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Everything is Shit: Tracking the Great Enshittening


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19 hours ago, FirstTimeCaller said:

Is this the thread where we bitch out shitty things in life? Actual tickets to sporting events/concerts instead of this digital shit that's become the norm. So much easier just to have a hard copy ticket than dealing with digital copies. Plus, you can actually keep them as a souvenir.

I agree on the lack of souvenirs piece, but I do enjoy the peace of mind that comes with knowing I can’t lose the ticket.  What kills me about digital tickets is people who wait until they’re at the gate to fumble out their phone only to realize they don’t have a good connection, can’t figure out the app/wallet or try showing the emailed invoice.  Fuck them.  

Show tickets of any kind have become an absolutely stupid expensive endeavor through TicketMasters monopoly on distribution, venues and artists.  I practically lived at Stubbs for a few years at $35/ticket barely a decade ago…now it seems any show anywhere is $120+ once you include the ‘convenience’ fee that you are required to pay.  

Add on a gamed secondary market, $20 beers, $30 parking, ‘dynamic’ pricing like airlines ruining miles redemption…can be a miserable, expensive experience.  Then again, the market seems to support $5,000 Taylor Swift or $25 in fees on a $35 Royals ticket so we collectively enable that shit.  

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43 minutes ago, Homercles said:

Show tickets of any kind have become an absolutely stupid expensive endeavor through TicketMasters monopoly on distribution, venues and artists.  I practically lived at Stubbs for a few years at $35/ticket barely a decade ago…now it seems any show anywhere is $120+ once you include the ‘convenience’ fee that you are required to pay.  

Shit, on an expensive ticket you're looking at $150-200 on fees that are not part of the listed price of the ticket. Shit should be illegal, but regulating business is unfortunately communism so we just get to bend over and enjoy it

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9 hours ago, Chopper said:

A fascinating article about how google is allowing large publishers to not only game 'search' but also fails sites that do actual independent reviews.

An explanation for why your product review search results probably suck.

https://housefresh.com/david-vs-digital-goliaths/

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Good article. I've observed the trend for a while.

Also how I often can't find the manufacturer's website to research it directly, because the review sites are choking them out.

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I've noticed Uber becoming really shitty over the last 6 months or so. The app is now pushing me to more expensive cars by making the wait times longer. I live in the heart of Houston and have a 4.96 rating or something like that, so it's not an issue with a lack of drivers or being passed over. An Uber that used to be at my place in 3 minutes takes significantly longer. An UberX is "15 minutes away" so I should upgrade to Comfort or XL for a quicker ride, than that car is still 15 minutes away. Assholes. 

Edited by Hank Kingsley
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10 hours ago, Chopper said:

A fascinating article about how google is allowing large publishers to not only game 'search' but also fails sites that do actual independent reviews.

An explanation for why your product review search results probably suck.

https://housefresh.com/david-vs-digital-goliaths/

image.thumb.png.178e17ad385f68cc5b18a09e7ad700cf.png

The October google update completely devastated small, independent publishers in favor of Reddit, Quora (which absolutely is an awful site) and big brands. 

Edited by FirstTimeCaller
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9 minutes ago, FirstTimeCaller said:

The October google update completely devastated small, independent publishers in favor of Reddit, Quora (which absolutely is an awful site) and big brands. 

Reddit, its, shall we say, unreliability, and its appearance on the first page of search results, is discussed in the article.

image.thumb.png.938f6820bef3ad48349776e9ae98ba96.png

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Verywell, People.com, Health.com, Travel + Leisure, Byrdie, MyDomaine, The Spruce, Lifewire, Southern Living, TreeHugger, Parents.com, Real Simple, Popular Science, Tom's Guide, NY Mag, CNET, Business Insider, Buzz Feed, Better Homes and Gardens, Rolling Stone - those are many of the brands that now dominate everyone's product recommendations search results and all they're doing is pull in reviews from amazon and then link back there for affiliate sales.

Here's the article's conclusion:

image.thumb.png.66972cb2ec560b33ec0399f15da6369e.png

 

image.thumb.png.bfb49cdc03106a1ec7de3662846cbc00.png

 

 

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6 hours ago, Hank Kingsley said:

I've noticed Uber becoming really shitty over the last 6 months or so. The app is now pushing me to more expensive cars by making the wait times longer. I live in the heart of Houston and have a 4.96 rating or something like that, so it's not an issue with a lack of drivers or being passed over. An Uber that used to be at my place in 3 minutes takes significantly longer. An UberX is "15 minutes away" so I should upgrade to Comfort or XL for a quicker ride, than that car is still 15 minutes away. Assholes. 

that's weird. uber just posted record profits the last couple of quarters. 

I'm sure that's totally unrelated

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2 hours ago, hayden_horn said:

that's weird. uber just posted record profits the last couple of quarters. 

I'm sure that's totally unrelated

“record quarter” = the first 2 quarters of ttm profits, ever. 

each bar is a quarter. IMG_5159.thumb.jpeg.7cf9802c82134e0cae68bf4aeb168286.jpeg
they should be forced to continue losing money so we get cheaper taxi rides. 

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On 2/11/2024 at 1:27 AM, Chopper said:

Let nothing, including facts and prior history, stand in the way of armed, public protection of private property. smh

retail theft cant possibly be a factual thing.

stores love to lock $2 products behind glass protection to feign the appearance of theft and advance “corporate agenda and interest”….. which dont include enabling sales because they hate revenue. 
 

IMG_5160.thumb.webp.11c03d6e568ee3ab9427f79879af2baa.webp

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54 minutes ago, 52-80 said:

retail theft cant possibly be a factual thing.

Did someone say there's no such thing as retail theft by shoppers? Tell me, genius, what percentage of sales nationally is inventory theft on the floor of a store and how does that compare to other ways inventory disappears? Is there a number that shows floor theft is greater now than in any previous year? Also is that your picture or did you rip it from the internet? Where is the store located? I was in a Target earlier today and saw nothing remotely like that. I was also in a Walgreens in CA 3 weeks ago and saw nothing like it. A store that puts their deodorant behind lock and key like that is a store that doesn't want to sell deodorant. Whose neck do you think retailers are trying to put their foot on? Are you, in fact, gullible enough to believe that increasing criminal penalties for petty theft is going to deter theft or prove somehow beneficial to society?

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8 hours ago, Chopper said:

Did someone say there's no such thing as retail theft by shoppers? Tell me, genius, what percentage of sales nationally is inventory theft on the floor of a store and how does that compare to other ways inventory disappears? Is there a number that shows floor theft is greater now than in any previous year? Also is that your picture or did you rip it from the internet? Where is the store located? I was in a Target earlier today and saw nothing remotely like that. I was also in a Walgreens in CA 3 weeks ago and saw nothing like it. A store that puts their deodorant behind lock and key like that is a store that doesn't want to sell deodorant. Whose neck do you think retailers are trying to put their foot on?

Read the preceding posts, genius.  Theft was dismissed as corporate spin.  There are numbers showing floor theft has increased -- i fucking showed it.  I also said and showed its a regional issue, not a nationalwide issue, so your experience at Target in Abilene don't matter for shit.  You would know that if you read.

Quote

A store that puts their deodorant behind lock and key like that is a store that doesn't want to sell deodorant. Whose neck do you think retailers are trying to put their foot on? Are you, in fact, gullible ...

Holy conspiracy batman.  Guy says store doesn't actually want to sell product... and implies manager erecting locks to scapegoat sales figures.

And THEN uses the word gullible in the next sentence.  Fucking incredible.

Quote

...to believe that increasing criminal penalties for petty theft is going to deter theft or prove somehow beneficial to society?

Criminalizing crimes is a good thing, actually.  But feel free to play blind to that like you did everything else that was posted.

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13 hours ago, 52-80 said:

retail theft cant possibly be a factual thing.

stores love to lock $2 products behind glass protection to feign the appearance of theft and advance “corporate agenda and interest”….. which dont include enabling sales because they hate revenue. 
 

IMG_5160.thumb.webp.11c03d6e568ee3ab9427f79879af2baa.webp

Serious question -- are these actually locked up? I looked at the picture and every row has "lift here for product":

image.thumb.png.2922fc371e6ce2cb0a9c05b23a7cb693.png

Also, I know you were being hyperbolic calling it a "$2 product" but is it really $7 for a stick of deodorant? 

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3 minutes ago, FirstTimeCaller said:

Serious question -- are these actually locked up? I looked at the picture and every row has "lift here for product":

image.thumb.png.2922fc371e6ce2cb0a9c05b23a7cb693.png

Also, I know you were being hyperbolic calling it a "$2 product" but is it really $7 for a stick of deodorant? 

Chicks dig Old Spice. 

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11 minutes ago, FirstTimeCaller said:

Also, I know you were being hyperbolic calling it a "$2 product" but is it really $7 for a stick of deodorant? 

You will pay 30 to 50% more for all goods and you will be happy about it. Can't be harming profit margins for JORB CREATORZ!

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15 minutes ago, FirstTimeCaller said:

Serious question -- are these actually locked up? I looked at the picture and every row has "lift here for product":

 

Also, I know you were being hyperbolic calling it a "$2 product" but is it really $7 for a stick of deodorant? 

They place locks on the plexiglass, same here, with same "lift here" label:

 

So now the competing theories on why these things are locked up, wherea this was not normal before:

1. because they want to guard against theft

2. because they want to make it a hassle for legitimate customers to buy them

or

3. because apparently it's a false flag operation... to distract from the fact that legitimate customers don't want to buy them (my new favorite conspiracy theory)

 

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7 minutes ago, Captainant said:

You will pay 30 to 50% more for all goods and you will be happy about it. Can't be harming profit margins for JORB CREATORZ!

Also, if you notice, it's $14.99 for a twin pack ($7.50 each), but $6.99 for a single, which is also on sale for 50% off a second one.

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I don't doubt the plexiglass is there for a reason, which I can only assume is to prevent theft. But when I look at the photo, I don't see any locks. Seems like it's more to keep you from being able to grab a bunch at once by needing one hand to lift the plexiglass. Just kind of perplexed by it.

Edited by FirstTimeCaller
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1 hour ago, 52-80 said:

They place locks on the plexiglass, same here, with same "lift here" label:

So now the competing theories on why these things are locked up, wherea this was not normal before:

1. because they want to guard against theft

2. because they want to make it a hassle for legitimate customers to buy them

or

3. because apparently it's a false flag operation... to distract from the fact that legitimate customers don't want to buy them (my new favorite conspiracy theory)

 

Yeah this discussion was weeks ago but for some reason you brought it up.

You appear to have the reading comprehension of an aggy. You can't even quote yourself correctly let alone me.

  • "to distract from the fact that legitimate customers don't want to buy them (my new favorite conspiracy theory)"  -- I wrote nothing even remotely like this. You appear to be having hallucinations. 
  • You just told us the items aren't actually locked up. "LIFT HERE" means NOT LOCKED. Unless you can't read or have the comprehension of a sow. At least make up your mind what you're arguing.

Why do you care if there's plexiglass in front that has to be lifted, or not? Is that a big deal for you? Do you get similarly chafed when you have to ask a sales person to get the size shoes you want out of the back? Or ask to get a watch or item of jewellery you'd like to look at?  When I was a kid in high working at a famous record store, people had to ASK for help to look at/purchase pre-recorded cassette tapes because they were kept behind a counter to deter theft. Oh, the horror.

 

image.thumb.png.aeff37a15a2c884a1ed02fcf1f285486.png

 

 

 

image.png.0126e16097f57831ad4330779b6b5504.png

 

If you're familiar with Barry Rithholtz he published this in December

image.thumb.png.3eea5c5e3dc7d851061a452967065121.png

https://ritholtz.com/2023/12/retail-lobby-we-lied-about-organized-theft/

If you want to be a blathering idiot and point and cry about huge supposed organized retail crime (just a slice of shrinkage but it's been the most sensational), I can't stop you. But that shouldn't stop you from having a basic understanding that there's a reason for the misinformation.

https://popular.info/p/organized-journalistic-crime

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Call it a conspiracy theory if you want, or if you have fox news brain. I'd call it ulterior motives.

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3 hours ago, FirstTimeCaller said:

I don't doubt the plexiglass is there for a reason, which I can only assume is to prevent theft. But when I look at the photo, I don't see any locks. Seems like it's more to keep you from being able to grab a bunch at once by needing one hand to lift the plexiglass. Just kind of perplexed by it.

They slow down the act of bulk shoplifting. It used to be easy to grab a ton of those, other cosmetics (major high shrink category), energy drinks, medicines..etc, quickly and discretely. Fewer employees in the store made these items an even simpler target. These shields provide an inconvenience to that. Especially if the hinges are as loud as the ones that some stores use. 

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39 minutes ago, Da Fino said:

They slow down the act of bulk shoplifting. It used to be easy to grab a ton of those, other cosmetics (major high shrink category), energy drinks, medicines..etc, quickly and discretely. Fewer employees in the store made these items an even simpler target. These shields provide an inconvenience to that. Especially if the hinges are as loud as the ones that some stores use. 

No, No

its a false flag to justify PrIcE GoUgInG!111!!!  sHriNk FlatIonsze!11!11!  GrEde!1!11!  CoRPoRatiOzE BaDz!!1!11  LaTe StaGe CPtiamslslm!1!1/ Captain Antifa

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4 hours ago, Chopper said:

lWhy do you care if there's plexiglass in front that has to be lifted, or not? Is that a big deal for you? Do you get similarly chafed when you have to ask a sales person to get the size shoes you want out of the back? Or ask to get a watch or item of jewellery you'd like to look at?  When I was a kid in high working at a famous record store, people had to ASK for help to look at/purchase pre-recorded cassette tapes because they were kept behind a counter to deter theft. Oh, the horror.

 

Call it a conspiracy theory if you want, or if you have fox news brain. I'd call it ulterior motives.

Why do you care if theres plexiglass bro?!?!? Did you even take those photos bro?!?!? Do you know about the famous record store I visited as a kid bro?!?!?? Do you even shop in CVS bro?!?!?!? 

Because in your confusion you keep constructing strawman arguments, before talking the ethics of policing and criminalization or any of the shit nobody brought up, lets try to settle on some simpler facts:

1. do these anti-theft barriers guarding mundane items now exist where they did not before?  (or did the right wing fox ne— i mean cbs and nbc news channels embedded above just make it up?)

2. if so, what is the reason for their existence? (you alluded to them but make it really really explicit to us now)

lets see you walk before you run, prefonfaine.

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2 hours ago, Incredulity said:

No, No

its a false flag to justify PrIcE GoUgInG!111!!!  sHriNk FlatIonsze!11!11!  GrEde!1!11!  CoRPoRatiOzE BaDz!!1!11  LaTe StaGe CPtiamslslm!1!1/ Captain Antifa

I’m sitting here trying to understand:

1. If these people think CVS’ 3.5% operating profit on their retail pharmacy business is egregious

2. Why they, of all people, would ever be concerned with the price of deoderant. Is there kombucha inflation too?

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1 minute ago, 52-80 said:

I’m sitting here trying to understand:

1. If these people think CVS’ 3.5% operating profit on their retail pharmacy business is egregious

2. Why they, of all people, would ever be concerned with the price of deoderant. Is there kombucha inflation too?

They don't understand the difference between Revenue and Profit so everything else is pretty much Mandarin Chinese.

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2 hours ago, 52-80 said:

Why do you care if theres plexiglass bro?!?!? Did you even take those photos bro?!?!? Do you know about the famous record store I visited as a kid bro?!?!?? Do you even shop in CVS bro?!?!?!?

You've enshittened the enshittification thread. Congrats. Now seek mental help.

You're so fucking out of touch with reality you can't even grasp the concept of WORKING AT versus VISITING. You're seriously suffering some form of cognitive impairment. The example I used about a store was one of many measures stores take to reduce inventory shrink - just like the burden of having to lift a piece of plexi.

Edited by Chopper
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3 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

I don't understand the premise of this thread.

Well, I started it.  The premise is basically to track how (especially on the Web), we are watching as services and platforms slowly degrade in utility to users because of the incentives in place to extract value by making things worse. 

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On 2/22/2024 at 5:30 PM, 52-80 said:

“record quarter” = the first 2 quarters of ttm profits, ever. 

each bar is a quarter. IMG_5159.thumb.jpeg.7cf9802c82134e0cae68bf4aeb168286.jpeg
they should be forced to continue losing money so we get cheaper taxi rides. 

now do their stock price. 

uber is a perfect example of enshittening. disrupt with innovation. then displace with crazy vc money getting unrealistic customer lock in. then replace that with something only marginally better than what you disrupted in the first place. 

your last sentence captures it. it's become a taxi company which is what it was supposed to disrupt, not become.

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13 hours ago, 956 Worldwide said:

 

I’ve said this on other threads but the sheer amount of scams and attempts to distract and deceive has had a disastrous effect on our social fabric.  We go through our days literally trying to avoid getting ripped off. 

I would argue there is a large part of capitalism and the American dream that encourages these tactics as well. 

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19 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

I would argue there is a large part of capitalism and the American dream that encourages these tactics as well. 

Nah, it is the lack of traditional opportunities, the lack of punishment, and the quest for material goods that drives these things, I saw it in China 30 years ago as it was just developing here. People had like 4 different business cards - anything for a buck.

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15 hours ago, 956 Worldwide said:

Well, I started it.  The premise is basically to track how (especially on the Web), we are watching as services and platforms slowly degrade in utility to users because of the incentives in place to extract value by making things worse. 

And then folks started fighting and the thread went sideways. Imagine that. 

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One decent thing I have on my phone to help block telemarketers to my cell is Active Armor by AT&T. I swear it blocks 9 out of 10 calls I get but nothing from verified people. It shows you the blocked call as it comes in so I can do a quick Google search to make sure it isn't a bonafide person calling me. Before the app, I was getting deluged with spam calls, a lot of them with my same area code and close to my same cell number. The masking these people do is not enshitting. They're quite good at it. I made my elderly mother put it on her phone as she's the perfect target to get scammed.  

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39 minutes ago, mdmost said:

One decent thing I have on my phone to help block telemarketers to my cell is Active Armor by AT&T. I swear it blocks 9 out of 10 calls I get but nothing from verified people. It shows you the blocked call as it comes in so I can do a quick Google search to make sure it isn't a bonafide person calling me. Before the app, I was getting deluged with spam calls, a lot of them with my same area code and close to my same cell number. The masking these people do is not enshitting. They're quite good at it. I made my elderly mother put it on her phone as she's the perfect target to get scammed.  

The enshittening is that telco providers have the solution to the spam and scam calling - add fucking authentication like the STIR/SHAKEN framework so that some dudes in in office in Chennai can't call me from my own cell number to tell me about my cars extended warranty. 

But the telcos won't, because it would take away a significant revenue stream from the number spoofing service for outbound calls that is used by legitimate businesses, and abused by scammers. Plus, implementing that authentication framework would finally push the telcos to upgrade the 60 year old systems that they've been taking money for to upgrade for decades. The executives don't want to spend the money because it would mean less payout to shareholders. 

 

That said, I'll check out that active armor solution because I have been getting upwards of a dozen scam and political calls a day and it's fucking driving me crazy because it's interrupting meetings and coming from area codes that I have customers in, so I have to pick up. 

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21 hours ago, 956 Worldwide said:

Yep, airlines pioneered this shit.  The idea is to get you down the road of plannings something— whether an outing or a trip— by offering a reasonable cost estimate then butt-fucking you in all other ways. Check ticket prices, raise the idea with spouses/kids. Get the affirmative and then you go to check out and mentally, you are in already. If you had just seen the price up-front, you’d have moved on to movie night at home. “Required” fees are bullshit and should just be “the price.” 
 

Non-transparent pricing is a huge market inefficiency but we just swallow it.  We are expanding the auto dealer experience to every part of our economic existence. 
 

I’ve said this on other threads but the sheer amount of scams and attempts to distract and deceive has had a disastrous effect on our social fabric.  We go through our days literally trying to avoid getting ripped off. 

Banks are good at this too.  Want to withdraw $100 from the ATM right outside the branch?  $5 fee.  Got an account with less than $100k in it?  $25 per month fee (not sure on that one, but it certainly ain’t free).  Want to use your debit card?  Pay up mother fucker.  Etc, etc, etc.

4 hours ago, Incredulity said:

Lol.  The world champion dead horse beater has spoken.  
 

 

Says the guy that ragged on JJ about grocery inflation for the better part of three years.

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Those commies at the IEEE pointing out that rampant profiteering is obstructing baseline infrastructure improvements because they don't have enough immediate profit impact

https://spectrum.ieee.org/transmission-expansion

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Profiteering Hampers U.S. Grid Expansion
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Profiteering Hampers U.S. Grid Expansion 

 

Private utility companies are blocking new interregional transmission lines

22 FEB 2024
6 MIN READ
 

Transmission lines and wind turbines in an open plain with grazing cattle.

The planned SunZia 500-mile transmission line would carry wind power across the Southwest.

 MINESH BACRANIA/BLOOMBERG/GETTY IMAGES
 
 
 
 

The United States is not building enough transmission lines to connect regional power networks. The deficit is driving up electricity prices, reducing grid reliability, and hobbling renewable-energy deployment.

At the heart of the problem are utility companies that refuse to pursue interregional transmission projects, and sometimes even impede them, because new projects threaten their profits and disrupt their industry alliances. Utilities can stall transmission expansion because out-of-date laws sanction these companies’ sweeping control over transmission development.

As we increasingly electrify our homes, transportation, and factories, utility companies’ choices about transmission will have huge consequences for the nation’s economy and well-being. About 40 corporations, valued at a trillion dollars, own the vast majority of transmission lines in the United States. Their grip over the backbone of U.S. grids demands public scrutiny and accountability.

 

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