Looks like a whole comment thread got deleted because it got too political. I understand that political discussion isn't right for HN, but I don't approve of comments disappearing silently. It would be nice to see a note from the moderators explaining that that's what happened.
Why are diapers so expensive?
241–250 of 563 posts
Re: Why are diapers so expensive?
#242Whenever something like this comes up, my first question is always: "OK, how did we do this before diapers were invented, and what happened to that?"
> OK, how did we do this before diapers were invented, and what happened to that?" My Mom always mentions it as well. She used a stack of cloth diapers, then hand washed them, dried them and even ironed them. It was a pretty labor and time intensive process. She says we are lucky to be able to get a box of diapers from Amazon, use them, throw them in a diaper pail and close the lid and not have to worry about it.
She didn't need to iron them though.
Now you just chuck them in the washing machine and then line dry them or put them on a low heat in the dryer. The sheer amount of nappies that were in our outdoor bin kinda made us realise that we needed to change to cloth.
Re: Why are diapers so expensive?
#243Earlier quoted context omitted.
When I think about UBI I worry about responsible spending and wonder if just subsidizing common items food, clothing (diapers) and household goods wouldn't be a smarter solution overall. In relation to the case in the article, I wonder if we couldn't subsidize certain items and allow parents to receive a one month supply at low to no cost? Why should we give disadvantaged people $180 a month just to let several middl…
This has been done in the past, e.g. government cheese. It turns out that letting the market deliver necessities based off of demand is far more efficient than the alternative. That would be a government anticipates how much a community will use, what styles of diapers they'll want, etc.
Really? Do tell me more about the benefits of water system privatization in the US.
Story upon story like https://heavy.com/news/2018/02/risks-costs-private-water-lea... doesn't make me conclude that letting the market deliver water is "far more efficient than" a public water system.
Re: Why are diapers so expensive?
#244Looks like a whole comment thread got deleted because it got too political. I understand that political discussion isn't right for HN, but I don't approve of comments disappearing silently. It would be nice to see a note from the moderators explaining that that's what happened.
In your profile there's an option called "showDead" which you can toggle to show comments that have been killed.
Comments can be killed by mods, but I think the vast majority are killed by user flags not moderator action.
The karma threshold to flag a comment is small, about 50. TO flag a comment you click the timestamp of the comment, which will take you to a page where the flag option appears.
The karma threshold to downvote a comment is higher. I think it's about 500 or 750 or so.
Re: Why are diapers so expensive?
#245Re: Why are diapers so expensive?
#246Earlier quoted context omitted.
Interesting point, what is the carbon footprint in washing a soiled nappy compared to making and disposing of disposable ones. I don't know, be interesting to see if there is a difference. Thinking for washing them you would need high temperatures and a lot of water.
I've looked this up before. Some sources claim it comes out just as bad (or worse!) to use cloth, but when I looked into it further they were considering hot water washes and drying in a dryer. Whereas in reality you can usually cold or warm wash cloth nappies and line dry them. They also seem to consider them being used on only one child, when they can usually be reused for more than one child. Looks like Wikipedia…
Add to that the added plastic going into circulation and I think cloth is still much more environmentally friendly.
Re: Why are diapers so expensive?
#247Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why would people bring a child into the world if they can't even afford diapers, will always blow my mind.
Because they got pregnant. And an abortion wasn't possible, for medical or ethical reasons. Edit: Or for other people's ethical reasons, manifested as laws against abortion.
Put it to adoption ?
Re: Why are diapers so expensive?
#248Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree. Birth control is much cheaper than diapers, and a lot cheaper than raising a child to adulthood. The person this article focuses on was chosen carefully. Most readers will feel sympathy for her, but in reality, the consequences of her decision to have unprotected sex out of wedlock while working at a low-paying job and living with her parents as an adult is her responsibility. And clearly, she's irresponsibl…
Birth control fails. Approximately 8% of women still end up pregnant during their first year on birth control, and even after the first year the percentage doesn't fall to 0. There are many reasons that it fails, although missing a dose is the largest reason. Other reasons can be improper storage, using certain drugs (prescription or otherwise), or even consuming an unusual amount of some foods or supplements. Even i…
IUD anyone ?
Re: Why are diapers so expensive?
#249There 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.
Rape is a thing.
Failed contraception is a thing.
Lack of access to contraception or abortion is a thing.
Re: Why are diapers so expensive?
#250Earlier quoted context omitted.
My first child screamed whenever she was not on a human for the first six months. She slept, but only on a person.
She wouldve slept out of exhaustion too if you were willing to try. There's no such thing as screaming to death.
I have seen a baby cry for three hours straight. His sleep deprived mom slept, nobody else did.