People are sharing 10 unnecessary expenses that have become a normal part of our daily lives

Normalized scams in the modern world.

Living in the modern world, we have many choices when it comes to our purchase decisions. Due to so many choices, we may not think too much when we buy products, which could otherwise be considered an unnecessary expense. In addition to that, many companies rely heavily on marketing and branding, which results in many products being too overpriced for the quality they offer. u/morph_920 asked the community, "What scam is so normalized that people don't even realize it's a scam?" 

1. Convenience fee for paying rent.

I have to pay a 3% convenience fee to pay my rent online. I literally have to pay to pay my rent, it’s disgraceful. u/JiveTurkey2727. In the US they have to give you a free option unless you agreed to it in your lease. I’ve sold payment solutions to the apartment industry for the past 7 years and this is a constant question. You’re paying the fee because it’s more convenient for you. Send me a DM with the name of the management company and/or the payment platform they use and maybe I can help you. u/mcdray2

2. School textbooks. 

Buying schoolbooks. Publishers know you have literally no choice but to buy it and jack up the price in many cases. And some teachers get a cut on those sales which is insanely scummy but somehow tolerated in many schools. I’ve had classes where you had to pay 150$ for a book we didn’t even use once during the class, but you literally couldn’t do any of the online evaluations unless you bought it. It’s just a way for some companies to make an easy 500-600 dollars or more off the backs of students. u/NxOKAG03

3. Healthcare. 

Healthcare not including dental and vision. u/JeleeighBa. This is because employers don't want to pay for those body parts. I agree, it's absurd. u/jedimaniac. It's actually because back in the day, many early insurance companies were created by hospitals that thought of dentists and optometrists as separate, lesser professions and didn't want to include them in their programs. It's just kind of persisted to this day. u/jeffsang

4. Paid services in vehicles.

Subscription services in vehicles. Pay monthly/yearly for heated seats or to unlock performance mode. I don't get how people support this business practice. u/PolishSausa9e. To be fair, regarding the heated seats subscription: it's either a larger upfront cost as a build option or a monthly subscription in the months you actually need it. Say it's a £150 option or £10 per month. You can either pay £150 up front for the life of the vehicle, or in the 1 or 2 months in a year you actually want heated seats, you pay like £20 max in a year. If you're not buying the car outright and you have the car contracted for like 3 years, that's £60 Vs £150. Also if you buy the car new and you don't want heated seats, that's fine you won't spend a penny, but it helps when reselling the car that it has the option of heated seats for the next buyer. u/PineappleMelonTree

5. Subscription fees for owned hardware.

Charging subscription fees to access software on hardware you already own. "Our customers pay for our overpriced goods, but they appear to still have money. How can we make them buy the product every month without us having to pay to make or ship any new materials!?" u/Griffindance. That's why I no longer use the Microsoft Office suite. I didn't mind paying for it once to own it, but to pay every month whether I use it or not? Forget it. I use Libre Office now, as well as Google Office apps. u/amatulic

6. Printer cartridges. 

Ink cartridges. u/NorEaster_23. Laser printers are the way to go! They are more money upfront, but those toner drums last forever. Mine is still full after 8 years of having the same one. u/configuresomber. Many printers will use some color ink while printing black. I read there was a lawsuit about it, but the ink companies won, claiming a mix of colors allows for a truer black or something along that line. u/MeWantFood69

7. Insurance policies. 

Medical care/insurance company cartels. u/kimmeljs. Insurance is my pick. So I am required to have it, I pay a hefty amount every month for “coverage” but if something happens where I need to use it my rates go up? Makes no sense, what about the 6 years of payments I’ve made? shouldn’t that more than cover things and then some? u/Artnor1184. Or the fact that you can pay more for insurance over the life of the vehicle, than the value of the vehicle, and if it's totaled you get less than it's worth. u/Ancient-Eye3022

8. Inflation after Covid-19. 

Inflation since COVID-19. u/kingjasko96. Wish I could upvote more. Historically with inflation about 60% is worker costs, this time it's close to 60% due to profit increases and only 10-15% going to workers. Compete price gouging scam. u/gtpc2020. A substantial part of our current inflation cycle is energy cost, which for hard goods affects the price at every level (raw materials supply, manufacturing, distribution to market). u/JosePrettyChili

9. Pyramid schemes.

Multi-level marketing. u/yeahrum. Just turned one down! They told me I would be the head of the franchise. I told them I wanted to be the burger flipper, not the owner. They didn’t like that. What a scam! u/FunStuff446. Very few people actually make good money off these things. You need to have a very wide and vast circle of friends who also have wide circles of friends. All who are willing to spend money on items that are whatever. My sister got suckered into one and she ended up losing so much money and also being stuck with merchandise no one was interested in. I always feel bad not supporting people I care about but I am not in the position to be able to spend that kind of money on things I don’t even like that much. Heck, I can’t even buy things I do like. u/CheesyRomantic

10. Bottled water.

You're not paying for water, per se. You're paying for treated water. Tap water is filtered, purified, and tested. Bottled water is bottled. Either way, some work has been done to it, and that is the value-added portion of the water that you're paying for. You are welcome to go down to the lake and drink out of it for free. Good luck with that, by the way. u/Bizzare_Protuberance. Also, the more expensive part, at least in my country, is the disposal, meaning the cost of the pipes and the water treatment after it is flushed down the pipes. OP thinks all water is rainwater, apparently, which he is free to collect with huge buckets any time he wants, but please dispose of it with your own system, too. u/Korneubergerin