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New York City to ban deceptive subscription practices

theguardian.com

111–120 of 363 posts

Re: New York City to ban deceptive subscription practices

#112

> When the Biden administration introduced a junk fee rule in 2024, the US Chamber of Commerce argued it was “an attempt to micromanage businesses’ pricing structures”, and apartment fees were cut from that federal rule after lobbying by the real-estate industry. This drives me nuts to read, because it’s usually the same pattern. Rule -> lobbyists descend -> politicians cave -> carve out that takes away the whole poi…

I don't expect that Mamdani will cave in to real estate lobbyists lol. What you're describing is exactly why Establishment Democrats are losing to Mamdani and his ilk (DSA)

Re: New York City to ban deceptive subscription practices

#114
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea, it's basically restaurant owners trying to get their customers involved in their political whining. Notice how you never see things like "Business License Fee" or "Restaurant Electricity Bill Surcharge" listed out as separate line items on customers' bills. Those are things restaurant owners have to pay, too, so why don't they get their own charges to customers? Why does only "Living Wage" get a line item on the…

Hey now, let's not get carried away, these jackass restaurant owners want to make it clear, the "Living Wage" guilt trip is the tip part, and the fees THEY put on are to pay for "benefits like healthcare" and you're not allowed to consider it part of the tip. Nevermind that California doesn't even have a lower "tipped" min wage like some states do, so by supporting tipping, we're just saying that servers simply "dese…

If it is hard to find staff the wages go up. At least that's how it works in my country.

Although I will admit service is notoriously bad over here but in honesty that's secretly how we all want it.

Re: New York City to ban deceptive subscription practices

#116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The municipality is already qualifying the sentence! Instead of "NYC announces click-to-cancel law" they qualify it with "landmark". I think it's silly for a municipality to lie (by omission?) in their own press announcements.

It’s a landmark change in NYC . Again: this is NYC’s official website. It might (as a stretch) be a “lie by omission” on a national newspaper’s website, but this is a website that is solely dedicated to NYC itself.

Now I'm being super pedantic, but every town can't have the same "landmark" law. What makes a law a "landmark" is that other municipalities look to it for direction.

In a world where the California law exists, and the New York Times has been used as an example of the success of that law for years already, claiming some sort of moral victory with the "landmark" qualifier is objectively wrong.

Does any of this matter? No, but I like arguing about it.

Re: New York City to ban deceptive subscription practices

#118
post #16

These rules are great but “landmark” seems like puffery, as California has had such rules for quite a while. Ironically that has meant it’s hard to unsubscribe from the New York Times except in California.

Oh, is new york in california?

Re: New York City to ban deceptive subscription practices

#119
post #112

> When the Biden administration introduced a junk fee rule in 2024, the US Chamber of Commerce argued it was “an attempt to micromanage businesses’ pricing structures”, and apartment fees were cut from that federal rule after lobbying by the real-estate industry. This drives me nuts to read, because it’s usually the same pattern. Rule -> lobbyists descend -> politicians cave -> carve out that takes away the whole poi…

I don't expect that Mamdani will cave in to real estate lobbyists lol. What you're describing is exactly why Establishment Democrats are losing to Mamdani and his ilk (DSA)

I don't see Mamdani as somehow invulnerable to lobbyists; but they realistically have little leverage over him.

Re: New York City to ban deceptive subscription practices

#120
post #16

These rules are great but “landmark” seems like puffery, as California has had such rules for quite a while. Ironically that has meant it’s hard to unsubscribe from the New York Times except in California.

The ironic thing to me is that Mamdani is only the mayor of NYC. He is not the governor of NY state. So if you live in Buffalo, you will still have to suffer through shenanigans?

Edit: I see others with similar thoughts from further down the scroll

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