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Insurance, private utilities, the internet, phones, etc.
Rent.
Windows
I agree, Big Glass has it out for us
Democracy
Most contractors or companies providing services related to home maintenance/improvement. I guess it's not really a 'scam' but you are getting charged 10x+ the cost to do whatever when you could probably do it yourself with some research and persistence.
Car finance. It’s so prevalent, I think I’m literally the only one on our road that doesn’t drive a 1 year old, brand new, financed car. Literally everyone is like “but it’s only $499/month and I can just hand it back when I want a new one”. Well shit, yes, but try tallying up what you’ve paid for running all these new cars every three years.
Save up instead and continue saving after you bought the car. Then you can afford a different car later.
They call it "leasing", but get angry when you point out they are renting.
Save up instead and continue saving after you bought the car. Then you can afford a different car later.
Take out a loan then, at least at the end of it you still have a car
Yes I get the point but I guess it depends on you considering a car a luxury or a requirement. Where I live, it’s definitely a luxury - we’ve got great public transport.
It's literally like renting a car at $499 per month. Nothing really wrong with that as long as the economics work out (there's more expenses than just the monthly payment), because a car is going to depreciate anyway. You can buy it, but it will just get old and fall apart.
Some people feel it's worth $500 a month to always drive a relatively new car, rather than drive an old car for free.
It's going to depreciate!? Oh no! Often the people I hear talk about cars like that can't or don't change their oil. Change the fluids, rotate the tires, follow servicing time tables; same things you should be doing with your rented car you continue doing with your older car.
Obviously, you can maintain your old car, and make it last a long time, but it's still going to look older, maybe dented and scratched, the finish is dull, the interior is worn, etc. Some people don't want to go through all the maintenance, and would rather just pay to have a nice looking reliable car in the driveway.
I've never been a car guy, so I like an older, paid off car, but I understand why some people would want to follow the other strategy.
Some people feel it’s worth $500 a month to always drive a relatively new car, rather than drive an old car for free.
Some people are broke ass in debt their whole lives.
Yeah, I'm not saying it's economically wise, but it's true, and who are we to judge what people prioritize in their lives?
basically everything,i guess.
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Banks.
Using YOUR money to make a lot of money from investing in horrible companies.
Not just investing. Every time banks loan money to someone they steal from everyone.
Fractional reserve banking means that banks only need to have a fraction of the money their customers have in accounts actually in reserve, based on the idea that not everyone will withdraw all their money from the bank at the same time. For example, if people have deposited €1000 at a bank, the bank may be allowed to have €1500 is customers’ accounts, because only a fraction needs to be covered by actual money. The rest is just entries in a database.
Because of the difference between what was deposited and what they are allowed to have as ‘virtual’ money in accounts, they can loan out the difference. So when someone asks for a €500 loan, they approve it and put €500 in the customers account without actually having more money in reserve. They basically create that €500 out of thin air. (Which the customer eventually has to pay back with real money).
Because the total amount of money actually represents the total amount of value created (e.g. by labour and manufacturing), and they just created more money without actually creating more value, the bank just caused a little bit of inflation by issuing that loan. Meaning every time they issue a loan everyone else’s money becomes worth a little less, and this difference eventually ends up in the bank’s pockets.
They only cause inflation by lending if nothing of value is created by the money they lend out, though.
Lending just shifts the value creation to after the money is created. If we didn’t expand the money supply, we would have severe deflation and value would be created by work.
religion
Water companies, when there's only one in the area. I've played this boardgame before...
Monopolies in general.
For some people? Pre-ordering digital games. I mean huh? What are ye even doin there Jimmy-Bob? You afraid they're gonna run out of copies? O.o
One valid reason is for preloading. On Steam at least, when you preorder a game it will often let you download and install it the night before release so its ready to play as soon as you are.
Lmaoooooo, I didn't even realize people did this
Pre-orders are so they know how much champagne to buy for release day.
That used to make sense before all games were delivered over the internet. When all games were delivered physically via disk, running out was possible. Preorder made sure you had your copy on the day of the release.
Lol yeah, that's what I meant, digitally delivered videogames. I remember having to secure my copy of like, Halo 3 or Skyrim in advance so I could play it on release. :D
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this post was submitted on 27 Apr 2026
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