There's a lot of ways to bleed the money out of people, typically all in the name of "site maintenance" or "business upkeep" or "we'll put this money to good use and help pay for schools we totally promise."

Except that doesn't happen.

The Math Doesn't Add Up

"Convenience fees for online transactions."

squid1891

"I understand there are costs to maintaining a website, but why is there a booking fee per ticket I buy?"

"It doesn't take any more time on your website for me to book 10 tickets than it does for 1. Should just be a single flat fee."

TheRealClose

Our Country Is Certainly A Standout For This Reason

"Tipping."

"Imagine convincing someone that you don't need to pay your employees, because you will pressure random strangers to do that for you."

Nethervex

"I live in Europe and it's hard for me to even grasp this concept. We do tip, but it's considered a gesture of good will and just about being a nice person. If you don't have a change to tip, it's not that big of a deal, because the servers are paid hourly. We just do it because their wages are usually minimal."

CarolynEarle

Insane Interest Rates

"Short term loan sharks like money tree. If you look into it, its legal but totally immoral how they work interest on poor people"

Jehovahscatchrag

"Title pawns are just as bad IMO. Set up so there is almost 0 chance the borrower will be able to repay, they just lose their car and make their credit even worse. It would be so much better to just sell the car straight up."

midasMIRV

Just Enough To Keep Them Coming Back For More

"Lottery Tickets"

"At the convenience store I will often see people who are clearly poor and struggling to get by drop $200 on them without a second thought. Last week a guy in line purchased over $100 dollars of mega millions tickets. Two dollars per play and the odds of winning the top prize are 1 in 310 million! Unfortunately because somebody does eventually win these people keep playing thinking one day they'll be that person."

lostwanderer02

"Definitely this. While a little of that money might technically be going towards funding schools and such, the way they market and promote it is just scummy; Often using skinner box techniques where you win $5 or a free ticket every few tries to keep people coming back."

"It ends up targeting the poor who legitimately need the money, while telling them that there's actually a chance they could win."

zachtheperson

Seriously. Why?

"Administration fees on top of application fees for renting a house/apartment."

jz1127

And then there's these, scams we deal with because if we don't, hey, we fail a class or we can't print up our work.

These shouldn't cost what they cost but they do and here we are.

Sweet, Sweet Royalties

"Textbooks in college. Bonus points if a code must be purchased in order to do the online homework."

MC-sama

"The year it dawned on me to check the library first was a good year. I was pleasantly surprised that a few of the books I needed were available."

lemma_qed

"Or those classes where there are 4 books on the syllabus, each several hundred dollars, and you use one of them primarily, two of them the prof references one page or one paragraph that could just as easily (albeit probably not legally) photocopied 100 times, and one you don't use at all."

"Or those classes where the prof wrote the book and assigns it for those sweet sweet royalties"

Styve2001

The True Biggest Money Drain

"Printer ink."

"How the f-ck is all the cyan gone if I only print black and white?"

"Though I don't think anyone thinks this is acceptable."

"Just moved my daughter in to college. Was thinking of buying a laserjet and if she needs color just use the college printer or go to print shop."

kurt_go_bang

Stop Going Until We Figure It Out

"That college is worth getting over $100k in debt by your early 20s. There are cheaper options just as good, and that debt stays with you a long time."

alligatorcreek

There's no reason for any of these, if we're being honest, but the following cons are most likely the most scummy and foul. Traditions and expectations that, with a little critical thought, could be deemed unnecessary.

Medicine That Works

"[Holistic] medicine, I always find it funny as fuck whenever these earth muffins make their way into the ER to reap the benefits of western medicine because their hippy style treatments for their problems aren't working."

adamsbrad47

""Do you know what they call alternative medicine that's been proven to work?... Medicine!" - Tim Minchin"

joiey555

We Still Allow These?

"Beach body MLM. Drink this crappy shake, and use these workouts to lose x weight and be coached by someone with no credentials. And you need to continue to come back to try these new 4 week workouts…"

ladyofthelake6

So It's All Made Up But Follows Us Forever?

"Credit Scores! F-ck the whole system! They control what kind of financial help you can get, but they don't tell you anything about someone's current position. I didn't understand what it was or why it is so important, and I screwed mine up in my early 20s. Im going to be digging myself out of this hole for the foreseeable future!"

"It should be mandatory to teach this stuff in high school!"

joiey555

Pay For What You Want. Celebrate How You Want.

"Needing to buy diamond wedding rings which are crazy expensive just to show "true love".

"Or just weddings in general TBH."

EccentricHorse11

"Literally. If I ever get married, I'd ask for a citrine wedding ring if there has to be a gem in there. 1 carat is around 10-30 bucks, depending on quality and that's all I really need. I love citrine and I'd rather have something that I like, than something expensive. Diamonds really are just an off white gem. Hell. Get me a cobalt colored glass gem."

1BoiledCabbage

Just, All Of It

"America's Healthcare System"

Lickformine

We Can All See It Happening, And It Keeps Happening

"Businesses using tax loopholes to basically pay zero taxes."

ohlaph

"How is it a scam? A loophole is just the nasty way of saying tax code. I'd say most businesses don't outright cheat on their taxes but use every legal rule as set by the government to not pay taxes. I don't see why you wouldn't want to actively try to keep your money."

JohnnyBrillcream

"None of the things listed here is illegal. That's the point of this thread."

Ashamed_Dig

Be alert, keep your ears open, and be ready. Someone or something might be trying to pull a fast one on you, even in the name of "education" or "love."

Want to "know" more? Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again. Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.