Some things are so normal in our society that we don’t even think about it, just accept it the way it is. But the minute you start thinking about it, you realize how questionable it is. And that if people wouldn’t have normalized such a thing, we definitely would understand it to be a scam.
Today, let’s take a look at some money-related things that would be considered scams if society hadn’t normalized them.
More info: Reddit
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Insurance. You give them money month after month, year after year, and then when it comes time where you need to use it they will try their absolute hardest to give you as little as possible
Healthcare not including dental and vision
Health Insurance does not include vision, dental, or mental health. In other words, Healthcare does not include your head.
Bored Panda reached out to sociologist Deborah Lupton. Check out her blog!
We asked her what factors contribute to social acceptance of morally questionable things. She answered that it is all due to social norms and their changeability. “Behaviors once considered normal became socially repugnant and people were expected to adhere to these new norms to be considered socially acceptable. It is often the wealthy and powerful who influence others (for good or for worse).”
So, we can guess that it’s only a matter of time before we start to question certain financial and social norms of today. And then they will change into something else.
Subscription services in vehicles. Pay monthly/yearly for heated seats or to unlock performance mode. I don't get how people support this business practice.
Don't buy the damned car? When the dealers lots are full of 2 year old inventory it gets the attention of the manufacturers.
I have to pay a 3% convenience fee to pay my rent online… I literally have to pay to pay my rent, it’s disgraceful.
I pay with my bank account and not my debit card, to avoid this type of fee.
Landlords buy up property they don’t need so they can sell it back at an extreme markup as rent to people who actually do need it. With almost any other commodity it would be called scalping, and be regarded as the scam that it is, but with a commodity so material we literally call it “real estate”, we just act like this is how things are supposed to be.
If I were to win/receive a lot of money, I'd buy up low cost property. This would be refurbished into good housing for people on low incomes. The aim would be to provide good quality, stable homes for people who are normally priced out of the market. If a profit was possible, it would be used to buy more property, and help people enter an agreement where they can start building equity.
We also asked her how socially accepted morally questionable things reflect the cultural values and society itself. The sociologist replied that “What is considered socially acceptable and 'normal' in any society at any historical period is reflective of broader social issues and expectations, as well as those who are in power as leaders of moral standards at the time."
She added that in societies where religious values are no longer as strong, it usually takes over. “It means that the wealthy and those who control the reins of power in government are the moral authorities.” And well, talking about wealth really does match our topic today.
Moving on to actual financial scams, do you know how to identify one? Well, these tips can come in handy when you encounter something you guess might be a financial scam. Watch out for:
- Fake ads that claim that a celebrity recommends it to make big money.
- An online contact you have never met in person talking about investing.
- Ads, websites, or even emails with testimonials and over-the-top promises.
- High-pressure tactics that are meant to rush you to act so you don't 'miss out'.
- Being asked to promote the scheme to friends and family to earn a commission.
So, take these tips and your common sense into consideration and stay safe from financial scams!
Charging subscription fees to access software on hardware you already own.
"*Our customers pay for our over priced goods, but they appear to still have money. How can we make them buy the product every month without us having to pay to make or ship any new materials*!?"
Baby formula. There is NO reason it should cost that much.
I should have rented my boobs and sold my eggs. I'd have a much bigger TV.
buying schoolbooks. publishers know you have literally no choice but to buy it and jack up the price in many cases. And some teachers get a cut on those sales which is insanely scummy but somehow tolerated in many schools.
I’ve had classes where you had to pay 150$ for a book we didn’t even use once during the class, but you literally couldn’t do any of the online evaluations unless you bought it. It’s just a way for some company to make an easy 500-600 dollars or more off the back of students.
A thief has stolen $20,000 worth of university textbooks. He was caught and forced to return all three of them.
Organized religion
Oppressing women and the poor for millennia, organized religions have to be the longest running scam on the planet, likely because they are the most lucrative.
Campaign finances
Can't wait to see Trump in court in 2025-26 for using his 2024 campaign money for legal fees. I'll eat a dirty shoe if I'm wrong.
Capitalism . Working hard for peanuts so the people upstairs can get wealthy.
Paying the same price for digital games as physical.
Digital should be muuuuuch cheaper.
Hospitals taking additional fees on so you have to constantly ask them to itemize it so they remove the bogus add one
(In the US) I work and have decent insurance. Got a nose bleed my local clinic couldn't stop. Went to the ER - Nearly $5k (of which I had to pay nearly $1500). They used some name-brand nose--spray (an anti-coagulant), and when that didn't work, inserted an inflatable tampon (that fell out 2 hours later). Why so high? Apparently, while I was bent over bleeding into a bedpan, a "specialist" literally stuck his head in the door to ask how it was going.
The whole system of Credit scores
I've read there is a push in Congress to remove medical debt from credit scores. Small step in the right direction.
Extended warranties
Any warranty that costs money. The price of the product should be our only cost. Poor quality should not be rewarded by enabling manufacturers to charge more to repair or replace the item. Not long ago you could simply return them for a refund.
Every type of monthly bill going up year-on-year above inflation unless you change providers every year.
CABLE COMPANIES. Why does my bill go up $5.00 every 3 months for a buried cable noone has serviced since 2003??
The lottery
Almost all other forms of gambling at least give you a reasonable chance of winning something. The lottery is straight up robbing the stupid
Political Parties.
Special Interest groups, lobbyists, gerrymandering, electoral college, or otherwise over-riding the will of the people.
Voting. We don't pick them they pick us. They draw the lines to better the chances for they're demographic. Gerrymandering it's a thing
But it's still worth doing it. Not voting isn't a tool of resistance, but a tool of surrender.
The supplement industry
I like the supplement industry. People think it's a bunch of bogus, but these products can/do have noticable effects and daily limits. If you don't believe me, give Passionflower a try.
Very rich people having a "family trust" to evade inheritance tax
Light bulbs. Apparently when first invented they lasted too long and so manufacturers had to reduce their longevity to make them commercially viable. Scam.
Not quite. There was a cartel formed to standardise light bulbs, including their lifespan, but the longer-lasting bulbs at the time were undesirable because of lower efficiency (as in light output per power input) and greater heat output, so it wasn't as simple as this makes out.
Interest rates in banking, or just banking in general. They literally use your money to lend other people money so they can charge then interest, making them money with your money.
What's worse is that in times of crisis they can just declare bankruptcy and that's it, they don't owe you anything and you're s**t outta luck, even if they lost literally all your life savings.
Also they force you to get a credit card if you want to apply for a loan, banking is just scams on top of scams.
The FDIC is supposed to protect your bank account from this, make sure your bank is FDIC insured.
>I'll start: paying for water
You're not paying for water, per se. You're paying for *treated* water. Tap water is filtered, purified, and tested. Bottled water is ... bottled. Either way, some work has been done to it, and that is the value-added portion of the water which you're paying for.
You are welcome to go down to the lake and drink out of it for free. Good luck with that, by the way.
And sewage disposal. The treatment plants cost $ to operate and maintain. The outrage comes when there's a markup for the service that is exorbitantly higher, just because.
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I think about HOAs as a good thing when they provide landscaping services for common areas or private security services. BUT, not good when you are informed that your needed handicap ramp into your home is not permitted or all your cars must be parked behind your garage doors and not in your driveway, and NO to solar panels because they don't fit well with the current HOA thoughts, and lastly, water saving hardscape front yards are not acceptable because the HOA wants large green lawns as if this is 1960.
In my area business owners are charging the customer extra if they use their bank card. I guess the business is charged so they pass the fee on to the customer. We've stopped using several local businesses because of this c**p.
The different card companies charge different fees but they're generally a flat 25 cents to $1 per transaction plus 1-3% of the total bill. If you go to a coffee shop and get a $3 cup, they could lose 1/3 of that in fees. Most places I've been, if they add a fee for using a card, it's only around $1 and usually only if your purchase is below a certain total. Just carry some cash and enjoy the fact that there are still local businesses, not just Walmart and Amazon.
Load More Replies... I think about HOAs as a good thing when they provide landscaping services for common areas or private security services. BUT, not good when you are informed that your needed handicap ramp into your home is not permitted or all your cars must be parked behind your garage doors and not in your driveway, and NO to solar panels because they don't fit well with the current HOA thoughts, and lastly, water saving hardscape front yards are not acceptable because the HOA wants large green lawns as if this is 1960.
In my area business owners are charging the customer extra if they use their bank card. I guess the business is charged so they pass the fee on to the customer. We've stopped using several local businesses because of this c**p.
The different card companies charge different fees but they're generally a flat 25 cents to $1 per transaction plus 1-3% of the total bill. If you go to a coffee shop and get a $3 cup, they could lose 1/3 of that in fees. Most places I've been, if they add a fee for using a card, it's only around $1 and usually only if your purchase is below a certain total. Just carry some cash and enjoy the fact that there are still local businesses, not just Walmart and Amazon.
Load More Replies...