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Why are diapers so expensive?

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Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#531

Post by Fnoord »

Domenic_S wrote: post #481
Fnoord wrote: post #342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

What makes it too early for cloth for you? They come in all kinds of sizes!

Cloth diapers do cost a little bit more effort whereas the first months with a newborn are rather hectic. More so for 2 parents with ASD. So we've opted to consider going for it later on, when its less hectic. Also, in the beginning a newborn will grow quickly out of clothes. Almost everything she wears right now is too large. But the diapers (some of which were free with a "box") fit her very well.

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#532

Post by gjm11 »

kmm wrote: post #318
gjm11 wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the same way, although cooking doesn't always make food safe to eat, there is a form of cooking that's simple and 100% effective: not eating. And although the various safety measures rock climbers use sometimes fail, there is a method of rock-climbing safety that's 100% effective: not going rock-climbing in the first place. And I have a perfectly safe car: that is, I never leave my house. I take it you can see how…

You need to eat. You need to leave the house. You need to use some form of motorized transport to partake in society. You don't need to have sex. Abstinence is a form of birth control as much as being bald is a hairstyle.

You don't need to do any of those things. You can subsist on liquid diet-drinks. Plenty of people never leave their homes, either by choice or because for some reason they can't. Plenty of people don't have cars. (I didn't until I was 36 years old.)

But a large fraction of people would find their lives made much, much worse if they were unable to eat solid food, to leave their house, or to drive a car.

Exactly the same goes for sex.

Brief reminder of the context for this discussion: the person the OP is about had a child despite not having much money, various people here said you shouldn't be having children if you're too short of money, others pointed out that not having children is sometimes difficult, and that is when user rubidium suggested that total abstinence from sex might be the answer.

So we're talking here about whether it's reasonable to say that poor people should just never have sex.

I guess opinions on that might vary. My opinion is: duh, no, what an absolutely terrible idea. You don't literally have to have sex any more than you literally have to have friends or holidays or music, but just like any of those it's a hell of a thing to say whole classes of people should just do without.

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#533

Post by guy_c »

columb wrote: post #159

In UK nappies are ultra cheap. My Wife uses Lidl's nappies but Aldi's are equally good (if not the same!). They cost around 5-7 pence each. Can't really exactly remember because they are so cheap. Pampers are more expensive but by much.

So the article should really be about 'Why are diapers so expensive in the US compared to Europe?'

Here is another example from a UK suermarket https://groceries.morrisons.com/webshop/product/Nutmeg-Nappi... which is 0.075 GBP (0.10 USD)/diaper.

The UK doesn't charge sales tax on nappies/diapers - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vat-notice-714-ze... which may explain a small part of the difference.

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#534

Post by madengr »

conductr wrote: post #506
HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #430

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably, but if his face can't tell the difference, it's not a problem for him.

Until he gets hep C ( /s kind of )

The recent off-brand ones available in the US will rust if left in the shower. The "German made" ones don't, just like the OEM Gillette.

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#535

Post by dang »

KON_Air wrote: post #259
zeth___ wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have we thought about feeding the weaker children to the stronger ones and making diapers out of their skin? It's only a modest suggestion.

Great idea, soft ideas like supplementing disposable diapers with washable kloth diapers wouldn't kreate the HARDKORE-ULTRA-VIOLENT generation we need anyhow.

Would you please stop posting unsubstantive comments to Hacker News?

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#536

Post by dang »

briandear wrote: post #143
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.

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…

If you can't stop crossing into personal swipes with your comments, we're going to ban you. We've cut you a ton of slack already, as I explained just a few days ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16719584.

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#537

Post by dang »

jm547ster wrote: post #190
briandear wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Oh give it a break you holier than thou fool

Personal attacks are not allowed on HN, regardless of how wrong or annoying another comment may be. We ban accounts that do this, so would you please read https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and not do this again?

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#538

Post by TheCoelacanth »

mantas wrote: post #464
TheCoelacanth wrote: post #444

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's usually not that they are stupid, it's often that they literally don't have the money to pay the upfront cost of the bigger pack because they are living paycheck to paycheck.

How big is paycheck? Probably more than $30. When buying in bulk for 2 months is cheaper than buying weekly for 1 month, it's kinda nobrainer. And they'd need even more from one paycheck to another to get supplies in smaller packs. Unless they're getting paid weekly. But even then, $30 is not that much of a stretch. especially if you buy food in bulk one week, diapers in bulk another week. Your point would be correct…

Someone in that situation likely isn't going to be able to get a single full time job because employers are cheap and don't want to pay for benefits. Getting paid multiple paychecks in a two-week period is not at all unrealistic. If they are working non-formal employment they could easily getting paid for a single day of work some times.

Some one who manages to get 40 hours a week of work at minimum wage of $7.25 minus 7.65% for FICA taxes is getting $1,116 a month. Take out rent, transportation and food and there is not going to be much left over for buying things that you don't need right away.

You seem to be completely out of touch with the way people in poverty live if you think people aren't living paycheck to paycheck and have money left over after paying essential expenses.

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#540

Post by tw04 »

ansible wrote: post #328
tw04 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You are making other assumptions here too, like having a Costco or Sam's Club nearby to buy the giant packs of diapers. Low income people often don't have those nearby.

You can buy diapers in bulk from amazon, Target, Walmart, honest company (more expensive), etc. Costco and sams club have almost nothing to do with the conversation other than being one of many options.
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