i wonder what the venn diagram of "downvoters terminally incapable of placing themselves in a dangerous hypothetical in which they are not in control of a life-threatening situation" AND "people on hn who work on these products" looks like.
not saying parent feels this way but the target class of this website often does not separate the two. we're still sloughing off the goofballery of objectivism, i guess.
> Imagine Ring comes out with a nicer camera system for homeowners that has more comprehensive views around your house and is just as cheap. And we will ultimately be safer for it.
I wonder if people who feel this way will feel safer? In this scenario, you have a Ring camera system observing your entire property. Do you feel safer if someone comes onto your property and triggers an alarm? What if it turns out it's just a kid coming over to grab a stray frisbee? What if your neighbor noticed something needed a quick fix (say you left a can of paint open or something similarly benign) and wanted help in a neighborly way without first checking to see if you were home?
I guess we just take for granted that we live in a low-trust society. But we take that for granted at our peril, because the fear of a low-trust society is actively being exploited by people who want to sell individuals, businesses and municipalities the means to further erode that trust.
the other end of this is that all of those rewards are paid for through merchant fees, which lead to higher prices at the register. it's not free money. it's a fraction of a percentage of the profit credit card companies receive in fees paid by the places you shop. i would not be surprised to learn that even with rewards points we spend more money now that those programs are commonplace.
> merchant fees, which lead to higher prices at the register
Only for merchants who have never done real accounting. They lose a lot more than merchant fees to cash. The clerk has to count and recount the money. Then the manager counts and recounts the till at the end of the shift. Then the manager counts all the money in the safe to prepare the daily deposit, and then they have to get that to the bank (at least the bank doesn't charge them after that, but the bank has costs handling their cash as well). This time is not free. That is before we get into the costs of theft, counterfeits - and all the equipment to keep cash safe.
Unless someone has actually added those costs up I'm going to remain convinced credit cards fees are cheaper than cash.
Still worth it so I can chargeback shitty merchants.
Example, my landlord specified in my original lease one time pet fee. In my newest year lease no pet fee. I was required to pay the pet fee through some saas dedicated to this. Now that website emailed me to let me know they’ll be charging my annual fee.
What fee? What for? They are providing no ongoing value to anyone as far as I can tell. They refuse to explain or cancel. Well they can explain to Mastercard and I’ll wash my hands of the situation.
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