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Why are diapers so expensive?

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Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#191

Post by pas »

hennsen wrote: post #137
drstewart wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They also wouldn't have imagined that not making everything disposable and plastic would be a bad idea and yet here we are. Not everything is better because it happened in the past. God forbid you have to be a little bit more mindful of wanton consumption than people were in $CURRENT_YEAR - 50. Calling a country third world because you can't throw away tons of disposable diapers... now that's a low standard, or just…

You are right about consumption and throwaway society issues. At the same time, i dont believe the reason people can’t afford diapers is that they are expensive to protect the environment... plus creating lots of trash shouldn’t be a privilege for some - it should be prohibited for all.

It should be priced. If you are full vegan, and recyle everything for years, and never travel, so your environmental load is minimal, you should be able to afford a year of time saving with a baby, by using disposable diapers.

And maybe it could be price adjusted for income, so everyone should do the same effort for the environment.

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#192

Post by mercer »

adrr wrote: post #120
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…

Most of us went to college and lived off poverty level income. I ate potatoes, and ramen for years with a 10/hr part time job and still managed to save enough money to go on trips. It doesn't take much time to put together a budget and if you lack the knowledge i am sure you can find free community classes to get basic budgeting skills. I signed up to volunteer at one but they had too many volunteers. People need to…

> People need to get out this learned helplessness and make effort to improve their lives.

Surely you see the problem here?

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#193

Post by Nition »

carlmr wrote: post #96
Nition wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd also add: - If you'd really prefer modern style cloth diapers (prefold, pocket etc) instead of the cheap old-school flat diapers, often you can buy second-hand ones that are hardly used (or not used at all!). - If you have any more children, your cost for buying diapers is now $0 because you already have them.

It's better for the environment, too.

Yes. In fact I don't agree with the post I'm replying to in the sense that anyone should have to go back to washing diapers in a bucket 1930s style. But I do really think everyone who has access to a washing machine should be using cloth diapers given the insane amount of landfill disposables generate.

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#194

Post by c22 »

Nition wrote: post #172
epicureanideal wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As others have said, it's not a question of "having diapers" vs "not having diapers". It's a question of convenience for the parents to not use another cheap alternative -- cloth diapers. Also, we already have many assistance programs and I would like to understand the specifics of a situation that leaves someone without enough money to buy even disposable diapers if they're already on assistance. Further, where does…

> It's a question of convenience for the parents to not use another cheap alternative -- cloth diapers. I wouldn't mind a subsidy on cloth diapers to be honest. The landfill waste from disposables is insane.

Or a subsidy on diaper cleaning services. Cloth diapers with a service are price-comparable to disposables currently and otherwise better in several other ways.

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#195

Post by majewsky »

bkovacev wrote: post #160
c22 wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like this notion that a new baby isn't a 16+ hour a day exhausting job in itself.

I apologize if it sounded like that - a baby is definitely 16+ hours of work a day if not more, that's why I said that no other job is possible, but I was saying that maybe the person can squeeze in a couple of hours to wash the diapers while the baby is asleep.

And when does she sleep? Surely not while the baby is awake.

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#196

Post by [deleted] »

mirimir wrote: post #94
ILikeConemowk wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At which point did we, as a society, settle the philosophical conundrum that is taking an unborn life? Cells, fetus or baby? What is it? Since when? Why? How should it be done? I'm not religious at all but it seems to me that, at least tangentially, most religious believes are rooted in philosophical unknowns and feeling of uncertainty. Religious people then resort to their faith of choice as a way to find answers. T…

Yes, it's a cheap shot to just dismiss it all as religious and idiotic. Except in self-defense or war, societies generally aren't OK with killing people. But when do fetuses become people? Some cultures were OK with parents (or at least, fathers) killing children younger than eight years. Many have gone with birth as the cutoff. There is an argument that conception is the cutoff. But on the other hand, the relationsh…

[deleted]

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#197

Post by c22 »

epicureanideal wrote: post #131
FuckOffNeemo wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

As others have said, it's not a question of "having diapers" vs "not having diapers". It's a question of convenience for the parents to not use another cheap alternative -- cloth diapers. Also, we already have many assistance programs and I would like to understand the specifics of a situation that leaves someone without enough money to buy even disposable diapers if they're already on assistance. Further, where does…

As a middle class white couple we have never had a problem affording diapers mostly because between showers, grandparents, and other middle class friends with babies, most everything else from strollers to clothing for the first two years has been provided to us for free. Perhaps another unrecognized perk of living in certain social circles?

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#198

Post by ComputerGuru »

s4vi0r wrote: post #82
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…

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…

Wow, struck a nerve, did he?

Please keep this vitriol and personal attacks off of HN. OP was polite and posted a well-reasoned response. You making personal attacks out of ignorance that may not even hold true in the OP’s case is just petty.

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#199

Post by c22 »

bkovacev wrote: post #160
c22 wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like this notion that a new baby isn't a 16+ hour a day exhausting job in itself.

I apologize if it sounded like that - a baby is definitely 16+ hours of work a day if not more, that's why I said that no other job is possible, but I was saying that maybe the person can squeeze in a couple of hours to wash the diapers while the baby is asleep.

My first child screamed whenever she was not on a human for the first six months. She slept, but only on a person.

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#200

Post by mercer »

lulmerchant wrote: post #142
FuckOffNeemo wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

@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…

> My point is that with the correct effort, people can generally break free of most of the poverty traps they find themselves in.

I find 'correct effort' to rather deceptive term, because part of the problem is defining what that would be (and your example failed as a 'correct' one).

Furthermore, I'd say a cursory glance at history shows that what you're saying is not true. Slaves did not just free themselves, the working class did not just obtain the many rights all enjoy by themselves, women did not just gain voting rights and all that jazz by themselves, and all this applies to gays and the mentally disabled too.

I'm not arguing against 'correct effort', clearly many poor, slaves, women and gays fought hard. The crucial bit here is that they did so collectively, that they needed a lot of help from those who were not in their situation, and that a big part of this involved effecting political change.

I've never heard a convincing argument that somehow we're now in a completely different situation, and that somehow now the steps one can take as an individual are 'correct action', even if of course they can't hurt.

It strikes me that this focus on the individual is somehow a problem on both ends of the political spectrum. The one side devolves into perhaps too much identity politics, and the other too much into the "we'd all be fine if we just worked harder on ourselves".

Both sides, meanwhile, seem to prefer to paint the other side as being will-fully , when I think we're all really mostly equally shitty and good, probably partly right, and really we should just be mad at the immense inequality that has left us mis-directing our anger at each other.

Broadly speaking, anyways.

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