Sadly, we know that if something seems too good to be true, it probably is – but that doesn’t stop us from hoping against hope that we’re going to be the person who finds that true steal of a deal.
These folks say you can skip these 15 items or services, though, because they’re scams through and through.
15. It’s on another level.
It’s not a secret to some of us but American healthcare is a scam on a scam within a scam. A hospital will charge overinflated prices.
Box of tissues
Sometimes listed as “mucus recovery system,” a single tissue box in a hospital costs $8.
Gloves
Charge to patient: $53 per non-sterile pair (sterile are higher), for a total of $5,141 during average patient stay.
Cup medicine
Cost is for the plastic cup used to administer medicine, not the actual medicine inside it.
Charge to patient, per cup: $10, for a total of $440 during average patient stay
14. The real deal.
The lottery.
Interestingly the lottery had a big impact on the Mafia – prior to legalizing it, most cities had a ‘Numbers’ game run by organized crime that was very similar.
13. Not everyone does better.
Recycling. Some countries just dump it at the same place as trash. Some do better, but it’s still a “feel good” thing people do.
I still do it.
12. Real talk.
Any online course promising to teach you how to make money.
Spoiler alert: you make money by making a online course about making money.
11. Evolution was a scam?
That humans are here to just work and die. No way humans evolved so we can work 5 of 7 days of the week, trying to jam fun in on weekends.
I always had this kinda thought that.. dude, we should live our life. 1/3rd of our life consists of working a job, or studying for a job. another 1/3rd is sleeping, and the last 1/3rd is free time.. of which you then also need to spend with other stuff you don’t want.
And then, at 64 years you are finally allowed to live your life without working your ass off anymore. But you also, statistically, have less than 20 years left to live, and might already be too broken and sick (maybe due to your work as well) to do anything but sit at home.
I don’t mind the constant dread of “some day I die”, but knowing that I spend my days like this and might die before I can enjoy the rest of my life.. that kinda gives me goosebumps at times. I know this is currently how civilization works but like.. I still find it kinda questionable.
10. Just all of it.
The wedding industry.
My daughter’s reaction “This costs as much as a semester at school.” And she was planning it economically.
Both school and weddings have gone up since, but I think weddings are ahead.
9. Is it really worth it?
Paying for college in the United States.
The thing I hate about the current educational system in the United States is that it is designed to put a student in debt. As of 2020-2021, the average a student can expect to pay for one year’s in-state tuition and fees is $25,864 at a four-year state university, and out-of-state tuition is $43,721.
As of 2021, the maximum amount of Federal Pell Grant money a student can get per year is only $6495. That leaves the in-state student with $19,369 they have to cover somehow–and that almost always means borrowing the money.
As a result, it’s common to see a student graduate college with a bachelor’s degree, and well over $50,000-$60,000 in debt that they’ll have to start paying off about six months after they get out of college.
The government knows this, and the lending institutions know this. Students are getting screwed by this system.
8. What if we just stopped?
Funeral services, preying on the grief of loved ones.
I understand that its really for the living to celebrate their lost loved ones, but when I’m done I just want my family to bury my dead ass in the backyard and throw a bash at the house in my honor.
Doubt I’ll mind considering I’m dead.
7. And sometimes you don’t even need it!
Insurance. You pay monthly for it and then you still have a deductible, they’ll only cover so much and they’ll try to weasel out of what they actually owe you.
I always go for lower premiums with a high deductible. Insurance isn’t supposed to be a comprehensive payment plan, it’s supposed to guard me against high, unexpected charges that would throw me off of my plans.
Otherwise, I would be paying for the comprehensive thought premium and spend so much more than the average person when I take the low deductible routes.
6. Yes, all of them.
All MLM. Multi Level Marketing company’s are nothing but giant pyramid schemes. Do not support these and try to save your friends and family from them. They ruin people’s lives.
i got tricked into a few of those meetings when I was younger.
they can be clever in how they get people in too.
they make job postings that describe it very well like a regular job, sometimes not even mentioning sales – they market it as customer service.
they set up an interview with you, and you don’t know until you actually get there that 50 other people got the “interview” too and you’re all interviewing together.. watching a presentation.
city i used to live had an herbalife “bar”.
they’d make job postings and make you think you were applying to actually work at the bar where they sold drinks and smoothies and stuff.
it was just a ploy to get you to the herbalife MLM meeting with them, conveniently hosted in the “bar” where you could also buy their drinks since the meeting was over an hour.
5. Suck it, Rocky.
Eating/drinking raw eggs. The proteins found in eggs only become useful to your body after the structures are changed by applying heat aka cooking them.
There’s not only no point choking back a raw egg. You’re also absorbing less protein from it than if you were to cook it.
“Cooked eggs have a bioavailability of around 91% for protein, while protein from raw eggs only is 50% bioavailable (Evenepoel et al., 1998).”
4. Looking at you, Apple.
Planned obsolescence.
3. You just have to buy more.
Supermarket orchids.
They’re planted in poor, degrading substrate and need to be repotted asap. But people don’t and they die after at most a year, and the cycle continues.
2. And they’re not alone.
Fifa games.
Practically all sports games in general. Fifa is the worse of them, they just copy last year’s game into the new one and slap a different color scheme. You’re basically paying $60 for updated rosters and jerseys.
That’s not even the scam part, the loot box gambling mechanics are worse than casinos. The FIFA scam is they trick you into thinking you are playing a regular ol video game but try at every turn to empty your wallet with predatory monetary practices. You’re paying $60 for a ticket into a casino.
1. They do have options.
Convincing every high school kid they NEED to go to university.
In reality skilled Trades or another specialized school would be the best route for a lot of people, and the pay can be very good.
Buyer beware, and consider yourself warned.
What else would you put on this list? Tell us about it in the comments!
