People Break Down Which Practices The United States Needs To Adopt From Other Countries
We can all agree that there is something to appreciate about every country in the world, but there are arguably some countries that appear to have their ducks more consistently and happily in a row than others.
While it would be easy to let pride get in the way and continue to do things the same way, the more productive thing would be to learn from the countries who have figured out a better way to do certain things, whether it's healthcare, food banks, or other services.
Reflecting on the United States, Redditor Blinds**thead asked:
"What is one thing the USA should adopt from some other country?"
Introductions to Alcohol
"Swedish drinking laws. If I remember correctly, you can purchase alcohol below 5% at age 18, and be served liquor in bars (so the bartender can control the amount being served)."
"Seems like a smarter way to introduce kids to alcohol rather than opening the floodgates at 21."
- underhandfranky
Taxes to Approve
"Automated taxes."
"I've never done them but they seem complicated and stress my parents out, so I just know I'll f**k mine up and end up in stupid jail, lol (laughing out loud)."
"Just send me something to sign, please!"
- teenage-nightmare
Societal Improvement
"A prison system that focuses on rehabilitation instead of punishment. Many countries have been successful with this saving literally billions of dollars and cutting down on crime."
- LtRecore
Universal School Lunches
"Universal school lunches. It is embarrassing that we do not have folks cooking lunches for students from scratch and that it is not provided for free to all students."
"Do you want to bring your own lunch? Great, but you can also have the free hot lunch that looks homemade, not pizza squares, canned veggies, a slice of fruit, and 3 oz of milk."
"Kids shouldn't be going into debt for lunch. We're probably wealthy enough that our food waste alone would be sufficient, if captured magically, to feed every kid in the United States three proper meals per day."
"Also walkable cities and above-ground monorail systems."
- radiantpenguin991
Relieving Homelessness
"Finland has recently ended homelessness by just allowing people to live in small apartments without any preconditions, and four out of five of them make their way back to a stable life."
"It's also cheaper than allowing people to be homeless."
- littleMAHER1
Period.
"Universal healthcare."
- fastal_12147
Foster Care Assistance
"It would be nice to also eliminate the fees foster parents pay for general registration, classes, and social services related to fostering or adoption."
"And also eliminate trying to recoup costs by billing parents whose children have been placed in foster care."
- hawtpahtadah
Longer Paid Family Leave
"I was SUPER blessed to get 12 weeks fully pay. But that’s not enough time. Putting the emotional aspect aside, I’ve returned to work functioning on four to five hours of sleep a night, and my productivity and cognitive abilities are greatly handicapped."
"My three-month-old son can’t even hold his head up or sit, let alone talk to tell me if anything’s wrong, and he’s placed in the care of someone else from 7:15 am to 5:15 pm. Doesn’t seem healthy for mother or child."
- tealpineapple456
Bathroom Upgrades
"The fact that our toilets don't have bidets and that at public restrooms the gap between the doors is massive, are both disgusting. Our whole bathroom situation is messed up."
- darksix
Having a Siesta
"According to Dr. Andrew Huberman, whether you eat lunch or not, everyone requires a rest midday."
- Justhere_2468
Tax Included in the Price
"Man, I had such a hard time with this when I visited America. Maths in my head is not my forte and I’m so used to looking at prices and expecting that to just be the price."
"I don’t get why you wouldn’t just add in the tax to the price. No one wants to do math unnecessarily. I mean, we don’t even tip in Australia so I don’t even need to work that out."
- Cookie_Wife
Raising Multilingual Children
"Teaching a foreign language to young students in public schools (ie 5yrs, k-5) when the propensity to learn the language quickly is maximum."
- zenjen22
Clean Public Restrooms
"The clean restrooms in Japan were amazing. I never had to clean a toilet seat to put my young kids on it. In the states? Near every time. People here just don’t care about the ‘we’ when it comes to restrooms."
- NoodlesAreAmazing
Separate Work and Healthcare
"Decent healthcare that isn't tied to your job. Other countries all over the world have figured out different ways to do this, so why can't we? (I know, corporations own politicians.)"
"I'm not an expert, but I'm guessing it would destabilize a bunch of industries in the near term. But I wonder if long-term, it would create so much new innovation since people would be unafraid to lose their health benefits to leave their stable but s**tty corporate jobs to start new ventures."
- michiman
Designated Drivers on the Go
"In Japan, there is a service that you can call 24 hours per day that will come with two drivers and one car. One driver drives you and your car home, and the other follows in their car to pick up the driver that took you home with your car. No DUI, etc."
"It's actually really affordable there. No need to get an uber home that night and then an uber back the next day when you are hungover only to find out you have a million parking tickets or your car got towed."
- Visual_Sport_950
Though there are positives to every country, it would be so cool to see each country be more open-minded about adopting the positives of other countries.
If a country is doing something better than another, the best thing for the citizens would be to take some notes, rather than let their pride do the talking.
Food Bank Workers Explain Which Items Are Most In Demand During The Holidays
So many needs to fill.
There are people in great need this holiday season, and all year long. The food banks are overrun with recipients who could really use humanity's help. It is especially tough during the holiday season to go without. People are missing the basics, nobody should be hungry in this world of wealth.
Redditor u/Latvian_Pete wanted everyone to know what is most needed to make the holidays bountiful for all by asking.... Redditors who work at food banks, what is best to donate, what do you always need?
Ready & Go....
GiphyJust volunteered last week! One item they needed more of was things ready to eat right out of the package because they send those to the schools for lunch assistance programs. I mean you could hand a kid a box of dry macaroni, but they'd have no way to cook it there. BellerophonSkydiving
In order of preference....
In order of preference;
- Cash, since the buying power of the foodbank is greater than what you can give. Sometimes by a factor of 2-3.
- Hygiene Items. Depending on what your regional food bank is, many of the regional ones only have food, so any type of hygiene items (especially feminine products) is a huge help.
- Paper and cleaning products (soap, laundry detergent). These are not often considered necessary items, but not having to pay for them frees up a lot of money for someone who is having a hard time.
- Your time. Most foodbanks have dedicated volunteers who are familiar with the processes and the people going to the food bank. If you are going to go once, do what you are told and otherwise keep out of the way. Becoming a regular volunteer is better. laztheinfamous
Family-size.....
I volunteer to food banks that also donate essential things.
That we always need : Pads and tampons. We always lack those. And Diapers. Both for babies, and for older people. Also cleaning products. If they have a home, they need things to clean it, if only to feel better in it.
When it comes to food what we often lack is things that can be eaten cold or don't need preparation. Too many people live in their cars or in the street. They don't have access to pans, stove, microwaves, anything you'd find in a kitchen really.
We could also do with more things for single people. Family-size is great for families. But for people who are alone, it means that once open it will either go to waste or more likely have someone eat something that had gone bad.
We do still need the usual food, family-size things etc etc. But we ran out of what I have listed more often than other stuff. Marawal
Coin.
Cash. They can get items for cheaper than consumers.
I worked in a combo food shelf/home goods shelf and underwear, socks, and hygiene items like deodorant were very popular. Also, pet food! tomtenisse1
Year Round.
GiphyNot exactly what OP was asking but I was a frequent volunteer at food banks. They would always tell us that whatever we donate, remember to donate during the spring and summer.
Hunger still continues beyond the holiday season. Truegold43
Fur Babies in Need.
I could've used donated pet food a time or two. I've used food banks and gone to churches when they give out food. Saved my butt a few times.
I don't know about anyone else, but I've gotten donated people food for my animals. Just about any kind of plain meat, canned, fresh, or frozen, will feed a pet in a pinch. One place always gave out these big cans of cooked pork and beef. My people family was not fond of those meats, but my pets loved them.
I'd rinse the meat cuz it was salty af and dole it out. Wasn't the best choice (dogs and cats need more than just muscle meat) but hey, they didn't starve.
I'd ask and see if a food bank would take it. Or give them cash and maybe ask if they'd consider buying pet supplies. FelisHorriblis
Expirations.
People have already given sufficient responses on what to give, but I just need to ask everybody to please check the dates on the stuff you're giving us. Last week I found spaghetti sauce that expired on January 7th, 2010. It's just a nuisance to give us stuff we can't use. TheProfessorOfPi
Many Things...
I've run a food pantry for 5 years.
- Cash is king. Depending on the state your food pantry is located, they can get staple items relatively cheaply. When ordering for our pantry, we can get staple items incredibly cheap or even for free.
- Feminine hygiene products. Tampons, pads. Anything needed like that is incredibly important.
- Other cooking supplies. Butter. Olive oil. Flour. Folks that use pantries cook but don't always have these items. They're important, basic cooking tools. PezDOY
Closest Shopping Abilities.
I am the co-director of a volunteer-run food & hygiene pantry. We can't accept cash/checks ourselves and the organization that handles monetary donations for us has a lot of hoops they like to put us through to use funds. That being said, if someone wants to do some sort of monetary donation, we always say Walmart Gift Cards. It's the closest major store and has everything we need.
For actual items, we generally accept anything non-perishable, unopened, and within expiration (or at least not too expired since we have a guide that tells us how long different food items are still good for past the printed date). sweetxsunflower
I'm not a food bank worker but have been a recipient.
GiphyI'm not a food bank worker but have been a recipient. The problem I would have was that I would receive dry pasta but no sauce. Or Mac n cheese but would not have the milk or butter at home to make it. I would suggest that if Mac n cheese is donated, the kind with the squeeze cheese would be better. People don't always have the items needed to make a full meal with some of the items that are donated. Another thing we rarely received was canned fruit. Since perishables were rarely donated, canned fruit was a great treat to receive. JAMM_412