Why are diapers so expensive? • Hacker News Board

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#141

Post by arnoooooo » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 7:08 AM UTC

rukittenme wrote: post #118

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…

I'm really tired of hearing the argument "we're the richest country on Earth and "X" still happens!" Of course "X" still happens. "X" is lower on our priorities list than other more pressing issues. Are diapers really the cross we're going to die on now? We spend ~$3tn helping people every year (federal, state, and local). I think its safe to assume the "richest country on Earth" is trying.

We can at least discuss how the 3tn are allocated, and yes, lament that what we consider the bare minimum is not met in some cases.

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#142

Post by lulmerchant » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 7:09 AM UTC

FuckOffNeemo wrote: post #114

lulmerchant wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At 200% you still come out ahead after your first packet of diapers. As somebody who grew up in abject poverty, and who lived in poverty for the first portion of their adult life, better planning will absolutely make situations like this instantaneouly better. When I was poor as hell I put a huge amount of effort into buying in bulk and doing various other things to avoid all of the blindingly obvious poverty traps t…

@lulmerchant I'm from a poor working background too. You can look through my comment history, topics of poverty, drug abuse and macroeconomics are some of the many topics that typically interest me enough to contribute to the conversation here on Hacker News. Your logic is absolutely sound, but in the event or period where you've taken the loan and have to pay it off in 1-2 weeks. What happens when said parents child…

I don’t disagree with most of that. The loan shark maths is just one (rather contrived) example of how a person can break out of a particular poverty trap.

It’s harder to break out of a poverty trap than it is to live with one, but it’s much easier to stay out of one than it is to live with it. My point is that with the correct effort, people can generally break free of most of the poverty traps they find themselves in.

To speak to your last point, there generally are non-profits around who help with these sort of things, and I used some of them myself in the past. The thing that non-profits can provide so simply is the motivation and discipline required to maintain a well planned budget. Each small thing that you improve, like buying diapers in bulk, is a step towards escaping poverty, and everybody has the capacity to do those things.

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#143

Post by briandear » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 7:09 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.

How about you pay her the $290 per hour excess? Go ahead, send it to her today. You won’t will you?

I make a pretty fair amount of money, but unlike you, I am not a lazy person; I worked my ass off to get where I am and I made sacrifices along the way. I strongly object to paying more taxes just so you can assuage your personal guilt. Contact the reporter for the story, explain you are a guilt-ridden rich person who wants to help that woman out. Then send the woman $290 per hour of your money. Do it for a month. Until you do that, then I’ll invite you not to suggest that we should pay more taxes to support someone because you feel guilty. Taxes aren’t for solving your guilt — charity is. Forcing people to help someone because YOU feel that you don’t work hard enough? That’s ridiculous. Charities were invented for exactly that purpose — people can voluntarily give to their heart’s content.

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#144

Post by mrarjen » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 7:09 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.

Sometimes it's not even about paying more taxes, it's mainly about how the money is distributed back into society. People like this lady are in an awkward spot where opportunities and benefits are rather low.

Not saying everything is fixed with tossing more money at it, simply setting priorities and building value for more people without always looking at the short term profits. And in some countries perhaps closing questionable cash flows towards those who clearly are benefiting unnecessarily.

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#145

Post by maxk42 » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 7:10 AM UTC

corvallis wrote: post #5

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.

A lot of people don't live in places with an in-home washer/dryer. They have to go elsewhere in the building for pay laundry or to the laundromat. This makes it logistically and financially nearly impossible to use cloth diapers. Not to mention the substantial up front cost for cloth diapers, which makes them inaccessible for people living paycheck to paycheck. This is an example of how having money allows you to sav…

You don't need a washer / dryer. You wash them in a bucket with soap. Only takes a few minutes.

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#146

Post by s4vi0r » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 7:10 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.

No, you entirely missed the point.

Cloth being better is something else entirely, nor was I suggesting that disposable diapers be discounted with taxpayer money. The point was "Why does the poor in the richest country in the world have to worry about something as inane as affording diapers in 2018?"

I agree that people should use cloth - but the response to "Hey, this poor person can't even really afford to buy diapers!" shouldn't be "wow that damn government making her dependent on welfare bux, shes so dumb she doesn't even know about cloth too!". It just reeks of being completely out of touch with the poor experience in America. Maternity leave isn't really a thing for someone like her - should she maybe be working an extra job or two to afford better diapers? Even if she doesn't, how do you know she has the time to deal with changing and washing cloth diapers? Being a stay at home mom doesn't exactly work as well as it did in the 50s or 60s, and she doesn't have a husband working for a tech company or whatever who can support a family on a single salary.

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#147

Post by briandear » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 7:11 AM UTC

FuckOffNeemo wrote: post #102

cm2012 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You and I both. How many of us would have to chip in another $10-$20 in taxes to cover those without, so a parent and his/her children can take a shit and dispose of it in a way that meats their commitments as appropriate?

CHARITY. You can already give money to help the less fortunate. I don’t want to go on your taxation guilt trip.

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#148

Post by egypturnash » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 7:11 AM UTC

tw04 wrote: post #53

mattbee wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you missed the part of the article where they talked about never having enough cash to buy in bulk, instead buying at 2 or 3x the unit cost in 5s and 10s from the corner shop.

When bulk is $40, you're just making some really, really poor life decisions if you both have a kid, and can't find a way to save that much money in a 30 day window.

Condoms break, and it’s pretty damn hard to have an abortion if the only place you can get it done is halfway across the state.

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#149

Post by nostrademons » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 7:11 AM UTC

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…

I just had a kid 2 months ago, and 12 changes a day doesn't seem all that unreasonable for a newborn. At our one-month checkup he was averaging 9 pees & 5 poops per day - several of the poops were doubled-up where he also peed, so a dozen per day is about right. It's dropped a bit since, but instances where a single changing results in multiple diapers used (eg. he shits the table right as I'm getting the new diaper on, or he pees all over the table including the diaper that's waiting to be put on) have somewhat made up for that.

Unit cost of a diaper is about $0.25-0.30 when bought in bulk (even with your example), so $1000/year = ~3200-4000 diapers = ~10 changes/day. Change your assumptions on diaper use and everything else lines up.

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#150

Post by adrr » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 7:11 AM UTC

FuckOffNeemo wrote: post #102

cm2012 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You and I both. How many of us would have to chip in another $10-$20 in taxes to cover those without, so a parent and his/her children can take a shit and dispose of it in a way that meats their commitments as appropriate?

I'd rather my taxes go to fund paid maternity leave, free higher education, and free health care. Those are my priorities not buying someone diapers because they can't be bothered washing cloth diapers.