r/mildlyinfuriating • u/TheAeroplaneBear2906 • Jul 16 '26

Unskippable ad Clear Backpacks + Pay to Keep Your Phone

Post image

My freinds school is now requiring these items, and is also using AI to promote this đŸ« 

17.9k Upvotes

87% Upvoted

3.9k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1.5k

u/swimming_singularity Jul 16 '26

I've really started to notice it more after COVID. Everyone wants in my wallet. If there is some new concern, there's some way to monetize it. Plus all the advertising constantly bombarding me. Businesses charging me little extra fees.

I'm really not surprised they are finding new ways to monetize something people have been doing for decades. Everyone wants in my wallet and I'm sick of it.

228

u/zz_civic_ Jul 16 '26

That and it’s never just a one time cost. It’s a monthly subscription until the end of time. Never ending revenue generation for someone else.

34

u/Blue5398 Jul 16 '26

Literally just rent seeking

22

u/XpCjU Jul 16 '26

rent seeking is the obvious next step in a capitalist society. I can't sell you a new vacuum every month, but I could sell you a subscription that's required for the vacuum to function completely.

5

u/SpaceCat1887 Jul 16 '26

Remember seeing something already done like that with lightbulbs. Supposedly we have the tech to make lightbulbs that last an absurdly long time but we just don’t because then the poor lightbulb manufacturers would lose out on profit.

3

u/XpCjU Jul 16 '26

I have heard of that story, but I have also seen some debunkings on it, so I'm not sure what to believe in that case. But BMW did try to make heated seats a subscription, and afaik you still have to pay extra for them to activate that function.

2

u/StandardMorning1286 Jul 16 '26

I think cars are the craziest example because you literally buy the functional technology when you purchase the car. Like, everything needed to heat the seats is right there under your ass. Your car company just keeps you locked out of it until they extort you for more money.

1

u/XpCjU Jul 16 '26

That kind of behaviour should be illegal. Sure, sell me heated seats as an addon, but at least have the decency to make a car without them as the baseline

1

u/Imaginary--Situation Jul 17 '26

an example is headlights on a car mine are 13 years old from the factory

they probably have thousands of hours on them..

6

u/agent674253 Jul 16 '26

All tech companies seek to become landlords and charge their customers rent.

Why sell a widget once for $200 when you can sell it for $9.99/month indefinitely?

"You'll have the latest features!"

What if you don't want the latest features?

If you just need to smash some letters into a word doc, that process hasn't changed since the 80s, why do you need monthly feature updates just to write your latest 'save the cat' story? Fuck off copilot. I don't need you to write my essay.

ETA the 'landlord' portion ties into Corey Doctorow's 'enshittification' premise as well.

https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/21/potemkin-ai/#hey-guys

3

u/DoingBestWeCan Jul 16 '26

Highly recommend OpenOffice to anyone who needs basic functionality rather than the Microsoft-specific suite!

2

u/WorkbenchManiac Jul 16 '26

A heads up: LibreOffice is the more modern and better supported fork of OpenOffice.

But I agree, as a former user of OpenOffice and now of LibreOffice, it works well.

4

u/---E Jul 16 '26

Even charities, I can't even make a one time donation I always have to sign up for a monthly automatic donation.

2

u/Anomalous_Pulsar Jul 16 '26

Some places literally refer to customers as “RGU’s” Revenue Generating Units. It’s wildly fucked.

37

u/flow_fighter Jul 16 '26

Not to be all “pesticides in my water”, but how many of these concerns aren’t actually concerns, just ways to grift people out of money.

118

u/Hefty-Relative9449 Jul 16 '26

Yep always parasites who want your time or money. It’s never enough

27

u/RainyDayisGreat Jul 16 '26

I think the demand on attention is the most offending part. All day everyday it feels like walking through a crowded marketplace where vendors are screaming at you to get you to transact.

Everything is monetized or marketed. Turning on the local news I’m presented an influencer chucking “hot deals” under the guise of newsworthy happenings. YouTube creators were always playing the game of hitting the algorithm to get ad revenue, now everyone has a ton of affiliate linked items totally unrelated to the video content. I google about ankle pain and immediately I’m served up a seemingly endless stream of magical products or solutions on Facebook. It’s exhausting and it draws a stark contrast to real world interactions with people that just care about you without some additional agenda. Technology was supposed to bring us closer together, it’s done the exact opposite.

Generating revenue is necessary, I get it. But if I’m buying a car and the Car Salesman pops the truck of one of the models and tries to sell me bath soap, they’re no longer supporting a process that helps me, they just want every dollar they can possibly extract from me. If I see a friend and they’re always trying to sell me life insurance or a pyramid scheme, they’re not genuinely engaging with me.

This has been part of the mix the whole time I think, it just feels turned up to 11 in recent years.

5

u/DrLazarusConvoy Jul 16 '26

Scary how sci-fi movies from 30-60 years ago predicted most if not all of this.

1

u/dragon-dance Jul 16 '26

Late stage capitalism

6

u/Joloxsa_Xenax Jul 16 '26

yep bc once youre a sucker who falls for it, once they take the inch, next theyre coming for a mile. youre not allowed to be comfortable with the price of the service, they want you to spend more each time you come back

1

u/BitcoinsOnDVD Jul 16 '26

When I was studying at the university there was a time where I showed up without a bag. When needed, I borrowed a pen at a student's office and some paper from a public printer.

1

u/Double_Cow_8238 Jul 16 '26

If parents would teach their kids to use their phones properly it wouldn't be an issue, but the parents aren't capable of it either.

101

u/RRW2020 Jul 16 '26

I grew up on the U.S. and moved to the U.K. 10 years ago. Completely different vibe. Billboards are largely illegal. Advertising is very different here; it’s not so in-your-face.

12

u/UserCannotBeVerified Jul 16 '26

Billboards are illegal?! Where in the UK did you move to because ive lived here pretty much all my life and im forever seeing those awful JC Decaux billboards everywhere

8

u/[deleted] Jul 16 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/RRW2020 Jul 24 '26

It’s this
 I guess not all billboards are illegal in the U.K., but it’s nothing compared to the US. It’s really, really crazy. Especially when driving on interstates/motorways. They’re everywhere.

41

u/AbeltheRevenant Jul 16 '26

It's still massively on the rise as well as the wallet dipping. Just slightly behind some other places, but getting worse at the same rate

3

u/Fun-Dragonfly-4166 Jul 16 '26

i am in the US but billboards are illegal (or just do not happen) in my city. I notice them when I travel. They are obnoxious.

3

u/worthing0101 Jul 16 '26

No advertising pharmaceuticals direct to consumers is one of the things the UK does that I'd love to see here in the US.

7

u/Responsible-Onion860 Jul 16 '26

I noticed this too. And it's not strictly new shady business ideas. There are a number of acquaintances I only hear from when they want me to attend this (paid) event they're organizing or buy something from their business or join some group that requires dues.

It feels like I only exist to most of the world as a bank account and they want their piece of it

15

u/sloanesquared Jul 16 '26

I really think this is part of the Trump effect. He has a world view that nothing matters or is important unless it is making money for someone else and has really normalized extreme greed.

-9

u/Old-Day1981 Jul 16 '26

Holy shit, the parallels y’all will draw just to get your anti trump fix know no bounds.

10

u/Spleenseer Jul 16 '26

Well, I mean, they're not wrong.

8

u/spw19 Jul 16 '26

Yeah its not like the President has monetized his office to make billions for him and his family is it ?

-5

u/Old-Day1981 Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 16 '26

Yep, precisely by charging for book bags and cell phone bags. Genius

1

u/CheaterSaysWhat Jul 16 '26

Sorry your feelings were hurt. I can recommend a therapist who can talk to you about them. 

2

u/Old-Day1981 Jul 16 '26

😂

1

u/CheaterSaysWhat Jul 16 '26

Glad I could get a laugh out of ya

Hope you enjoy your week and stay safe out there

2

u/TYBERIUS_777 Jul 16 '26

Someone was trying to sell my local school system an AI video security system that was supposed to be able to identify anyone who didn’t belong on campus. Every kids and faculty members face would have had to be scanned for it to work. I think it was already installed in another states local school network and had falsely identified people multiple times. Thankfully, our scoreboard shut it down but if they didn’t, it would have practically bankrupted our district because of the price.

8

u/Ancient-Civilization Jul 16 '26

Yeah bud that’s called capitalism. Consumers pay and that’s how corporations make money thus politicians paid under the table.

1

u/Legitimate_Ad_9753 Jul 16 '26

I have resigned myself to the fact that anytime I leave my house I am going to most likely be down $100, minimum.

1

u/Quick_Turnover Jul 16 '26

Welcome to capitalism :)

1

u/Combatical Jul 16 '26

Dude I was at the gas station last night paying 30 cents more than the day before, everywhere I looked my eyes were assaulted with ads and then the damn gas pump started blaring unmutable commercials at me at max volume.. I'm so tired..

1

u/saloondweller Jul 16 '26

The worst part is they shame you when you call them out for it especially when their product is lazy/a blatant money grab or low quality, then have the nerve to say you're cheap and don't want to help struggling parents or some bs

1

u/CaptainNessy2 Jul 16 '26

It used to be cupstacking and book fairs. Now they just sell ways to keep kids "safe"

1

u/ThatRandomAccount2 Jul 16 '26

yup, it was bad before but after COVID it feels like everyone just turbo charged it

1

u/ScallionJealous Jul 16 '26

It’s not new and as you can read both of these purchases are optional. You can go get your own clear backpack and leave your phone at home and you don’t have to give these companies anything. There have always been fees associated with getting a student registered for school and the supplies they need to participate in academics and extra curriculars.

1

u/Frequent_Opportunist Jul 16 '26

It's late stage capitalism. Just wait until they figure out a way to charge you for air.

1

u/Waiting4Reccession Jul 16 '26

And the never ending kickbacks to the people who approved it all in the first place.

If i had a kid and they try to push some stupid clear book bag or phone pouch I'm going to send him to school normally and pick him up without letting him stay for detention or whatever.

1

u/Octospyder Jul 16 '26

ironically I think this is one reason the republicans have so much support in the US. their campaign strategy is to validate the fear and stress that people have, and then turn it on a scapegoat (trans people and immigrants). because we really ARE being attacked constantly in our day to day.... by scammers, up to and including big box stores. 

1

u/i_have_tiny_ants Jul 16 '26

I really hate how common place scam like fees have become. Not only have the prices risen, its gotten increasingly hard to compare prices.

1

u/trevwoods Jul 16 '26

preach brother im fed up with you

1

u/Mlpony2010 Jul 16 '26

Natural course of capitalism

-34

u/[deleted] Jul 16 '26

[deleted]

29

u/jewrassic_park-1940 Jul 16 '26

Did you miss the "required" part of the post?

7

u/[deleted] Jul 16 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

5

u/kyle_lover_69 Jul 16 '26

Have you seen the rising cost of funerals?