this post was submitted on 14 Dec 2024
680 points (99.3% liked)

Mildly Infuriating

35736 readers
2186 users here now

Home to all things "Mildly Infuriating" Not infuriating, not enraging. Mildly Infuriating. All posts should reflect that.

I want my day mildly ruined, not completely ruined. Please remember to refrain from reposting old content. If you post a post from reddit it is good practice to include a link and credit the OP. I'm not about stealing content!

It's just good to get something in this website for casual viewing whilst refreshing original content is added overtime.


Rules:

1. Be Respectful


Refrain from using harmful language pertaining to a protected characteristic: e.g. race, gender, sexuality, disability or religion.

Refrain from being argumentative when responding or commenting to posts/replies. Personal attacks are not welcome here.

...


2. No Illegal Content


Content that violates the law. Any post/comment found to be in breach of common law will be removed and given to the authorities if required.

That means: -No promoting violence/threats against any individuals

-No CSA content or Revenge Porn

-No sharing private/personal information (Doxxing)

...


3. No Spam


Posting the same post, no matter the intent is against the rules.

-If you have posted content, please refrain from re-posting said content within this community.

-Do not spam posts with intent to harass, annoy, bully, advertise, scam or harm this community.

-No posting Scams/Advertisements/Phishing Links/IP Grabbers

-No Bots, Bots will be banned from the community.

...


4. No Porn/ExplicitContent


-Do not post explicit content. Lemmy.World is not the instance for NSFW content.

-Do not post Gore or Shock Content.

...


5. No Enciting Harassment,Brigading, Doxxing or Witch Hunts


-Do not Brigade other Communities

-No calls to action against other communities/users within Lemmy or outside of Lemmy.

-No Witch Hunts against users/communities.

-No content that harasses members within or outside of the community.

...


6. NSFW should be behind NSFW tags.


-Content that is NSFW should be behind NSFW tags.

-Content that might be distressing should be kept behind NSFW tags.

...


7. Content should match the theme of this community.


-Content should be Mildly infuriating.

-At this time we permit content that is infuriating until an infuriating community is made available.

...


8. Reposting of Reddit content is permitted, try to credit the OC.


-Please consider crediting the OC when reposting content. A name of the user or a link to the original post is sufficient.

...

...


Also check out:

Partnered Communities:

1.Lemmy Review

2.Lemmy Be Wholesome

3.Lemmy Shitpost

4.No Stupid Questions

5.You Should Know

6.Credible Defense


Reach out to LillianVS for inclusion on the sidebar.

All communities included on the sidebar are to be made in compliance with the instance rules.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Canada has implemented a new tax savings from December to February for some things like taxable groceries, crafts, and gaming physical media. I wanted to get a new Xbox controller and found the best price at Walmart for $55 a week ago. The tax holiday starts today and I now see that the $55 has increased to $62 and change, which is about how much tax I should be saving. Great to see this thinly veiled attempt to help Canadians ( /s - win votes) is just going to be extra profit in the corporations' pockets.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] ptz@dubvee.org 157 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (4 children)

Kroger (grocery store) is doing the same thing this week. They're doing a 20% off "holiday bonus" discount on a one per-customer basis (20% off your entire order). The catch? Every item in the store is at least 20% more expensive than it was last week.

[–] RumorsOfLove@lemmy.dbzer0.com 56 points 1 week ago

dont expect it to go back down

[–] Maalus@lemmy.world 45 points 1 week ago (5 children)

Time to introduce the "lowest price from the last 30 days" requirement like in Europe.

load more comments (5 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] kurushimi@sh.itjust.works 108 points 1 week ago (12 children)

See, trickle down economics works ladies and gents /s

[–] saltesc@lemmy.world 22 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Fuck this is gold.

Well, unless people realise the actual worth of gold... But until then.

[–] darkpanda@lemmy.ca 17 points 1 week ago (1 children)

How would trickle down work with gold? I’m picturing some kind of golden shower?

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (11 replies)
[–] adarza@lemmy.ca 71 points 1 week ago (3 children)

the prices probably won't go back down in february, either.

[–] ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.one 22 points 1 week ago

Prices go up and stay up.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] OsrsNeedsF2P@lemmy.ml 61 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Reminds me when Alberta reduced the tax on gas, and within a few weeks consumers were paying the same amount again

[–] Chip_Rat@lemmy.world 20 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Ontario did this too. Took a few weeks tops, and now we pay the same as we always have, except none of the money goes to our roads, just to big oil.

Thanks Ford.

[–] whoisearth@lemmy.ca 10 points 1 week ago

I laugh because he keeps extending it too and I sure and shit bet he will extend it again so the next government to come in has a poison pill in killing his gas rebate effectively raising the price of gas drastically overnight.

This is 100% intentional by the OPC. Bunch of fuckwits.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] Hobbes_Dent@lemmy.world 12 points 1 week ago

Betcha you get reminded again when Canada sweeps the cons in because cArBOn tax and then we pay the same by Monday for everything.

[–] lemming741@lemmy.world 47 points 1 week ago

Tax credits are always a government gift to corporations.

[–] thepreciousboar@lemm.ee 40 points 1 week ago (7 children)

In any reasonable country, that should be illegal. In many places it is

[–] Wispy2891@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago

In Italy when the government reduced vat on ebooks from 22% to 4% not a single publisher passed the savings to the customer and they even increased the prices

load more comments (6 replies)
[–] Windex007@lemmy.world 39 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Might be betraying my age here, but do you remember when GST was 7%? EXACTLY the same thing happened.

GST breaks strictly pad the revenues of business AT THE COST of funds to the public purse. Does a fat fucking zero to the wallets of consumers.

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca 37 points 1 week ago

Well the debate should be over whether the taxes cause things to be expensive or it's corporate greed causing things to be expensive.

Next time you see one of the ubiquitous Poilievre ads claiming it's taxes that's making things unaffordable, think about where the problems actually are.

[–] Kichae@lemmy.ca 36 points 1 week ago

Seems like an opportunity to use this in attack PP's tax-cut rhetoric, and to attack the oft-repeated talking points from business that tax increases will be passed on to consumers.

Tax cuts are eaten by businesses, so long as the businesses believe that people will continue to buy. Tax increases will also be eaten by businesses, so long as the businesses believe that people will refuse to buy at a higher price. It's all being taken by or from shareholders.

It's a shame no political entities will actually touch this with anything more pointed or useful than "that's appalling!"

[–] TWeaK@lemm.ee 28 points 1 week ago (4 children)
[–] Vinny_93@lemmy.world 36 points 1 week ago

It has been ruled illegal in the Netherlands only last year but companies still do it and het away with it.

[–] eezeebee@lemmy.ca 32 points 1 week ago

It was so hastily-implemented that I think it's either an oversight or by design.

[–] deranger@sh.itjust.works 18 points 1 week ago (3 children)

It is in the US.

The FTC's Guides Against Deceptive Pricing generally require that a seller offer an item at a price for a reasonable, substantial period of time in good faith, and in the regular course of business, before advertising that price as the former or regular price (16 C.F.R. § 233.1). The FTC considers it deceptive to offer an item for sale at a higher price for a short period of time in order to support a claim that an item is discounted when the price is then lowered. This practice is prohibited.

Additionally, most states have consumer protection statutes that prohibit sellers from making false or misleading statements of fact concerning the reasons for, existence of, or amount of a price reduction (for example, Cal. Civ. Code § 1770(a)(13)). Several states also expressly regulate the length of time an item must be offered at a regular price and amount of time it is on sale (for more information, see Practice Notes, Promotional Pricing: Specific State Laws and "Up To" Discounting Law and Practice: Promotional Pricing: State-by-State Requirements).

From here

[–] adarza@lemmy.ca 20 points 1 week ago (1 children)

tell that to amazon and every other retailer that jacks prices up the week or so before a 'sale'

[–] deranger@sh.itjust.works 17 points 1 week ago (1 children)

For Amazon, I use camelcamelcamel to see price history. Personally I’ve not seen price increases just for holiday sales but I also don’t buy a lot of stuff on these sorts of days, I just set a price alert and wait for the email.

[–] Bronzebeard@lemm.ee 16 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Sites like these are why amazon has been using more coupons at check out instead of straight discounts. Messes with the price tracking

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] henfredemars@infosec.pub 8 points 1 week ago (2 children)

It is, and they don’t care.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 27 points 1 week ago (3 children)

You didn't happen to take screenshots did you? It's something that should be reported to the media as well

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] ohellidk@sh.itjust.works 27 points 1 week ago

Guess they're using the "black Friday" technique to lure in shoppers, again!

[–] intensely_human@lemm.ee 23 points 1 week ago

I think the answer here is to buy that somewhere other than WalMart. Are there any stores nearby that didn’t increase their price on the controller?

[–] SkyNTP@lemmy.ml 23 points 1 week ago (5 children)

All prices are set based on what consumers are willing to pay.

The only way prices ever go down is by exercising a decision not to buy something or to go somewhere for an item.

It will not come from the government, unless the government mandates a specific rate.

[–] IzzyScissor@lemmy.world 12 points 1 week ago

They could also provide the cheaper alternative, generating revenue for the government, providing goods at a discount and forcing corporations to match prices.

Like that'll happen, though.

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] Vorticity@lemmy.world 22 points 1 week ago (5 children)

I don't say any of this to say that I think what Walmart is doing here is ethical, onky to say that it is logical from their standpoint if they assume there won't be any blowback.

Companies charge what they think they can get for a product. The tax is part of the price. If they think an item will sell for $5.26 including tax, it is reasonable for them to think it will still sell for $5.26 if the item isn't taxed.

That isn't to say this is nice on their part, but the current system doesn't incentivise them to be nice. It incentivises profit.

It does seem like they took the easy route to gain more profit. It is likely that, in the a absence of tax, their profit would be maximized by a price that is somewhere between the old pre-tax price and the old post-tax price.

[–] eezeebee@lemmy.ca 16 points 1 week ago

Yeah, I shouldn't have been surprised. This is normal psychopathic behaviour for a corporation.

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] EncryptKeeper@lemmy.world 20 points 1 week ago

This is exactly what the “Taxation is theft” morons don’t understand. They think if the government no longer takes their cut, everybody will just have X amount of money more, and the market won’t just swallow that up without giving you a single thing in return.

[–] Gammelfisch@lemmy.world 19 points 1 week ago (4 children)

I would support Canadian Tire over Walmart.

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] Eddbopkins@lemmy.world 16 points 1 week ago (1 children)

companies will 100% of the time do anything even illegal things to make more money.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] DJDarren@thelemmy.club 14 points 1 week ago (1 children)

That’s more than mildly infuriating.

[–] eezeebee@lemmy.ca 29 points 1 week ago

It's not all bad - now instead of saving $7 I will be saving the whole $55 since I won't buy it!

Talking point bots will blame Trudeau for this.

[–] M0oP0o@mander.xyz 13 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

I am just really glad none of the crap I sell is included. The list and logistics to comply with this "holiday" is insane.

Lets say you run a liquor store:

  • Beer, cider, sake and wine are now not taxed
  • But wine, cider and sake over 22.9% is still taxed
  • Spirit coolers and premixed alcoholic beverages are now not taxed
  • Spirit coolers and premixed alcoholic beverages over 7% are still taxed
  • Gift boxes/baskets are taxed
  • Unless those boxes/baskets have more then 90% the value in beverages that meet the tax holiday requirements

This is not even opening the other categories (Oh don't even think about child car seat/strollers). The cost of this program on stores and taxpayers (the cost of it is payed by the lack of tax and also the tax collected being diverted to this program) is not worth the 5% off some people will see (since most places will just up the price 5%).

Edit: and as the radio just pointed out this is a tax break on mostly luxury goods so it only really helps the people who don't need the help. (the example given was a dinner party would be 5% cheaper but a single parent's heat is not).

[–] UmeU@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

It would cost thousands in labor to set up temporary tax rates based on alcohol content. Most systems have tax rates which apply to product categories, not alcohol content. Liquor store pos systems in the US, at least in my state, typically don’t even store the abv in the price book, which would make this taxation virtually impossible to comply with.

[–] M0oP0o@mander.xyz 2 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

Yeap, this is Canada where stuff like this is rolled out in a month or so and businesses are just told to comply.

(Oh and those examples are from the Canada.ca official list not hyperbole)

Edit: it also comes with a friendly threat!

"Make a reasonable effort to comply

Businesses who make reasonable efforts to comply with the legislation will not be the focus of our compliance actions.

We will be focusing on situations where businesses willfully and egregiously refuse to comply with the temporary measures, such as a business that collects the GST/HST and does not remit it to the CRA."

[–] UmeU@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Crazy, they’re basically saying, ‘we know this is impossible so just do your best, as long as you remit everything you collect then it doesn’t really matter what/how you collect’.

This is very unfair to the small business because inevitably there will be some customers who will be pissed off when the store doesn’t collect properly, and small business won’t even come close to doing it correctly.

Making temporary short term massive changes to taxation is a very dumb idea. Canada must be drinking uncle Sam’s koolaid to be acting this foolish.

[–] M0oP0o@mander.xyz 0 points 6 days ago

Most people don't even care and did not know this even started, its just another failed attempt of the current government to gain support.

This one is extra silly, but the silver lining is that it has got people of drastically different political viewpoints something to agree on. You could have a talk show with the most rabid pundits from opposite sides discuss this and the only arguments would be what the worst part of this plan is.

There is also another component to this as well, everyone is supposed to get $250 in the mail (or direct deposit). And that's also just bad tax policy that has been made fun of in the past. On top of that they have not managed to actually pass legislation or even figured out how to do this at this point. Oh and the post office is still on strike.

[–] ryper@lemmy.ca 9 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

If the controller was $55 yesterday and $62 today there would definitely be shenanigans, but a week ago? It could just be that a sale ended since you last looked.

Anyway, I don't see $62 Xbox controllers on their site, checking from Nova Scotia. Official controllers are the usual $70-something and there's PowerA brand for $55.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] robocall@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago (3 children)
load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›