“It’s money-grabbing, exploitive, elitist, and in no way ’magical.‘ It’s shrinkflation at its saddest.”

As a Resident Writer here at BuzzFeed, I cover topics like politics, weird history, tech, trending viral stories, and other various corners of the internet.

"And then they don't include a power supply anymore, so I need to buy one that is USB-C, so all of the older ones I've been collecting are obsolete or sitting in a drawer at home. And I need a new USB-C cord to charge in the car."

"iPhone headphones and charger! Phones used to have headphones, a charger, and accessories in the box. Now, it's just the phone, and you need to buy everything separately."

"Tolls piss me off so bad. It's not about the money; it's about having to stop and count out change, plus a lot of that money is likely just paying for the person manning the booth. Why not just raise the gas tax a couple of pennies? So much more efficient."

"Print them off yourself — convenience fee. Pick them up at the box office — convenience fee. Get them mailed to your house — convenience fee."

"Seriously. I just ordered $5 tickets to a concert, but had to pay $20 to print them to actually use the tickets."

"Pearl Jam was right 20 years ago; it's an absolute slap in the face. The last company I used contacted me after I gave them a 2-star rating for their service. They literally couldn't understand why I was unhappy with their fee being 30% of the ticket prices added on. AND I had to download another app, not theirs, to use the ticket. I paid over $100 to click a few buttons on their website. It's an actual scam at this point."

"California and Connecticut are the only states by law that can't charge for air at gas stations."

"Also, academic articles. A few weeks ago, I read a paper about the viscoelastic something or other of mayonnaise and ketchup. They basically just squeezed out drops and watched how they fell, and they expected me to pay $35.99 for that shit. Nope, not happening. So glad I pirated it."

"This one kills me. They are charging you to hold your money for you, which they use to loan out to other people and make money off of the interest. You're already basically financing the bank's loans, why do they have to charge you on top of that?"

"Hulu used to be partially free. You could watch new episodes online without having to pay money. I used to watch Law & Order all the time on the website for free. "

"Hulu. It took a while before Hulu Plus appeared. Hell, there were absolutely NO commercials when Hulu first started. I remember how sweet that was. Then, little 10-15-second ads started appearing. And now, I think there are two minutes or more of ads during each commercial break."

"Since COVID, Disney has doubled the cost of an entry ticket, even more on busy days, and has gotten rid of the FastPass so they can exploit the lines by charging for the same perk. We are already paying twice as much for a ticket, so why isn’t that extra $80+ per person enough to cover it for everyone? 

Maybe the wealthy can afford to tack on another $150 for a family per day without feeling it, but there are those who can ill afford it and feel pressure to pony up in order to maximize their visit. Adding insult to injury, both tickets and Genie Plus have gone up even further this year. It’s money-grabbing, exploitive, elitist, and in no way 'magical.' It’s shrinkflation at its saddest."

"YouTube. Sure, there might have been a floating ad at the bottom of the video, but you could click it away and go on with your life. And if you had an ad blocker, then life was grand. Now, it's four ad breaks in a 10-minute video."

"Now, as a mother of two toddlers, I only know of one restaurant in my area that has something free for kids. It makes taking a family of four out to eat a near impossibility for my budget. Not a major loss as I enjoy cooking, but I do feel a little sad that this is an experience my kids won’t have memories of."

Comments have been edited for length and clarity.