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30 Terrible Products That Are Still Sold By The Millions, As Shared By This Online Group
Have you ever found yourself being angry at your printer that stops working out of nowhere and then spits out a dozen of the same copies? Or maybe you were disappointed by the game that you waited for for so long? Experiencing situations like these where people find some well-known product to be useless and irritating can make them wonder why these products are so popular and who still buys them.
Having this in mind, Reddit user @jezbez asked people online “What terrible product sells by the millions?” and besides receiving 57.1k upvotes, they also found out what products made someone a millionaire but are actually awful products.
Which one of these products do you find unnecessary or useless? Leave your thoughts in the comments down below!
More Info: Reddit
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Puppy mill puppies. Sorry to compare them to a product, but that’s how they’re treated. No one should purchase a puppy from a pet store, EVER. This now extends to online brokerage websites like greenfield and puppyspot. They’re like Amazon, a few clicks and a puppy will be sent to your door, and these puppies are coming from the exact same place as the pet store puppies. Because of people’s need for instant gratification, these facilities with hundreds to thousands of breeding animals persist. They are the best cash crop you could hope for.
Never believe a store who claims they only sell puppies from responsible breeders. No, not even if the owner has visited the breeders and “know” they’re good! By definition a responsible breeder would NEVER send their puppies to a pet store. Even pet stores that claim to only have rescues need to be scrutinized because some mills will use a shell rescue to “puppy launder”. “Licensed and certified breeders” should be a red flag - depending on the state, a breeder only needs to be licensed if they have a large number of dogs, are selling to brokers to go to pet stores, or to people “sight unseen” (online). YMMV depending on the state.
People sometimes justify their purchases as “saving” puppies from a pet store. But that is still investing in the industry and funding their operations by giving them profit. Legislation hasn’t stemmed the tide. Only a loss of profit will make mills move on to another hustle.
So please educate yourself and anyone you know who loves dogs and might ever be tempted to purchase a puppy from a pet store or online. Either adopt from a responsible rescue, or purchase from a responsible breeder.
You can check with stores though - my local pet store works WITH the local rescue centre to as a sort of halfway point for adoption. Store =/= bad automatically. It very much depends on location.
Yep. At my local pet stores, you will see the name and contact information for the rescue clearly posted and all the interactions for adopting will go through the rescue, not through the store. The rescue I volunteer with places a lot of animals this way. It's incredibly helpful to us to have that kind of venue to get homeless animals in front of potential adopters.
Load More Replies...Or their tails. And don’t take the nails out for the cats.
Load More Replies...Also never buy dogs in a reeder that a) sells many breeds and b) doesnt have the parents available to see. Most pretend to be breeders but also use puppy mills. Sadly here in the north of belgium there are many. It disappointed me a lot seeing how little the authorities care
I don't think I've ever seen puppies (or kittens, for that matter) in a pet shop in the UK. I'm not saying we don't have them, but I've never seen them. Pet shops seems to sell rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, gerbils, degu and chinchillas.
The law in the UK is very clear. A puppy under 6 months old may only be sold by the original breeder or re-homed by a registered organisation.
Load More Replies...Breeders as well. My daughter works at a rescue and 90% of their intake is breeder dumps. Either the puppies didn't sell fast enough, they have medical issues and (because the breeder didn't do genetic testing). The heartbreaking ones are the females that have been so overbred they have prolapsed uterus and are in such poor condition that they are considered geriatric by the age of 3.
I agree you can buy dogs from responsible breeders. Many service dogs, especially for disabled or elderly (or even for bomb sniffing) are usually taken from certain breed or hybrids for a reason. In other cases sometimes people want a specific hard to find breed for various reasons (like the climate and environment where they live), which those breeders are good for as well. Look for which agencies certify them, the American Kennel Club certifies responsible breeders that meet a very long list of criteria and get regular inspections.
petfinder is a great site i looked at when getting a dog, all dogs on there are rescues living in foster homes or shelters. it tells you about each dog, and you can choose breed, size, age, color, and if you insert your address, you can choose the max distance from your house. Im not sure if it works for countries other than the US tho. sry for the rant. just that if you want a dog it really helps
Agree. I have my two cats from two lovely families who's outside cats went on a date 😁. Perfectly socialized, healthy and loved kittens. They are my pride and joy.
Mine are littermates from a similar situation, but in Russia its common for people to drown unwanted kittens. I always wonder what happened to their sister. I couldn't have 3 cats in a one room apartment though
Load More Replies...I want to save all of them because I love them and they don't deserve it. But sadly saving them will breed more. But also they don't deserve that death sentence 😭💔💔💔
I'd never ever buy a pet ... now, I'm clearly a cat type of a guy, I ... adopted one last january. Needed a new home, I had no cat at that moment, so she moved in and ... is loved, finally. But untraining the stuff her stupid humans before me have tought here is quite a load of work...
My dog came from Petsmart, but from an adoption event from a rescue society bringing dogs from shelters in the USA, so not all dogs from pet shops come from puppy mills
AMEN to that. Puppy mills should be made illegal. How can they still BE legal in 2021?
I have a ding butt Golden Retriever/Yellow Lab mix that came from a puppy mill.A woman paid 200 dollars for her, then when she broke up with her boyfriend she left the dog behind. He tossed the dog outside to live with a bag of torn open dog food and posted her on Craig's list. I was looking for a companion for an older Lab mix and we rescued her after a two drive. Dumber than a box of rocks but gorgeous, and a sweetie to boot! She's now 11 and sleeps with me every night. My other dog is still salty about it, lol.
This is why me and my roomates get our pets from the shelter or we buy them from people we know personally
petfinder, you guys. adopting dogs from people who can't take care of them anymore. got a beutiful, quiet, huskey that way. also, saving a dog from a puppy mill is not bad. it's providing the profit that's bad. any dog is for free if you can run fast enough.
Unfortunately it's not just puppies. Me and my partner specialise in offering a forever home to special needs and disabled animals. The amount of issues caused by bad breeders and back yard breeders is honestly shocking.
In my state Victoria Australia >>>Anyone holding a puppy or kitten for sale, including brokers, must register with their local council as a DAB and comply with the DA Act and Code<<<<< This is from the Agriculture government site. There are lots of rules. So just that one paragraph is different. Yes puppy and kitten mills are hell for the animals. If you see / suspect this, report it to R.S.P.C.A. there are laws.
always ADOPT! NEVER GET FROM STORES! There are too many babies that need loving homes!!
While my mother was searching for a puppy online and through pet stores, many of her accounts were hacked as a result of her giving a lot of her personal information to be eligible to adopt or purchase a puppy. She did finally find a puppy on Craig's list, unfortunately he had Parvo. Thankfully the little guy made it through after a lot of worry and vet bills later. Be aware there are a number of disreputable breeders and and sellers out there. Take your time and put thought into how you find your new family member.
Very well said. And this year, animals who had been purchased during lockdown have been abandoned by thousands and thousands, all shelters are completely full. So if you really want a pet, think it hard because it's an important decision, and at least for the moment, instead of looking for a breeder and "order" an animal as if it was a product, please go to a shelter, rescue one and keep them safe forever.
I totally agree with this! I bought my hamster from a pet shop before I learned about mills, unfortunately, but my dog is from a responsible breeder. Adopt don't shop, or at the very least look for good breeders in your area.
The government has laws about this that they can't be bothered to enforce.
Buy a puppy in such a place, would be the same as buy kids in farms, instead of adopting them. I understand people who need trained dogs, but besides,habe no excuse.
Women’s pants/trousers which STILL have tiny pockets.
This is so horrible! I heard they do this to market the purse industry
Diamonds.
Diamonds are fu*king worthless and fuel a gigantic slavery trade business. We should have stopped digging for em.and just using lab made ones.
Speaking as a European, Hershey bars are absolutely horrendous
Speaking as an American, about every 2 years, I order an 5kg block of Callebaut dark chocolate from Belgium. (We do have quality artisanal chocolate makers in the US, but Hershey is just disgusting. It's too sweet and the texture is off-putting.)
this should go without saying, but coffee pods
Regardless of what it may say on the label, they aren't actually recyclable. The ones that look like a little bag with a plastic ring at the top are just as bad, there's as much plastic in that ring as there is in an entire cup.
Detoxification miracle products.
"Get all the toxins out of your body!"
You have already have a pancreas and liver.
Edit: and kidney(s)Edit 2: Thanks for the silver!
Edit 2: Glad to see so many people actually are educated about their digestive systems. One of my favorite areas of study right now are the gut microbiome and it's ever increasing known impact on our overall health. So far it really seems like one of the most important factors (if not the most) is the quality of care you give your ol' poop machine. So yeah, don't consume garbage branded as detox products that f**k your colon.
GOOP
Never heard of it, had to google. Apparently not working well in Sweden.
Plastic water/soda bottles. Environmentally terrible
I am not 100% sure about that one. Yes plastic isn't easy to recycle. (Although HDPE (Lids) and PP (bottles) can be recycled quite well. IF you recycle).. but: It is a lot lighter than glass. Less weight means less energy/fuel for transport. And that means less CO2 (for transport). So.... if you look at the facts and add up the numbers (instead of just going: "Plastic is Evil) you might be surprised. Could be that, as enviromental bad as they are, they could still be better than glass
Any product where marketing is 95% of the production budget
Cheap toilet paper that your finger goes right through unless you fold it over several times.
Homeopathic “remedies” that are so diluted they might contain one molecule of what they purport to hold. And no, shaking them does not “activate” them. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/1800-studies-later-scientists-conclude-homeopathy-doesnt-work-180954534/
They are facing a problem im the EU now. They cant be labled by what they are working against (because they don't) and they can't be labled by what's suposed to be in it... because there is almost nothing of it left. So soon they will habe to be labled as what they are... sugar
Herbalife.
One of the techs at my dialysis unit just started this. She's only in her 20's and has no idea how long it's been around. She was going on and on about it and I just rolled my eyes.
Beats headphone, speakers etc. The headphones are so cheaply made that they put weights in them to make them feel higher quality
Edit: for those asking, you can't go wrong with JBL - they're invincible, affordable and unbelievably high quality for the price.
Edit 2: not saying weight = quality, I'm saying that people think weight = quality
Other excellent headphone manufacturers include Sennheiser, Klipsche, Audio Technica, Sony (they have a wide range including some very good stuff) and Bose (overpriced, but better than Beats).
Stuff with microbeads.
Seriously, how was this ever legal in the first place and why is it still legal?
Edit, apparently mictobeads were mostly banned in the US (where majority of redditors are from) in 2018 (enacted 2015) but I missed that. However, this is not a strict ban as they are still allowed in "non-rinse off" products such as make-up or pillow stuffing and you can order large quantities of them on Amazon. So while this is a step in the right direction, it is certainly not good enough. Furthermore, they should be banned worldwide like CFCs were as their environmental impact is equally as bad.
LOL surprise Toys or any such surprise toy , they sell like crazy and the whole idea is to buy them open the wrapper and see what you have got , once opened the toy is never used
Microtransactions in games.
The cosmetic ones I can understand, they can be fun, but the pay to win ones are terrible and yet they make millions every year.
Hartz brand pet flea treatments/medication. It's dangerous and has been the cause of death for many pets. IIRC it's a nerve agent that's supposed to make the pet's blood toxic to fleas.
I used some on my cat once and she started freaking out, then had trouble waking normally (her legs were twitching and kicking, clearly out of her control), and tears of brown thick liquid started streaming down her face. I picked her up and frantically gave her a bath hoping to wash any of the remaining chemicals off the back of her neck before any more of that poison seeped into her skin.
Cable TV (from major providers)
They made money f*****g people over and then when streaming services changed the game they decided to continue finding new ways to f**k you over. God help you if you live in a rural area.
There is absolutely no reason to have cable anymore. I have Netflix, Disney+, Amazon prime, Hulu and Funimation subscriptions and all of them combined cost a fraction what cable does,. Include limitless on demand content (much of which is better than anything on cable) and without 30% of the air time being commercials. Cable is dead. It died a horrible and well disserved death and it will not be missed.
There's an old IT joke about being in a room with three truly despicable people and a printer and a gun with two bullets. Who would you shoot? The answer for IT people is you would shoot the printer twice.
My data
Note: this post originally had 40 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
And commercials that pop up every two minutes on non-premium! Everyone hates those commercials no one wants them, no one watches them.
Load More Replies...Commercials on cable TV or streaming services you pay for. Why am I paying if you're already being paid for by commercials?!
Load More Replies...Why in blue blazes does BP truncate every thread? I can understand showing only the top 50 of 100+ items - but showing only the top 30 of 40? Seems absurd.
The more interacting a website has from the public the higher it ranks in search engines. If you're compelled to click again in order to see the full article, the article ranks higher and its more likely to be seen in a search engine.
Load More Replies...2 Threads with exact the same content in one day. Do you guys at BP don’t talk to each other?
Easy. It's still better than random cat pics all the time.
Load More Replies...Hearing aids for most old people. It's like putting more petrol in your car and expecting it to go faster.
Or glasses for asinine commenters. They shouldn't be allowed to see!
Load More Replies...And commercials that pop up every two minutes on non-premium! Everyone hates those commercials no one wants them, no one watches them.
Load More Replies...Commercials on cable TV or streaming services you pay for. Why am I paying if you're already being paid for by commercials?!
Load More Replies...Why in blue blazes does BP truncate every thread? I can understand showing only the top 50 of 100+ items - but showing only the top 30 of 40? Seems absurd.
The more interacting a website has from the public the higher it ranks in search engines. If you're compelled to click again in order to see the full article, the article ranks higher and its more likely to be seen in a search engine.
Load More Replies...2 Threads with exact the same content in one day. Do you guys at BP don’t talk to each other?
Easy. It's still better than random cat pics all the time.
Load More Replies...Hearing aids for most old people. It's like putting more petrol in your car and expecting it to go faster.
Or glasses for asinine commenters. They shouldn't be allowed to see!
Load More Replies...