Why are diapers so expensive? • Hacker News Board

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#511

Post by jjeaff » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 6:29 PM UTC

eli wrote: post #344

nostrademons wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Not everyone has the ability to buy in bulk. They are considerably more expensive buying them 12 at a time at a corner store.

0.25 - 0.30 is not a bulk price. You can buy a pack of 29 on amazon all in for 0.27 per diaper.

Buying in bulk (200 pack or so) easily gets you at 0.16/diaper or below. And even lower if you look out for deals.

And assuming you need them now and don't have money for bulk buy, a 27 pack at walmart for off-brand is $5.41 at the moment. ( ~0.20/unit )

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#512

Post by nostrademons » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 6:29 PM UTC

Fnoord wrote: post #342

tartuffe78 wrote: post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had the the same issue with my now 5 month old, I'd guess most first time parents do.

This is one of the reasons why I am happy with Kraamzorg [1]. I learned from them that if you got a boy the first thing you do when you change a boy's diaper is put something on their penis (such as a burp cloth) so that they can't pee you in the face (or on the carpet/wall/door or w/e). I remembered that even though we don't have a boy; we had a girl about 2 months ago. :-) FWIW, we're changing diapers roughly every…

> I learned from them that if you got a boy the first thing you do when you change a boy's diaper is put something on their penis (such as a burp cloth) so that they can't pee you in the face (or on the carpet/wall/door or w/e)

We do this - we've got 20 or so cut-up facecloths we use for this purpose. They are usually the limiting factor on how quickly we do laundry. It's not uncommon to go through 3/day; it's like having a set of cloth diapers we use just for diaper changes. Plus, he's gotten pretty good at avoiding the cloth and pissing out the bottom, or choosing that moment right when I take the cloth off and put the diaper on to unload, or shitting all over his penis (!!) so that I have to clean that first and getting me in the face while I'm bent over him with a wet-wipe.

Someday he's going to win a lot of pissing contests.

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#513

Post by rubicon33 » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 6:30 PM UTC

maccard wrote: post #182

musgrove wrote: post #95

Earlier 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…

So unmarried women who can’t afford birth control, or who live at home should be forced into abstinence? Your entire comment is incredibly entitled and condescending. Have a look through the other comments on this thread for some reasonable discourse on the subject, plenty of people have commented on how the issue is far more nuanced than you make it out to be.

That's exactly the point some of us are trying to make:

This issue is incredibly nuanced, but people like you (and the authors of the article) never want to talk about one side of it: Personal responsibility.

The second we bring it up, we're denounced as callous, entitled, naïve, etc. etc.

It's surprising to me how often those pronouncing the complexity and nuance of an issue are almost always just fierce defenders of ONE side - the other side - of the issue.

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#514

Post by balls187 » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 6:32 PM UTC

pnathan wrote: post #507

balls187 wrote: post #493

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point being there are checks. "No questions asked" implied no checks. > For the people who would rather see newborns have health issues than pay taxes, I frankly find their morals odious and their foresight lacking. The article referenced a black, un-wed, young mother stuggling to pay for diapers. That portrayal of poor minorities is what the anti-welfare state sees when fighting for less taxes. The money isn't g…

> The point being there are checks. "No questions asked" implied no checks. it really doesn't. no questions need to be asked if you aren't tripping the fraud wires of, e.g., grabbing 30 diapers a day for 1 kid. > Said more plainly, the health and wellbeing of black and brown babies are worth less to (some|many) Americans than white ones. I agree that that describes the reality that exists. I find that morally problem…

My belief, if you showed most (all?) Americans a baby, regardless of color, and asked if that baby deserved healthy life, they'd say yes. If you asked if they'd donate $2, they'd probably be inclined to do so.

The problems comes down to the concept in abstract. Special interest groups capitalizing on the frustration of paying tax, by preying on human's most base nature of mistrusting people that are perceived to be different.

"You're paying high taxes, and lazy people (minorities) are getting a free ride." sounds much better than "You're paying high taxes, and government contractors are taking a lot of that money."

Especially since poor/minorities are far less of a powerful lobby than those who represent government contractors.

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#515

Post by alistairSH » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 6:35 PM UTC

dsfyu404ed wrote: post #499

alistairSH wrote: post #457

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is abuse of earmarked assistance. UBI isn't unique in that regard. Trading food stamps (or food purchased with them) for drugs. Etc. The drug addict is going to get drugs one way or another; we may as well reduce the friction (and use the savings to pay for rehab). Regardless, most of the poor are just trying to get by and not prone to abusing whatever assistance is available.

Right but each step required to convert a food stamp dollar to something you arne't supposed to buy with foods stamps adds friction and inefficacy. By handing out food stamps that can be used for X you make X the default for that thing and require user to go out of their way to use the food stamp money for something else. If people are using food stamps to buy food to sell to a bodega at 50% value and then using that…

I think we're making the same point, but I see removing that friction as a good thing, while you don't.

In your example, the bodega is getting a 50% cut of the aid that it shouldn't. Instead, we can give the recipient 50% of the current amount in cash, and let them buy the drugs directly. The extra 50% can be used in several ways... pumped into rehab or education, reducing tax burden on others, whatever we decide.

In both cases, the drug addict uses all their aid for the same amount of drugs. In my scenario, society spends less for that outcome.

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#516

Post by Reedx » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 6:36 PM UTC

The Engineering Guy has a great video on disposable diaper technology - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYNX8y6lQMc

It's impressive. Not sure how much R&D plays into the costs, but probably more than it may seem.

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#517

Post by nostrademons » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 6:37 PM UTC

jjeaff wrote: post #508

nostrademons wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

>$0.25-0.30 when bought in bulk Are these silken luxury diapers? I just bought diapers and they were $0.16/each for Costco brand and that's not on sale. A quick search on amazon shows 0.14 - 0.17 for any bulk buy of brand name diapers and that is not considering the cheaper rate you could get if you subscribe or the frequent coupons and deals that show up. The only option I see for diapers in the 0.25-0.30 range are…

Google search for [diapers]. 128 Pampers for $35 from Google Shopping Express ($0.27/ct), 88 Pampers for $25 from Target ($0.28/ct), 144 Pampers for $31 from Walmart ($0.21/ct). Other brands do get a fair bit cheaper - 140 Huggies for $21 from Target ($0.13/ct), 256 Luvs for $27 from Target ($0.10/ct), and we just tried buying some store-brand Target diapers that are 40% of the cost of Pampers. We're fairly brand-loyal as diapers go, though, because we've found that the Huggies blow out a lot more than Pampers (at least on our kid, who is pretty thin) and the Targets aren't nearly as absorbent.

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#518

Post by bzbarsky » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 6:46 PM 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…

Even if you go with a diaper service instead of washing them yourself, cloth can be cheaper than disposable. It depends on your local rates and the number of diapers you need per week; typically the more you need the cheaper a diaper service is per-diaper.

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#519

Post by sizzle » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 7:07 PM 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…

What about diapers not pumped full of BPA and other chemicals?

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#520

Post by cm2012 » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 7:11 PM UTC

epicureanideal wrote: post #123

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.

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…

That doesn't take into account the hedonic treadmill.

The research is pretty clear - the difference in happiness and stress levels between making 300k and 400k as a family is pretty much nothing on average. The difference in happiness and stress levels between a family making 20k-40k is enormous.