What brands do you avoid at all cost? I don’t keep up with the news all that much, and many of the reasons to avoid something don’t make it there anyway. So I’m asking here to make a big list of things to avoid. It could be anything from bad security practices to really frustrating packaging. Working as a cashier myself, I definitely know there are plenty of brands I avoid purely on the basis that their product is a pain to stock.
On the flip side, what’s the alternative? If you avoid Pepsi, for example, what do you turn to instead?
Many store-brand foods because they’re made with half garbage.
HP - their printers and subscription models pissed me off so much that I want nothing to do with them.
Apple - 'nuff said
I try to avoid all the brands that still work in russia because I don’t want to fund the terrorist state
Sony, for all sort of reasons (the rootkit and other DRM, pushing proprietary formats like MemoryStick and ATRAC3, removing OtherOS (a.k.a. Linux) support from the Playstation, etc.).
Blizzard, because of Freecraft and BNetD (I was boycotting them long before they merged with Activision).
Ideally, I would boycott Nestle and the other abusive agri-conglomerates, but honestly probably a lot of their products slip through because (a) it’s hard to tell what’s made by who because of all the subsidiary brands, and (b) with all the consolidation, pretty much everything is made by some shitty megacorp these days. I mean yeah, if I eschewed normal chain stores entirely and tried to buy everything from local small businesses or something then I guess I could avoid them, but ain’t nobody got time (or money!) for that.
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Isn’t it owned by Cemex which is a Mexican company?
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For sure: fuck them, but this sounds more like a government corruption issue, laws should be in place to prevent businesses doing scummy monopolistic shit like this.
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Walmart and Sam’s Club.
You know you’re probably dealing with the baddies when the Criticism and Controversy section of your main article on Wikipedia grows to the point where it links to another Criticism of Walmart main article.
For some companies, I wish they didn’t name it “criticisms” or “controversies”; it could literally just be “crimes”. Like Chiquita fruit funding death squads isn’t really controversial. Same thing with child slavery for chocolate companies.
Chick-fil-A
Still, after all these years?
Always.
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Fair enough. I’ve never been, don’t much like coffee, and I can’t say I ever plan to go there. They don’t sound like the most pleasant of places to relax in.
Even if you like coffee, they make absolute shit coffee. Go to a local coffee place instead. I like my Vietnamese coffee, so any Vietnamese coffee place will give me much better cup.
i wish the vietnamese places here did sugar free. every time i ask, they act like i grew a new eye right in front of them; but sugar might as well be poison for a diabetic old fart like me.
The defining feature of Vietnamese coffee is sweetened, condensed milk. Personally I don’t think I’ve seen sugar-free condensed milk. Not sure how you could make it.
Personally I don’t think I’ve seen sugar-free condensed milk. Not sure how you could make it.
it’s everywhere except vietnamese coffee places.
I guess coconut milk would work. For dairy milk though unsweetened≠sugar free. Looks like there are plenty of unsweetened condensed milks, but I don’t see any that are sugar free. Gotta get rid of the lactose for that.
Oh, the starbucks “thing” isn’t even coffee. You’re not losing anything by not going.
Coke. Assassinating union leaders is not something I can stomache.
CocaCola did what?? Why didn’t I know that? Guess I’m a pepsi guy now, wow.
Pepsi is literally no better. They do all the same shit and are in bed with Putin
Metallica. I will never listen to one of their songs legally, if I can help it. File sharing shouldn’t be a crime.
As greedy as you think they might have been, without them, a lot of smaller bands would have just washed up. People work really hard to make music, shouldn’t they get paid for it?
- Piracy doesn’t hurt sales.
- Small musicians did and still do make their money from live shows.
- More small musicians are successful today than ever before, despite digital sales/streaming paying pennies.
Streaming services didn’t exist when this court case happened. Many artists were already suing Napster, but weren’t famous enough to get publicity. Someone released an unfinished edit of “I disappear” which is what triggered Metallica to get involved. Dr Dre also jumped into the suit but I’ve never heard anyone talk about boycotting his music or the music he produced.
They forgot about Dre?
Based. Sail the seven (digital and routed) seas!
Apple & Meta. I try to boycott Amazon in lieu of other online sellers but I don’t always succeed. All non-union Starbucks. The latter is the one that has impacted my life the most because I used to spend my days studying at Starbucks. I Struggle to focus and concentrate on formal work of any kind while at home. We do have two unionized locations in town. They usually don’t have any sitting room left, though because they are so close to the university campus.
Amazon
Coca cola
Google , except android.
Nestlé
Google , except android
May GrapheneOS change that
Dollar, Hertz and Thrifty car rental. Also Budget, but for different reasons.
Never use Dollar, Hertz or Thrifty under any circumstances unless you want to be fucked. Never prepay with Budget unless you want to be fucked.
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Can confirm, got fucked by Hertz last time I rented a car. Who’s your go to?
I truly do not know. I was using Budget, my truck was in the shop and two days’ rental was going to be $142. Two hours after reserving it my mechanic tells me he’s going to have me done today - so I cancel the reservation.
Because I chose “pay now” rather than “pay later”, I’m charged a $150 cancellation fee on a $142 rental (the fee posted on the website - $50 - is not for “prepaid” “same day” cancellations - not that the website told me this anywhere obvious, of course).
So I literally would have done better financially to drive the fucking thing around for two days for no good reason.
Protesting to customer service gets me a resounding “go fuck yourself.”
I’m now open to suggestions, I was using Budget because they had the best prices of what remained to me, but never again.
Damn. I’d have tried a chargeback, especially if their site is incorrect or misleading (idk how recently this was). It’s damn near impossible to see who actually has the best prices because you can’t tell what anything really costs until they tack on all the horse shit fees after returning the car.
Hertz left me stranded in Austin TX last time I was there. Rented a car for a week. They let me think I had a car until the morning of my reservation, when it was an hour before pickup to notify me that “sorry we’re cancelling you”. I had no other options, every other place in town was out of cars. Most said I needed a reservation and I had to think to myself how stupid it was.
I spent over 500 in Ubers on that trip going stupidly long distances.
As soon as I was home I dropped my Hertz membership and joined Enterprise. They cost a bit more but I have never been treated that way. Hertz/Dollar/Thrifty are all pretty much the same, so I’ll never use them again.
Dollar, Thrifty and Hertz are all the same company now. They intentionally overbook. I don’t know the exact reason why, short of naked profiteering and not giving a fuck.
The last time I rented with them (initially Dollar) I booked several months beforehand and when I got up to their kiosks, I ended up getting one of the last cars that they had on hand. I know I got one of the last because as I was waiting (for hours), they first closed the Dollar storefront, then they closed the Thrifty storefront - funneling everybody into one line ultimately ending up at the Hertz storefront. Shortly after I got up to the desk and they were finally giving me my paperwork and keys, they began to shut down the Hertz storefront. At this point there were still literally more than a hundred people standing in line (it was a holiday). So closing up left a whole bunch of people carless and very, very angry. So even waiting for hours through this bullshit, I was one of the LUCKY ONES.
I booked the car online at the extortionate price of $800 for a week, but ever since the pandemic, rentals have been overly expensive so whatever. Subsequently, they proceeded to apply every possible extra to the rental, without my knowledge. Extra insurance, top tier insurance, full tank of gas, roadside assistance - everything - all of which are also at inflated prices. Not until I got home did I notice that the actual cost of this rental was going to be almost $1500, TWICE THE FEE I HAD BOOKED ONLINE. I had no choice but to accept it and get on with my driving vacation, but I never forget.
Late to the apparent party but Phillip Morris . They own a shitton of food and pot licences.
Hyundai . i will never buy another one again. ever.
seats are hard as rocks. they break down way to fast. the rear view mirror is set way to low in the window creating a safety hazard for looking forward. it needs to be set much higher on the window. (so i have to look up a little to see the mirror… so f’ing what?!) get the damned thing higher so it doesn’t block my view when i try to look front and right of the car.
that’s just a few of my annoyances with that car. i’m done with that company.
☝️Note - only applicable in North America
They have virtually zero consumer protection laws so companies can get away with selling utter crap at inflated prices, and so obviously, they do.
Samsung home appliances, Hyundai and Kia cars, TVs with adverts built in (lol) are just a couple of examples of good quality products that have specific models that they only sell in the US because they can get away with it
Perfectly fine to buy them elsewhere
Mostly anything USA since I was 12-15 years old. Israeli too since many years ago.
Coca cola, apple, google, Intel CPUs
