So, is Coinstar just the most evil thing ever invented by capitalism, or is it just me? For those of you who have blocked it out of your brains, Coinstar is a machine that many grocery stores have that will take your change and convert it into paper money. Sounds pretty convenient right? Wrong. They charge you for this service. The grocery stores themselves set this rate, and according to this random guy on the internet, the average is about a 6% charge. That's a bit ridiculous, isn't it?
I mean yes, they have to make money somehow, or else their business model kind of fails, but why should this even exist in the first place? Banks will gladly do this for free! Hell, you can probably convince the cashier to do it if it's one of the "bored teenager" type of cashiers, rather than the "crotchety old person" type of cashier. So how did this idea come about? Who thought that people would pay for this? They are, of course, a very smart person, because people totally do pay for this.
It's what I like to call the "Bottled Water Principle". Any company can make you pay for anything you could get for free if they can convince you it's better somehow. Yeah, guess what? Tap water really isn't that bad. And if you honestly think that it's going to kill you, then think about how perhaps somebody would have sued somebody already if it could. Quit being such a whiner and drink the damn water. "Mountain springs" are full of deer pee anyway.
I mean Christ, how about pay toilets? Are you seriously going to make us pay to perform basically bodily functions? Yes, pay toilets are the prostitutes of the toilet industry, which is apparently a very economically stimulating business.
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