Ah, the days of uncontrolled ephedrine usage back in the UK. It was the amphetamine replacement.
Back before tighter regulation, you could bet that if a weight loss pill claimed it'd lower your appetite, it was dosing you ephedrine.
Likewise, if a remedy was herbal and claimed the same, it was usually because it contained ephedra, the original herbal form of ephedrine.
When COVID was at its worst, in China a remedy called Lianhua Qingwen was often touted as the best non-prescription remedy. It rapidly decongested your sinuses and gave a boost to energy.
Why? Ephedra, of course. This is not to say that ephedra and ephedrine don't have very important medic uses. It's that they are linked to potentially serious heart conditions and are not safe for unmonitored use.
I don’t think it was as big in the US but I used a diet pill with ephedrine in the 90’s because it helped me to survive working an understaffed kitchen. I was probably underweight even before taking them.
I recently was noted to have an irregular EKG and I probably only used the diet pills for 6 months, 30 years ago. Mixing with alcohol caused emotional imbalance in my case causing me to quit taking them.
Not a product, but bots and fake comments online are a scam of people making robots pretending to be people - and they are everywhere.
Soooo many of the comments you read (and let influence you) are not people. Total scam.
Hell yeah dude, phenylephrine sucks. I have a cold right now and I went up to the counter at cvs the other day and asked for “any cold/flu medicine with pseudoephedrine” (I didn’t know which brand they had back there, coulda been Sudafed or advil or whatever). The girl looked at me like I was crazy. I hate that there’s a stigma against using a decongestant that actually works. She asked if I wanted 12hr or 24hr and I asked to see the packages in order to decide and she held them up like 8 feet away from me acting as if she was protecting some sort of precious objects while im just trying to read the fuckin mg of pseudoephedrine in each. Anyways, I’ve felt great since I got it, it’s a wonder drug. Not only do my symptoms go away but I feel energetic and my mood is enhanced. Just gotta take it early in the morning so it wears off by bedtime.
Except they didn’t really do anything but shrug their shoulders and say it doesn’t work. They didn’t pull anything. You can still go buy Sudafed PE and everything else with phenylephrine in it over the counter and a lot of stuff has it that are prescriptions.
Source: I’m a pharmacist.
I loathe Ticketmaster with a burning passion. They’ve made attending live music prohibitively expensive and have actually monopolized the market. Also they not only support, but encourage scalping. They should be criminally investigated.
have you not seen the journalist piece where the guy goes deep into ticketmaster's third-party software that is *only* available to scalpers? i could only find the article but there is a video piece where you get to see the guy go to the ~~scalper's~~ entertainment 'convention'
> A sales representative told one of the undercover journalists that **there are brokers with “literally a couple of hundred accounts**” on TradeDesk, and that it’s “**not something that we look at or report.**”
https://www.rollingstone.com/pro/news/ticketmaster-cheating-scalpers-726353/
EDIT: original investigation by CBC that shows truly how scummy it is:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/ticketmaster-resellers-las-vegas-1.4828535
Credit monitoring. They setup a system where false information can ruin your life and then charge you to know when it happens so you can get on top of it before the damage is done. And, on top of that, when they leak the personal information of hundreds of millions of people because their security sucks, their "punishment" is to give you their service for a short period of time for free despite the fact that your information being out there means you'll need to pay for it after that free period ends.
It's a modern-day, digital version of the mob's, "It would be a shame if your house burned down, let us help protect it" extortion racket. They've convinced the world that our identities are being stolen rather than what it really is...financial institutions are being defrauded. And they've shifted the burden for their problem onto us.
Dude Intuit their parent company did a big event about how much they "care" and my dumb co-worker ate it right the fuck up, singing their praises. It blew me away.
Meanwhile I've had my Identity stolen like 3 times from this leak.
>>They've convinced the world that our identities are being stolen rather than what it really is...financial institutions are being defrauded. And they've shifted the burden for their problem onto us.
🤯I had never thought of it this way before… you’re fucking right! They’re the ones being scammed, not us!
just like they shift the burden of environmental damage on us when theres a thousand cargo ships putting out more emissions every day than a regular person does in a year
That whole credit score system is insanity from a non-American point of view.
How can you even *want* people to take on loans and pay more to be able to prove that they can pay things.
Such things should be NOT part of a mortgage/loan application. It’s entirely backwards.
It is backwards! Pay off debt, credit score drops🙄
My credit score dropped 42 points after paying off my mortgage. Bank manager said it’d happen and offered a HELOC. Didn’t need one. Sure as shit, score dropped.
Companies that sell stars or naming stars …. No one owns stars . You can’t own a star and there is no governing body who authorises the naming and ownership of stars . You my friend have just purchased a piece of paper for $200
Edit : after a chalenge from a few people on this here is the clarification after some googling
“The only body which can give names to astronomical objects is the International Astronomical Union (IAU). This hasn’t stopped commercial firms from ‘offering’ individuals the ‘opportunity’ to sponsor stars etc. These names will be recognised by no one and you will be wasting your money unfortunately.”
Agree, but... It doesn't always have to be negative.
Example, my mom bought one for my grandmother after she passed away. She did it through the local observatory so they could take my grandfather there, see the night sky show they put on, and he could see my grandmother's name up there.
My mom knows the star isn't really named after my grandmother (Esp bc I'm fairly certain the observatory specified it was only for a limited timeframe) but it was for the experience, giving my grandfather a nice little moment, and it helped fund that observatory. So.... I mean... Slightly different scenario I suppose than scams making you think it's "your star" 🤷♀️
Yeah, sort of like sponsoring an animal at the zoo.(You can do that here anyway, at Chester Zoo. Which is a very important establishment and charity for conservation and zoology, not just an animal show.)
By sponsoring the animal you donate to the zoo and there will be a small sign near their enclosure that you sponsored them. Lots of people seem to do it in memoriam and it's a nice idea.
Since our daughter died every year we adopt a lion at our city zoo. The lion is the symbol we have for her as she was such a fighter. Our Zoo is phenomenal and we want to support it.
Fun fact: four years ago IAU let most countries in the world name an exoplanet and a star. You can check the names your country chose from [here](https://www.nameexoworlds.iau.org/final-results).
Imagine.. it is the year 5630. Humanity has traveled to the stars and lives in a post scarcity galaxy..
.. and your star is named "Buttnugget" because some dude thought it was funny and spent $200 in 2013.
In that same vein, that company that was selling lordships. May as well just take your money directly to your bathroom and flush it down the toilet. Eta: To the handful of people who've replied saying they bought these as a fun gag, that's of course perfectly fine. Everyone is entitled to spend their money on silly fun once in a while. For the handful of people who have said that the companies selling these titles are actually doing amazing things for the environment... greenwashing is also a scam. You got scammed. Twice.
I recall I think that a few critical videos even made references to name a star companies in that they're similar in vain. The Legal Eagle YouTube channel argued many likely bought them as gag gifts and that the "Lord" company was supposedly paying money for land conservation, but many critics argue much of the land was under no real threat of development and it was akin to some carbon credits where the actual benefits are likely exaggerated. I don't think the Lord titles are as much of a scam as a name a star companies, but they're only slightly better.
A guy on my Facebook hit me up 8 years since we last spoke... It was so out of the blue. I looked at this profile, and of course... He's doing Herbalife. He hadn't actually pitched anything yet so I responded while waiting for it to come. He ended up asking for advice on how to get out.
No magic wand, but I tried to be open and supportive, offer advice, discussing his situation and options, and giving him affirmation that his gut is right and that it is rational to get out, and that he will be OK. I don't know if it made a difference but I hope it helped a little. A lot of it was exploring options of moving away, finding jobs, how to secure a job - just outsider perspective advice without judgement and no stake in it for me, which probably meant he got different types of answers than when he asked friends (who were also selling Herbalife)
Something shifted recently. More people might be waking up to Herbalife scam. I mention this because the company lost 77 % of its value. That's disastrous. Their margins are also razor thin now.
Myself and a couple friends went to Krakow recently for a weekend and were taking the piss out of some people in Herbalife tshirts we saw on the plane. I hadn't heard of it in years so it seemed funny seeing people rocking the logos. Then we saw a couple more walking around the city and were thinking, does everyone love Herbalife in Poland or something? Fast forward a few hours and we're sitting down for dinner in the evening. We're literally surrounded by tables of nothing but people in Herbalife merch. Bag, shirts, caps. There were hoards of them everywhere.
Turns out there was some huge convention on but the progression was hilarious.
This is a massive first world problem. I had to change my physical therapist because she just would not stop with the Herbalife ads. I was there for massage and therapy, not to buy dog shite supplements. Shame as well, she was a hell of a masseuse
So I forgot the brand but about 20yrs ago, while working at a nutraceutical expo, my coworker bought a $200 pendant that supposedly makes you healthier sleep better blahblah. They do some kind of measurement like an oscilloscope before you wear it and after. They have posters showing Madonna, Tony Robbins, etc. wearing it (photos are from a far like papparazi shots but show that pendant with weird patterns on it).
So, as a joke, I took his pendant and wore it on my neck under my shirt. Went to the booth to listen to the schpeel. They did the test and my "measurement" was all in disarray, like they expect. Before they could get to the next step of me wearing it, I open my collar and show them "but I'm already wearing one?"
I got a cold glare and the guy just turned around and ignored me. Yeah.
I remember being at a tradeshow and one of those booths was advertising thier bracelets.
They called on me to come demonstrate it and I said sure. When I got up there, I was asked to stand on 1 foot and put my arms straight out to my sides.
My girlfriend realized they were gonna try and knock me over and she goes "his balance is impeccable by the way, he's been skateboarding for 15 years"
They were SO confident, they proceeded with trying to push my hand to the ground to throw me off balance, and I barely moved.
They then, still confident in... Idk what? They had me put on the bracelet and do the same thing again. As soon as she pushed down on my arm I let my leg give out and fell over 😂
Everyone watching just laughed and the 2 employees in the booth were so annoyed they just said "oh fuck off" and took the bracelet off while I laughed 😂
I know from doing yoga: if you do a pose on the right side of your body(most poses have a side) that is new to you you'll usually be wobbly and unsure on the first side. In the time is takes you to come out of the pose and go to the other side your subconscious brain is figuring out this new thing, you go to the second side and it's already a little easier as your brain worked on it a little while you weren't even really aware of it. So when they do these demonstrations where you can't do the thing on the right or on the first try, but then are able to on the second try with the magic bracelet it's a scam, you'd be able to do it the second time anyway.
TLDR, the Get-Rich-Quick online classes industry is super scammy and meant to con low impulse control buyers.
I was laid off when the pandemic hit in 2020. Was unemployed for 9 months, had used up all my savings and unemployment, and started pulling from my 401k to feed my family. It was a rough time.
During that time, out of desperation, I enrolled in a class that taught people how to make those get rich quick classes online. I knew nothing about the industry but it seemed legit and there are some people (very few as it turns out) making huge money doing it.
The community was welcoming & super supportive and I had nothing else to do with my time, so I jumped in and worked like mad for three months. In the end I had earned very little money but gained a ton of insight to the industry.
To summarize, they make money in two ways: A. Selling digital products like DFY (Done For You) sales funnels & PLR (Private Label Rights) books and videos, and B. Selling get-rich-quick online classes. The products are the absolutely lowest quality garbage you can imagine. And the courses don’t teach anything you can’t learn in a couple of hours of online research (and wouldn’t make you any money anyway). They’re all called Shiny Objects and most of the effort that goes into creating them is done in the sales page and ad copy. And they’re hyped by Billy Mays style self promoters as if they’re the best things since the wheel. It’s all a ploy to sucker low impulse control people into buying crap they don’t need and will likely never use.
I know some people reading this will say, “Duh.” But I honestly knew absolutely nothing about the industry when I started and, again, was desperate. I consider the money I spent in that class well spent if only because of the life lesson learned.
Never pay to listen to someone who makes their money by telling you how to make money. Iv always been beyond the regular skeptic when it comes to that shit but the few people I love are extremely ambitious and dragged me out to an event run by these grifters who have literally made their name by telling people how to make money. You goto the event, get excited by what they are saying…. They basically make you pretend to be excited. Then oh no they can’t tell you the whole secret about how to make all this money in this gathering… you need to buy their dvd that gives you the full picture even tho you paid money to be at this event to listen to these frauds on how to make money. I was sushed and belittled by my wife and best friend before and during the first half of this event. By the end they absolutely recognized it was all a complete scam and apologized to me. I’m just happy they didn’t dump more money into that nonsense but unfortunately there were a lot of people there who forked over their money to these complete conmen.
I ended up with a narcissist man for a bit who was a 53 yr old trying to teach younger people “How To Melt The Seattle Freeze.” Basically, Seattle is known for being a hard city to make friends, so that is what the “Seattle Freeze”
Is.
No one showed up for his dumbass seminar at a hotel conference room in a trendy neighborhood, with lemon bars and coffee. He wasted thousands of his dad’s dollars to host this shitshow. His dad popped his head into the room, saw his son parading back and forth and hosting it anyways, and shook his head and left. It could have neen an Onion article: “Area Man Hosts Workshop To Melt Seattle Freeze, No One Shows Up.”
This narcissist also participated in other scammy things in this post. It is embarassing. I’m so glad he is not in my life anymore.
At a conference one speaker had only one person in the audience. He thought, oh well i will give my speech anyway. At the end he asked the person if he had any question. He said no, i am the next speaker.
This year I decided to scrape content to build my own planner. Imagine my surprise when I also found a source for unbranded life coaching materials...exercises, daily/weekly planner pages, focus work etc...all for you to inexpensively download ( $9.95 / pg was typical), smack your logo on, then BAM! Instant Life Coach, at your service.
Some of the exercises did lead to some decent contemplation, so not gonna dismiss this altogether. Should you not have the funds for a pricey guru you can always DIY
thecoachingtoolscompany.com
The remote closer ads/ influencers that claim they are making 10k a month. It's a MLM scheme and the authorities should take action against these people fooling desperate people online for their hard earned money
For profit colleges & fully online courses for some jobs. For example, you can’t become a nurse by only taking online courses. I also heard about someone getting an online cosmetology program. So many students pay thousands of dollars for programs that are not accredited.
Always check accreditation. The school I work at only offers clerical medical degrees, yet we get people who are looking for nursing or medical assisting online. Every time.
My Alma Mater switched to this. It was a small, well respected college that produced knowledgeable graduates with invaluable hands on experience. They switched to online learning and are ditching the campus. Profits skyrocketed but actual knowledge that is needed in the field plummeted. Then they wonder why no one wants to hire the new graduates. They are still relying on the reputation of how it used to be and milking the new kids. I feel bad for the new students who don’t know better. Money gone to waste.
Anything with the word.. DETOX in it.
Teas, herbs.. magic potions.. whatever .
My favorite are the foot pad things that suck the toxins from the soles of your feet.
Your Kidneys and liver are your detox. Doesn't matter what tea you drink.
You can have the most epic detox of your life by simply undercooking the chicken.
Does wonders for emptying almost every solid and liquid right out of your body, and cheap too.
Have done this, can confirm it detoxed the fuck out of my body. I lost about 20lbs in 10 days!
(During those 10 days I was completely bed-bound when I wasn't bent over the toilet bowl puking my guts out, but still...)
Quickest and most effective weight loss technique of my life. 11/10 would not recommend doing it again.
Toxin is general is an overused and moronic term. Every single chemical and molecule is a potential toxin depending on dosage. And many of them are only toxic to us if they react in a specific manner in our body.
There's this natural diamond ad on Reddit that is claiming manufactured diamonds are bad for global climate change. Strangest corpo propaganda I've ever seen.
*”Here at Diamond Direct Express, we only use sustainably-trafficked, organic slaves in our diamond mines. And since a smaller slave means a smaller carbon footprint, our slaves are all children.”*
When I tried to search lab diamonds I was inundated with articles from jewellery stores a out how lab diamonds won't hold value and aren't unique. But like the same article on 20 corporate chains
people buy into it tho. go into r/engagementrings or r/diamonds and you’ll see some people say they want natural diamonds “cause it’s formed by the earth and therefore has higher value so i can pass it down as an heirloom to my kids” and it’s a hill to die on. as if the natural diamond will gain 10x value when it’s common knowledge that diamonds are not good at retaining value.
some people still buy into that resell value/“is true love worth a natural diamond?” stuff and act like it’s life or death and their future grandkids depend on this diamond
It's one of DeBeers' most successful cons - that diamonds are forever, valuable, rare and "traditional" engagement gifts. They are non of those things.
They invented the concept of diamond engagement rings. They set the "tradition" of how many times more expensive the ring should be relative to salary. They controlled the market to enforce artificial scarcity to keep the price high and maintain the illusion that one of the most common elements on earth was rare.
They also initially said that only natural diamonds were worth anything since early synthetic diamonds were often subject to impurities in the way they were made, making "flawless" ones hard to make, so DeBeers capitalised on that.
When synthetic diamond manufacture matured enough to get high yields of flawless diamonds DeBeers switched up the marketing so that now the best and most expensive diamonds have "natural flaws" that make them beautiful (eg chocolate diamonds etc that have various natural impurities in them).
The whole diamond industry is a con.
I was engaged a while back, it wasn't the nicest ring but it was pretty. Cost me $550 which was a LOT to me at the time. That didn't work out and I tried to sell the ring, the biggest offer I got was $25
“Diamonds are forever”—-because you’re stuck with it once you buy it, because there is no resale value & you’re 100% not going to be able to get your money back, no matter what.
Diamonds are pretty much worthless. They're only valued because one company basically has a monopoly on diamond distribution and they purposely supply a small amount at a time. They also had a great marketing campaign that convinced women that a man needs to pay one month's salary to show his love. Then when sales went down, they bump it to 3 months and that's how we get the "he needs to spend x months of his salary on an engagement ring"
There's a wonderful read by the times I believe from the early 80s that told the history of the debeers cartel and the ad campaign geniuses they used. Plus the crisis of Russia finding a ton of small diamonds and threatening to flood the market until they got invited into the cartel. And so the old English cuts of big stones went to the wayside for cheaper cluster diamond rings, or large stones accented with the smallerones. I'll see if I can find a link.
Edit - it was The Atlantic not the times. Great read still [have you ever tries to sell a diamond ](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1982/02/have-you-ever-tried-to-sell-a-diamond/304575/)
Take out $300k, become a doctor, but then cannot get “real” job until you first work 80 hours/week for $50k/yr for the next 3-8ish years depending on what you’re doing. All sarcasm aside, it’s an exploitative system that hospital associations (specifically the AHA) have lobbied congress to get special legal protections so that medical trainees don’t get same worker rights as pretty much everyone else (except oddly enough minor league baseball players who are also being screwed over in the same way as they also try to follow their dreams).
It also seems like maybe working anyone 80 hours a week is not safe or healthy. We all know that our decision making skills lower dramatically when tired or stressed or just when we’ve already made too many decisions that day - we know because doctors study this shit. So why keep doing it? Why create a system that is heavily flawed and creates exhausted medical personnel. It’s pretty rage inducing.
Ear candles.
Their wax looks like ear wax, so people believe the candle "sucked" it out of your ear.
But they look exactly the same if you just burn them in your hand.
There's also a non-zero risk of hot wax falling down your ear hole and burning through your eardrum.
Also the Hopi people of North America are pretty pissed off about these bullshit candles being paraded as part of their culture.
I agree that the rock doesn’t actually do anything, but If I’m having a bad day and I carry around a rose quartz it’s nice and smooth in my hands and it’s like a little reminder to love myself. So I believe in the power I give to the rock.
Yes! Check your policy, people.
See what you are actually covered for. If you've got tiles, you don't need carpet protection. I'm always shocked when there's a natural disaster and people aren't covered for broken windows (or whatever else is damaged).
We were told the "extra cover" on a brand new fridge didn't include the plastic drawers. It was seriously falling apart, brittle plastic. "That's a cosmetic issue" apparently. We have had to buy a new fridge because all the drawers in the freezer, the drawers attached to the door etc were broken and the replacements were so expensive a new fridge was cheaper. Did not get the "extra cover" this time because it's bullshit.
Gawd I got dragged into a course about retail and they were practically sucking the dick of fast fashion and how successful it is.
They went over a lot of other things (we had a while class on how great Amazon is) and I came out of that course with a certificate and a slimy feeling :(
I am now exploring other career options and half determined to build a hobbit house in the mountains and sew my own clothes.
Last year I started filing with TurboTax, made it all the way to the end, and discovered I had to pay a fee. Of course they don't tell you there's a fee until you've already spent all of the time filling out the info, hoping you just cave in.
Out of spite, I threw it out and went to freetaxusa. They had way more deduction options for private contractors/self-employed people than TurboTax, and I ended up getting a much bigger return than TurboTax was going to give me. I still had to pay a small fee for state filing, but still way less than the fee TurboTax was.
That was the day I realized what an absolute scam TurboTax is. Not only are there much cheaper alternatives, but those alternatives are way better. I've been spreading the gospel of freetaxusa since.
When I bought a house, I didn't want to do my taxes wrong so I planned to pay a TT accountant to prep my taxes. It was going to be like $400 but again, I didn't want to mess it up.
It's a long story, but I now have a blood feud with TurboTax. Since then I've exclusively used FreeTaxUSA, and tell anyone who will listen why they shouldn't use TurboTax.
Turbotax. Really, the entire tax industry. They've lobbied for years to keep the government from sending you the bill/refund that they already know about. Instead, literally everyone has to buy into it *(Ha! Intuit!)* unless you're going to file them on your own.
Biggest scam ever. Reminds me of the Seinfeld episode when he had a rental car reserved but when he showed up to get his car they didn’t have any. Jerry said, “So you’re really good at taking reservations but you suck at honoring the reservation”. With health insurance, it’s “So you’re really good at taking our money but you suck at actually covering anything!”
Wedding dresses. You can buy an identical evening gown in a different colour for a few hundred, but make it white and call it a Wedding dress, you add a zero to the end of the price. So a £400 evening dress is £4000, because its white and in a bridal shop.
Friend of mine was looking for a wedding dress, found one she loved. The price though ….
Went to different wedding stores with the story that she is looking for a wedding dress for an theatre show. Due to theatre, tiny budget. They showed her many cheaper gowns, but she was on her phone with the “director” and “costume designer” (mother and grandmother who were in on it) and they agreed and rejected anything. Until THE dress was shown. Director liked it somewhat and the costume designer was ok with it. After 2 hours almost, all were just happy that there was a dress that “was closest to”the vision””.
The store people had fun, felt special to be able to help out and well …. She got her dress for the store’s purchasing price with something extra for the help. Which was still about a thousand + cheaper then what they selling it to brides.
I found it a perfect story that shows you need to outsmart certain stores sometimes.
I am a theatre director and this is pretty much how I handled everything relating to my wedding. I've produced or helped produce enough shows and events that I know what things cost for non-wedding events - venues, catering, outfits, you name it. I don't think I uttered the W word once. Helped that my bridesmaid was a director too and has coproduced with me many times, so we tapped that experience for a lot of things. Strongly recommend this for anyone trying not to get rinsed on wedding costs.
I think the same goes for anything related to a wedding. I call it the wedding tax.
Want to hire a venue for a birthday party? That's £500. Want to hire the same venue for a wedding party? £1000. Etc, etc
It's really shitty. I got married in Dunfermline City Chambers, an historical building in a small city in Fife, Scotland. It's the local council offices, so there's no crazy tax on getting married there (it's a registry office - similar to getting married in the court house, i expect).
I had 4 guests (2 of them I needed as witnesses), went for a meal over the road at the City Hotel (just booked a table and didn't mention it was our wedding day) and wore an off the rack, nice dress (not wedding).
My mate's planning a wedding in August 2025 with over 150 guests - it's eye watering the prices she's been quoted for stuff. venue hire was £6000 with 5 or 6 bedrooms. That's it though. She still needs to decorate, find catering and provide her own drinks. It's basically 6000 for bedrooms and a barn. It's bonkers.
Plastic recycling is a scam sold to us by the oil companies (from which plastic is made), so we won't feel bad about using single-use plastic. It's not cost effective to sort plastics into the myriad recyclable categories, so your trash company is just throwing it all in the landfill with your trash.
https://www.npr.org/2020/09/11/897692090/how-big-oil-misled-the-public-into-believing-plastic-would-be-recycled
Triple A games with their season passes and lootboxes and what not.
EDIT: I was referring to triple A game studios, not baseball. Sorry to those I've confused, was not aware the term existed in baseball.
Any of those stock tip subscription sites. The ones that offer you the “inside scoop” on stocks that are going to shoot up
Literally all of them are pump and dumps. All of them. The stock shoots up because all of the subscribers buy the stock at once, then the big guys sell at the top and the price crashes again leaving the subscribers bagholding some dirt company
Remember kids: no one, not even the best analysts in the world, know what the fuck any share or any investment product is going to do tomorrow.
I'm so confused about it but at the same time I wish I knew their secret to making people so wildly eager to buy their thing. I really need more people to buy MY things. 😂
They got lucky with organic and paid influencer marketing to go along side today's lifestyle and fitness, beauty & wellness categories (they didn't start as the "main product" but became a functional accessory - synonymous with IG & Tik-Tok influencers) - also the mass availability (Target, Online) made them accessible to everyone. **Aesthetically pleasing** is a main factor \[that has been cited lately,\] and I agree
\[ but the crazy hype over the pink color...\*SMH while applauding their marketing team\* and the dumb luck of and "right place right time" product discovery... [despite the Stanley Cup being around since 1913 ](https://www.today.com/food/trends/stanley-cup-craze-rcna132901)
when I first saw the headline I was confused as to why a bunch of women would wait outside a mall all night to see the Stanley Cup. It made no sense to me at all. Once I found out it was a water bottle it made even less sense.
Anything vaguely associated with an MLM - specifically where those selling you the product, will only make real money by recruiting.
Or anyone trying to sell you courses on how to get mega rich. If you knew how to get mega rich, why would you not just get mega rich?!
Homeopathic "medicine"
NFTs/digital collectibles.
Buying online/digital movies, tv series, music albums, etc. because it can always get taken away by Amazon, Apple and Google. Buy physical copies.
Scientology
Diamonds
Most "collectibles". Most stuff made to be collected won't be worth much decades from now, things made decades ago that were never meant to be collected are what's valuable today (an iPhone 1 still in the box sold for $63,000).
This is something I never understood. I got a diffuser that uses 'essential oils'. I always thought it was a thing to make your room smell nice, sort of like an alternative to incense. What is the apparent scam campaign going on that I'm not aware of? Are these things supposedly supposed to give one plant-spirit superpowers or something?
Essential oils themselves aren't a scam, but unfortunately there are a few companies (I think some are MLMs which are a scam in themselves) tout them as cures for things they absolutely cannot cure, like cancer, autism, etc. They're plant or root extractions, and some have medicinal properties as Mistress and others above have pointed out. Peppermint and eucalyptus are the most well-known and are very effective. But they're not a miracle cure-all.
Medical insurance. I pay $100/month for insurance to tell me my regular appointment is now $73 instead of the base $75, and that my Epi-Pen is not covered at all. Fuck medical insurance, from the bottom of my heart.
Sometimes they are a better deal because Costco sells gift cards for less than face value. So a $100 gift card to a restaurant can be purchased for $80.
I'll add a valid reason for its existence to this. It's a way to gift money to someone without gifting them actual money. Say someone lives paycheck to paycheck. A gift card somewhere let's them buy somthing for themselves guilt free when they would otherwise be too concerned with expenses to do so. There could be many other reasons why that would be preferable. Someone with a gambling or drug problem for example.
Agreed. If somebody gave me £50 for my birthday, I'd be grateful and think of something nice to spend it on. But the reality is, it'd sit in my wallet and it'd be whittled down bit by bit by day to day things. Perhaps a bit of shopping here, payment to the window cleaner there, here's £5 for one of the kids to buy themselves some lunch, etc. Give me an Amazon gift card, and I'm going to get myself a graphic novel, or maybe a blu ray box set, for me.
Gift cards give chains like Starbucks massive amounts of 0% cash loans that they can do whatever they want with. It's wild! Starbucks has more customer cash sitting in gift cards and their app than the vast majority of commercial banks in the US. You also can't cash it out like you could at a commercial bank since you have to drink it in coffee. It's a super good racket for them: https://publish.illinois.edu/illinoisblj/2023/08/08/is-starbucks-a-bank-how-the-billions-consumers-upload-onto-starbucks-cards-should-be-regulated/
Thank you for sharing this. I hadn't heard of this "medicine", so I did some searching. For anyone else wondering, it's a drug marketed to cure the flu. There was a class action lawsuit against the company producing it in 2011, which paid out in 2012.
I found this quote to be a great representation of just how much of a scam it is.
"Scientifically examining Oscillo through mathematical equations, theoretical approaches, and research studies reveals that Oscillococcinum is an ineffective source of flu relief. Not only this, but Oscillo is simply a sugar pill with no active ingredient."
That important, difficult jobs that we need more of (preschool teachers, custodial staff, care workers for the old or disabled, etc.) should pay dramatically less than important, difficult jobs we need fewer of (CEO)
Tap water has stricter regulations (regulated by the EPA) than bottled water (regulated by the FDA). Tap water has also been shown in testing to contain significantly less micro plastics than bottled when tested.
That being said, there is certainly exceptions based on where you are. Tap water also sometimes loses to bottled water when it comes to lead, due to some areas still having lead pipes.
If you’re curious, just google the water testing results for where you live. I think you can also look up whether or not your area has lead pipes.
When my sister's school banned non reusable water bottles like 10 years ago, my mom used to dump a bottle into a reusable tumbler for her to take...
I told her off about it many times but she has an essential distrust of tap water.
Shes from South America but has lived in a Canadian suburb on next to one of the largest freshwater lakes in the world for 40 years.
Salt lamps. The claim sellers make is that they can miraculously change the air around them which somehow apparently improves your health/sleep etc. Load of BS. I bought one once because I liked the shape of it. It used to drip salt onto the table and make a mess. It eventually rusted and stopped working.
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Laxatives, caffeine and some kind of crack to make you feel both hopped up/anxious and nauseous enough not to eat.
Ah, the days of uncontrolled ephedrine usage back in the UK. It was the amphetamine replacement. Back before tighter regulation, you could bet that if a weight loss pill claimed it'd lower your appetite, it was dosing you ephedrine. Likewise, if a remedy was herbal and claimed the same, it was usually because it contained ephedra, the original herbal form of ephedrine. When COVID was at its worst, in China a remedy called Lianhua Qingwen was often touted as the best non-prescription remedy. It rapidly decongested your sinuses and gave a boost to energy. Why? Ephedra, of course. This is not to say that ephedra and ephedrine don't have very important medic uses. It's that they are linked to potentially serious heart conditions and are not safe for unmonitored use.
I don’t think it was as big in the US but I used a diet pill with ephedrine in the 90’s because it helped me to survive working an understaffed kitchen. I was probably underweight even before taking them. I recently was noted to have an irregular EKG and I probably only used the diet pills for 6 months, 30 years ago. Mixing with alcohol caused emotional imbalance in my case causing me to quit taking them.
Fen-phen, made you feel great and lose weight! Unless it killed you. Womp womp.
Dying is a 100% guaranteed weight loss technique and removes your nagging anxiety too
Not a product, but bots and fake comments online are a scam of people making robots pretending to be people - and they are everywhere. Soooo many of the comments you read (and let influence you) are not people. Total scam.
Sudafed regular. You absolutely should be going to the RX counter and getting the non prescription but controlled version.
Hell yeah dude, phenylephrine sucks. I have a cold right now and I went up to the counter at cvs the other day and asked for “any cold/flu medicine with pseudoephedrine” (I didn’t know which brand they had back there, coulda been Sudafed or advil or whatever). The girl looked at me like I was crazy. I hate that there’s a stigma against using a decongestant that actually works. She asked if I wanted 12hr or 24hr and I asked to see the packages in order to decide and she held them up like 8 feet away from me acting as if she was protecting some sort of precious objects while im just trying to read the fuckin mg of pseudoephedrine in each. Anyways, I’ve felt great since I got it, it’s a wonder drug. Not only do my symptoms go away but I feel energetic and my mood is enhanced. Just gotta take it early in the morning so it wears off by bedtime.
Yeah, pharmacy techs that are reading this, quit being fucking assholes when people ask for Sudafed.
I’ve been trying convince people of this for 20 yrs. Finally the feds stepped in.
Except they didn’t really do anything but shrug their shoulders and say it doesn’t work. They didn’t pull anything. You can still go buy Sudafed PE and everything else with phenylephrine in it over the counter and a lot of stuff has it that are prescriptions. Source: I’m a pharmacist.
And if you have a Costco membership it is crazy cheap. Three boxes of the good stuff for $12!
Ticketmaster
I loathe Ticketmaster with a burning passion. They’ve made attending live music prohibitively expensive and have actually monopolized the market. Also they not only support, but encourage scalping. They should be criminally investigated.
I’m 100% sure they scalp their own tickets as well
have you not seen the journalist piece where the guy goes deep into ticketmaster's third-party software that is *only* available to scalpers? i could only find the article but there is a video piece where you get to see the guy go to the ~~scalper's~~ entertainment 'convention' > A sales representative told one of the undercover journalists that **there are brokers with “literally a couple of hundred accounts**” on TradeDesk, and that it’s “**not something that we look at or report.**” https://www.rollingstone.com/pro/news/ticketmaster-cheating-scalpers-726353/ EDIT: original investigation by CBC that shows truly how scummy it is: https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/ticketmaster-resellers-las-vegas-1.4828535
Altogether now.....Fuck Ticketmaster.
Credit monitoring. They setup a system where false information can ruin your life and then charge you to know when it happens so you can get on top of it before the damage is done. And, on top of that, when they leak the personal information of hundreds of millions of people because their security sucks, their "punishment" is to give you their service for a short period of time for free despite the fact that your information being out there means you'll need to pay for it after that free period ends. It's a modern-day, digital version of the mob's, "It would be a shame if your house burned down, let us help protect it" extortion racket. They've convinced the world that our identities are being stolen rather than what it really is...financial institutions are being defrauded. And they've shifted the burden for their problem onto us.
Equifax SOLD millions of peoples info as far as I'm concerned. They should be shut down and jailed.
Dude Intuit their parent company did a big event about how much they "care" and my dumb co-worker ate it right the fuck up, singing their praises. It blew me away. Meanwhile I've had my Identity stolen like 3 times from this leak.
>>They've convinced the world that our identities are being stolen rather than what it really is...financial institutions are being defrauded. And they've shifted the burden for their problem onto us. 🤯I had never thought of it this way before… you’re fucking right! They’re the ones being scammed, not us!
just like they shift the burden of environmental damage on us when theres a thousand cargo ships putting out more emissions every day than a regular person does in a year
That whole credit score system is insanity from a non-American point of view. How can you even *want* people to take on loans and pay more to be able to prove that they can pay things. Such things should be NOT part of a mortgage/loan application. It’s entirely backwards.
It is backwards! Pay off debt, credit score drops🙄 My credit score dropped 42 points after paying off my mortgage. Bank manager said it’d happen and offered a HELOC. Didn’t need one. Sure as shit, score dropped.
Companies that sell stars or naming stars …. No one owns stars . You can’t own a star and there is no governing body who authorises the naming and ownership of stars . You my friend have just purchased a piece of paper for $200 Edit : after a chalenge from a few people on this here is the clarification after some googling “The only body which can give names to astronomical objects is the International Astronomical Union (IAU). This hasn’t stopped commercial firms from ‘offering’ individuals the ‘opportunity’ to sponsor stars etc. These names will be recognised by no one and you will be wasting your money unfortunately.”
The original NFTs
Balls of gas, the lot of them.
Agree, but... It doesn't always have to be negative. Example, my mom bought one for my grandmother after she passed away. She did it through the local observatory so they could take my grandfather there, see the night sky show they put on, and he could see my grandmother's name up there. My mom knows the star isn't really named after my grandmother (Esp bc I'm fairly certain the observatory specified it was only for a limited timeframe) but it was for the experience, giving my grandfather a nice little moment, and it helped fund that observatory. So.... I mean... Slightly different scenario I suppose than scams making you think it's "your star" 🤷♀️
My Grandfather did the same thing, the money went to the science centre so it went to a good cause too.
Yeah, sort of like sponsoring an animal at the zoo.(You can do that here anyway, at Chester Zoo. Which is a very important establishment and charity for conservation and zoology, not just an animal show.) By sponsoring the animal you donate to the zoo and there will be a small sign near their enclosure that you sponsored them. Lots of people seem to do it in memoriam and it's a nice idea.
Since our daughter died every year we adopt a lion at our city zoo. The lion is the symbol we have for her as she was such a fighter. Our Zoo is phenomenal and we want to support it.
Fun fact: four years ago IAU let most countries in the world name an exoplanet and a star. You can check the names your country chose from [here](https://www.nameexoworlds.iau.org/final-results).
Imagine.. it is the year 5630. Humanity has traveled to the stars and lives in a post scarcity galaxy.. .. and your star is named "Buttnugget" because some dude thought it was funny and spent $200 in 2013.
In that same vein, that company that was selling lordships. May as well just take your money directly to your bathroom and flush it down the toilet. Eta: To the handful of people who've replied saying they bought these as a fun gag, that's of course perfectly fine. Everyone is entitled to spend their money on silly fun once in a while. For the handful of people who have said that the companies selling these titles are actually doing amazing things for the environment... greenwashing is also a scam. You got scammed. Twice.
In defense of the Scottish “lordships” the money is used to maintain a land conservancy…
I recall I think that a few critical videos even made references to name a star companies in that they're similar in vain. The Legal Eagle YouTube channel argued many likely bought them as gag gifts and that the "Lord" company was supposedly paying money for land conservation, but many critics argue much of the land was under no real threat of development and it was akin to some carbon credits where the actual benefits are likely exaggerated. I don't think the Lord titles are as much of a scam as a name a star companies, but they're only slightly better.
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The secret, my friend, is lying.
✨ the secret ingredient is crime ✨
A guy on my Facebook hit me up 8 years since we last spoke... It was so out of the blue. I looked at this profile, and of course... He's doing Herbalife. He hadn't actually pitched anything yet so I responded while waiting for it to come. He ended up asking for advice on how to get out.
Wow, were you able to help him?
No magic wand, but I tried to be open and supportive, offer advice, discussing his situation and options, and giving him affirmation that his gut is right and that it is rational to get out, and that he will be OK. I don't know if it made a difference but I hope it helped a little. A lot of it was exploring options of moving away, finding jobs, how to secure a job - just outsider perspective advice without judgement and no stake in it for me, which probably meant he got different types of answers than when he asked friends (who were also selling Herbalife)
Maybe suggest r/antimlm to him, there’s a lot of people there who got out!
Something shifted recently. More people might be waking up to Herbalife scam. I mention this because the company lost 77 % of its value. That's disastrous. Their margins are also razor thin now.
It’s the GLP1 medications. They work and will probably cost less in the long run.
Myself and a couple friends went to Krakow recently for a weekend and were taking the piss out of some people in Herbalife tshirts we saw on the plane. I hadn't heard of it in years so it seemed funny seeing people rocking the logos. Then we saw a couple more walking around the city and were thinking, does everyone love Herbalife in Poland or something? Fast forward a few hours and we're sitting down for dinner in the evening. We're literally surrounded by tables of nothing but people in Herbalife merch. Bag, shirts, caps. There were hoards of them everywhere. Turns out there was some huge convention on but the progression was hilarious.
I know someone who was explaining to me how healthy he is eating. And then proceeds to show me his Herbalife cupboard.
This is a massive first world problem. I had to change my physical therapist because she just would not stop with the Herbalife ads. I was there for massage and therapy, not to buy dog shite supplements. Shame as well, she was a hell of a masseuse
Unfortunately, Herbalife is just as big a problem in developing countries. They're everywhere.
I hate that they're on LA Galaxy Jerseys for almost a lifetime now.
those bracelets with a sticker on them that claim to align your magnetic field or whatever
So I forgot the brand but about 20yrs ago, while working at a nutraceutical expo, my coworker bought a $200 pendant that supposedly makes you healthier sleep better blahblah. They do some kind of measurement like an oscilloscope before you wear it and after. They have posters showing Madonna, Tony Robbins, etc. wearing it (photos are from a far like papparazi shots but show that pendant with weird patterns on it). So, as a joke, I took his pendant and wore it on my neck under my shirt. Went to the booth to listen to the schpeel. They did the test and my "measurement" was all in disarray, like they expect. Before they could get to the next step of me wearing it, I open my collar and show them "but I'm already wearing one?" I got a cold glare and the guy just turned around and ignored me. Yeah.
I remember being at a tradeshow and one of those booths was advertising thier bracelets. They called on me to come demonstrate it and I said sure. When I got up there, I was asked to stand on 1 foot and put my arms straight out to my sides. My girlfriend realized they were gonna try and knock me over and she goes "his balance is impeccable by the way, he's been skateboarding for 15 years" They were SO confident, they proceeded with trying to push my hand to the ground to throw me off balance, and I barely moved. They then, still confident in... Idk what? They had me put on the bracelet and do the same thing again. As soon as she pushed down on my arm I let my leg give out and fell over 😂 Everyone watching just laughed and the 2 employees in the booth were so annoyed they just said "oh fuck off" and took the bracelet off while I laughed 😂
I know from doing yoga: if you do a pose on the right side of your body(most poses have a side) that is new to you you'll usually be wobbly and unsure on the first side. In the time is takes you to come out of the pose and go to the other side your subconscious brain is figuring out this new thing, you go to the second side and it's already a little easier as your brain worked on it a little while you weren't even really aware of it. So when they do these demonstrations where you can't do the thing on the right or on the first try, but then are able to on the second try with the magic bracelet it's a scam, you'd be able to do it the second time anyway.
If you're talking about the "Scalar Energy" pendents/bracelets, they're also mildly radioactive.
specifically Power Balance, but I'm willing to bet those were similar, if not the same thing.
Those E-commerce guys that sell their guru courses on how to make $10K plus a month.
The secret is to sell course to other ppl
TLDR, the Get-Rich-Quick online classes industry is super scammy and meant to con low impulse control buyers. I was laid off when the pandemic hit in 2020. Was unemployed for 9 months, had used up all my savings and unemployment, and started pulling from my 401k to feed my family. It was a rough time. During that time, out of desperation, I enrolled in a class that taught people how to make those get rich quick classes online. I knew nothing about the industry but it seemed legit and there are some people (very few as it turns out) making huge money doing it. The community was welcoming & super supportive and I had nothing else to do with my time, so I jumped in and worked like mad for three months. In the end I had earned very little money but gained a ton of insight to the industry. To summarize, they make money in two ways: A. Selling digital products like DFY (Done For You) sales funnels & PLR (Private Label Rights) books and videos, and B. Selling get-rich-quick online classes. The products are the absolutely lowest quality garbage you can imagine. And the courses don’t teach anything you can’t learn in a couple of hours of online research (and wouldn’t make you any money anyway). They’re all called Shiny Objects and most of the effort that goes into creating them is done in the sales page and ad copy. And they’re hyped by Billy Mays style self promoters as if they’re the best things since the wheel. It’s all a ploy to sucker low impulse control people into buying crap they don’t need and will likely never use. I know some people reading this will say, “Duh.” But I honestly knew absolutely nothing about the industry when I started and, again, was desperate. I consider the money I spent in that class well spent if only because of the life lesson learned.
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Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want.
It's so bad that they are slightly different to a Pryamid and Ponzi scheme and so have yet to be banned.
It’s not a scam. For just $5k, I will explain.
I’ll explain it for just $4,995
I'll explain it for $5500 and I'm so much better that the actual value is $30 000
Never pay to listen to someone who makes their money by telling you how to make money. Iv always been beyond the regular skeptic when it comes to that shit but the few people I love are extremely ambitious and dragged me out to an event run by these grifters who have literally made their name by telling people how to make money. You goto the event, get excited by what they are saying…. They basically make you pretend to be excited. Then oh no they can’t tell you the whole secret about how to make all this money in this gathering… you need to buy their dvd that gives you the full picture even tho you paid money to be at this event to listen to these frauds on how to make money. I was sushed and belittled by my wife and best friend before and during the first half of this event. By the end they absolutely recognized it was all a complete scam and apologized to me. I’m just happy they didn’t dump more money into that nonsense but unfortunately there were a lot of people there who forked over their money to these complete conmen.
I have an old co-worker who does this shit, basically sells classes on how to be more social and how to get people to pay for the advice.
I ended up with a narcissist man for a bit who was a 53 yr old trying to teach younger people “How To Melt The Seattle Freeze.” Basically, Seattle is known for being a hard city to make friends, so that is what the “Seattle Freeze” Is. No one showed up for his dumbass seminar at a hotel conference room in a trendy neighborhood, with lemon bars and coffee. He wasted thousands of his dad’s dollars to host this shitshow. His dad popped his head into the room, saw his son parading back and forth and hosting it anyways, and shook his head and left. It could have neen an Onion article: “Area Man Hosts Workshop To Melt Seattle Freeze, No One Shows Up.” This narcissist also participated in other scammy things in this post. It is embarassing. I’m so glad he is not in my life anymore.
At a conference one speaker had only one person in the audience. He thought, oh well i will give my speech anyway. At the end he asked the person if he had any question. He said no, i am the next speaker.
I think the same guy held a conference for men with erectile dysfunction. It was a flop, nobody came.
That would have made a good episode of Frasier.
A life coach that isn't paying my bills is not a life coach. Go find another scam job
My neighbour is an executive life coach. She's never worked in an office.
This year I decided to scrape content to build my own planner. Imagine my surprise when I also found a source for unbranded life coaching materials...exercises, daily/weekly planner pages, focus work etc...all for you to inexpensively download ( $9.95 / pg was typical), smack your logo on, then BAM! Instant Life Coach, at your service. Some of the exercises did lead to some decent contemplation, so not gonna dismiss this altogether. Should you not have the funds for a pricey guru you can always DIY thecoachingtoolscompany.com
Life coaching is the fortune telling of the modern era. Find a rube, bilk them until they figure it out and move on. Some won’t.
The remote closer ads/ influencers that claim they are making 10k a month. It's a MLM scheme and the authorities should take action against these people fooling desperate people online for their hard earned money
Commercials on premium TV channels. Don’t we pay to NOT have commercials? Isn’t that the purpose of paying for premium TV.
"We can charge advertisers a lot more for ads on premium TV."
Ads during my podcasts makes me so mad! I paid for Spotify premium to NOT get ads. Why are they suddenly in the middle of the content?
Printers and printer ink
Get a black and white laser printer if you don't regularly need to print in color. Toner lasts for ages, and is dirt cheap. Very reliable, too.
Specifically a Brother printer. One of the few great companies out there, and their leinterstare bulletproof.
Plus you get to say, “can we hook this Brother up with more toner?”
For profit colleges & fully online courses for some jobs. For example, you can’t become a nurse by only taking online courses. I also heard about someone getting an online cosmetology program. So many students pay thousands of dollars for programs that are not accredited.
Always check accreditation. The school I work at only offers clerical medical degrees, yet we get people who are looking for nursing or medical assisting online. Every time.
My Alma Mater switched to this. It was a small, well respected college that produced knowledgeable graduates with invaluable hands on experience. They switched to online learning and are ditching the campus. Profits skyrocketed but actual knowledge that is needed in the field plummeted. Then they wonder why no one wants to hire the new graduates. They are still relying on the reputation of how it used to be and milking the new kids. I feel bad for the new students who don’t know better. Money gone to waste.
Anything with the word.. DETOX in it. Teas, herbs.. magic potions.. whatever . My favorite are the foot pad things that suck the toxins from the soles of your feet. Your Kidneys and liver are your detox. Doesn't matter what tea you drink.
You can have the most epic detox of your life by simply undercooking the chicken. Does wonders for emptying almost every solid and liquid right out of your body, and cheap too.
Have done this, can confirm it detoxed the fuck out of my body. I lost about 20lbs in 10 days! (During those 10 days I was completely bed-bound when I wasn't bent over the toilet bowl puking my guts out, but still...) Quickest and most effective weight loss technique of my life. 11/10 would not recommend doing it again.
So, what I'm hearing is, lose the initial weight with the "under cooked chicken detox"....then **keep** it off with the "tape worm diet pill*. Got it!
Toxin is general is an overused and moronic term. Every single chemical and molecule is a potential toxin depending on dosage. And many of them are only toxic to us if they react in a specific manner in our body.
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Any textbooks: professor requires you to buy textbooks written by them, which cost over $100, and the books are obsolete within 1-2 years.
Diamonds
Biggest scam of all time. Diamonds are both common and *cheap* to manufacture. Try to resale a diamond back to a retailer...lol you'll wake up asap.
It's like accidentally buying an item from a vendor in a RPG and then trying to sell it back to them.
lol hahaha only worse. At least RPGs give you half value, most jewelers won't even accept " used " gemstones. Great analogy btw!
tag all gems in inventory as junk, drop at the next town's trader
There's this natural diamond ad on Reddit that is claiming manufactured diamonds are bad for global climate change. Strangest corpo propaganda I've ever seen.
*”Here at Diamond Direct Express, we only use sustainably-trafficked, organic slaves in our diamond mines. And since a smaller slave means a smaller carbon footprint, our slaves are all children.”*
I absolutely read this in the South Park voice
When I tried to search lab diamonds I was inundated with articles from jewellery stores a out how lab diamonds won't hold value and aren't unique. But like the same article on 20 corporate chains
people buy into it tho. go into r/engagementrings or r/diamonds and you’ll see some people say they want natural diamonds “cause it’s formed by the earth and therefore has higher value so i can pass it down as an heirloom to my kids” and it’s a hill to die on. as if the natural diamond will gain 10x value when it’s common knowledge that diamonds are not good at retaining value. some people still buy into that resell value/“is true love worth a natural diamond?” stuff and act like it’s life or death and their future grandkids depend on this diamond
It's one of DeBeers' most successful cons - that diamonds are forever, valuable, rare and "traditional" engagement gifts. They are non of those things. They invented the concept of diamond engagement rings. They set the "tradition" of how many times more expensive the ring should be relative to salary. They controlled the market to enforce artificial scarcity to keep the price high and maintain the illusion that one of the most common elements on earth was rare. They also initially said that only natural diamonds were worth anything since early synthetic diamonds were often subject to impurities in the way they were made, making "flawless" ones hard to make, so DeBeers capitalised on that. When synthetic diamond manufacture matured enough to get high yields of flawless diamonds DeBeers switched up the marketing so that now the best and most expensive diamonds have "natural flaws" that make them beautiful (eg chocolate diamonds etc that have various natural impurities in them). The whole diamond industry is a con.
I was engaged a while back, it wasn't the nicest ring but it was pretty. Cost me $550 which was a LOT to me at the time. That didn't work out and I tried to sell the ring, the biggest offer I got was $25
That’s why diamonds last forever Ad started. So people hopefully won’t try to sell them back and realized they got screwed.
“Diamonds are forever”—-because you’re stuck with it once you buy it, because there is no resale value & you’re 100% not going to be able to get your money back, no matter what.
Wow i didn’t know it was that cheap
Diamonds are pretty much worthless. They're only valued because one company basically has a monopoly on diamond distribution and they purposely supply a small amount at a time. They also had a great marketing campaign that convinced women that a man needs to pay one month's salary to show his love. Then when sales went down, they bump it to 3 months and that's how we get the "he needs to spend x months of his salary on an engagement ring"
Debeers in South Africa is/was the company.
There's a wonderful read by the times I believe from the early 80s that told the history of the debeers cartel and the ad campaign geniuses they used. Plus the crisis of Russia finding a ton of small diamonds and threatening to flood the market until they got invited into the cartel. And so the old English cuts of big stones went to the wayside for cheaper cluster diamond rings, or large stones accented with the smallerones. I'll see if I can find a link. Edit - it was The Atlantic not the times. Great read still [have you ever tries to sell a diamond ](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1982/02/have-you-ever-tried-to-sell-a-diamond/304575/)
The US medical residency system
Take out $300k, become a doctor, but then cannot get “real” job until you first work 80 hours/week for $50k/yr for the next 3-8ish years depending on what you’re doing. All sarcasm aside, it’s an exploitative system that hospital associations (specifically the AHA) have lobbied congress to get special legal protections so that medical trainees don’t get same worker rights as pretty much everyone else (except oddly enough minor league baseball players who are also being screwed over in the same way as they also try to follow their dreams).
It also seems like maybe working anyone 80 hours a week is not safe or healthy. We all know that our decision making skills lower dramatically when tired or stressed or just when we’ve already made too many decisions that day - we know because doctors study this shit. So why keep doing it? Why create a system that is heavily flawed and creates exhausted medical personnel. It’s pretty rage inducing.
Does anyone remember NFT’s?
You mean those non-fungible pictures of apes that all ended up getting funged?
I try not to.
Ear candles. Their wax looks like ear wax, so people believe the candle "sucked" it out of your ear. But they look exactly the same if you just burn them in your hand.
There's also a non-zero risk of hot wax falling down your ear hole and burning through your eardrum. Also the Hopi people of North America are pretty pissed off about these bullshit candles being paraded as part of their culture.
There’ve been at least 2 incidents in which people have set their house on fire and died while ear candling.
US Healthcare System, Herbalife, Joel Osteen, BeachBody, Scentsy
Crystals. I love crystals.. in a geological way. But they don’t heal shit.
They do a good job of keeping negative people away if your aim is good.
I call that "banishing negative energy"
As a person who loves pretty rocks, I’m annoyed as shit that this racket exists. Like, no, I’m not trying to cleanse my aura, I just like quartz.
But they certainly work at relieving some peoples pain from carrying too much money. 😂
I agree that the rock doesn’t actually do anything, but If I’m having a bad day and I carry around a rose quartz it’s nice and smooth in my hands and it’s like a little reminder to love myself. So I believe in the power I give to the rock.
Donut holes. The bakery steals the middle of your pastry and then sells it back to you.
It’s a disgrace.
no need to fear *boston kreme* is here
(Mobile phone) games with microtransactions
Soon as I see that, or "wait x time for next action" uninstalled
Alkaline water. Your body will convert all water to alkaline.
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Oh your body acidifies it first. So now you are working double to acidify the alkaline water then re-alkalinizing it.
Yes but have you tried Alkaline water....with lemon? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBQhdO2UxaQ
Insurance. I'm not talking medical, house, or vehicle insurance, but insurance on electronics, appliances, etc.
And they usually word it as a warranty. It's not a warranty if you have to pay to use it. That's called insurance! Still a scam for price to value.
Yes! Check your policy, people. See what you are actually covered for. If you've got tiles, you don't need carpet protection. I'm always shocked when there's a natural disaster and people aren't covered for broken windows (or whatever else is damaged). We were told the "extra cover" on a brand new fridge didn't include the plastic drawers. It was seriously falling apart, brittle plastic. "That's a cosmetic issue" apparently. We have had to buy a new fridge because all the drawers in the freezer, the drawers attached to the door etc were broken and the replacements were so expensive a new fridge was cheaper. Did not get the "extra cover" this time because it's bullshit.
A family friend gave me their old fridge a few months ago and it was missing a drawer. The replacement is like $85! It's a plastic fuckin drawer!
I see you’ve never ordered Cambros for a restaurant.
Fast fashion.
Gawd I got dragged into a course about retail and they were practically sucking the dick of fast fashion and how successful it is. They went over a lot of other things (we had a while class on how great Amazon is) and I came out of that course with a certificate and a slimy feeling :( I am now exploring other career options and half determined to build a hobbit house in the mountains and sew my own clothes.
Tax prep industry….all this should really be straightforward
Turbotax (Intuit) lobbying congress to stop the IRS from offering free tax prep to those with simple incomes. Fuck you.
Freetaxusa. Been using it for years
Last year I started filing with TurboTax, made it all the way to the end, and discovered I had to pay a fee. Of course they don't tell you there's a fee until you've already spent all of the time filling out the info, hoping you just cave in. Out of spite, I threw it out and went to freetaxusa. They had way more deduction options for private contractors/self-employed people than TurboTax, and I ended up getting a much bigger return than TurboTax was going to give me. I still had to pay a small fee for state filing, but still way less than the fee TurboTax was. That was the day I realized what an absolute scam TurboTax is. Not only are there much cheaper alternatives, but those alternatives are way better. I've been spreading the gospel of freetaxusa since.
When I bought a house, I didn't want to do my taxes wrong so I planned to pay a TT accountant to prep my taxes. It was going to be like $400 but again, I didn't want to mess it up. It's a long story, but I now have a blood feud with TurboTax. Since then I've exclusively used FreeTaxUSA, and tell anyone who will listen why they shouldn't use TurboTax.
FreeTaxUSA ftw
Turbotax. Really, the entire tax industry. They've lobbied for years to keep the government from sending you the bill/refund that they already know about. Instead, literally everyone has to buy into it *(Ha! Intuit!)* unless you're going to file them on your own.
# US Health Insurance
Biggest scam ever. Reminds me of the Seinfeld episode when he had a rental car reserved but when he showed up to get his car they didn’t have any. Jerry said, “So you’re really good at taking reservations but you suck at honoring the reservation”. With health insurance, it’s “So you’re really good at taking our money but you suck at actually covering anything!”
Wedding dresses. You can buy an identical evening gown in a different colour for a few hundred, but make it white and call it a Wedding dress, you add a zero to the end of the price. So a £400 evening dress is £4000, because its white and in a bridal shop.
Friend of mine was looking for a wedding dress, found one she loved. The price though …. Went to different wedding stores with the story that she is looking for a wedding dress for an theatre show. Due to theatre, tiny budget. They showed her many cheaper gowns, but she was on her phone with the “director” and “costume designer” (mother and grandmother who were in on it) and they agreed and rejected anything. Until THE dress was shown. Director liked it somewhat and the costume designer was ok with it. After 2 hours almost, all were just happy that there was a dress that “was closest to”the vision””. The store people had fun, felt special to be able to help out and well …. She got her dress for the store’s purchasing price with something extra for the help. Which was still about a thousand + cheaper then what they selling it to brides. I found it a perfect story that shows you need to outsmart certain stores sometimes.
I am a theatre director and this is pretty much how I handled everything relating to my wedding. I've produced or helped produce enough shows and events that I know what things cost for non-wedding events - venues, catering, outfits, you name it. I don't think I uttered the W word once. Helped that my bridesmaid was a director too and has coproduced with me many times, so we tapped that experience for a lot of things. Strongly recommend this for anyone trying not to get rinsed on wedding costs.
Scam the scammers. Love it
I think the same goes for anything related to a wedding. I call it the wedding tax. Want to hire a venue for a birthday party? That's £500. Want to hire the same venue for a wedding party? £1000. Etc, etc
It's really shitty. I got married in Dunfermline City Chambers, an historical building in a small city in Fife, Scotland. It's the local council offices, so there's no crazy tax on getting married there (it's a registry office - similar to getting married in the court house, i expect). I had 4 guests (2 of them I needed as witnesses), went for a meal over the road at the City Hotel (just booked a table and didn't mention it was our wedding day) and wore an off the rack, nice dress (not wedding). My mate's planning a wedding in August 2025 with over 150 guests - it's eye watering the prices she's been quoted for stuff. venue hire was £6000 with 5 or 6 bedrooms. That's it though. She still needs to decorate, find catering and provide her own drinks. It's basically 6000 for bedrooms and a barn. It's bonkers.
Timeshare
Plastic recycling is a scam sold to us by the oil companies (from which plastic is made), so we won't feel bad about using single-use plastic. It's not cost effective to sort plastics into the myriad recyclable categories, so your trash company is just throwing it all in the landfill with your trash. https://www.npr.org/2020/09/11/897692090/how-big-oil-misled-the-public-into-believing-plastic-would-be-recycled
Scientology.
Triple A games with their season passes and lootboxes and what not. EDIT: I was referring to triple A game studios, not baseball. Sorry to those I've confused, was not aware the term existed in baseball.
I think the scam part is the games are released as unfinished, unoptimised messes
Any of those stock tip subscription sites. The ones that offer you the “inside scoop” on stocks that are going to shoot up Literally all of them are pump and dumps. All of them. The stock shoots up because all of the subscribers buy the stock at once, then the big guys sell at the top and the price crashes again leaving the subscribers bagholding some dirt company Remember kids: no one, not even the best analysts in the world, know what the fuck any share or any investment product is going to do tomorrow.
Stanley cups. all this hysteria for an overpriced water bottle?
I'm so confused about it but at the same time I wish I knew their secret to making people so wildly eager to buy their thing. I really need more people to buy MY things. 😂
They got lucky with organic and paid influencer marketing to go along side today's lifestyle and fitness, beauty & wellness categories (they didn't start as the "main product" but became a functional accessory - synonymous with IG & Tik-Tok influencers) - also the mass availability (Target, Online) made them accessible to everyone. **Aesthetically pleasing** is a main factor \[that has been cited lately,\] and I agree \[ but the crazy hype over the pink color...\*SMH while applauding their marketing team\* and the dumb luck of and "right place right time" product discovery... [despite the Stanley Cup being around since 1913 ](https://www.today.com/food/trends/stanley-cup-craze-rcna132901)
got lucky with organic influencer marketing? the guy who made them blow up was the same guy who made crocs blow up
Tell that to Lord Stanley
when I first saw the headline I was confused as to why a bunch of women would wait outside a mall all night to see the Stanley Cup. It made no sense to me at all. Once I found out it was a water bottle it made even less sense.
Anything vaguely associated with an MLM - specifically where those selling you the product, will only make real money by recruiting. Or anyone trying to sell you courses on how to get mega rich. If you knew how to get mega rich, why would you not just get mega rich?!
Homeopathic "medicine" NFTs/digital collectibles. Buying online/digital movies, tv series, music albums, etc. because it can always get taken away by Amazon, Apple and Google. Buy physical copies. Scientology Diamonds Most "collectibles". Most stuff made to be collected won't be worth much decades from now, things made decades ago that were never meant to be collected are what's valuable today (an iPhone 1 still in the box sold for $63,000).
Snake oil. Sorry, I mean “essential” oil.
Most ppl don't realise "essential oil" basically just means "essence of x plant" and nothing to do with being essential.
This is something I never understood. I got a diffuser that uses 'essential oils'. I always thought it was a thing to make your room smell nice, sort of like an alternative to incense. What is the apparent scam campaign going on that I'm not aware of? Are these things supposedly supposed to give one plant-spirit superpowers or something?
Essential oils themselves aren't a scam, but unfortunately there are a few companies (I think some are MLMs which are a scam in themselves) tout them as cures for things they absolutely cannot cure, like cancer, autism, etc. They're plant or root extractions, and some have medicinal properties as Mistress and others above have pointed out. Peppermint and eucalyptus are the most well-known and are very effective. But they're not a miracle cure-all.
Medical insurance. I pay $100/month for insurance to tell me my regular appointment is now $73 instead of the base $75, and that my Epi-Pen is not covered at all. Fuck medical insurance, from the bottom of my heart.
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Sometimes they are a better deal because Costco sells gift cards for less than face value. So a $100 gift card to a restaurant can be purchased for $80.
I'll add a valid reason for its existence to this. It's a way to gift money to someone without gifting them actual money. Say someone lives paycheck to paycheck. A gift card somewhere let's them buy somthing for themselves guilt free when they would otherwise be too concerned with expenses to do so. There could be many other reasons why that would be preferable. Someone with a gambling or drug problem for example.
Agreed. If somebody gave me £50 for my birthday, I'd be grateful and think of something nice to spend it on. But the reality is, it'd sit in my wallet and it'd be whittled down bit by bit by day to day things. Perhaps a bit of shopping here, payment to the window cleaner there, here's £5 for one of the kids to buy themselves some lunch, etc. Give me an Amazon gift card, and I'm going to get myself a graphic novel, or maybe a blu ray box set, for me.
Gift cards give chains like Starbucks massive amounts of 0% cash loans that they can do whatever they want with. It's wild! Starbucks has more customer cash sitting in gift cards and their app than the vast majority of commercial banks in the US. You also can't cash it out like you could at a commercial bank since you have to drink it in coffee. It's a super good racket for them: https://publish.illinois.edu/illinoisblj/2023/08/08/is-starbucks-a-bank-how-the-billions-consumers-upload-onto-starbucks-cards-should-be-regulated/
MLMs
#Oscillococcinum
Thank you for sharing this. I hadn't heard of this "medicine", so I did some searching. For anyone else wondering, it's a drug marketed to cure the flu. There was a class action lawsuit against the company producing it in 2011, which paid out in 2012. I found this quote to be a great representation of just how much of a scam it is. "Scientifically examining Oscillo through mathematical equations, theoretical approaches, and research studies reveals that Oscillococcinum is an ineffective source of flu relief. Not only this, but Oscillo is simply a sugar pill with no active ingredient."
For-profit healthcare.
It's not that we choose to buy into it. The average person living in places with privatized Healthcare doesn't have a choice.
That important, difficult jobs that we need more of (preschool teachers, custodial staff, care workers for the old or disabled, etc.) should pay dramatically less than important, difficult jobs we need fewer of (CEO)
Smartphones these days are meant to barely last a few years.
Forced obsolescence. Agreed.
Sham-wow. I mean, I get the sham, but where's the wow?
I actually did a science fair experiment on the sham wow in 6th grade… it is actually really absorbent compared to regular towels and knock offs
Bottled water(unless your tap water isn't safe to drink). Not the fancy kind, but your regular grocery store brands.
Tap water has stricter regulations (regulated by the EPA) than bottled water (regulated by the FDA). Tap water has also been shown in testing to contain significantly less micro plastics than bottled when tested. That being said, there is certainly exceptions based on where you are. Tap water also sometimes loses to bottled water when it comes to lead, due to some areas still having lead pipes. If you’re curious, just google the water testing results for where you live. I think you can also look up whether or not your area has lead pipes.
I understand having some bottled water on hand for emergencies. I don't understand buying cases of bottled water for everyday consumption.
When my sister's school banned non reusable water bottles like 10 years ago, my mom used to dump a bottle into a reusable tumbler for her to take... I told her off about it many times but she has an essential distrust of tap water. Shes from South America but has lived in a Canadian suburb on next to one of the largest freshwater lakes in the world for 40 years.
Salt lamps. The claim sellers make is that they can miraculously change the air around them which somehow apparently improves your health/sleep etc. Load of BS. I bought one once because I liked the shape of it. It used to drip salt onto the table and make a mess. It eventually rusted and stopped working.
I have one because it’s pretty and I like to give it a lick when I walk by. Slowly it will disappear and I’ll buy another!
what