Americans are spending billions on stuff they forget to cancel • Hacker News Board

Re: Americans are spending billions on stuff they forget to cancel

#671

Post by mrguyorama » Mon, Jan 22, 2024, 7:17 PM UTC

pc86 wrote: post #382

mrguyorama wrote: post #316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>You can easily say the same thing about someone who does work a high-tech job No you F-ing can't, and if you even remotely think that, you have never experienced poverty. Life's a lot different when your bills are $X this month and working 60 hours only makes you $X-$1000. "Change your expenses" Oh yeah? Am I supposed to WILL cheaper apartments into existence? Am I supposed to magically reduce the cost of my groceri…

My dad was a part-time janitor at my high school and I was in my teens before I realized that sometimes people got more than a single gift for Christmas, but I'm also able to talking about this without resorting to ad hominem and calling people privileged jerks for having a different opinion or calling wealthy family members jackasses while simultaneously taking their money. Is it a human right to live in a $1500/mo…

> they're telling you that you shouldn't be living in a $1500/mo apartment on $15/hr.

This is directly saying that janitors, coffee pourers, cashiers, etc shouldn't be able to live where they work. This is explicitly saying that people who can't get a valuable job should be expected to commute farther, longer, less reliably, etc than anyone else.

Why? Does SV not buy coffee? Does NYC not need to be cleaned? These jobs need to be done, and it isn't the janitor's fault nobody built a damn apartment complex in the city to house them.

Re: Americans are spending billions on stuff they forget to cancel

#672

Post by unbalancedevh » Mon, Jan 22, 2024, 7:26 PM UTC

al_borland wrote: post #495

quartz wrote: post #30

I recently had my credit card stolen which is a great forcing function to audit subscriptions because you have to dig them all up to update the associated payment methods. After combing through my credit card bills to identify all the recurring charges my conclusion was less that I have too many subscriptions but that cost creep is out of control on them. Ex: I stopped paying attention to my storage unit monthly bill…

This should be illegal. I lived in apartments like this as well, they would increase the rates for existing tenants while giving lower rates to new tenants. I’d also move out when they tried to pull this, just out of spite. I have always heard that it’s cheaper to keep an existing client than to acquire a new one. Apparently these places don’t realize that. They don’t need to pay for advertising when they are filly b…

I've very late to the discussion, but this seems relevant anyway -- The issue isn't just the cost of getting/retaining customers. Businesses don't charge solely based on cost, they charge based on what customers will pay. Existing customers also are willing to pay more to not have to move. If customers are willing to pay more, then it makes good business sense to charge them more. For the owner, having an empty apartment is the worst, so it's worth it to do extra work and give discounts just to get somebody renting.

It isn't nefarious, and you do your part by being willing to move instead of pay the higher price. It's all just the way the capitalist market works.

Re: Americans are spending billions on stuff they forget to cancel

#673

Post by rockooooo » Mon, Jan 22, 2024, 11:40 PM UTC

gardenhedge wrote: post #309

woobar wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Categorization and review are two different processes. The app I use will download and categorize, but I still have to review/accept each transaction. What is the benefit of manual entry in this case?

Why are both of you not naming the apps you use?

I use Tiller, which ingests my transactions but doesn't categorize them for me (except by a rule set that I manually defined)

Re: Americans are spending billions on stuff they forget to cancel

#674

Post by ozim » Tue, Jan 23, 2024, 7:13 AM UTC

robertlagrant wrote: post #658

ozim wrote: post #640

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That was my idea from top of my mind for corporations to show they care for the customers. Proposing that they refund money would be realistic if they would at least agree to send out email - which I do believe will never happen. So refunding money is fantasy, sending out emails is realistic but since they won’t do it, that makes refunds even more unlikely.

15 years ago I remember a colleague who'd bought a TV a month earlier get a refund for the difference from Amazon because the TV had recently come down in price. That's great service, don't get me wrong. I just don't think this sort of thing should be expected, particularly when it's not about a price drop you couldn't know about, and it's just not clicking an unsubscribe link.

What I propose is not the same scale.

Thing with returning tv would be more “I did not watch 10 days this month, reimburse these for me.”.

I don’t agree it should go this direction.

If someone did not even open list of movies for whole month or two that is a reasonable question to ask - should they get money back or at least a question via email if they really want any to keep the subscription.

Re: Americans are spending billions on stuff they forget to cancel

#675

Post by kwanbix » Fri, Jan 26, 2024, 8:47 AM UTC

Loughla wrote: post #481

kwanbix wrote: post #439

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any advantage over Spotify or Youtube Music that you know about?

It's cheaper.

Thanks, went to see it, and is not available in europe :/

Re: Americans are spending billions on stuff they forget to cancel

#676

Post by BuckRogers » Fri, Jan 26, 2024, 8:21 PM UTC

pc86 wrote: post #389

BuckRogers wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worked my way up, I'm 41 and working non-stop since I was 12 receiving a check as a paperboy. Worked at tire shops, autobody, whatever you can imagine. Before I was a paperboy, I ground down spot welding tips in my dad's shop to buy my toys and video games. Worked night shifts during community college and university. Fully qualified for SS in my 20s. Never a dollar from mommy and daddy. I haven't even received a Ch…

I am not that much younger than you but I think you need to look at average income and expenses for young people these days. Look at what it cost to attend college if you graduated around 2018. We missed the period of time where you could "work your way through college" and have it paid off by the time you graduated, but we were able to graduate with reasonable levels of debt. I think I had $20k in debt when I gradua…

>it's great that you were disciplined but that's not the only thing that matters and each year things are a little worse for those just starting out

The only thing you can control is yourself. There's really nothing anyone can do about conditions. I do believe that no one and nothing has more control over your life, than yourself.

Re: Americans are spending billions on stuff they forget to cancel

#677

Post by BuckRogers » Fri, Jan 26, 2024, 8:22 PM UTC

verall wrote: post #198

BuckRogers wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worked my way up, I'm 41 and working non-stop since I was 12 receiving a check as a paperboy. Worked at tire shops, autobody, whatever you can imagine. Before I was a paperboy, I ground down spot welding tips in my dad's shop to buy my toys and video games. Worked night shifts during community college and university. Fully qualified for SS in my 20s. Never a dollar from mommy and daddy. I haven't even received a Ch…

Good for you that you're so good at things but I think it's pretty icky to blame people who aren't as good at things as I am.

I think people are far more capable than they think they are. The rest are just lazy and hide behind excuses to not even try.