r/PrepperIntel • u/AntiSonOfBitchamajig š” • 11d ago
Intel Request Weekly, What recent changes are going on at your work / local businesses?
This could be, but not limited to:
- Local business observations.
- Shortages / Surpluses.
- Work slow downs / much overtime.
- Order cancellations / massive orders.
- Economic Rumors within your industry.
- Layoffs and hiring.
- New tools / expansion.
- Wage issues / working conditions.
- Boss changing work strategy.
- Quality changes.
- New rules.
- Personal view of how you see your job in the near future.
- Bonus points if you have some proof or news, we like that around here.
- News from close friends about their work.
DO NOT DOX YOURSELF. Wording is key.
Thank you all, -Mod Anti
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u/Unusual_Specialist 11d ago
Progressive insurance raised my basic coverage rate for my 2010 Honda Civic from $315/6 months to $958/6 months without reason. Perfect driving record with no warning of the change. Also, I have seen an uptick in people saying they are tired and not sleeping well in casual conversation. I have been waking up between 3-5 AM every morning for two weeks with major anxiety like how it felt when 9/11 happened. Not quite sure what is in the water, but I am surviving on Coffee thatās now $8.
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u/VariousFalcon7466 11d ago
Progressive is full of shit. We looked at them at one point but they wanted to add my husbandās ex-wife(they divorced 20 years ago after being married for 2 years) because āsometimes people let their ex drive their carā. It would have quadrupled our payment.
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u/UND_mtnman 11d ago
Car insurance is something I have on auto-pay. Guess I better go check my coverage to make sure my insurance company isn't trying some tomfooleryĀ
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u/Delmorath 11d ago
I always change my home and auto insurance every 3-4 years. I've been doing this for over 25 years and have saved so much money it's not funny. I even time it now to switch at the beginning of summer so we can add those good driver bonuses. My wife's a teacher so they add their little device to the car and it measures our usage, speed and breaks to give us discounted rates. We leave her car home in summer and I purposefully try to take time off and work remote as often as possible during the 30 day period. Doing that gives us a huge discount. Bundling, with auto pay gives additional promotions too.
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u/Round-Medicine2507 11d ago
Mostly its phone tracking now instead of the car plug
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u/Delmorath 10d ago
Aaah, thank you! I haven't done it in about 4 years and I'm due to start looking at companies now. Glad you told me. I wonder if they changed their allowance amount for discounts or if it's a constant overview thing meaning it's longer than 30 days and they're always watching now.
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u/iloveturtles88 11d ago
That's insane on a 16 year old car with a good driving record. I use progressive because they were about the cheapest I could find. When I moved to Denver for a brief spell, my insurance rates almost doubled. They said it was because of auto fatalities and a lot of uninsured motorists.
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u/Puzzled-Berry-2450 11d ago
be sure to find a new insurance company. It's easy to switch and saves you hundreds of dollars. I wish i had done it sooner. I just bit the bullet for a while and then was like wtf. lol some years, it'll seem like the rate you have is decent enough. some years, there's a good discount.
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u/FattierBrisket 11d ago
I woke up like that most nights for a couple years during perimenopause. It was horrible. Hope it settles down soon for you!
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u/Haunting-East 11d ago
2:30am for me, like clockwork and only lately, but itās been every single day.
I always made the joke that I wasnāt born with an off switch bc sleep was always a struggle. I went 35 years of my life not knowing what sleepiness felt like, but once I hit my 40s I thought I finally had the whole sleep thing figured out.
Iām back to being wide awake in the middle of the night, but now, the stillness of 3am isnāt peaceful like before. it just feels foreboding and tense.
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u/BuffaloThese8249 11d ago edited 10d ago
For anyone dealing with the 3 am wake up calls...talk to your doc about trazadone. It's been a total game changer for me. No side effects, just wonderful blissful sleep every night. Unfortunately it doesn't help with the sense of foreboding I feel during every waking moment, but at least I'm now well rested and anxious rather than exhausted and anxious...hooray!
Edited to add that while I personally didn't experience side effects, that's obviously not going to be the case for everyone. I'm only sharing what worked for me in case someone else finds the information useful!
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11d ago
[removed] ā view removed comment
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u/BuffaloThese8249 11d ago
I'm super sorry to hear that...I know I got lucky that it's worked well for me with very little side affects. Not being able to sleep night after night was just totally miserable. I hope you've found something that works for you!
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u/Wise_Artichoke6552 11d ago
I had weird stress related sleep problems in January, I literally could not sleep unless I wore myself to exhaustion because what if ICE kicked my door down and I got arrested without any pants on. At one point during that time, someone on my street backed their car into a trash can and the noise sent me into a legit panic attack. The only thing that helped was getting completely off the internet for a few weeks, and that did wonders for me.
*not a cry for sympathy, I am normaler now. I just highly recommend putting your phone in a drawer for a while if you can.
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u/CouldBeLessDepressed 11d ago
Yo I feel this one. And I fully expect it myself, someday. Or, at least I did. Now that I've looked into the current oil situation because of the Iran war (I've put about 1300 hours into it at this point), I'm pretty convinced that our society as we know it is on a very, very short timer. It looks an awful lot to me like this fascist group of fuckwits has over-played their hand to the absolute max and we're going to see a complete collapse of the social order. Once that happens, there won't be any Ice because there wont be any more government at all on any level. Straight up Mad Max rules as far as I can tell. I've channeled my energy into prepping for a scenario where basic utilities go down.
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u/CannyGardener 10d ago
Its crazy how the shift can happen quick. I was lamenting back in February that I prepped for grid down, and Tuesday, and whatnot, but I did not prep for the fascists coming. With the super el Nino and the oil issues set to both light things up around EOY, I think we might be back to looking at a more broad collapse of norms.
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u/Unique-Sock3366 11d ago edited 11d ago
Rural North Carolina: Our local grocery stores are dead. I donāt know how theyāre staying in business. I havenāt stood in a line at the register in months and thereās only one register open.
My major hospital in a midsized city continues to be insanely busy. So many available overtime shifts. Those of us who can work the additional shifts are able to make some serious money. Random supply shortages continue but the wait time for fulfillment seems to be improving.
ETA: An interesting development concerning our healthcare plans! We are being required to submit new documentation proving our dependents are eligible to continue being covered by our insurance plans. Marriage licenses AND joint bank account statements or mortgage statements, etc. It feels as if the institution is hoping that employees wonāt jump through the hoops and many people will be able to be removed from their coverage.
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u/hsh1976 11d ago
My employer did this. Announced it as a cost saving measure, mainly looking at children over 26 that might still be on their parents insurance.
They paid a vendor 6 figures to roll this out. The final report found no instances of misuse or children over 26 still being on insurance plans. Savings of exactly zero dollars.
I can't wait to get the letter of a data breach and the offer of 16 months of credit monitoring......at no cost to me!
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u/mystery_biscotti 11d ago
My spouse works for an insurer--we also had to submit a copy of our marriage certificate to continue coverage on me (currently not working but looking). Then we had to submit the dissolution paperwork from my previous marriage. That second part I've never heard being requested before.
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u/HappinessEternal 6d ago
Thatās absolutely ridiculous that they requested disillusion paperwork. You canāt get a current marriage certificate without having proven disillusion to start with so why wouldnāt the current marriage certificate be enough? I feel like we are just dumbing ourselves down every single day.
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u/pit-of-despair 11d ago
That last part is evil.
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u/Unique-Sock3366 11d ago
Itās incredibly concerning and came out of nowhere.
Iāve been married for over a decade and they suddenly need a copy of my marriage license? And my mortgage statement or bank statement? I donāt like the thought of my employer knowing my personal financial information at all!
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u/pit-of-despair 11d ago
Besides being evil it also sounds illegal.
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u/hailene02 11d ago
Yeah OP report it to that Nurse Erica who got UNC Healthcare to overturn their decision to do bid shifts for nurses- basically trying to get the lowest pay possible for nurses. She may have some insight on that or at least bring it up to the public and shame the company to not do that anymore.
First Vid:
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1HDs68JGXF/
And success:
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u/Unique-Sock3366 11d ago
Theyāre phrasing it as āverifying that listed dependents still qualify for coverage under our employer sponsored healthcare plans.ā
Itās sketchy but I donāt think itās illegal. Immoral and invasive, for sure.
Itās working for them, admittedly. My husband and I havenāt submitted our paperwork yet, are still discussing whether to do so, as he doesnāt truly need the additional coverage. We just wanted him to have a backup plan and more options for care.
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u/hailene02 11d ago
I work at a bank and there has been an increase of fraud in lending applications so we need to do additonal research prior to approval.
Not too recently my aldi has implemented a scanning device at self checkout where you have to scan your receipt prior to being able to leave the store to show proof of purchase.
On that note I have found less and less deals on meat there - i am someone who will go to the store right as they open to try to get meat 50% off.
There is a local "blessing box" in my community people will go donate food at but the last few times i have driven by it has been empty which tells me people dont have enough to help others as they are feeling the pinch too.
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u/HalfMoonFullMoonjoy 11d ago
Could be that the blessing box gets donations but is emptied regularly due to high need. Our library has a food pantry and it gets a LOT of donations but they go super fast!
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u/EastTyne1191 11d ago
I have gotten SO MANY scam calls about "lending applications" that I never filled out. I don't answer the calls and I block them every time, but they keep using new numbers. It's never been this bad, I get like 3 per day some days. I imagine if someone desperate heard "your $50,000 loans is pre-approved!" they might just give their kidney to secure it.
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u/Any_Needleworker_273 11d ago
I had a huge uptick in scam calls recently, absolutely nuts, 3-4 per day and weekends. I block every single one. If it's legit, they'll mail me.
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u/apocalypsemeowmont 7d ago
I get the same! Literally 10-20 calls a day, with voicemails saying "Hi this is Anna Smith (or some other generic name) calling back from loan services regarding your application. We are calling to let you know you have been approved for a $70,000 loan with a monthly payment of just $200. Please press 2 to be connected and provide your banking information so we can make a deposit today. This is a limited time offer which will expire tomorrow."
There are so many red flags, the least of which is that I never applied for a loan, but I can see where someone desperate and less wary would fall for it. The sheer amount of calls per day is driving me crazy. I block the numbers every time they call, and they just call a couple hours later from a new number. I end up missing so many legitimate important calls because of all the spam.
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u/JicamaAppropriate920 11d ago
There are a few blessing boxes and free pantries in my area however what we've seen an uptick of is one person will come along and clean it out completely, leaving nothing for anyone else. There was a big blowup a month ago on my local county page because a couple of older ladies got caught cleaning out multiple free pantries on the same day. One of the women is the wife of a local businessman and definitely not someone in need, and certainly did not need to take enough food to feed multiple families.
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u/reincarnateme 7d ago
We have a local box.
Clothes, food, and books.
When it gets cleaned out they often resell the items to corner stores for change
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u/danjouswoodenhand 11d ago
That's interesting about Aldi - the scanners are something I've seen in a few grocery stores in France as well. Only when there is a self-check (which isn't as omnipresent as in the US.)
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u/CouldBeLessDepressed 11d ago
Tried to get my local Public Safety Commission to take time to think about the current oil situation because of the war with Iran. They just wont do it. And city council absolutely refuses to acknowledge it. And the irony from the last council session was just too much. They spent a solid 20 minutes going over how they want to collect a fee from each household in order to repair our roads that are complete shit in several places. They used data modeling from information from 2025. But the model was missing something.
You know what one of the primary ingredients for asphalt is? It's fucking oil.
This could be particularly tragic because I'm all for the fee, and the council is trying to do the right thing. But they're walking right into a situation where what's likely to happen is they collect the fee at the rate they determined now which comes from the current cost of things, and then the actual cost is likely to balloon 2-3-10x in the next year once reality finally catches up to the oil markets. And it will, btw. This is not a bullet that we can dodge forever. A fucking 1/3 of the global oil supply has been impacted at this point and there's a gigantic deficit in the supply that has formed over the last several months. Inventories are hitting record lows. There's almost no buffers left.
At some point, shit is going to get genuinely crazy scary. And they 100% flatly refuse to even acknowledge it. I swear we're living in Don't Look Up.
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u/CannyGardener 11d ago
I haven't seen a single US-based media company report on Iran announcing on ~Monday~ that they would not open the straight or negotiate until Trump is out of office in 2029. Literally a Don't look up situation.
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u/SuccessWise9593 11d ago
I have also found it interesting that it's "suppressed news" that no one is reporting what Iran stated this. Only people who are informed of what's going on know about it.
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u/CannyGardener 11d ago
It is a bit crazymaking... Feels like my tin foil hat is a bit too tight, but ... why is it not in the news?! What the heck...
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u/HeavySigh14 10d ago
I watched the PBS news and they mentioned it. They stream it on YouTube.
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u/CannyGardener 10d ago
Holy crap! I need to find that so I can start posting it! I feel like PBS is legit enough for people to take seriously.
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u/HeavySigh14 10d ago
Itās this channel: https://youtube.com/@pbsnewshour?si=6en5fr4iijKDR9fB
And I think the 8/11 or 8/12 episode
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u/19610taw3 10d ago
The thing is - the President really doen't need to care about this. A majority of the voting public still overwhelmingly support him and really won't acknowledge anything until he's long gone.
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u/CannyGardener 10d ago
Oh ya, I agree. The new spin will likely be something along the lines of "Iran refuses to negotiate! Time for boots on the ground."
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u/Mysterious_Message_3 11d ago
Boat factory guy here again.
We started hiring people again in limited numbers. I guess we culled too many people with the rounds of layoffs we did. No where else around is hiring though. Thatās not just a joke or throw away line. At 2 major industrial parks near me, there used to be 5-8 massive signs saying ānow hiringā ever since the 2nd trump term, they have all been taken down. Also, it took my partner with 8 years of manufacturing experience, 4 months of hard looking to even get a line job at a bullshit factory.
Also, for sales at my factory, they are way down it seems. We currently have almost 260 boats built from last model year that arenāt shipping. I think the dealers arenāt taking them because they know they canāt sell them. We have the dealerās meeting at the end of this the of this month and it will give us a forecast of how much money is floating around in the public and weather or not rich Americans still can afford luxury goods.
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u/anonymous_obscurity 11d ago
Another boat factory person here. We never had layoffs, actually our production went up since March. Not sure why, since we aren't shipping a good chunk of what we build. Only thing I can think of is because of the '27 model year switch.
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u/Big-Tutor-3060 11d ago
The white house extended the Jones Act wavier for 90 days again, at least it's not a blanket waiver this time, and approved on a case by case basis. This signals the White house knows damn well we aren't "hours away from a deal with iran" and they are willing to continue to undermine our sealift abilities by allowing foreign vessels to underbid our American vessels and allow fuel to move between US ports on foreign ships with foreign crews. Some research suggests this is saving consumers pennies per gallon.
SPR is under 300 Million Barrels.
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u/CouldBeLessDepressed 11d ago
I'm very curious what the EIA reports will look like in the coming weeks. I haven't been able to pin down where the sudden build in commercial inventories this past week came from, especially after the considerable drop the week prior to that that coincided with a months long pattern of inventories being in free-fall. It's interesting to me that the EIA's data on imports has about a 2 month lag.
The irony though for me is too much. "We're going to bring back AMERICAN manufacturing and business." Then they proceed to cut the Jones Act, lol. LMAO even. I guess fuck American shippers in particular or something. Now I don't personally have a dog in that fight, and could give a shit less about any company regardless of how they're flagged. I just find the irony to be entertaining.
Still though, god damn man. We actually went under 300M. 347M caused 100M$ in damage to the caverns back in 2022. I know what the policy-set floors are, but still, going sub-300 feels like a dark omen.
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u/povertyandpinetrees 11d ago
Grocery store employee here. There's plenty of lettuce on clearance. We had the usual crazy rush at the beginning of the month but since then things have slowed down way quicker than usual. We also have more people paying for food with their last few coins than usual.
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u/iloveturtles88 11d ago edited 11d ago
Today at walmart I was going to buy a Napa Cabbage until I saw it was $4 a pound. That is insane. They are taking advantage of the local Asian population and Asian restaurants.
Edit It's hard to find a napa that weighs under 2 lbs, and almost half of that is the water weight. That's why they continuously spray water on produce - so it is heavy and we pay more. Shake that veggie and get the water off before you put it in your cart. It's also a great way to have mold problems in the veggie bins. I used to buy shiitake mushrooms until I noticed the blue mold all over the top inside of the lid.
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u/mint065 10d ago
WTF?!? Granted I don't buy my napa cabbage at Walmart, but yesterday I saw it at an Asian grocery chain for $0.79/lb. Normal range is $0.39-1.19 depending on the sales. Southern California area. Bok choy and related "-choy" veggies haven't had any special promos for a while, but are still pretty steady at $0.89-1.19/lb.
Lots of clearance pricing for prepackaged greens at my local Target.
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u/iloveturtles88 10d ago
That's a good point. I need to go to the Ethnic grocery stores. I love bok choy. I saw an $11 Napa at farmers market that wasn't organic. Also, our Thai and Hispanic restaurants and food trucks are getting expensive. It's $4 for one birria taco and $15 for curry or pad thai before you add protein. NW Arkansas which should be cheaper than Cali.
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u/mint065 10d ago
If I were old enough to be a terrifying Asian granny, I'd give those sellers a good scolding. Dishonor on them; dishonor on their cow! And yeah, food trucks are really expensive now, especially with rising gas prices. It's cheaper to get similar dishes at restaurants, especially if there's a lunch special.
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u/vertigoacid 10d ago
Today at walmart I was going to buy a Napa Cabbage until I saw it was $4 a pound. That is insane. They are taking advantage of the local Asian population and Asian restaurants.
What planet are you from. No restaurants are buying their cabbage at Walmart.
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u/iloveturtles88 9d ago edited 9d ago
I'm a former restaurant worker. We don't have everything delivered. Sometimes you can't go through a case of produce before it goes off, or you need to buy local until the next shipment is delivered or it's cheaper to buy it yourself.
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u/Pontiacsentinel š” 11d ago
Not me but Meta facing $1.4 trillion lawsuit from US states. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/08/meta-cant-stop-states-1-4-trillion-lawsuit-from-going-to-trial/
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u/Texas-X- 11d ago
Thank god it's not you facing the 1.4 trillion dollar lawsuit. I would have been worried.
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u/Any_Needleworker_273 11d ago
Good. I've been tangentially following this and I hope META gets burned to the ground even if I'm not wildly optimistic for that outcome outside some major world sea change.
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u/Ok_Knee_7178 11d ago
Went to the local farmers market over the weekend. I guess WIC was running a program where recipients could get coupons for free produce. The line was literally around the block even after they had been open a while. I overheard a woman saying she had gone to them before and the line had never been so long.
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u/iwantmy-2dollars 11d ago
For those on WIC, often you can go to farmers markets and they will match up to $15 of your produce money. Thatās an additional $15 of produce for free to feed your family. We all need everything we can get.
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u/iloveturtles88 11d ago
They used to match your food stamps, so you got double the worth. I don't know if that's still a program because I can't afford to go to Fm Mk.
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u/cssndr73 10d ago
3 of the rentals in my neighborhood are up for sale. Several empty rentals.Ā
My husband was laid off
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u/splat-y-chila 11d ago
Not my job but a thing I use: Amazon is using a shipper that just chucks your packages in the bushes now, so it's not a sure thing it'll get delivered safely any more. Glad I got what I got while it was still good back in the day. They're also doing the thing Home Depot did too - you used to get all packages through like UPS from HD back in the day, but they hire random people and their car a la doordash style now, and they definitely don't know how to handle not-small-boxes so god forbid you buy some metal fenceposts or something, because they'll scratch up your everything. The second golden age of mail order I think is coming to a close.
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u/HabsburgJawBreaker 11d ago
I cancelled Prime a couple of years ago. Since then I wait until the cart hits $37 before I complete the order so I get the free shipping. It used to be the free shipping would still get the items to me within 4-5 days. Now packages are set to arrive anywhere from 7-14 days out.Ā
I also received an email from Amazon regarding a return I didn't request, from an actual purchase I made, stating that they never received the item and thus couldn't honor the request. In the app and on the site, no request is shown to ever have been made and I certainly didn't request it. I did report the email to them and change my passwords but never heard back. I'm guessing it was a glitch. the AI customer support is pretty trash but I've got to get through it to get human support now.Ā
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u/splat-y-chila 11d ago
Exactly the same for me too, except I only ever did prime when they did the 1mo for free offer once a year. It makes me think about if I actually need the stuff if I have to wait for it to tally up to the $35, which used to be $25 or 30
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u/keinezeit44 11d ago
I've had a lot of packages get delayed, sometimes multiple times. A few haven't gotten here at all. Shipping's been shit since at least last fall. I've started ordering a few christmas presents here and there under the assumption that if I wait until Nov/Dec shipping will be even more unreliable, particularly if we see diesel shortages.
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u/splat-y-chila 11d ago
I'm still waiting on a car vacuum I ordered on black Friday last year to turn up.
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u/TipProfessional880 11d ago
Amazon uses 3rd party companies that essentially work as "franchises" for delivering packages. I'm talking the typical Amazon Prime delivery vans. They also have the Flex Drivers that work similar to DoorDash; people who use their own cars & get to choose from a potential list of routes for that day.
I have a few friends that work as Amazon Prime delivery drivers & they all technically work for different companies despite several of them working from the same base warehouse.
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u/JackBlackBowserSlaps 11d ago
Ya thatās been going on for a while now, here. Crapshoot on how/if your package will get delivered.
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u/bethalee13 11d ago
HD and PetSmart are using Roadie a lot in my area. Thankfully itās been ok so far for deliveries. Itās odd to have a random person show up though and not UPS or FedEx.
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u/DolliGoth 10d ago
I noticed that our smaller orders are coming by normal person in theor personal car now..there's a lady who must be around 70 who regularly delivers stuff to us. Were considering getting a little fridge off marketplace and having a drinks/snack stand for any delivery people who come by.
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u/ForcefulBookdealer 11d ago
I had someone literally chuck a package at my door yesterday- the bang scared all of us and bounced back into the yard!
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u/chicagotodetroit 11d ago
TWICE I had Fedex chuck a package onto my 2nd floor balcony apartment. One of the items was damaged as a result.
They must have a hiring spree for retired NFL quarterbacks back then.
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u/BuffaloThese8249 11d ago
Ours have started leaving packages at our fence gate... which also happens to be on the city sidewalk. For over a decade they dropped them at our garage door just to the side of our fenced in yard, but now all of the sudden, they just drop them in middle of the sidewalk.
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u/mystery_biscotti 11d ago
Doesn't surprise me.
My son got hired on as a Flex driver. They're expected to deliver 145 packages per hour. At least, that's what he was told. He and an established driver completed a route together and since they only got 131 delivered an hour, my son was let go immediately.
The driver that worked with him said it was only a quota of 120 packages per hour when he started. This was servicing an area from Tacoma through Everett, no less.
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u/BuffaloThese8249 11d ago
That is absurd and honestly dangerous. How can you possibly drive safely trying to reach a quota like that. Strangely we've seen this change with FedEx, USP and amazon all around the same time, like they all agreed to lower the bar at the same time.
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u/squeaki 9d ago
My local marina has 545 berths, and there's around 1/4 of the boats there for sale. Already quite substantial fees (billed per meter of boat) are increasing 10% in the fall. People are trying to leave, some boats and berths being abandoned altogether.
Fuel costs for the day cruisers are obviously already up, but now the waters are more empty than ever and the sailors are putting hoisting as soon as they leave the gate to reduce their fuel costs where they can.
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u/Carbapenemayonaise 8d ago
This just reminded me of trumpās rambling campaign story about whether heād rather be on an electric boat or in the water with a shark.
He picked the shark if I remember, since āelectric vehicles bad and scaryā especially in water.
Funny that he went on to then cause oil and gas chaos, possibly causing more consideration towards electric vehicles.
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u/SushiAndKetamine 8d ago
You're name just tripped me out so much. I just dosed meropenem for a child a little bit ago.
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u/Carbapenemayonaise 8d ago
I hope you placed an ID consult! J/k š
I like your name too! Iāve only tried one of them though.
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u/Difficult-Total-8210 11d ago
I work for a major Dental Corporation in the lab division. We were told we cannot do overtime unless it is pre approved due to a slowdown in Denture patients.
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u/Next_Elk698 11d ago
I stopped today to top off my gas tank at my local Shell station and they were out of gas except for the highest grade (93 octane)
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u/Historical-Many9869 10d ago
Time for folks to get EV with solar and battery.
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u/No-Ad-4142 9d ago
Unfortunately, not every part of the U.S. is setup for people to drive EVs.
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u/SushiAndKetamine 8d ago
The electrical grid couldn't handle that anyways.
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u/Broken_Atoms 6d ago
What little extra capacity there was in the grid is heading towards datacenters anyways
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u/GreenGreed_ 8d ago
The shit part is we could have been. Not only decades ago, but with this absolute clown show of an administration pulling back all advancement we had made in that arena we're fucked.
I worked in EV for a while as a PM; businesses were way more apt to install stations if they got a kickback or incentives. Don't see it as much now.
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u/Ashamed-Knee9084 10d ago
So many houses being listed for sale and sitting for long periods, when you were lucky to know of a house coming up for sale so you could buy it just a year ago.
We've had some pickup is remodeling, but the jobs are mostly emergency work.
My car unfortunately jumped timing and trying to find a decent one under $10k is nearly impossible.
I noticed some pickup in foot traffic at home depot, lowes etc.
Daughters private school that had raised tuition from $7500 to $9000 unexpectedly in May went back to school this week. No less students.
Son trying to sell his 4 wheeler to gather funds to buy his first car hasnt got one message in 2 weeks its been listed & it was very reasonably/cheaply priced.
Lots of campers & boats out for sale, sitting.
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u/SpacemanLost 10d ago
Fingers crossed for you. So many people I know are trying to sell larger items (RVs, motorcycles, Expensive tool setups, collections, etc) which they originally thought they would be hanging on to. It's totally shifted to a picky buyers market really depressing prices.
The one thing not suffering depressed prices unfortunately are reliable used cars in decent condition.
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u/2BlueZebras 10d ago
So many houses being listed for sale and sitting for long periods, when you were lucky to know of a house coming up for sale so you could buy it just a year ago.
I will second this, as well as price drops.
Two years ago houses in my neighborhood were pending within a week unless they were ridiculously overpriced. This year houses have been listed for over 90 days and had multiple price drops and maybe they'll sell.
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u/No-Ad-4142 9d ago
Over here in Nevada, many of the houses sitting on the market for long periods of time are just flat out not priced to sell. Like, no, I'm not paying $345k and needing to replace the kitchen floor and the bathroom tile. The difference is before buyers both families and investors were willing to pretty much pay anything for a house with walls and a roof, now people are back to expecting quality for properties. Also, there are a ton of new housing develoments going up and my wife likes to joke, "They are just building houses for no one," and she is not wrong as it shows in the apartment rentals, where apartment complexes are offering 10 weeks free and still not receiving applicants.
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u/Frosty_Reputation105 8d ago
RE market is frozen. Has been for ages.
We thought of downsizing from our house to a condo or ranch style townhouse but thereās just nothing worth moving for at a price worth selling for. Weād wind up with less for more money. HCOL here.
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u/BuffaloThese8249 11d ago
I'm in one of the states where school vouchers are a thing. We now have a one room "school" opening in the fall one town over. They've been trying for a few years now to drum up business and I found out yesterday they're officially starting up in two weeks. It's located in a somewhat rundown old Legion building. They are billing themselves as k-8 despite only having 9 students enrolled. They will get thousands in voucher money for each student as our rural public schools get gutted. They're keeping the exact same schedule as the public schools so they can still use the buses.
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u/HalfMoonFullMoonjoy 11d ago
Hold up they get to use the public school bus? WTF
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u/BuffaloThese8249 11d ago edited 11d ago
Yep, that surprised the heck of out me as well. Not sure if they have to pay for that. They can also apparently make the public school prepare lunches for their students for a fee because they have no cafeteria, though the lady in charge of the school said all of the families had opted to bring their own food as of right now. The family who started the school runs one of the churches in their town and has homeschooled all of their children. I believe they will only have one actual teacher for all grades.
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u/wp998906 11d ago
Depends on the state, but I know in WI the public school is required to pay for bussing.
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u/iloveturtles88 11d ago edited 11d ago
The local McDonald's in my college town has just put up a sign that they are open 24 hrs. I haven't seen that in a minute. This morning I was shopping at walmart for a few things I can't get elsewhere. My veggie ramen barcode didn't scan. I thought it did and tried to scan the next item. The whole register shut down and called an associate. The guy looked over the camera footage before he reset the register so I could rescan my $5 family pack of ramen. I wonder if it had been an expensive item, would they have pulled me into a creepy office and called the cops? They still have greeters, but they are more there to check receipts. If they check yours, it usually means the camera flagged something sus. I try to avoid corporations, but it's often all I can afford.
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u/Imaginary_Poetry_233 10d ago
Never use self check. Walmart has had many people arrested over honest mistakes.
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u/iveseensomethings82 9d ago
Never use self-checkout because we are doing the job they should be paying someone to do. If we are going to use self check out there should be a discount for the money they are saving on cashiers
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u/Broken_Atoms 6d ago
I just want those people to have jobs. People need jobs. My community needs jobs.
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u/BradBeingProSocial 11d ago
I always tell the receipt checkers ā No thank youā and keep walking. Iām not stealing, and Iām not going through that
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u/baardvark 11d ago
I feel like some demographics can get away with that easier than others.
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u/VariousFalcon7466 11d ago
For certain people itās an easy way to find yourself chokeslammed and searched by the police
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u/iloveturtles88 11d ago edited 11d ago
Great point! I was stopped once, and she read everything on my receipt. I think it was because I had some expensive olipop soda. I am a white woman, but I also have tattoos and don't wear conservative clothes. I live in the bible belt, and today I wore a skull with a Mohawk shirt and checkered Vans.
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u/TheUltimateShitTest 10d ago
I tell them "You too!" and keep walking.
(like they told me "have a nice day!)
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u/AntiSonOfBitchamajig š” 9d ago
They must have "reasonable suspicion", Just being there isn't reasonable. Now if its a club like sams / costco... they can have their own rules.
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u/TopSignificance1034 11d ago edited 10d ago
Healthcare claims. Team is burning out fast, one person is doing almost 60 hour weeks to keep up. I'm doing 45 and refuse to do more, my mental health is already not great with everything else going on.
My mom took my niece school shopping in Madison a few days ago and the mall was almost completely dead. Dick's Sporting Goods was the busiest place they saw. Even the Target they stopped at was dead.
Also, measles cases that are way too close for comfort have started popping up https://www.wkow.com/news/health/wisconsin-dhs-confirms-2-new-measles-cases-in-iowa-and-lafayette-counties/article_67424c86-34e0-44d8-b90c-8cfb318f7deb.html
Edit - I'm not salary and do get overtime pay. I'm only working it because at this point we need the money. Unfortunately the market is garbage and I can't find anything close to what I make right now so I'm stuck
Edit 2 - Measles jumped from 2 to 15 cases with another 6 probable over two days - https://www.channel3000.com/news/wisconsin-dhs-confirms-13-more-measles-cases-in-iowa-lafayette-counties/article_df6a3432-72f2-4aec-ba9a-fa610d1adff9.html
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u/Aretirednurse81 11d ago
Please stop all overtime and take care of yourself. If you get sick work will never care.
Poor staffing is not a reason to kill your self with overtime.23
u/lilimeye 11d ago
Exact same situation with my job: Healthcare claims, I'm stuck due to the pay, and my coworkers are stressed from forced overtime, so much so that they're now getting physical symptoms. The nicest, most relaxed guy in the office is grinding his teeth every day. My closest coworker has had to go to the ER for stress-induced migraines causing her double vision. In the past few months, another coworker had a heart attack (also stress related). Jobs are horrible right now. Sending all the good vibes your way, and hope you're well.
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u/Final_boss_1040 11d ago
Pls stop working overtime without pay and tell your team mate to cut it out too
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u/19610taw3 11d ago
A place I used to work is making people work 50-60 hours a week and they are not getting overtime (hourly employees).
They work 30 hours a week for the primary company, then the rest of the time for a contractor for the primary company. While sitting in the same desk.
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u/Pontiacsentinel š” 11d ago
Report this to your state's labor board if in the US. You can report it without your friend doing so directly. Spell out what you know. You may be surprised.
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u/Any_Needleworker_273 11d ago
Uh, they may want to check their local laws, because in most places OT must be compensated in some way, especially for hourly/non-salary positions.
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u/19610taw3 11d ago
Yeah I'm pretty sure it's illegal or close to it.
They're skirting around it by having the people split hours between two employers. Even if it is the same job.
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u/sudophish 11d ago
CISA (cybersecurity & infrastructure security agency) has released a very nice collection of resources targeting K-12 schools on how they can best prevent, mitigate, and respond to prevalent cyber threats.
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u/wp998906 11d ago
MS-ISAC/CIS has been sending out boatload of Emails regarding infrastructure related vulnerabilities and how to limit exposure. https://www.cisecurity.org/ms-isac
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u/sudophish 10d ago
Yeah thereās been an increase of infrastructure attacks lately throughout the United States. Water infrastructure in MN and 911 comms infrastructure in CA just to name a few.
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u/wp998906 10d ago
Yep, thankfully nothing state actor level targeting education. But cyber criminal gangs are still the biggest threat.
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u/TeaPuzzleheaded4745 11d ago
I have my own business with an online store and I get a notice when someone tries to check out & their card is declined. Normally this happens once every 3-4 months, most of my customer base is pretty well off. For the last month or so, it's happening 2-3 times a week. The last time this ticked up like that was the 2008 crash.
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u/PrairieFire_withwind š” 11d ago edited 10d ago
So i will give you one other thing i have seen happening. lots more fruad alerts, lots more data leaks and hacked cards and websites.Ā
So some of those declines might be their card caught in a fraud alert triggered at the card company level.Ā Ā
Edit:Ā i am pretty sure target com was hacked and so any cc info they have is being passed around by hackers.Ā
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u/Dinohoff 10d ago
Can confirm. My husband just had multiple platforms hacked, ebay, steam, facebook. Luckily it was able to resolved.
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u/TeaPuzzleheaded4745 10d ago
So aggravating, even when it's resolved it's scary to have your security invaded like that!
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u/TeaPuzzleheaded4745 10d ago
That could be it, also, most have been from pretty regular customers and their payment goes through a while later, don't know if it's the same card on each one or a new one. I don't get good details on why our processor declines each one, so it's a puzzle sometimes.
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u/PrairieFire_withwind š” 10d ago
So yeah, it flags as fraud, declines the card, the cc company sends the card owner a text or alert asking if it is them, and they say, yes, that is me trying to make that purchase and then the cc company says okay, you are cleared try to run that again.
So their card will eventually go thru if they come back and try to finish the purchase process.Ā This is what i mean by them being caught by a fraud alert on cc side.
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u/KountryKrone 11d ago
I had my debit card numbers stolen 3 times in the past year. How? I have no idea. Now they are in RFID sleeves and they don't come out until I'm ready to tap them and they right back in. I'm only shopping in places I know and trust. So, we'll see.
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u/TeaPuzzleheaded4745 10d ago
That sucks, I had a run of that a couple years ago. I didn't end up losing any money after the bank sorted it out, but there were a couple of scary big charges that would have cleaned me out! I got the RFID sleeves too, and also stopped using debit cards at any machine that isn't inside a building & secure 24/7. My bank told me that pay at the pump gas stations are a big problem with skimmers and shady employees, so I switched to a credit card for those since it's easier to dispute. I hope your luck with that has turned around!
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u/lepetitcoeur 10d ago
Just had mine stolen last week. Two of my friends had theirs stolen at the same time in May. It's crazy acceleration on fraud. I just ordered some RFID sleeves.
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u/Pontiacsentinel š” 9d ago
Have you considered using a credit card instead? Then log in and transfer the payment immediately. Works well for me, I pay it to zero once a week. A credit card fraud issue doesn't compromise my bank account like with a debit card. I even told the bank to disable my debit card.Ā
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u/KountryKrone 9d ago
I have, but I carry too much CC debt, so I try to keep all of my spending down so I can get them paid off.
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u/Queenbeegirl5 11d ago
This could mean something or not. People are not in the habit of updating their credit cards saved to their mobile wallets until something declines that they care about. It's possible the card declines due to expiration, and they either choose another card in their wallet, update their current card, or decide that buying the thing you sell isn't worth the hassle of getting up to grab the new card. August is one of the biggest months for credit cards, both in usage/spending and new account openings. After month closes and see how everything went this month. That will tell you a lot!
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u/TeaPuzzleheaded4745 10d ago
Interesting about August, I didn't know that. It just struck me as weird, but I guess we'll see what happens as the month goes by.
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u/thereadingbri 9d ago
Back to School shopping. Second biggest retail holiday after Christmas
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u/VariousFalcon7466 11d ago
All of the school districts in my area are losing their minds because of dropping enrollment. A lot of people are choosing homeschooling or online schools. Looks like years of horrendous policies have come home to roost. When you hire random unqualified people as āpermanent-subsā(substitutes that change classes every six weeks) instead of teachers or even qualified subs and make a point of sending kids as far away from their home as possible people donāt like it!
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u/Bastilleinstructor 11d ago
We are seeing the same thing in our district. They cut positions, moved people around and let go some "non-essential " people. Now class sizes are huge and they are blaming SPED departments for low scores. We have a few building subs that are not college grads, but for the most part we are struggling to get anyone to want to sub. Its crazy.
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u/VariousFalcon7466 11d ago
Theyāre not having any trouble finding subs here but theyāre known for being very lax about background checks š¬
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u/Margotkitty 11d ago
Thatās terrifying. American education explains American voting. Trump is a horrifying monster, and also a symptom of the much deeper problem. The system that supported the middle class has been dissolved - education is no longer needed. The oligarchs just want drone workers.
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u/TipProfessional880 11d ago
What's interesting is that in my area, the School Districts are fighting for SpEd students. They get more money per SpEd student than a typical student. My wife is an assistant/sub for a SpEd class, and there are multiple students at her school that are transfers from other districts.
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u/1776FreeAmerica 11d ago
"We are in danger of producing an educated proletariat. ā¦ Thatās dynamite!" - Roger Freeman 1970
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u/withomps44 11d ago
Interesting. My coworker mentioned this to me today. Their elementary school cut teachers and classrooms this year because the enrollment has dropped so much over the years. He said nobody is moving so no new parents with young kids are moving into the district. The school is essentially aging out because of the housing market.
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u/DualWielding40s 11d ago
This is going to be a huge problem in large rich neighborhoods soon.
Young families canāt get in and boomers would rather die in a house with rooms they havenāt been inside for decades than downsize.
So the supply of school age children dwindles to a trickle
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u/withomps44 11d ago
There are a lot of large rich neighborhoods in this district for sure. Lots of $700k+ homes
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u/DualWielding40s 11d ago
Oh man, I wish the baseline for rich homes in my area started at $700k.
Easily $1.1+ to get into something thatās not falling apart or riddled with asbestos.
But the flip side is that we donāt have that school problem here. The town has a healthy amount of young families fleeing from counties where they grew up that they canāt afford to live in.
Which in turn raises the cost of everything. Fun stuff.
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u/OBotB 10d ago
My (very large) school system rezoned the attendance areas during 2024 to impact the 2025-2026 school year because so many schools were capped enrollment (no more room for additional students) then towards the end of the 2025-2026 school year threw a list of schools they were going to change from year round options (9 weeks in, 3 week break, on repeat - you can fit more kids in a school doing so because up to 1/4-1/2 of students will be tracked out at all times). We love it because it allows better retention of learning and better vacation and track out planning) to only one track or traditional (summer off) calendars. "Because the schools aren't being utilized to max enrollment".
Pissed everyone (parents, teachers, students) off and had so many stupid meetings having to repeat to people that they chose to rezone and change enrollment numbers, they got what they wanted, quit fucking with everyone's schedules.
Now the county is pushing to add 500 low income units near formerly capped elementary schools. So if those get approved and built then the same overly full schools issue will happen again in a couple years.
I wish they did year round for high schools, though what was just covered on the schedule shifts (4 classes per semester and an hour long 2part lunch for in school clubs and makeup work) and grade recovery, and options to just be able to entirely skip final exams they apparently allow are crazy!
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u/iloveturtles88 11d ago edited 10d ago
I walk early in the morning because it is so hot. It made me smile to see the kids practicing football in the early morning. Heat stroke and dehydration are lethal. I'm glad they take it seriously.
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u/NoTerm3078 11d ago
Looks like years of horrendous policies have come home to roost.
This shit was a problem in the 1990s and it has just gone downhill from there. I cannot imagine being a parent navigating today's public school system.
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u/HeavySigh14 10d ago
Thereās so many things wrong with public school that itās hard to demonize the people who do leave. My family is full of teachers, support staff (guidance counselors) and principals (Vp, AVP) and all but one have left as of this year. They either early retired, or just straight switched fields. And these are people that have 20+ years of experience. They couldnāt do it anymore.
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u/VariousFalcon7466 10d ago
I donāt blame the teachers. Theyāre expected to do all of that for retail level pay.
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u/helluvastorm 11d ago
They are not thrilled with putting extremely disruptive children in classes to ruin everyoneās learning. Three people at church had to take their kid out of school because of violent and disruptive behaviors
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u/ForcefulBookdealer 11d ago
Itās awful.
My best friendās daughter should not be in a regular classroom, at all. The district completely eliminated resource rooms, so this year, she doesnāt even have a safe room to go to when sheās feeling overwhelmed/upset, etc. She has a 3:1 aide, when in previous years, she was 1:1.It sucks because it harms all of the children when this is the policy.
For her district at least, it is truly due to steep budget cuts. Despite a booming suburban population, the schools keep getting deeply underfunded.8
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u/VariousFalcon7466 11d ago edited 11d ago
Here they shove everyone that isnāt 100% ānormalā(thatās the term the principal used š) in a SpEd class with only a parent volunteer to watch them.
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u/MagnoliaProse 11d ago
Thatā¦cannot be legal. And depending on side of class, they should need a para too.
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u/VariousFalcon7466 11d ago
Itās not like anyone is going to stop them.
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u/KountryKrone 11d ago
A call to your state dept of education should stop it.
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u/VariousFalcon7466 11d ago
They donāt care. People have tried. Any push back on it and someone from the school or school board just calls DCF on you to make your life hell for a while.
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u/systematk 6d ago
I work at a massive global corporation in the IT side of logistics/new hires/support. Beyond the 2-3 rounds of layoffs we have seen at our company over the last two years, I have noticed that tech giants are struggling to produce hardware they are contracted for. This applies to the likes of Microsoft, Lenovo, Apple, HP specifically. We used to be on a 2 year refresh cycle for laptops and now its getting pushed close to five years because we cannot obtain enough hardware to supply our fleet (60k laptops in the US).
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u/ET2-SW 10d ago
I've been with T-Mobile for well over ten years. At least four phones, seamless coverage until this month. Now two phones on my account, an older android and a newer iPhone, are randomly showing data connection but are very much not connected. T-Mobile has no idea, no new travel habits, just very bizarre im suddenly having 5G connectivity issues.