"I Wish I Were Kidding": 55 Industry Secrets That Left People Feeling Scammed

25 years as a chef, the biggest racket is how much they charge for dinner salads vs food cost. It’s outrageous.

I work in an oncology clinic and due to the fact that we draw labs, have exam rooms (perform bone marrow biopsies in), administer infusions/injections - we are considered an “Off Campus Hospital Facility”. With that comes a facility fee, no matter what you walk in the door for. Labs? $192. B-12 injection? $192. Experiencing a common side effect from your chemo and need a new prescription or IV fluids? $192. Oh, your treatment plan is 7 days in a row for Vidaza injections? $192 EACH DAY. Here’s the kicker, needing to see our psychiatrist that specializes in oncology patients? $312 facility fee. This is not the actual charges for the services received but rather just a fee because of what type of facility is performing them.

Medical care is a total scam in the US and I know everyone is aware but it’s these types of things that make people go into medical debt they can never afford. I could go on and on about the cost for our oncology patients, but, who is listening?

With that said, if you are in medical debt and you have a chronic illness that you can’t afford, please talk to the people that work there at the medical office. Whether that’s your provider, the front office, nurses, anyone. There are likely programs that can help you. Our hospital has a hospital sponsorship program that helps so many people. These types of programs in public hospitals are not awarding you money, they write it off on their taxes. Take advantage of them. Medications may have free programs or copay cards. Foundations and grant monies are available for certain diagnosis’s and treatments. Ask for a patient advocate. Y’all stay healthy out there!

I have since left the field, but speech language pathologists have been "scammed" by our "governing" body for decades.

They are called ASHA - American speech language hearing association. They sell a certification product, and have lobbied HARD to try to make this certificate be required to practice as a SLP. At the state level, and with insurance companies. To the point that most SLP's (and employers) think it's required for practice.

They charge SLPs $250/year for this certificate last I checked. The continuing education requirements to keep this certificate are about equal (a little less) to my state licensure. I only need my state license to practice (and a separate school services license if in schools).

Medical industry and the insane markup on common products. A gallon of Clorox bleach, EXACTLY the same as you would buy as a normal consumer, cost 5x as much. Really made me realize why healthcare costs so much, whether it's end-user, insurance or the government that pays.

Engineering/tech ector.

One big reason WFH was implemented was to see which roles can be offshored.

Sure, many think it is to ensure public health and business continuity during the COVID-19 pandemic, it indeed started out that way, however over time the thinking changed. And in short order too.

WFH prove that certain roles can be uncoupled from local offices. It also showed us that collaboration, task management, and productivity tracking could all be done entirely online, paving the way for easier outsourcing and offshoring to cheaper locations- We just need to find out what are the roles that can be offshored without affecting numbers too much. WFH gave us that data.

Project management, the incessant requirement to refresh certification every three years or sign up to memberships and provide proof of personal development form doing courses etc.

I work in a hotel and we can give early check in and late checkout without any charges and no one can question us. The only reason we charge is we get some percentage of that upselling lol.

Product copywriting is less about writing something that'll sell a product, and often more about spinning the nasty stuff to hide it from consumers so it doesn't raise an eyebrow.

For example, when various sustainability-focused food and drink suppliers say "sourced from family-owned farms" on their packaging, that implies Mum and Dad working hard to feed the family, but it's not, it's the whole family.

As in, their very young kids are picking your coffee beans and chucking them into unsafe tractors and heavy processing machinery.

Coke, pepsi... 2L $3, 20oz $3... Arizona Tea $0.99.

Charter schools are lying about their results. They are making up test scores and attendance. Don't give them any money.

Scammers are extremely prevalent in the locksmith industry. The "Google Guarantee" and "Sponsored" guys at the top of the page run enormously expensive advertising campaigns, then scam the unsuspecting customer. They don't quote prices over the phone, or say "prices start at $65." Once they have someone there, the job miraculously grows in complexity and cost until you are paying $500-700 on a job that I quote out at $250 out-the-door.

Skip past the ads at the top of the page and call somebody from the map. Make sure they can quote you complete pricing over the phone.

Dentist here - Delta Dental. They have approx a 60% market share nationwide on dental insurance. They are being sued in multiple states for violating antitrust laws federally.

How this impacts the average consumer with Delta Dental? In most metro areas, Delta has a stranglehold on the market and refuse to negotiate fees with dentists. In my area, they have not raised fees in close to 20 years. I was actually losing money having a patient come into my office for a cleaning and exam. This inherently puts pressure on dentists that are In-network with Delta to over treat/ prescribe dental work to make up for this loss somewhere. It is why I am now out of network with them. What is also hilarious, Delta actually reimburses more for preventative services than when I was in-network with them, proving their refusal to negotiate fees is just a money grab.

In healthcare if your insurance doesn’t pay. Ask to the cash price or a reduced balance based on income-especially if you are near a teaching hospital.

Uniform rental business. When you are not looking we raise your rates. All the time.

A high percentage of orthopedic surgeries are actually more cosmetic than an actual fix. All tissues naturally heal themselves and aggressive PT in most cases will give you a better outcome. There is a significant placebo effect which is why there is an appearance that “it works” as pain is how your brain responds to a perceived threat. Most insurance companies have discovered this and will now no longer pay for a lot of orthopedic surgeries. It’s been widely accepted in other countries for years, which is why when you travel you never see a bunch of people in recovery bracing, it’s super rare for a non-professional or semi-professional athlete to get an ACL surgery or RTC surgery for example. The other problem is “aggressive PT” is rare in the US. PTs follow a set of protocols that are really made for 60-90 year old people. So when people in the US injure themselves and try PT and it does not work, they are likely working with a PT following an outdated protocol for geriatrics.