Why are diapers so expensive? • Hacker News Board

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#121

Post by rokhayakebe » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 6:46 AM UTC

bkovacev wrote: post #109

s4vi0r wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jesus, your comment and the other replies just straight up reek of privilege/ignorance. What you're suggesting is obviously the pragmatic choice - obviously, if she's poor as shit and can't afford regular diapers, using reusable cloth ones is a great solution. But that's not the fucking point of the article - its $CURRENT_YEAR in the richest country in the world, this absolutely shouldn't be a thing that happens in t…

Your comment is completely contradictory. You say the OP's comment reeks of privilege/ignorance, but you go ahead and expect government privilege in $CURRENY_YEAR. The OP was commenting that certain people leech and do not want to find a job and help themselves, but rather want more help from the government. I grew up with cloth diapers not because my family was poor, but just simply because it was a better choice fo…

The OP was commenting that certain people leech and do not want to find a job and help themselves, but rather want more help from the government.

I do not see how you got that from OP. Your sentence is very loaded. You are reading this with your own filters, it seems.

What I got from OP is the government is not helping people become self reliant. Instead it is helping them financially, but also hurting them long term by impeding their ability to learn ways to lift up.

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#122

Post by icantdrive55 » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 6:47 AM UTC

chrissnell wrote: post #54

This article is so frustrating. The helplessness and dependence are just sad. Cloth diapers cost less than $1.50 each in a 10-pack. If you are poor enough, you can wash them in a bucket with bar soap. That's what virtually everyone did before washers were invented. I'm saddened that this girl didn't figure this out. I know first-hand, when you're poor and desperate, you figure shit out. Unless, of course, you have a…

Wow--how about Fox and Friends instead of Coding?

We have created a society where you can't live like our forefathers did. "Scrappy and industrious", oh he will end up scrappy, but probally won't be hired by the white boy funded by Thiel. What is it, "Just not the right fit?"

We have laws, regulations, and so much red tape.

Section 8 housing lease is 43 pages of can't/rules. (Can't open the hood in the parking lot, let alone working on it. Can't have people over. Can't start any business out of your cage. Can't--can't, and a bunch of angry ignorant people whem turn people in for the slightest offense.)

I guarantee you come from a privleged family. I looked at your karma, and you either live here, or got very lucky in life?

I leaning towards young and got a big payday, and an financially enabling dad? Be truthful? Picked up the pieces when Chris screwed up? Or, supported Chris when depressed when you didn't know what to do in life?

Anywho--when the party ends--you just might eat your words if you need help?

(I believe we could end poverty overnight if we tied fees/fines/tuition to income, and had free places where people could live when the bad times hit. Right now the poor are basically treated like inmates, or parolees. A bunch of regulations, and no real help.)

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#123

Post by epicureanideal » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 6:47 AM UTC

cm2012 wrote: post #90

chrissnell wrote: post #54

This article is so frustrating. The helplessness and dependence are just sad. Cloth diapers cost less than $1.50 each in a 10-pack. If you are poor enough, you can wash them in a bucket with bar soap. That's what virtually everyone did before washers were invented. I'm saddened that this girl didn't figure this out. I know first-hand, when you're poor and desperate, you figure shit out. Unless, of course, you have a…

Okay, real talk. My time, according to society, is worth $300ish per hour. Hers is probably worth $10 an hour. I didn't do anything special to earn this and I'm a very lazy person. I would much rather have people like me pay more taxes and this lady not have to spend her whole day cleaning diapers.

Some of us whose time is worth a lot per hour may not want to give it to everyone else, because some of us did have to do special things and work very hard to get it. I see very little daylight each day, get very little exercise, and so on because I'm trying to provide for my family. For my sacrifices in many other areas, my time has become valuable.

If you feel guilty about earning money easily, feel free to give it away. Personally, after already high taxes (40%+ not counting sales tax) I feel that I would like to give what's left to my own family rather than involuntarily donating it to random people.

Are YOU going to send my kids to college? Buy them cars? A house?

It's easy for some who may feel they have enough, or "got theirs" to say that people who "earn a lot" (aka still climbing the ladder) need to give more.

Nobody is preventing you from donating your money to a nonprofit.

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#124

Post by bkovacev » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 6:48 AM UTC

watwut wrote: post #73

chrissnell wrote: post #54

This article is so frustrating. The helplessness and dependence are just sad. Cloth diapers cost less than $1.50 each in a 10-pack. If you are poor enough, you can wash them in a bucket with bar soap. That's what virtually everyone did before washers were invented. I'm saddened that this girl didn't figure this out. I know first-hand, when you're poor and desperate, you figure shit out. Unless, of course, you have a…

One my friend actually counted the total price of both and it came out as quite the same all counted in (water, "soap", etc). But also, it is not all hygienic enough to wash them in bucket with soap. Back when my mother had kids, they had to went through boiling water and were ironed. You basically spent whole day dealing with diapers. Literally whole day, it is ridiculous amount of work. Also, cloth diapers cause mo…

But she has no job in the first place or possibility to find one now with the baby - so why would that prevent her from washing/ironing?

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#125

Post by mixmastamyk » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 6:51 AM UTC

war1025 wrote: post #21

shiftpgdn wrote: post #2

My wife and I cloth diapered both of our children. In addition to being radically cheaper it also resolved rashes/eczema in both kids as well as accelerated potty training. There is an 'ick' factor but liners and a toilet sprayer take care of 99% of that.

We cloth diaper too (3 kids, a two and a half year old potty trained for about a year now, and 5 month old twins). Personally, I find disposable diapers to be way more disgusting than cloth. With cloth, you rinse it out and the majority of the gross stuff is down the drain. With disposables, you end up with a garbage can literally full of poop. Its like having a mini pit toilet in your house. We have also noticed, li…

> you rinse it out and the majority of the gross stuff is down the drain.

How do you rinse it? What drain?

> Get some quality covers and then buy a ton of flour sack towels. They make the best inserts. Super absorbent, cheap, and unfolds to a single layer, which means they get cleaner and dry faster.

Don't understand this whole paragraph.

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#126

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 6:52 AM UTC

chrissnell wrote: post #54

This article is so frustrating. The helplessness and dependence are just sad. Cloth diapers cost less than $1.50 each in a 10-pack. If you are poor enough, you can wash them in a bucket with bar soap. That's what virtually everyone did before washers were invented. I'm saddened that this girl didn't figure this out. I know first-hand, when you're poor and desperate, you figure shit out. Unless, of course, you have a…

[deleted]

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#127

Post by hennsen » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 6:53 AM UTC

„Procter & Gamble and Kimberly-Clark have poured billions of dollars into research and development“

Can that be true? Really Billions?

Or just a story to justify a pricing strategy to maximize profits with those who can pay it leaving others aside?

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#128

Post by flukus » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 6:53 AM UTC

rubicon33 wrote: post #47

djrogers wrote: post #28

There are a couple of ‘facts’ listed here that don’t line up with my current reality and very recent knowledge (3 kids, most recent is 18mo). First off, 12 changes a day is a huge outlier - even for a newborn. 8 would be a more reasonable number, and it drops down to the 4-6 range in the first year, and by now we’re at 3 if we don’t go swimming. Second item that sounds waaay off is $1000/yr for diapers. Again, that h…

Why would people bring a child into the world if they can't even afford diapers, will always blow my mind.

They shouldn't, but now that it's done, should the child have too suffer for the mothers mistakes?

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#129

Post by lnsru » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 6:56 AM UTC

shiftpgdn wrote: post #2

My wife and I cloth diapered both of our children. In addition to being radically cheaper it also resolved rashes/eczema in both kids as well as accelerated potty training. There is an 'ick' factor but liners and a toilet sprayer take care of 99% of that.

We did the same. Putting this thing into cloth removed ‘ick’ factor: https://www.amazon.de/gp/aw/d/B00E5NN4KQ/ref=mh_s9_acsd_top_...

It can be washed 2-3 times if nothing serious happened.

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#130

Post by croon » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 6:56 AM UTC

drstewart wrote: post #104

croon wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This has nothing to do with the argument, at all.

It completely does. Why are cloth diapers third world? Why are disposables seen as so superior that they should be had at a discount? They should be expensive to account for their environmental cost. Just because they didn't care about that in the 50s doesn't mean anything. So yeah, it's incredibly relevant.

The discussion was about how something that almost every parent uses, relating to one of the most basic human functions, could be outside of the purchasing power of an inhabitant of a major developed country.

I don't disagree with a discussion on how we externalize costs in cell phones, take out food containers, packaging for toilet paper, or whatever else. But however reasonable that discussion is, it was besides the point of this discussion.