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how did Obama break that promise? i don't recall people having to change plans? i know you have to have a health care plan but if you already have one, did Obamacare force you to change it?

It didn't force people to change insurers, it forced insurers to change their policies, which ended in about 4 million people getting cancellation notices.

Even Obama later admitted it was a lie and apologized for it. It was NPR's lie of the year.

https://www.google.com/search?q=obama+admits+lie+health+plan...


i wonder if they could create a central locking mechanism where if a plane makes an emergency landing, it automatically locks all the overhead bins so passengers don't waste time trying to pick their baggage out. the only remaining thing would be smaller bags underneath the seats which i don't tihnk would delay anyone or at least not significantly as the overhead bins.


another anecdote taking Lyft - they showed me $10.76 price for a trip to the airport when Uber showed $21. obviously i called Lyft and they placed a temporary charge on my credit card for $10.76. Once the driver dropped me off, i noticed that the base charge jumped to $16.76 + airport fees and my total with tips came to a bit over $27. I contacted Lyft and they denied and claimed that they always showed me $16.76. smh. i have proof from my credit card that they placed a hold for $10.76 and yet they refused to adjust the price.


a reverse IP lookup should give you a good estimate and you can always ask the user to enter their address for more accurate price.


Surely this is outdated advice in the world of "Protect your privacy with NordVPN" all over youtube.


> a reverse IP lookup should give you a good estimate

Not really, no.


care to elaborate on that? also, it's not that hard to ask users to enter their shipping zip code to get more accurate prices. some websites do that already nowadays. my point is reverse ip lookup is a good enough starting point for the first estimation.


IP addresses aren't related to locations. A third party database with voluntary contributions isn't exactly reliable and is frequently incorrect.

Zip codes also aren't great either. A single zip code can cover many different tax jurisdictions, even different states.


My home ISP has an exit point in a different city from where I live, so even without a VPN the IP lookup is only accurate to country level.


Nope. I hate when website use IP for anything, especially language selection. I travel all the time as well as use VPNs for work, and the idea that my IP represents anything other than what network I’m connecting from is just lazy UX.


Yes let’s keep a shitty UX for most users because of a few abnormal users. Be honest, frequent travel and shopping over VPN is an edge case here. The vast majority of users are shopping and buying from home with a VPN.

Or better yet, give municipalities an incentive to stop layering a kinds of taxes. Just have a VAT and be done with it.


> The vast majority of users are shopping and buying from home with a VPN.

I bet that's wrong, and that a huge chunk of shopping is from cell phones that usually have an effectively random IP when they're not at their home location.


It would be interesting to see the numbers. I know for my wife and I, most shopping is done at home on phone or tablet and connected to our home wifi. And even shopping away from home is generally in the same county, so taxes are the same (or close enough for an up-front estimate).


> Or better yet, give municipalities an incentive to stop layering a kinds of taxes. Just have a VAT and be done with it.

Switching our tax regime to VATs, effectively flattening 13,000+ sales tax jurisdictions down to 50, would be a monumental undertaking involving rethinking and reorganizing financing of literally everything below the federal level. And in the end it would solve a problem that is at best a minor annoyance to most Americans.

The juice ain't worth the squeeze.


Be honest, frequent travel and shopping over VPN is an edge case here.

Everyone is an edge case in some form. You, included.

Just have a VAT and be done with it.

This just illustrates that you don't understand the that taxes have multiple purposes, and why taxes are the way they are. Attend a few city council meetings.


I understand why we levy taxes. I’m not a moron (or a jerk). Other countries manage with a much simpler tax scheme; we can try and do the same.


America doesn't want to be like other countries. You may remember there was a war or two about that.


Yeah, I see a lot of advice on here that websites should make some guesses and you can always correct them later if it turns out they're wrong.

That seems like terrible advice. Oh, the price is $X. And once you've entered all your info "just kidding." I'd much rather know there are some things not included up-front if they're not reasonably factored in.


Do you often order things for delivery at home while you're travelling? Then the price will change when you provide the delivery address — just like it does now.

Meanwhile, 99% of people will see the price they can expect to pay.


it will never happen. these company executives are major donors to politicians of both aisles. laws and regulations are for the common people like you and me. not for the ultra-rich. heck, even the judiciary is corrupt these days.


tipping culture is so annoying here in the Bay Area. the other day i was at a coffee shop and cashier handed me a device that had suggested tips from 18-22% with no obvious Cancel button. i was infuriated and the cashier had a smug look on her face. she knew what i was looking for and she didn't bother telling me how to skip it. mind you, this was for a coffee to-go order.


I get very annoyed at things like that where there shouldn't be a tip. Tip is for service quality and counter service there is no differentiation in service between different servers. People do go to restaurants and ask for their favorite waiter. There often is a difference in service between different waiters at the same restaurant - enough that I like the ability to pay for good service (if you always give the same tip you are doing it wrong - you should be giving as many 10% tips as 20%.


other countries have figured that out even countries with multiple levels of taxation like in the U.S. it's not an unsolvable problem.


> not an unsolvable problem

I never said it was. In fact, I specifically said that there is work to do before making the rule about listing all prices inclusive of taxes.


but you did say that figuring out the final price is "unacceptable"? why is it unacceptable? my point is that other countries have figured out a way to display the final prices, but USA still hasn't figured out how to do it or they don't have any plans to do it.


As things stand currently, it would be unacceptably intrusive as you have to collect information on all shoppers whether they purchase or not.

Do the pre-work first, and then make a rule about displaying the final price.


you forgot to answer the question though :)


Oops. Early 96 if i remember correctly. Its been a while :)


lot of these opt-in toggles are ON by default in the U.S but my previous employer's legal department made sure that it's OFF by default in EU.


they didn't prohibit charging more for App Store purchases, they prohibited mentioning it in the app. i.e, you cannot mention something like 'purchase this in-app product for $3 cheaper on our website'.


To be more specific, previously they prohibited telling about any other ways to buy elsewhere:

"Apps and their metadata may not include buttons, external links, or other calls to action that direct customers to purchasing mechanisms other thanuse in-app purchase, except as set forth ...",

And that includes sending promotional emails if said emails were gathered via app.


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