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I quit Facebook and Twitter in 2012 out of a combination of bad feelings about where social media was heading as an industry and about its effects on me (i.e.,
by thedailymail 4y ago
I quit Facebook and Twitter in 2012 out of a combination of bad feelings about where social media was heading as an industry and about its effects on me (i.e., whether I was wasting too much time, oversharing personal info, etc). I quit Costco around the same time because I despise their receipt-checking policy. Quit Dropbox around 2017 in a shift to iCloud. Quit (at least mostly quit) using Google as a search engine around 2018 to support Duck Duck Go and data privacy principles; around the same time I tried switching from gmail to protonmail, but left my gmail account intact and still use it pretty frequently (not out of love for the service, just insufficient motivation to notify old contacts and update old subscriptions.) I quit Microsoft Office last year because I don't like the subscription payment model (now happily using LibreOffice).
For many of the services, I never sought out a real replacement. Instead of named social media, I use pseudonymous accounts on reddit and HN. I stay in contact with family/friends/colleagues using mail and chat. Instead of Costco I go to the local supermarket.
I would love to quit streaming services (Netflix, Disney+) and Amazon Prime but my wife/kids still use them regularly. Also sometimes fantasize about making the leap from the Apple ecosystem to Linux, but am still waiting for some decisive nudge to push me over the edge. Inertia, the sense of captivity and anxiety about learning curves and possible regrets are real factors, but in my experience for most products it is easy to learn the basics and I have never felt any real regret at leaving services I didn't enjoy or feel were compatible with my principles/priorities.
- volfied 4y agoI have done the mail switch with fastmail. Now my gmail account is a catch all for websites I don't care about.
- mostlysimilar 4y agoWhat do you despise about the Costco receipt checking policy?
- Cpoll 4y agoI looked up why Costco has that policy, and their stated reason is to be a second factor checking that the cashier correctly counted all items. They say they don't want to overcharge customers, but it probably goes both ways. It'd be interesting to hear from a Costco employee about what they're told to look for during training. (I'm not the parent, and this doesn't answer your question).
- runjake 4y agoFrom /r/Costco comments, they're trained that it's a loss prevention technique. The phrase "a second factor checking that the cashier correctly counted all items" is just a nicer way of saying "for loss prevention". And technically, the statement is correct, insider loss prevention is a widespread issue.
- thedailymail 4y agoI despise that they check the contents of shopping carts against receipts after purchase. Once you have paid for items at a store, you shouldn't have to furnish evidence that they are yours. To me it feels like a passive-aggressive way of making all customers feel that they are suspects in an unspecified crime. I realize that receipt-chcking is included as a term in the membership contract. That is why I dropped my membership. I also realize that many people are comfortable with this as a kind of cost-cutting measure on the part of Costco (by centralizing anti-theft surveillance at the store exits). That's really OK with me – there was a lot I liked about Costco and I get it that different people have different tolerances. But being forced to undergo inspection to leave a store after completing payment made me unhappy enough I decided it wasn't for me.