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What are you surprised that people pay for, when there are free alternatives in existence? (kbin.melroy.org)

submitted 3 days ago by Soulifix@kbin.melroy.org to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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I was going through my Wal-Mart+ subscription plan that I got for free and I saw their offers. One of which was EMeals, that was a 60-day trial. I thought that this was like Blue Apron or other meal delivery services so I thought I'd take a crack at it and hope that it would get me on a path to eat better.

Turns out, it's just a meal planner. And it's absurd to me why and how would anyone pay for something when there are countless and countless recipes and meal planners readily available for free. Who'd the fuck would want to pay for a planner? That's like paying for a calendar app.

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[–] Aeao@lemmy.world 16 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Tax return filings in the US. There are free options provided by the paid companies... So that they can prevent real changes.

Kinda like pharmaceutical companies when the public demands cheaper prices. The pharmaceutical companies fight back with "what if instead of that we set up some programs that people can use for cheaper medicine! Win win! Then you don't have to make any real changes that might hurt us?"

Same with taxes. The accounting software companies and advisors companies said "wait hold on, you don't need to make taxes simpler and tank our business. Keep them complicated and well offer free alternatives that are just as easy as our paid services that people can pick if they don't want to pay! Win win!"

Which obviously I think is a crap solution. However if you are paying for someone to do your taxes you should stop. There are a lot of easy free services out there that make it pretty much effortless. They are just as good as the paid services now.

[–] MonkeMischief@lemmy.today 7 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

This year I haven't worked any traditional employment, but have done various projects for friends in exchange for money.

When I just had a typical job, taxes were almost fire-and-forget easy...but I'm a little worried about that whole process this year to be honest.

A lot of times the free one only covers that "I have a typical job" case...but anything different and they're like "OH YOU NEED BUSINESS-OWNER PREMIUM PLUS" or something.

(I haven't started a business and earned maybe 4 figures this year...) 😅

[–] IDKWhatUsernametoPutHereLolol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 2 days ago

Tax return filings in the US. There are free options provided by the paid companies… So that they can prevent real changes.

https://directfile.irs.gov/ (Or Google "IRS Direct File" if you don't trust links)

Directs File goes directly to IRS, without going through a third party company.

If your state doesn't have direct file, then you'll have to find a "IRS Partner" that gives a free option:

https://apps.irs.gov/app/freeFile/browse-all-offers/ (Google "IRS Free File Trusted Partners")

Remember: Government sites always ends in .gov