I was going through my Wal-Mart+ subscription plan that I got for free and I saw their offers. One of which was EMeals, that was a 60-day trial. I thought that this was like Blue Apron or other meal delivery services so I thought I’d take a crack at it and hope that it would get me on a path to eat better.
Turns out, it’s just a meal planner. And it’s absurd to me why and how would anyone pay for something when there are countless and countless recipes and meal planners readily available for free. Who’d the fuck would want to pay for a planner? That’s like paying for a calendar app.
I was surprised to hear that a coworker suscribes to one of the streaming services to stream shows from PBS. First of all, it’s free OTA. Second, I think they have an app.
WinRAR
WinRAR is legitimately a great program and whomever made it deserves some compensation
Maybe it was good 10-20 years ago. What’s it got to offer today? Why should we use a proprietary format when there are faster and more space-efficient open formats widely available today?
I compare features, speed and compression ratio’s of a bunch of options about twice a year. Up until now, winrar kept coming out on top, at least for my dataset
Interesting. Mind sharing which compression algorithms you compare and how?
Online subscription models, gacha and AAAA price tag games.
Not everyone wants to be a cybercriminal, god knows I’m one of them, but every person has a backlog of games, an old classic that they want to experience again or community favourite that has gotten a lot of mods. And even if you want to spend money on something, why would you spend it on this year’s hyped up game when last year’s is still just as playable and at a discount?
That being said, I did buy Balatro full price, so I ought to know the answer.
Operating systems and porn.
Free porn tends to be full of abuse towards its actors. Not that paid porn is automatically ethical but there are definitely indie options where no one is being coerced into performing sexual acts they’re not comfortable with. Also if you have a niche fetish sometimes the only options are paywalled.
So many people I know complain about windows having ads, that it’s auto installing bloatware, has annoying checks, forces you to login…
I paid the full price about a decade ago and haven’t been bothered by any of that. And yes, I’ve upgraded to windows 11
How is it surprising people pay for operating systems? The vast majority of computers sold are bundled with an operating system license, and most people just use what came with the computer.
Uhhhh you answered your own question. Why pay for an OS when it should either be included, or free Linux.
Therefore it’s surprising when people pay for an OS.
I use windows. I haven’t paid for a windows key since windows 7 iirc. Windows has been free for years. (I know you pay with your data etc. Good luck convincing average Joe who uses all social media services that this even matters)
Exactly. Which is why it’s surprising to pay for windows OS.
Where are these surprising purchases then? People either use it for free, in which case they haven’t paid for it, or they bought it in a bundle with their PC, which is again very common.
Who is actually buying Windows standalone?
But “included” doesn’t mean free. You still paid for it.
That’s not the point. You’re buying a pc, it comes with it and sometimes costs extra.
This sub is about what’s surprising things people buy. Buying an OS is surprising, because it’s either part of the package deal for a new pc, or you can just use linux.
I think what you are trying to say is “buying an OS not as part of a package deal is surprising”. To that I would agree.
But most people are buying an OS as part of a package deal, so most purchases of an OS are not surprising.
Books.
Most librarians are knowledgeable and love helping you find something, or getting it in from another library.
Not everyone has access to libraries. However anyone with internet access and a device capable of reading ebooks can read for free with libgen, zlib, and sci hub.
Every book I try to check out has a 3 month to 3 year wait-list. Not exactly a convenient way to read.
I like owning my own stuff.
By that proxy you could also just rent your home instead of owning a living space.That’s a crazy comparison. If I could rent a home for free from the library I would feel like I’d won the lottery. I absolutely would do that. Is renting from the library not free where you are?
Depends. My local library is but the major library in the neighbouring city has a fee associated with being a member lending something. Entry is free though.
As an American, Turbo Tax. I’ve been using FreeTaxUSA for almost 20 years with no problems, without paying for filing software.
But if I weren’t American, my answer would probably be: tax software.
In many other countries (such as mine) you dont use tax software. The government figures out what you owe or overpaid. Because they have all the info they need to know that.
How are they at dealing with investments?
For my simple needs (mortgage, 401k, couple different IRAs, and a managed investment account) it did great.
Do they do imports from like betterment and vanguard?
Water
As somebody who grew up with perfect tap water and then moved to Detroit, I used to think this.
Edit: I guess I should say I still think this for a lot of places. When I go to my parents house the first thing I do is drink a big cup of their amazing tap water.
Where can you get free water? Unless you have a well or something.
Where I am the cost of water is rolled into the local authority tax. It’s not metered, so it feels free. It’s pretty good water too.
Tap water is so cheap it might as well be free, and it’s probably included in the rent in a lot of places.
I guess it’s not free in places that need to have a revolution first?
My water is inexpensive: 1 Cubometer of water about USD 0.29 and USD 0.13 to deliver it to the apartment (pipe system, water infrastructure).
Slightly more expensive in places with local water scarcity, like the American southwest. But yeah, we still need a revolution
I think this persons means bottled water.
The meal subscription services strike me as premade salads on steroids. You’re paying a premium for all the labor, ingredients, (excessive) packaging, shipping, their profit, etc and you still have to put it together and cook it. It really isn’t that hard to look up a couple of recipes, buy the ingredients (you’d probably be going to the store anyway) and prep for 30 or so minutes a night. If you make full recipes you’ll probably have leftovers so you won’t even have to cook the next day.
I was actually enjoying Blue Apron for a while, mainly because it was stuff that I’d never thought to try making before, but the amount of trash generated from each box delivered was too much for my conscience. I wish they didn’t use so many plastic wrappers and had some way of returning the boxes with the insulation.
The insulation alone with them and Hello Fresh had me hang them up for good after a couple tries. It was nice to try recipes I wouldn’t think to search online for but yeah, that packaging situation was god-awful.
Did one for a while. It cut down on grocery store trips and meal planning so it gave some peace of mind, but I prefer either cooking simple meals or large meals (for leftovers) and they were neither. Most were delicious but took anywhere from 30-60 minutes. Most sea portioned for two so I ended up cooking nearly every single night and I hit a wall with it.
I can definitely see why people do it, sometimes the cost is worth the convenience.
I agree for the big ones, but we have a local one I’ve subscribed to a few times, for a couple months at a time.
They pull all the ingredients from local farms, do local delivery or pickup at farmer’s markets, and they’re minimal on packaging, and they reuse the bags and ice packs. I haven’t done it in a while but it was pretty nice and it was helpful to break out of the routine of the same meals week in and out.
Gray market license keys for software. The money you’re paying for these will never make it to the developer, so you might as well pirate.
It’s more convenient to have a license. I only buy those when the developer is being scummy
Microsoft Office and satellite radio.
You still listen to the radio?
Rarely, yes. Mostly I listen to free podcasts and music that I’ve paid for or otherwise acquired once. I don’t understand paying a subscription for a lower quality version of that. Maybe there are a few live programs that are only available on SiriusXM, but that’s a tenuous value proposition.
My coworkers will walk into work with Dunkin or Starbucks lattes… we have not only free coffee at work, but access to an espresso machine with milk steamer.
It’s not that odd that they have a preference, even if it costs them. My work provides tea bags and milk, but I bring my own because I like them more.
Yeah, but Dunkin for coffee??
It’s like the yuengling of coffee. Nothing special but it’s cheap and inoffensive.
I think the problem is that some Starbucks fans are pretentious. There are better and cheaper coffee everywhere but some of them will just choose the more expensive one and flash their premium membership card to you.
If I worked at a restaurant I would take advantage of free espresso.
So at my work the coffee is shit because it’s a fully automatic coffee machine and it is also not properly cleaned. I usually make my own at home and bring a thermos.
Yes, but I work at a restaurant.
(Conditionally) journals, studies and some books. And, for that matter, most television, film and music.
Particularly when paying is not supporting the creator, only the publisher.
I do not get people who still pay for cable tv. My dad pays like 120 dollars a month for it and the programming is horrible, the ads are insane, all the best sports shit is on streaming services now, I do not understand it at all.
How technical is your dad?
Also honestly. Sometimes it’s a lot nicer to just push a button and have something come on.
One of the main reasons I use Plex is their random feature. “Wanna watch a syndicated episodic show and don’t care which ep? Press random” vs other streaming services you have to actually choose an episode.
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Inertia?
Or is there some local channel that they like that doesn’t have a youtube presence?No. And they also have Netflix. So they understand streaming shit. It boggles my mind
Bottled water to drink at home.
Not every country has safe tap water
Ok, so: bottled water to drink at home in countries with safe drinking water.
Much better)
I have a worst example, people who showered with said bottled water when we had a water supply issue in my town…
I’ve showered with tap water when my shower was broken. I think it makes sense if it’s the only way they can shower.
And even if it does, it might taste horrible.
Even Los Angeles tap water isn’t safe to drink, as I understand it. Flynt, Michigan, too.
When you put tap water in a bottle and put it in the freezer, so you’d have a cold bottle of water for an entire summer day, the water from the tap tastes “saltier” for some reason, while bottled “spring” water doesn’t. The “saltier” taste is kinda unpleasant 🤷♂️
Also my city has some chemical spill into the river where the city gets the water supply from, they gave out a emergency alert very late, and the city wasn’t really transparent about that whole ordeal, some people in my city are already doubting the safety of the tap water, reminds me of Flint, Michigan, so I kinda just don’t like the tap water 😖
Undersink filter with a dedicated drinking water tap. Removes the chlorine taste that is probably what makes you think salty. You can get the whole setup for $75 and install it yourself. The filters are $40ish and last 6-12 months.
Some fridges have cold filtered water taps built in.
This drives me insane. The 5 gal jugs are so cheap to refill and keep using. I used one of those with a hand pump and a thin 1.5 gal jugs for my fridge for constant cold water when I lived where tap water wasn’t doable. It was like 10¢ a gallon to refill the jugs and I always had delicious cold water at the ready. There is absolutely no need to create so much waste
YouTube premium.
Just get uBlock or revanced.
The maintainance and unreliability is annoying
Doesn’t work if you’re using a smart TV or console to view it.
Just solved this problem actually. Smart tube app. Download on your tv with a browser and sideload the apk. Dunno about console but I’m sure there’s some solution.
Yeah, not watching it on console. /s
I have lots of ad blockers. But my father watches YouTube on the LG TV app. I don’t live there anymore and hearing the ads from the other room became offensive to the family.
It was easier to just buy a premium family plan and call it a day.
Okay, to preface I really hate giving Google money, but I hate ads more, and paying for Premium also removes ads on YouTube apps across platforms. It also in some minuscule way rewards the creators I watch, but real support comes from Patreon.
YouTube charges too much. It costs more than Netflix! They need like a $6/mo plan or something.
I mean, it depends on how much you use it, no? I use YouTube more than Netflix and the like (most of the time anyway). Not that I have YouTube premium but still.
In Australia they offer premium lite for $9 AUD a month that removes ads on normal YouTube but still has it on shorts and music.
Yeah I’m with you. I know there’s some way to block ads on any device if you are really dedicated but I don’t want to get a PHD in ad blocking just to not have ads on YT on my phone
On android the trick is to do the same as you would on desktop. So Firefox + unlock origin.
Install Revanced, it’s literally better than the vanilla youtube app because you can customize basically everything
I can’t find it on iOS
*you can’t find it in the app store / apple safe space. If you’re in Europe, you can sideload apps. Otherwise, you might need an upgrade
No
I’m at a point in my life where I’ll pay for the media I’ll watch. If I’m not willing to pay for it, I won’t watch it. I also don’t want to watch ads.
"Ah, yes I see I see, and that’s very understandable. Thank you for paying us by the way.
Now, since you’ve been so loyal for all these years…what about [slides agreement across the table] you pay for it…AND you watch ads?"
– Basically every streaming service hopping on the bandwagon at this point
Streaming services are raising prices because prestige television was expensive and are using ads as a way to reduce the bill.
And you don’t have to pay for streaming if you don’t find it too be worth it. I’ve cancelled subscriptions because the increased price wasn’t worth it.
