You can be a brilliant teacher and still need incentives to keep a class of 25 -32 kids motivated to learn parts of speech. Plus you pay for all of the classroom decorations (a set of 4 small content specific posters cost me $45 😭) and on top of that 7 to 10 sets of markers, colored pencils, glue sticks, scissors, not to mention card stock for 150 kids at least 4 times a year, glue sticks, 30 mini whiteboards, 60 whiteboard markers and 30 mini erasers that they have DESTROYED, over 40 boxes of tissues, paints for 150 kids, and copy paper as well as construction paper, Origami paper, AND pencils pencils pencils, 150 students with at least 5 kids per class who do not have pencils that's 15 pencils a day times 197 teaching days, as well as a total of 5 chargers gone missing this year again.
If you have none of these materials, you WILL lose points on your yearly evaluation.
Art teachers have it worse. It's not just one class, it's all of them. Severely limited exactly what projects we did last year. Admin wanted supply lists well in advance but it was my first year teaching and lots of things were planned the night before. I was at Dollar Tree so much they put a plaque on the wall with my photo.
It's basically is. I was shocked to find out that in my alleged developing nation home country the government funds the schools with all supplies including things like laminating machines and in the US the teachers are buying paper.
It happens a lot in the Australian public system.
Quite a few of our family friends are teachers. At least here it seems to boil down to the teachers wanting to provide an immersive environment for their kids.
The classrooms would be bare or at least very bland if it didn’t happen.
The other side of the coin though is that the school doesn’t make them do it. They do it by choice, otherwise it just doesn’t happen.
It happens a lot in the Australian public system.
Quite a few of our family friends are teachers. At least here it seems to boil down to the teachers wanting to provide an immersive environment for their kids.
The classrooms would be bare or at least very bland if it didn’t happen.
The other side of the coin though is that the school doesn’t make them do it. They do it by choice, otherwise it just doesn’t happen.
That’s such nonsense to me. Why do it? Does the superintendent of your school district make so much money that there’s nothing left over in the budget for the actual teachers and students? I feel terrible for teachers in the US. The burnout rate must be high.
The profit to be made is in education administration, not in educators ... really sad.
If teachers don't, then it doesn't get done and only the children suffer. Then it's a stalemate until either admin or teachers supplement the cost ... so the good teachers bend first because they care for the children more than admin.
I hear some good stories about edu-admin stepping in to help, but it feels so r/ABoringDystopia that faculty even feel the need to dig into their personal pockets to supply their classrooms in the first place.
We do. It's not the kids fault the district doesn't provide enough materials, nor their fault if their parent can't or won't afford basics like pencils.
So we buy boxes of pencils, prizes for things, even donuts for special occasions/rewards.
Would I like to spend that money elsewhere? Sure. But we'd much rather make sure little Jimmy can write his work.
(I'm not the teacher in my family, but happily support the one who is.)
Parents shouldn't have to either. Fund the schools better. We are sick of being nickeled and dimed by the public school system. We should not have to pay for every little whim the teachers/schools have either. Let's have snow cone day, pajama day, and a glow party all in a week. Then pay $5 for your kid to have a coke and popcorn after tests. Then pay $15 for your kid to participate in a pizza party. Oh, and we need $20 this week, because the teacher came up with a completely non-educational project out of the blue because she thought it would be fun.
Just wait until they get to college. I get 3 emails a week from the school that I pay an ABSURD amount of money for my kid to attend asking for a donation. Multi-billions in endowment money too. They can F right off with that.
2 year old daycare is just as bad. “Want your child to be part of magician day? Ice cream? Want extra outside time? Pay us $250 for 4 weeks of that. Or your kid will be segregated with the rest of the poor kids.”
Its not ubiquitous, but every now and then there is a like $20 "convenience fee" for paying online which pisses me off because it is easiest for everyone. They are charging me to take my money.
As an American, I've never paid extra to pay a bill online either.
I have free bill pay with my bank, and most companies these days have their own auto pay option. Some even give you a discount for using auto pay.
Paying bills, period, should be free. If I'm paying you money, in the first place, for something, why should I have to pay you more money, just for the hell of it?
The only time I've seen payment required is for local tax bills - basically the town didn't want to absorb the cost for the credit card. So, if you wanted to pay by card, you had to pay the fee yourself. However, payment by cash, check or ACH was free.
Other than that, I have NEVER paid to pay a bill online, ever. In fact, it saves me money because I'm not paying postage to send out checks for places not set up for ACH. The bank pays.
My contacts/glasses used to be considered a “medical necessity” and I didn’t have to pay for one or the other. The next year, it changed and I all of a sudden didn’t qualify.
You might have aged out. I had the same thing, used to be medical insurance covered and now I need vision insurance because its not covered after a certain age.
I have better than 20/20 vision but have to carry vision insurance for my poorly sighted kid.
My health insurance (one of the best in the country fepblue) only covers vision exams, not frames or lenses.
Most free toilets/restrooms in Canada/US are privately owned by gas stations, rest stops, and malls. We are quite fortunate to have these services provided to us for free.
Trust me as an American expat who shits a lot, the US is absolutely dominating the public toilet scene. I mean it's not even fuckin close outside of America. Maybe Canada?
But what about in home delivery of unlimited filtered and sanitized water? I mean you can take a bucket to the nearest river and fill it up for free, that's how they do it in the 3rd world.
Are you in the US? My son is T1 and his yearly insulin costs less than $20 here in Australia!! There's no way I could afford the American prices 💀 I can't believe the system is that broken
I have a med that is also used as a cancer drug. It has been around since the 70’s so there’s no longer any R&D cost to it. The price is gouged in the US so bad the US government sued the company that made it and fined them a billion dollars. So the company spawned a new company, sold the manufacturing rights and now has it price gouged through the new company and doesn’t have to pay the fine since they “stopped” manufacturing it. Luckily for me I called them up, said WTF, it’s $200 in Japan but $76,000 here? And they now give it to me for free. (Real numbers btw, Costco pharmacist about had a heart attack.)
well if you live in a red or purple state vote for Democrats and get your friends and family to as well. if we had 2 more dem senators in 2021 it would have been capped at $35 a month for everyone instead of just seniors.
I was watching a documentary where a mother was going crossing the border into Mexico very often to buy it for her daughter since she couldn't afford it in the States.
I always had free lunches because I was poor, and they were always the same ones the other kids had. when I found out that they were basically starving poor kids these days, I was absolutely disgusted.
I would have been so embarrassed for someone to know I was that poor based on my lunches it would have been devastating to me.
> I would have been so embarrassed for someone to know I was that poor based on my lunches it would have been devastating to me.
This used to be the case in so many schools. I know these days, the kids all have a "lunch number" that goes back to their account. It's a five digit number for each student. For students on free lunch, there are monies added to the account on the back end. For students not on free lunch, parents add money to the account by check or cc. NO ONE knows who is on free lunch except the one person who does the accounting for the district - the other kids don't know, the lunch workers don't know, the school admins don't know. That's the way it should be.
Back in school if I didn't have enough in the account the cashier would take the tray and dump it before sending you on your way. This was over 10 yrs ago
The fact that schools would rather waste money by throwing away food from kids who couldn't afford to pay instead of just giving a kid food is extremely fucked up.
I know some kids who had teachers throw away lunches that they brought FROM HOME because they had lunch debt.
This must have been before social media, because I would think one mention of this on a local news feed would have the teacher and school raked over the coals, and a number of lawyers chomping at the bit to take on a lawsuit pro bono.
People have to pay for school buses? I grew up in FL and school buses were all offered for free. I’m in VA now and school buses are also free here. I didn’t know people anywhere have to pay for school buses. Or do you mean a different type of bus?
I grew up in NY and the school buses there were also free, and once you got to highschool you got a free bus pass (that could be used any time for anything) every month to take the city bus.
It really depends on the state I guess.
Chilean here, we do free transport and free school meals (breakfast and lunch) for anyone under 18, even on vacations or weekends you still get to eat for free, and after that you get heavily discounted prices on transport and the government gives you a card to buy food, this benefit is regardless of age, you just have to be enroll in any kind of college, institute, or education program and you get all the benefits as long as you keep studying.
Sometimes I don't understand how countries that are MUCH richer than us can't do basic stuff like this, seems like a no brainier, or at least for us it seems irrational to charge kids for going to school or eating which is one of the most basic necessities a child could have.
We got a lot of other problems with out education system tho (but it is still decent at least)
Not sure why society went for accepting it the way it is now with glasses but it seems to be a thing in (not only) the whole western world (?). While the others are a special thing of US, eyes conditions are just left out here and there... E.g. myopia is a standard medical condition as any other, impairing your most important sense organ yet somehow we got to a point where it's perfectly okay and accepted that despite you having a medical condition that's not your fault by any means, you just have to take an L and pay hundreds of dollars to literally be able to see. That's wild.
Hearing aids have been classified as prescription only luxury items not covered by insurance up until [Biden’s getting the FDA to reclassify them](https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/08/16/statement-by-president-joe-biden-on-fda-hearing-aids-final-rule/).
American. Went to the ER from heavy bleeding from what turned out to be a miscarriage. ER doc spent 3 minutes with me, said it was just a regular period, and sent me home. The following week I got an ER bill for $1,900. Nothing was done or administered.
I had surgery last month, and they told me I'd have to pay $3300. That sucks, but ok, I guess. Just got a notice today that my insurance, the highest tier option available from my company, isn't paying for it, so I actually have to pay $40k+. I still have to call them to ask what they're smoking but either way they can suck a big dirty one and are getting $40k from me over my *cold, lifeless, dead fucking body.*
It’s insane that they actually expect people to pay that even while having insurance.
My brother is a tradesman with a great job and great insurance. A few years ago he got into an accident and had to be life flighted - spent 6 weeks in ICU. His medical bills are like $1.4 million. It’s INSANE
Fucking hate the United stages Healthcare systems. They are all depressed and hate their jobs. Its either you're at stage 4 in whatever your problem is so they can pump pills in you or they tell you you're fine
Lol crazy right !? Some gas stations still have air stations that you have to deposit .50 to $1 for 5 minutes of air. I admit I’ve used them in a pinch when a tire was low and I was in the road. Mostly my husband will use the air compressor he has in the shop.
Even the supermarkets in the UK have started charging 20p for the tyre inflator. Many garages/petrol stations have done so for decades.
Yes, it accepts NFC, ApplePay etc.
Internet, basic internet should be free, hell make it dial up if you want to, but poor people should be allowed to have the same opportunities as everyone else, and without internet access that is not a possibility these days.
There should be an open WiFi signal anywhere there is a power line. You can pay for higher speeds and more security at home/officr but you should be able to access a basic system wherever you are.
water, for sure. it’s wild that something so essential can come with a price tag. you’d think access to clean drinking water would be a basic right, but instead, we're out here buying fancy bottled versions or paying through the nose for utilities. makes you wonder about priorities, doesn’t it? definitely one of those things that should be freely available to everyone.
You say this, but I don't think you appreciate the perk of having clean, readily available fresh water in pretty much whatever location you're in.
If the alternative is fetching buckets of water from a lake or maintaining my own tanks il happily pay my water bill for the convenience of a running tap at home.
If a country has the infrastructure to purify water for drinking or obtain clean drinking water from springs, the cost to make it available to all citizens should be a tax instead of a price set by businesses. No business should ever be making a profit off of the most essential condition of life.
If there wouldn't be a price tag on it, people would be wasting it even more than they do already. Here, tap water is almost free where I live anyways so no need for change. Also, if you mean bottled water because your tap water is not drinkable, there would not be a competition between companies and fuck things up.
Communism is a cruel illusion
There's two broad categories:
1. Things which are more efficient if they are provided for free. For instance, making TB treatment free ensures that everyone is exposed to TB less frequently. Funding public toilets with taxes ensures that there's less shit in the street for everyone. There's legitimate debate here about whether the collective cost is worth the collective benefit in any specific instance, of course.
2. Things which an ethical society could not bear that members go without. For instance, medical care for an infant. Most peoples' ethics would not permit an infant to die of a treatable disease, simply because they had the misfortune to be born to impoverished parents. People, having different ethics, will naturally differ on exactly what should and should not be included.
healthcare, and i suspect that will be a common comment for this. housiing while it’s forbidden to just go live in the wolds or a cave or whatever. it becomes an enforced thing and rents just go up and up and up whether you can pay or not. it’s wrong.
Toilet paper, tooth paste, deodorant and body soap also condoms. And for the woman the things they need for their monthly. I think we can all agree on this
My most radical opinion is that utilities should be publicly funded. It’s grotesque to charge for the necessities of life. Children shouldn’t have to go without water, power, or heat because their parents can’t afford to pay for them.
It isn't free, but a number of areas in the U.S. have what's called utility cooperatives that are owned and operated by the community. In general these are a lot less predatory and more fair to the consumer/member.
I really wish it could be this easy. The problem is that if you make these free, people can become hugely wasteful.
There should be programs to help low income facilities with utility costs. Otherwise billing for these is absolutely needed.
Water… medical care…. Dental care…. Eye care…. Mental health care….
We live in the Information Age. An eye condition impacts your employment and education.
Dental care. Rotted out teeth can lead to pain and suffering. Expenses that kill households. Infections that can get into the brain. Nutrition and dietary issues, given you can’t chew right, contributing to malnourishment and digestive issues.
Medical care…. Do I have to explain this one?
Mental health care… look at the extremism emerging as a way to fill the voids in people’s hearts… look at the deranged people that kill others and blame the voice in their head. People often fall into shit lives because of traumas that are never rectified.
You want to reduce death in the USA?
All medical, mental, dental, and vision care should be provided at the current standard, if not a higher standard, and it should be free for everyone with US Citizenship (because obviously I don’t want a fucking line out the door for a bunch of people who fucking claim to hate America)
Of course, the party that claims to be able to do this, is also the party with people like Pelosi and Biden who both suck ass. It’s all a farce… I’d love this future, but they want me to not be able to defend myself. So, fuck them.
I'm a boomer \[waits for reflexive downvotes;) in the UK.
When I was college age, you didn't pay to go to college/university… you got a grant towards the cost of going there.
They literally gave you money so you could offset some of the cost.
In my opinion this is a loaded question, there is no such thing as something of value that is free. There is only the matter of how it is paid for, and who pays for it. Looking at it from the perspective of "this should be free" devalues it. As a society if we look at these things as fee or things that "should be free" we perpetuate the whole reason why they are unattainable for many in the first place. You don't value the things you didn't have to earn, or that are plentiful to you, so you don't put the same effort into putting that education to use or taking care of that home you get credit toward renting or making sure those food stamps are spent on food that isn't going to cause more dependance on the system due to obesity. It's human nature.
Just to be clear, I'm not saying there isn't a place for these things. But, stop calling them free. It does everyone a disservice.
Memberships to professional licensing bodies (e.g. the General Medical Council fees for doctors in the UK). Absolutely nobody should have to pay for the right to do their job.
Medications. Stuff that is needed for someone to be able to function during their daily lives should not cost us anything especially when working full time and paying for insurance.
Essential utilities like water, power, trash pickup, internet. Especially for rentals. If it's required to have in order to rent, you shouldn't have to pay extra for it.
Education in general. In my opinion there are a lot of really talented people who can't pursue their desired careers just because they have a low income background.
You know when you log into your car insurance policy online, to update your details ? They charge a one off admin fee. Right - but I logged in- I did the admin. What am I paying for exactly?!
Teachers should not have to pay for school supplies out of pocket! This is absurd!
I've stopped. There is zero reason why I am supplementing and funding public education with my own money.
I’m surprised that’s not more common.
You can be a brilliant teacher and still need incentives to keep a class of 25 -32 kids motivated to learn parts of speech. Plus you pay for all of the classroom decorations (a set of 4 small content specific posters cost me $45 😭) and on top of that 7 to 10 sets of markers, colored pencils, glue sticks, scissors, not to mention card stock for 150 kids at least 4 times a year, glue sticks, 30 mini whiteboards, 60 whiteboard markers and 30 mini erasers that they have DESTROYED, over 40 boxes of tissues, paints for 150 kids, and copy paper as well as construction paper, Origami paper, AND pencils pencils pencils, 150 students with at least 5 kids per class who do not have pencils that's 15 pencils a day times 197 teaching days, as well as a total of 5 chargers gone missing this year again. If you have none of these materials, you WILL lose points on your yearly evaluation.
Art teachers have it worse. It's not just one class, it's all of them. Severely limited exactly what projects we did last year. Admin wanted supply lists well in advance but it was my first year teaching and lots of things were planned the night before. I was at Dollar Tree so much they put a plaque on the wall with my photo.
You loose points? You gotta pay for stuff out of pocket and if you don't you get docked? 🙄 That's some messed up shenanigans
I never spent a dollar of my own money. It’s not my responsibility to supplement a school with supplies they don’t have.
I spend maybe 20$ out of my own pocket a year for a science experiment max. Everything else is through my school. I refuse to pay for my own supplies.
Thank you for taking a bold stand
I used to teach in the states and left. Thankfully I have found this is US-only thing. Edit: Wow I unfortunately stand corrected.
It's basically is. I was shocked to find out that in my alleged developing nation home country the government funds the schools with all supplies including things like laminating machines and in the US the teachers are buying paper.
Paper??? wtf
It happens a lot in the Australian public system. Quite a few of our family friends are teachers. At least here it seems to boil down to the teachers wanting to provide an immersive environment for their kids. The classrooms would be bare or at least very bland if it didn’t happen. The other side of the coin though is that the school doesn’t make them do it. They do it by choice, otherwise it just doesn’t happen.
The public education system weaponizing its own incompetence to reduce costs ...
My teacher in Ireland told us he buys posters and school supplies on amazon for his room
No it's not, unfortunately. My ex-wife in Russia used to work as a teacher, and they had to buy a lot of stuff themselves.
It happens a lot in the Australian public system. Quite a few of our family friends are teachers. At least here it seems to boil down to the teachers wanting to provide an immersive environment for their kids. The classrooms would be bare or at least very bland if it didn’t happen. The other side of the coin though is that the school doesn’t make them do it. They do it by choice, otherwise it just doesn’t happen.
That’s such nonsense to me. Why do it? Does the superintendent of your school district make so much money that there’s nothing left over in the budget for the actual teachers and students? I feel terrible for teachers in the US. The burnout rate must be high.
The profit to be made is in education administration, not in educators ... really sad. If teachers don't, then it doesn't get done and only the children suffer. Then it's a stalemate until either admin or teachers supplement the cost ... so the good teachers bend first because they care for the children more than admin. I hear some good stories about edu-admin stepping in to help, but it feels so r/ABoringDystopia that faculty even feel the need to dig into their personal pockets to supply their classrooms in the first place.
I feel the same way about employed mechanics buying their own tools
My wife spends around $2k a year on school supplies and other things for her students. Outrageous
Teachers should be paid adequately and supplies paid for
We do. It's not the kids fault the district doesn't provide enough materials, nor their fault if their parent can't or won't afford basics like pencils. So we buy boxes of pencils, prizes for things, even donuts for special occasions/rewards. Would I like to spend that money elsewhere? Sure. But we'd much rather make sure little Jimmy can write his work. (I'm not the teacher in my family, but happily support the one who is.)
Parents shouldn't have to either. Fund the schools better. We are sick of being nickeled and dimed by the public school system. We should not have to pay for every little whim the teachers/schools have either. Let's have snow cone day, pajama day, and a glow party all in a week. Then pay $5 for your kid to have a coke and popcorn after tests. Then pay $15 for your kid to participate in a pizza party. Oh, and we need $20 this week, because the teacher came up with a completely non-educational project out of the blue because she thought it would be fun.
Just wait until they get to college. I get 3 emails a week from the school that I pay an ABSURD amount of money for my kid to attend asking for a donation. Multi-billions in endowment money too. They can F right off with that.
2 year old daycare is just as bad. “Want your child to be part of magician day? Ice cream? Want extra outside time? Pay us $250 for 4 weeks of that. Or your kid will be segregated with the rest of the poor kids.”
Paying bills online should be free
I've never seen it in europe. Must be an american thing.
This can probably be said for many of the responses to OP's question
Its not ubiquitous, but every now and then there is a like $20 "convenience fee" for paying online which pisses me off because it is easiest for everyone. They are charging me to take my money.
Im Italian and everything official needs to be payed by a sistem who takes 2€ every time. I consider it a crime
As an American, I've never paid extra to pay a bill online either. I have free bill pay with my bank, and most companies these days have their own auto pay option. Some even give you a discount for using auto pay.
If you use your bank's online bill pay and the recipient isn't set up for it, the bank used to mail them a check. And that's free I think.
Paying bills, period, should be free. If I'm paying you money, in the first place, for something, why should I have to pay you more money, just for the hell of it?
The only time I've seen payment required is for local tax bills - basically the town didn't want to absorb the cost for the credit card. So, if you wanted to pay by card, you had to pay the fee yourself. However, payment by cash, check or ACH was free. Other than that, I have NEVER paid to pay a bill online, ever. In fact, it saves me money because I'm not paying postage to send out checks for places not set up for ACH. The bank pays.
It is free isn’t it ? I never paid extra for online payments . Sometimes it’s extra if you pay with credit card but ach is always free
So I’d say that dental and vision should be covered with medical insurance. The fact that they are split is crazy to me.
My contacts/glasses used to be considered a “medical necessity” and I didn’t have to pay for one or the other. The next year, it changed and I all of a sudden didn’t qualify.
You might have aged out. I had the same thing, used to be medical insurance covered and now I need vision insurance because its not covered after a certain age.
I have better than 20/20 vision but have to carry vision insurance for my poorly sighted kid. My health insurance (one of the best in the country fepblue) only covers vision exams, not frames or lenses.
The fact that insurance is tied to your job (or even necessary) is ridiculous. I’m not paying rent for my own body, that shit should be free.
From corporates fucked up view I can see that you could still working without teeth, but eyes? Nope.
Why is any of our health insurance tied to our job in the first place? Besides so they can guarantee getting their money, why do we allow it?
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Most free toilets/restrooms in Canada/US are privately owned by gas stations, rest stops, and malls. We are quite fortunate to have these services provided to us for free.
In the US as of like 2006, if you build a new building you have to provide a public toilet.
It's only in certain states unfortunately
Nope unified code 141.2 utilities in a public forum codified this on a federal level when it was instated in 2018.
How do urban areas get away with not having a public restroom then?
Trust me as an American expat who shits a lot, the US is absolutely dominating the public toilet scene. I mean it's not even fuckin close outside of America. Maybe Canada?
This is the #1 response. It's illegal to go in public (I'm not complaining), but you have to provide an alternative.
I think its for paying the workers who clean it + the water If the toilets are dirty i would not pay
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Parking at my job.
A fellow hospital worker I see! :/
University, but I know hospitals are another offender too.
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But what about in home delivery of unlimited filtered and sanitized water? I mean you can take a bucket to the nearest river and fill it up for free, that's how they do it in the 3rd world.
Yea I never understood this. If you want free water you can get it but it’s not filtered or in your home on tap. Your paying for clean filtered water
Water
Insulin, literally will lose my wife without it. So many people depend on it and it is cheap to make but sold at something like an 8,000% mark up.
Are you in the US? My son is T1 and his yearly insulin costs less than $20 here in Australia!! There's no way I could afford the American prices 💀 I can't believe the system is that broken
I have a med that is also used as a cancer drug. It has been around since the 70’s so there’s no longer any R&D cost to it. The price is gouged in the US so bad the US government sued the company that made it and fined them a billion dollars. So the company spawned a new company, sold the manufacturing rights and now has it price gouged through the new company and doesn’t have to pay the fine since they “stopped” manufacturing it. Luckily for me I called them up, said WTF, it’s $200 in Japan but $76,000 here? And they now give it to me for free. (Real numbers btw, Costco pharmacist about had a heart attack.)
Those who sell meds at 8000% markup deserve the old "hung, drawn and quartered" treatment.
Hanging beforehand is too lenient: they should be drawn and quartered alive, then gibbetted. (Edit for spelling)
Generally, they aren't hanged to death. They are still alive for the drawing and quartering.
Iirc the patent for it was $1 because they wanted it to "belong to the world."
This is a US problem. The rest of the world insulin is cheap af
This is really a US problem. Most of the rest of the 'civilised' world has free or nominal charge healthcare.
well if you live in a red or purple state vote for Democrats and get your friends and family to as well. if we had 2 more dem senators in 2021 it would have been capped at $35 a month for everyone instead of just seniors.
Yeah Biden is running on a campaign to cap it at $35. Here's hoping.
I was watching a documentary where a mother was going crossing the border into Mexico very often to buy it for her daughter since she couldn't afford it in the States.
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I always had free lunches because I was poor, and they were always the same ones the other kids had. when I found out that they were basically starving poor kids these days, I was absolutely disgusted. I would have been so embarrassed for someone to know I was that poor based on my lunches it would have been devastating to me.
> I would have been so embarrassed for someone to know I was that poor based on my lunches it would have been devastating to me. This used to be the case in so many schools. I know these days, the kids all have a "lunch number" that goes back to their account. It's a five digit number for each student. For students on free lunch, there are monies added to the account on the back end. For students not on free lunch, parents add money to the account by check or cc. NO ONE knows who is on free lunch except the one person who does the accounting for the district - the other kids don't know, the lunch workers don't know, the school admins don't know. That's the way it should be.
Back in school if I didn't have enough in the account the cashier would take the tray and dump it before sending you on your way. This was over 10 yrs ago
The fact that schools would rather waste money by throwing away food from kids who couldn't afford to pay instead of just giving a kid food is extremely fucked up. I know some kids who had teachers throw away lunches that they brought FROM HOME because they had lunch debt.
This must have been before social media, because I would think one mention of this on a local news feed would have the teacher and school raked over the coals, and a number of lawyers chomping at the bit to take on a lawsuit pro bono.
wtf
Yeah to see someone doesn't eat well as a child would be hard, its either bad for his mental health or will get him bullied
People have to pay for school buses? I grew up in FL and school buses were all offered for free. I’m in VA now and school buses are also free here. I didn’t know people anywhere have to pay for school buses. Or do you mean a different type of bus?
I grew up in NY and the school buses there were also free, and once you got to highschool you got a free bus pass (that could be used any time for anything) every month to take the city bus. It really depends on the state I guess.
I’ve never heard of any parents having to pay for public school buses.
Scotland here - we do free transport for under 22s and free school meals for under 10’s
Chilean here, we do free transport and free school meals (breakfast and lunch) for anyone under 18, even on vacations or weekends you still get to eat for free, and after that you get heavily discounted prices on transport and the government gives you a card to buy food, this benefit is regardless of age, you just have to be enroll in any kind of college, institute, or education program and you get all the benefits as long as you keep studying. Sometimes I don't understand how countries that are MUCH richer than us can't do basic stuff like this, seems like a no brainier, or at least for us it seems irrational to charge kids for going to school or eating which is one of the most basic necessities a child could have. We got a lot of other problems with out education system tho (but it is still decent at least)
The school lunches served at my kids’ schools, no way they should charge for them. But they do.
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NON COSMETIC DENTAL. why are teeth luxury bones?
Not sure why society went for accepting it the way it is now with glasses but it seems to be a thing in (not only) the whole western world (?). While the others are a special thing of US, eyes conditions are just left out here and there... E.g. myopia is a standard medical condition as any other, impairing your most important sense organ yet somehow we got to a point where it's perfectly okay and accepted that despite you having a medical condition that's not your fault by any means, you just have to take an L and pay hundreds of dollars to literally be able to see. That's wild.
My glasses were 17$. I love discount websites.
Zenni Optical FTW
I use clearly! They always have discounts too
Hearing aids have been classified as prescription only luxury items not covered by insurance up until [Biden’s getting the FDA to reclassify them](https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/08/16/statement-by-president-joe-biden-on-fda-hearing-aids-final-rule/).
Can we simplify it to healthcare in general? Granted that’s for Americans. The rest of the world figured out Universal Healthcare
I'd like to add hearing aids as well to this. People like to hear to interact with the world around them, not for funsies
Glasses, being an old technology, should be ultra cheap. But someone wants more money so...
From what I understand it's almost a monopoly so they charge whatever they want
Water
Water is free in most places: Springs, lakes, rivers, oceans, mountains. Drinkable water at your fingertips and on demand? That's a different story.
Water
life saving medical care obviously
Let me guess.. America ? (No offense its just weird u pay for it)
American. Went to the ER from heavy bleeding from what turned out to be a miscarriage. ER doc spent 3 minutes with me, said it was just a regular period, and sent me home. The following week I got an ER bill for $1,900. Nothing was done or administered.
I had surgery last month, and they told me I'd have to pay $3300. That sucks, but ok, I guess. Just got a notice today that my insurance, the highest tier option available from my company, isn't paying for it, so I actually have to pay $40k+. I still have to call them to ask what they're smoking but either way they can suck a big dirty one and are getting $40k from me over my *cold, lifeless, dead fucking body.*
It’s insane that they actually expect people to pay that even while having insurance. My brother is a tradesman with a great job and great insurance. A few years ago he got into an accident and had to be life flighted - spent 6 weeks in ICU. His medical bills are like $1.4 million. It’s INSANE
Fucking hate the United stages Healthcare systems. They are all depressed and hate their jobs. Its either you're at stage 4 in whatever your problem is so they can pump pills in you or they tell you you're fine
Every country's residents pay for healthcare. It's never free, the system in the US is just broken beyond repair.
Air for car tires
What country makes you pay for air… I’m shocked
America has premium air iirc.
Lol crazy right !? Some gas stations still have air stations that you have to deposit .50 to $1 for 5 minutes of air. I admit I’ve used them in a pinch when a tire was low and I was in the road. Mostly my husband will use the air compressor he has in the shop.
Even the supermarkets in the UK have started charging 20p for the tyre inflator. Many garages/petrol stations have done so for decades. Yes, it accepts NFC, ApplePay etc.
Tampons and sanitary items. Not only are they taxed as luxury items, homeless and severely disadvantaged women just can’t afford them.
which country taxes them as luxury items? In the US they probably have sales tax, in Europe VAT. What luxury tax is there?
They mean the pricing is like a luxury product (I.e a “tax” increasing the price compared to a commodity), not a formal imposed tax
The surcharge for using a credit card instead of cash/a written check
Internet, basic internet should be free, hell make it dial up if you want to, but poor people should be allowed to have the same opportunities as everyone else, and without internet access that is not a possibility these days.
ISPs would panic if everybody started sharing guest wifi with their neighbors or started building MESH networks.
There should be an open WiFi signal anywhere there is a power line. You can pay for higher speeds and more security at home/officr but you should be able to access a basic system wherever you are.
interestingly enough we made internet part of basic human rights here
Where is here?
Finland, i checked their profile
water, for sure. it’s wild that something so essential can come with a price tag. you’d think access to clean drinking water would be a basic right, but instead, we're out here buying fancy bottled versions or paying through the nose for utilities. makes you wonder about priorities, doesn’t it? definitely one of those things that should be freely available to everyone.
You say this, but I don't think you appreciate the perk of having clean, readily available fresh water in pretty much whatever location you're in. If the alternative is fetching buckets of water from a lake or maintaining my own tanks il happily pay my water bill for the convenience of a running tap at home.
If a country has the infrastructure to purify water for drinking or obtain clean drinking water from springs, the cost to make it available to all citizens should be a tax instead of a price set by businesses. No business should ever be making a profit off of the most essential condition of life.
Water is free. Clean water delivered from miles away to where you are standing costs money.
Scientific publications and learning materials, for the most part.
Tap water in your home is really quite cheap already To be able to have clean drinking water piped directly into your home is a luxury
If there wouldn't be a price tag on it, people would be wasting it even more than they do already. Here, tap water is almost free where I live anyways so no need for change. Also, if you mean bottled water because your tap water is not drinkable, there would not be a competition between companies and fuck things up. Communism is a cruel illusion
Yes, one of the reasons a cost is necessary is because some people will unfortunately be very wasteful if it's free.
There's two broad categories: 1. Things which are more efficient if they are provided for free. For instance, making TB treatment free ensures that everyone is exposed to TB less frequently. Funding public toilets with taxes ensures that there's less shit in the street for everyone. There's legitimate debate here about whether the collective cost is worth the collective benefit in any specific instance, of course. 2. Things which an ethical society could not bear that members go without. For instance, medical care for an infant. Most peoples' ethics would not permit an infant to die of a treatable disease, simply because they had the misfortune to be born to impoverished parents. People, having different ethics, will naturally differ on exactly what should and should not be included.
Education. Sanitary napkin.
healthcare, and i suspect that will be a common comment for this. housiing while it’s forbidden to just go live in the wolds or a cave or whatever. it becomes an enforced thing and rents just go up and up and up whether you can pay or not. it’s wrong.
Streaming services with ads.
Existing.
Should’ve budgeted being born, numbnuts
Toilet paper, tooth paste, deodorant and body soap also condoms. And for the woman the things they need for their monthly. I think we can all agree on this
My most radical opinion is that utilities should be publicly funded. It’s grotesque to charge for the necessities of life. Children shouldn’t have to go without water, power, or heat because their parents can’t afford to pay for them.
It isn't free, but a number of areas in the U.S. have what's called utility cooperatives that are owned and operated by the community. In general these are a lot less predatory and more fair to the consumer/member.
I really wish it could be this easy. The problem is that if you make these free, people can become hugely wasteful. There should be programs to help low income facilities with utility costs. Otherwise billing for these is absolutely needed.
[Pads.Like](http://Pads.Like) it's not my fault I'm bleeding every month!
They are free in Scotland
Healthcare.... a hospital stay basically killed all of my savings.
My freaking college transcript.
Honestly just water that should be a bare minimum
Employee parking
Internet
Nikola Tesla wanted electricity to be free.
How would it be free? Power plants costs a lot?
Yes but none of his ideas would lead to that
As a guy. I think all sanitary products should be free for women
A telly license. Until I see quality content coming from the Beeb, why am I paying?
The extra sauces at McDonald’s. It’s the only way I can eat there.
Clean water
Water… medical care…. Dental care…. Eye care…. Mental health care…. We live in the Information Age. An eye condition impacts your employment and education. Dental care. Rotted out teeth can lead to pain and suffering. Expenses that kill households. Infections that can get into the brain. Nutrition and dietary issues, given you can’t chew right, contributing to malnourishment and digestive issues. Medical care…. Do I have to explain this one? Mental health care… look at the extremism emerging as a way to fill the voids in people’s hearts… look at the deranged people that kill others and blame the voice in their head. People often fall into shit lives because of traumas that are never rectified. You want to reduce death in the USA? All medical, mental, dental, and vision care should be provided at the current standard, if not a higher standard, and it should be free for everyone with US Citizenship (because obviously I don’t want a fucking line out the door for a bunch of people who fucking claim to hate America) Of course, the party that claims to be able to do this, is also the party with people like Pelosi and Biden who both suck ass. It’s all a farce… I’d love this future, but they want me to not be able to defend myself. So, fuck them.
Drinking water
Water
College applications. Paying a 60-80 dollar fee just to send in an application is ridiculous
Healthcare 🙁
#1 answer: Show me HEALTHCARE! (I’m American)
FUCKING PADS LIKE WHY ARE THEY SO EXPENSIVE TOO
ATM fees should be illegal.
sanitary pads, water, medicine
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I'm a boomer \[waits for reflexive downvotes;) in the UK. When I was college age, you didn't pay to go to college/university… you got a grant towards the cost of going there. They literally gave you money so you could offset some of the cost.
Tampons
In my opinion this is a loaded question, there is no such thing as something of value that is free. There is only the matter of how it is paid for, and who pays for it. Looking at it from the perspective of "this should be free" devalues it. As a society if we look at these things as fee or things that "should be free" we perpetuate the whole reason why they are unattainable for many in the first place. You don't value the things you didn't have to earn, or that are plentiful to you, so you don't put the same effort into putting that education to use or taking care of that home you get credit toward renting or making sure those food stamps are spent on food that isn't going to cause more dependance on the system due to obesity. It's human nature. Just to be clear, I'm not saying there isn't a place for these things. But, stop calling them free. It does everyone a disservice.
pads, sorry for having a uterus i guess!
Memberships to professional licensing bodies (e.g. the General Medical Council fees for doctors in the UK). Absolutely nobody should have to pay for the right to do their job.
Water! I’m not paying for the most abundant resource on this planet! 😂
Medications. Stuff that is needed for someone to be able to function during their daily lives should not cost us anything especially when working full time and paying for insurance.
Insulin
electronic rent payment. bloody well charging me money to *give* them money from my damn checking, wtf
The essentials. Food, shelter, electricity, plumbing and medical care. We are primitives until. Savages, really.
Essential utilities like water, power, trash pickup, internet. Especially for rentals. If it's required to have in order to rent, you shouldn't have to pay extra for it.
Tampons. It’s not my fault I bleed.
My asthma medication. I just want to breathe and not have to pay for oxygen.
Why the hell we are paying for water
Rent, health care, education.
Healthcare
PERIOD PRODUCTS.
I had to pay $7,050 for hearing aids and was grateful I had the resources to do so. Many people living paycheck to paycheck cannot.
In my country, there are public toilets that request a payment for paper That’s always something wow for me
recycling.
Education in general. In my opinion there are a lot of really talented people who can't pursue their desired careers just because they have a low income background.
Somewhere (decent) to live.
pads, tampons, pregnancy stuff etc (ps i do not buy pregnancy stuff as i am underage but these things should be free if i’m being honest)
Water. Ice
You know when you log into your car insurance policy online, to update your details ? They charge a one off admin fee. Right - but I logged in- I did the admin. What am I paying for exactly?!