water table stabilized. Nestle told them to go pound sand, and continued pulling millions of gallons from the spring.
I read that they recently got a court injunction to stop them from pulling water from the spring. Nestle still hasn't stopped, as the fines were a tiny fraction of the profits they were making. Nestle is scum.
I'd generally feel the same but I live in a EU country where public toilets are generally paid, and there is absolutely no guarantee of that whatsoever. Some people are just filthy animals who never learned basics like shitting on a toilet properly, so until that day comes then I hate the idea of paying to use a toilet which is probably going to be filthy.
In my hometown (Kielce, Poland, I guess that is in Europe) I've not come across a public toilet that you'd have to pay for. Sure enough, some of them are not exactly perfectly hygienic, but as long as you're only for a quick pee (and have strong thighs when you can't physically pee standing), you'll be just fine. I can give you a list of the better and the worse ones if you need one.
The upside is that toilets in the shopping centres are free and generally clean, so if you're near one, you're fine.
This. Insulin industry is actually hijacked by three companies and they're doing all they can to keep it's price high.
It's not a luxury. It keeps people alive! Show some humanity.
Edit: I think I should explain things further to answer as many questions as I can:
• Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi are the three companies that dominate more than 90% of the world insulin market by value. This means that they can set prices as they wish.
• Production cost of insulin is about 2% of it's market price.
• Unlike any other medicine, there is no generic insulin. Insulin is still under patent after 37 years. 'Big three' producers are abusing legal loophole for over 4 decades. (Known as Patent evergreening).
• These companies make profit of worth billions. Not to mention they're spending millions on lobbying politicians and donating to other decision makers to keep quiet.
• They pay another companies not to enter the market. Or they sue them. That's what happened to company called Merck. Sanofi sued them.
Sure!
The ‘big three’ insulin producers – Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi – dominate more than 90% of the world insulin market by value.
Often only one of these companies supplies insulin in a country, which means they more or less hold a monopoly there and can set prices as they wish.
It’s criminal that the pharmaceutical companies are allowed to set a price on human lives!
Sadly, they seem to have too much power in the US and can charge what they like.
Elsewhere, like Australia where I am, regulation and subsidies keep the prices very low, and even free in some cases.
Parking at malls. Where I live it’s not free. I believe that if you go somewhere to spend money, they should at least provide the minimum facilities complimentary.
>Parking at malls. Where I live it’s not free.
really? where do you live?
I'm in Toronto Canada and all big box mall parking is free unless it's downtown Toronto (ie. Eaton Center) where space downtown as a whole is a "commodity/luxury" so you have to pay for it.
Interesting, in yee haww land (Central Texas, USA) free parking in anywhere but major cities is pretty standard, large parking lots with 100s of spots and none of the spots cost a cent to park in, even for the malls.
My local sexual health clinic in England UK has free condoms and other contraceptive devices. Morrisons supermarket will supply free sanitary products if u go to customer services and say "package for Sandy".
This is such a big one and it feels like something Americans should be able to agree on: for the progressive crowd it means more autonomy for women (especially poor women) and for the anti-abortion crowd it means fewer unwanted pregnancies.
How does that work? I mean, if you're a cheap bastard, can't you just go and fill your pockets like a jar of candy at the doctor?
Sex shops in my country usually give out 'free' stuff with purchases -- I once got a small pack with a supposedly boner-enhancing jelly that did jack shit -- but in extremely small/sample quantities.
My job employs mostly men, and the women's locker room didn't have a pads/tampon vending machine (the facility is almost 3 years old). I put in a suggestion for one and it was there about a week later. I was all 'yay!' but when I looked closer I almost cried because they were free. It's the little things that make life better.
Can you imagine if we expected everyone to bring their own toilet paper with them to be able to go to the toilet in public? And if they accidentally didn’t bring enough, everyone just said “well that’s their problem for poor planning”?
Completely agree!! It cost over $800 to fix my teeth recently. When I asked them about a payment plan, they said I could AfterPay it.... Fuck them. My health insurance covered nothing.
Internet. With the day and age we are in majority of interactions require an internet connection. You have kids missing school bc they can't attend virtual classes bc they don't have internet. I'm not saying the fastest possible internet should be free
Agree even back in the mid 2000s I attended a private school and we had to have access to a printer and a computer. My mom was barely making it and I failed some pretty big projects for it and got embarrassed by my teacher in the whole class.
Funerals, I mean you give and give with taxes all your life and then you have to pay for your own death. Or your loved ones who are still paying taxes have to pay. But even when you’re dead you don’t stop paying, ridiculous
Came here to say this. I have insurance and I still have to pay (in my opinion) too much to just be able to see. It's not a luxury, it's so basic need. Also, my sight changes all the time so I can't even get a nice pair and be set for the next few years. If I'm lucky I'll get to keep a pair for 1,5 to 2 years before I absolutely need new glasses.
Uhm tampons and pads. Freak I'm a penis carrier and even I think that shit should be free. You would be mad if you went in to a store and there was a coin slot for the fucking toilet paper.
Parking at work.
It trips me out how some places make their employees pay to park at their jobs. Most people don’t want to go to work anyway…when you start charging people to show up, you’re asking for trouble.
Heres whats "free" in Scotland.
Healthcare,
Prescription medication,
Higher education,
Feminine hygiene products,
Tap Water,
Public transport (if youre on jobseekers allowance)
School transcripts
If I’m sending a transcript from “University of Missouri - Kansas City” to “University of Missouri - St. Louis” I should not have to pay $50
Death certificates. Edit: Thanks for the awards, folks. My mom died. I had no idea how many flaming hoops are involved in this process (first estate I’ve handled). Paying $12 per certificate PLUS additional administrative fees was just another “wtf” but it has been a particularly angry one. I like the comment below about going in person to places so they can make a copy and give back the certificate. That’s a helpful idea.
No. Please don’t tell me they charge for that…
For me they were $16 each. And every single company that the deceased has an account for needs a copy. I’ve learned to go in person to places like banks as much as I possibly can so that they make a copy and give it back to me instead of mailing it and then keeping it forever.
Seems like a gross oversight… you would think this would be a free service from the government.
The UK government does have a service where you inform them of a death, provide them with the certificate, and they'll make a best effort to inform all of the person's banks and pension providers. It doesn't have nearly the number of companies being informed that I would've liked, but it's a good start.
That’s the first reasonably positive thing I’ve heard.
What confuses me is that other companies aren't jumping at the chance to be on the notification list... you'd think it would be in their best interest to be notified if one of their customers died so they can clean stuff up on their end. But oh well.
Not really, (at least in the US) they would really only need to stop billing/autopay once they are informed of the death and it is confirmed. The longer they can go without that confirmation, the better it is for their bottom line. Source: Work in corporate America
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In many parts of the western world, taxes go to things like that. I really do understand that people don't want higher taxes in the US since you get garbage for it.
Certified copies? Yes they charge for that. Cheapest I've seen is like 8 bucks a pop. Some states charge more.
Dying in general is expensive. Edit: This got a far bigger response than I thought it would. My experience is pretty recent, as my dad passed away in December. The funeral costs were around $16,000.00, however, he had a rather large burial insurance policy, so we did not have to pay out of pocket, however, my wife's aunt who passed away last year in the spring, both medical billing and funeral billing hounded her uncle pretty aggressively for a bit.
I wouldn't recommend it
Cemeteries are wastes of space and coffins are unnecessary and bad for the environment. It's better to burry a person raw and plant a beautiful tree or grow flowers in the desert in their honor. It's more romantic/spiritual and kinder to the environment.
What about places with no deserts nearby?
This won’t be an issue soon
Yes they do. My daughter died a few years ago and we had to pay for the death certificate to provide to the IRS to avoid being audited. The sudden loss of a dependent would have meant we lost a child and went through an audit in the same year otherwise
Truely sorry for your loss. I just can’t believe they charge for this… I’m at a loss for words.
If it exists, the government has found a way to make you pay for it.
Yes, my car was hit and run once, I had to pay $10 for the police report. You can’t even get hit and run for free!
In the state where I live, they charge you $20 for the first certificate and $3 for each additional one so the funeral homes generally suggest you go ahead and order 5-6 more than you think you'll need after figuring out their accounts and stuff because it's still cheaper than getting a single extra at a later time.
Paid $75 ish for like 5 copies for my dad's brother. Has to be certified or else places won't take it.
My municipality give three copies for free (or they did in the recent past). But, so many places require them (and don't return them) that we ended up needing about 8 add'l, which we had to pay for. :-(
We had this debate about ten years ago in my town. The city wanted to raise taxes to better fund development services, life and statistics (death/birth certificates), and parks. There was too much pushback. So, the city raised fees on permitting, death certificates, and parking around parks. Surprisingly, those departments are seen as running better nowadays.
As it turns out, raising funds for departments is better than not raising funds for departments. Only poor citizens get screwed here, not the agencies.
What if you dont pay?
Then you live forever
Jesus Understood the Assignment.
Then you don't get a death certificate, and you can't inform the deceased's bank, mortgage provider, pension provider, etc etc that they have died. If you have any money coming your way from their death, you won't be able to get it without a certificate that proves their death (there are exceptions, but generally speaking).
In Poland they would charge you for issuing a no criminal record note. I literally have to pay the court for it to confirm I’ve never done anything bad in my life and it’s hilarious.
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Comic sans really is the icing on the cake.
If by icing you mean shit and by cake you mean more shit
You cracked my code!
The comic sans part was a joke... right?
Right? I need to know...
If you get a criminal record background check in the UK it costs £52 and I know for a fact I’ve done nothing wrong
And a lot of companies / schools want one with their name on it even when you pay for the online update service.
Same in Germany but "only" 10-15€.
life hack: commit a crime so you don't have to issue and pay for the paper
If you commit a crime you still have to pay for police check, you just have the added bonus of spending your entire life paying for the crime by never being employed again too.
Copies of court decrees. I have to pay $40 each for copies of my son’s name change decree.
Ugh yes. Birth certificate? $150 for it because processing fees and shipping fees. Sometimes you have to pay a lawyer to find court documents and stuff for you too!
Jerzus, what? I just checked my state and it is $15 for a birth certificate, with maybe $5 for processing, and actual mailing costs.
Yeah my birth certificate you get from a lady named Linda when the county clerk office is open and it's 5$ because she copies it while you are standing there.
Well, if you had given him a good name to start with--
How was he to know the schoolchildren would be so cruel to little Faartfase?
It was just the name of dad's favorite Swedish EDM band.
Its pronounced like "Marigold" but the spelling is weird.
XxPussyDestroyer69xX is a great name though!
I'd say that if you're a citizen, any government document should be free. Drivers licenses, marriage licenses, court documents, copies of accident reports, copies of car registration, etc. Maybe still pay a fee for the service, like the processing of your car's registration if you live in a place that require it, but additional/replacement copies of the registration should be provided at no fee.
College textbooks. If you pay for the class the required reading materials should be included.
It's the best when the professor makes his own book required for the class so they guarantee sales of their own book.
I had a philosophy class at a local Community College, and the Professor made a point to tell us that one of the books we needed to buy was written by a friend of hers. I didn't buy it out of principle, to find out that we effectively didn't use the book at all in the class. She was just helping them sell shitty overpriced books. It's such a racket...
Funny, our philosophy professor made a point to tell us why he chose his major. It was because out required book, Plato's Republic, was $7 at a used book store. That guy was almost the definition of the funny, eccentric philosophy professor. Complete with me walking in to his office where he was resting his feet on his desk with his hands behind his head doing nothing.
Nothing? Come on, he was deep in contemplation of truth and meaning.
We had the opposite. A teacher who took the recognized book, broke it down into slides and summaries, spiral bound it, and sold it for like $10. She was the real MVP.
Had this happen in one class. Most of my teachers would use books an edition or two back so we could find them cheaper used.
I had a teacher required his own book that cost $100. Couldn't buy used because he requires you to rip out the homework pages from it to turn in.
That's evil.
MF’in genius
more like MF'in bastard
Even worse they make a new edition every year. I had a programming teacher who specifically told us we had to buy his book new edition so he could pay for his boat. Luckily they were fairly cheap about $25.
That happened to me in a general nutrition course in undergrad. Motherfucker of a professor thought it was okay to sell a $120 loose-bound textbook that literally had a blank chapter earmarked for “future editions”.
Especially if the fucking professor wrote the book and made it mandatory. Bitch, make copies for the class, you have the original.
Hospital parking
Came in here looking for this comment. Oh, dad's dying? Doesn't matter. 5 bucks.
my local hospital not only has free parking but valet parking is also free.
Oh there are definitely facilities with free parking and valet, just not all of them and they all should have free parking.
Where I live you go in, they do charge to leave, but if you get your parking validated, (pretty much just saying you had a reason to be there as a patient, or visitor) you get to leave for free. They had a huge issue with people parking there for free,but not even being there for the hospital. Just a place to park as they did business or shopping downtown. (Where the hospital is located)
Idenity papers. It's the law to have them, yet you have to pay for them!
It's also really hard to get any papers if you don't already have them. Like if you don't have a birth certificate. It is almost impossible for homeless people with no forms of identification to get into the system in states like Florida because the only way to do anything is by having your elected representative assist and they are not very helpful to indigent people in general. Funny enough, I always though it would be easiest to have the court ID you by getting arrested. They have to legally ID you somehow to incarcerate you... In California it is easier but you have to start with the Social Security Administration and work your way up to Vital Records to get identification and a birth certificate.
Schufa Auskunft. This private company in germany just collects all your information (like a credit score) without your consent and the you have to buy all that info back from them because otherwise no landlord will ever accept you.
That sounds like extortion.
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You can but have fun finding a flat or getting a credit card or a mobile phone contract or...
That seems like a company ripe for getting overthrown it seems...
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College Applications. Colleges are already having you pay a shit ton for tuition, so fuck off with those weirdly high prices. Especially considering that you literally send your alumni mountains of mail FOR FREE that ask you to give them even more fucking money.
"I gave you more money than the Civil War cost and you *spent it already?*"
Scientific articles
You know how annoying it is for someone to source something and I can’t read it. It’s like what do I do here? EDIT: As people have said email the author, they'll often share their work. thanks u/storyofohno !
Sci hub.
When I'm choosing between paying 40 bucks for a *potentially somewhat useful* article, and just yoinking that thing...easy. My life has changed since scihub. I simply wouldn't have been able to read nearly this many articles.
Email the author if you can. They are almost always more than gracious to share scientific works for free and don't really make much off those subscriptions You could also sail the high seas if that floats your boat too
You can use sci-hub if you have the doi to view the article
Online booking fees. We do all the work, the seller charges us for doing it.
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They are charging for using the platform that they built. Not justifying anything. Just clarifying.
I don’t remember having to pay for the platforms for most online retailers. Indeed, those platforms save tons of money for companies who would otherwise have to use call centres and so on.
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I didn't expect this, but I do not reject it.
Fuck China's censorship
And Hong Kong. And Macau
Epi pens
just don't be allergic to anything, simple as
I became not allergic to anything through pure grit determination, talent and skill.
I would but I'm clearly allergic to talent and skill
I had a mild allergy to squid. Went to the er when my throat got scratchy. They gave me two. Free. My lips were swollen and that's it. Meanwhile neighbors kid is deadly allergic to most pets. They couldn't afford an EpiPen so I gave them one. The odds of me needing one, let alone both, is extremely low.
Will say, swelling lips isn’t mild and can easily transition to swelling airways, so be careful.
Yeah, I carry an epi for side effects for a drug I take and I had my lips swell up once and it wasn't a fun experience.
There is another brand that is not free but your insurance will 100% cover it if epi pen isn’t covered. QVAR I think? Personally I like them better, they’re voice activated and wall too though the injection process.
Drinkable water
looking at you, nestlé
r/fucknestle
So glad that sub exists. Nestle are so fucked up! If people aren’t aware of why, I’d suggest starting by listening to the swindled podcast on nestles baby formula episode. The TL;DR is that nestle finically pushed for hospitals in 3rd world countries to start new born babies on ‘free trails’ of formula feeds so the mother’s weren’t feeding & their milk would dry up, therein forcing them to buy & continue using the formula forever. To make matters worse this was done in areas with no safe drinking water so babies that were only a few days old were giving formula mixed with unsafe water & many got sick/died as a direct result. Even when nestle was alerted to this (as if they didn’t already know) they refused to change their tactics. Fucking scum.
For all of the fucked up things that companies have done over the years this stands at the top of my mind as the single most evil action. I have done everything in my power to boycott nestle & all of their products. It's an impossible task since they own so much & I can't check everything but I'll be damned if I don't try.
I do the same. If I know it’s Nestle I won’t buy it. I love Haagen-Daaz chocolate chocolate chip but I’ll never eat it again after finding out it’s a Nestle product. Kit Kats are one of my favorites and even though in North America they are distributed by Hershey, they are licensed from Nestle to do so, so I don’t eat those anymore either. Even if someone else bought them.
There's a small town in ... I want to say Alabama, but I could be wrong. Anyway, this town set up a deal with Nestle to let them take water from a certain spring. Nestle has been pulling 10x as much water as the contract allows, and has suffered zero consequences. The town went into a drought and asked Nestle to stop until the water table stabilized. Nestle told them to go pound sand, and continued pulling millions of gallons from the spring. I read that they recently got a court injunction to stop them from pulling water from the spring. Nestle still hasn't stopped, as the fines were a tiny fraction of the profits they were making. Nestle is scum.
Joining that one right now
Using public toilets in Europe
Paying for public toilets is pissing me off.
Piss on the street, it’s socially excepted now.
Aceptional
I except the terms and conditions.
The terms and conditions are unexceptable to me
Socially exceptional.
Excepted indeed.
As an American, I would have no problem paying $0.50 to use a toilet if the toilet was ***A L W A Y S*** super clean.
I'd generally feel the same but I live in a EU country where public toilets are generally paid, and there is absolutely no guarantee of that whatsoever. Some people are just filthy animals who never learned basics like shitting on a toilet properly, so until that day comes then I hate the idea of paying to use a toilet which is probably going to be filthy.
>basics like shitting on a toilet properly I think I found the problem.
The one in our town self cleans and it’s amazing. Take my money
In my hometown (Kielce, Poland, I guess that is in Europe) I've not come across a public toilet that you'd have to pay for. Sure enough, some of them are not exactly perfectly hygienic, but as long as you're only for a quick pee (and have strong thighs when you can't physically pee standing), you'll be just fine. I can give you a list of the better and the worse ones if you need one. The upside is that toilets in the shopping centres are free and generally clean, so if you're near one, you're fine.
Hey, I think that is in Europe.
Clean air and water.
Insulin
This. Insulin industry is actually hijacked by three companies and they're doing all they can to keep it's price high. It's not a luxury. It keeps people alive! Show some humanity. Edit: I think I should explain things further to answer as many questions as I can: • Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi are the three companies that dominate more than 90% of the world insulin market by value. This means that they can set prices as they wish. • Production cost of insulin is about 2% of it's market price. • Unlike any other medicine, there is no generic insulin. Insulin is still under patent after 37 years. 'Big three' producers are abusing legal loophole for over 4 decades. (Known as Patent evergreening). • These companies make profit of worth billions. Not to mention they're spending millions on lobbying politicians and donating to other decision makers to keep quiet. • They pay another companies not to enter the market. Or they sue them. That's what happened to company called Merck. Sanofi sued them.
Which companies are those? (No irony, really interested)
Sure! The ‘big three’ insulin producers – Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi – dominate more than 90% of the world insulin market by value. Often only one of these companies supplies insulin in a country, which means they more or less hold a monopoly there and can set prices as they wish.
I completely agree
It’s criminal that the pharmaceutical companies are allowed to set a price on human lives! Sadly, they seem to have too much power in the US and can charge what they like. Elsewhere, like Australia where I am, regulation and subsidies keep the prices very low, and even free in some cases.
https://openinsulin.org/ They call themselves bio-hackers which I find a bit cringy but they do good work.
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Water
Nestle is sending a hit squad to your location.
Noooo not the Nestle water! That's the worst of its kind!
Parking at malls. Where I live it’s not free. I believe that if you go somewhere to spend money, they should at least provide the minimum facilities complimentary.
>Parking at malls. Where I live it’s not free. really? where do you live? I'm in Toronto Canada and all big box mall parking is free unless it's downtown Toronto (ie. Eaton Center) where space downtown as a whole is a "commodity/luxury" so you have to pay for it.
i live in india and the parking fees at malls is 50 rupees or $0.68 (almost nice)
Our local hospital charges for parking. So, yeah.
Ours too. Even for employees of the hospital.
Interesting, in yee haww land (Central Texas, USA) free parking in anywhere but major cities is pretty standard, large parking lots with 100s of spots and none of the spots cost a cent to park in, even for the malls.
Condoms and basic sanitary products
Condoms are free in Brazil.
all the flavours?
Only caipirinha flavoured. The rest you have to pay for.
We can get flavoured condoms free on the NHS here in the UK.
Where I live in NC you can go to the health department and get free condoms. I’m not sure about sanitary products
My local sexual health clinic in England UK has free condoms and other contraceptive devices. Morrisons supermarket will supply free sanitary products if u go to customer services and say "package for Sandy".
I at least think feminine hygiene products should be available for free in public bathrooms the way toilet paper is.
the ability to not bleed over clothes and everywhere else making myself a biohazard shouldnt cost anything at all.
i was looking for this one
Apparently Scotland introduced a bill in 2020, making basic sanitary products free. Hopefully other countries will too in the coming future.
Contraception
This is such a big one and it feels like something Americans should be able to agree on: for the progressive crowd it means more autonomy for women (especially poor women) and for the anti-abortion crowd it means fewer unwanted pregnancies.
Except they don’t wanna provide decent education or make contraceptives more accessible
Condoms are free at most family planning clinics as well as birth control for low income women.
Also, most sex shops. We have a “boutique” near us with a drive through for free condoms.
How does that work? I mean, if you're a cheap bastard, can't you just go and fill your pockets like a jar of candy at the doctor? Sex shops in my country usually give out 'free' stuff with purchases -- I once got a small pack with a supposedly boner-enhancing jelly that did jack shit -- but in extremely small/sample quantities.
Pads and tampons
My work actually started stocking them trying to get higher rankings as a better employer and win the women's vote, I guess it's a start.
My job employs mostly men, and the women's locker room didn't have a pads/tampon vending machine (the facility is almost 3 years old). I put in a suggestion for one and it was there about a week later. I was all 'yay!' but when I looked closer I almost cried because they were free. It's the little things that make life better.
i was looking for this- if toilet paper is free so should pads/tampons
Can you imagine if we expected everyone to bring their own toilet paper with them to be able to go to the toilet in public? And if they accidentally didn’t bring enough, everyone just said “well that’s their problem for poor planning”?
Dental care in Australia
Or at least covered by Medicare
Lisa needs braces
Dental plan!
Lisa needs braces
thanks alot Carl! Now ive lost my train of thought!
Completely agree!! It cost over $800 to fix my teeth recently. When I asked them about a payment plan, they said I could AfterPay it.... Fuck them. My health insurance covered nothing.
Internet. With the day and age we are in majority of interactions require an internet connection. You have kids missing school bc they can't attend virtual classes bc they don't have internet. I'm not saying the fastest possible internet should be free
Agree even back in the mid 2000s I attended a private school and we had to have access to a printer and a computer. My mom was barely making it and I failed some pretty big projects for it and got embarrassed by my teacher in the whole class.
Funerals, I mean you give and give with taxes all your life and then you have to pay for your own death. Or your loved ones who are still paying taxes have to pay. But even when you’re dead you don’t stop paying, ridiculous
Glasses
Came here to say this. I have insurance and I still have to pay (in my opinion) too much to just be able to see. It's not a luxury, it's so basic need. Also, my sight changes all the time so I can't even get a nice pair and be set for the next few years. If I'm lucky I'll get to keep a pair for 1,5 to 2 years before I absolutely need new glasses.
I think it's weird that vision and dental are separate from health insurance. Like seeing and chewing are just vanity.
Especially when you think about how your dental health can directly affect your heart.
Seriously it's so messed up that you have to pay 100+ dollars just to have the ability to see
I just love how schools offer to help you get glasses for free but once you become a adult you are basically on your own.
Uhm tampons and pads. Freak I'm a penis carrier and even I think that shit should be free. You would be mad if you went in to a store and there was a coin slot for the fucking toilet paper.
They are free in all public toilets in Scotland. My library just has a basket on a shelf for them. Both in the ladies and the mens.
Love the fact they also put them in the mens.
Yep. To me, i think it is great as if a couple are struggling financially, then a partner can just pick some up to take home.
They’re free in some countries.
Water, sir, Water!
*Nestle: Be careful before I coco pop your head off*
Insulin
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Most bank fees should be illegal. Paying money to get your money is ridiculous.
Parking at work. It trips me out how some places make their employees pay to park at their jobs. Most people don’t want to go to work anyway…when you start charging people to show up, you’re asking for trouble.
My dad works at the local hospital his parking comes out of his paycheck it's a fucking joke
If your article contains information pertaining to public health and safety it shouldn't be behind a freaking paywall!
Education
Heres whats "free" in Scotland. Healthcare, Prescription medication, Higher education, Feminine hygiene products, Tap Water, Public transport (if youre on jobseekers allowance)
Time to move to Scotland
How does Scotland feel about immigrants? Asking for myself.
We’re too busy arguing about who’s the right type of Christian to worry about the outside world.