#consumer goods & services

[byler-alarmist]

Do people know most paper receipts are harmful to their health?

I'm going to get up on my soapbox for a minute, but do people realize how pretty much everyone is being overloaded with endocrine disruptors like BPA/BPS on a near-daily basis??

I don't think many people understand that ever since most of the world transitioned to thermal paper receipts (cheaper than ink), almost every receipt you handle from the gas station to the grocery store to the Square terminal printer at the local co-op is coated with Bisphenol-A (BPA) or its chemical cousin Bisphenol-S (BPS).

These chemicals have not only been proven to cause reproductive harm to human and animals, they've also been linked to obesity and attention disorders.

Not sure if your receipt is a thermal receipt? If you scratch it with a coin and it turns dark, it's thermal.

BPA/BPS can enter the skin to a depth such that it is no longer removable by washing hands. When taking hold of a receipt consisting of thermal printing paper for five seconds, roughly 1 μg BPA is transferred to the forefinger and the middle finger. If the skin is dry or greasy, it is about ten times more. 

Think of how many receipts you handle every day. It's even worse for cashiers and tellers, who may handle hundreds in a single shift. It is also a class issue, since many people who work retail and food service are lower-income and will suffer worse health consequences over time from the near-constant exposure.

Not only that, receipts printed with thermal ink are NOT recyclable, as they pollute the rest of the paper products with the chemicals.

People don't know this and recycle them anyway, so when you buy that "green" toilet paper that says "100% recycled"? Yup, you are probably wiping your most sensitive areas with those same chemicals (for this reason, I buy bamboo or sugarcane toilet paper as a sustainable alternative to recycled paper).

This page from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has some good links if you want to learn more.

As consumers, we need to demand better from our businesses and from our governments. We need regulation of these chemicals yesterday.

If you are a buyer or decision-maker for a business, the link above also contains a shortlist of receipt paper manufacturers that are phenol-free.

If you work at a register, ask customers if they want a receipt. If they don't and you can end the transaction without printing one, don't print one!

As a consumer, fold receipts with the ink on the inside, since that's where the coating is. Some more good tips here.

And whatever you do, DO NOT RECYCLE THERMAL RECEIPTS

[sizzlingsandwichperfection-blog]

awesomecoffeeclub.com

[atotalpitch]

Anna Kendrick talking (briefly) about Beca's relationship with the Bellas was NOT on my 2024 bingo card. in fact, i'm actually physically shaking. what the hell.

[canisalbus]

Is it ok if we print some of your artworks? Not to sell them or profit by them in any way, just for decorative reasons.

Also, I know you don't have a shop where we can buy any prints/stickers/anything (if you did I wouldn't even consider printing them by myself) but have you ever thought of actually making one? Maybe, if not your own shop, sign up(?) on inprnt or something?

Sure! If you just want to print out my art so you can stick it on your wall or something, go ahead. (As long as it's just personal non-commercial use and you're not claiming ownership over the artwork or the characters).

I used to have a Society6 shop but I closed it last year, mostly due to changes in their terms of service. They were cutting into artists' already meager profits, and the last time I heard of it, they were planning to add a subscription fee on top of that. It just started to feel a little bit exploitative. (I also had read some reports that the quality of some of their products had gone downhill over the years but I can't attest to that).

I already have an Inprnt account waiting in the wings, but I haven't gotten around to adding any prints to it yet. (Are there any specific pieces you'd potentially be interested in? I know people ask about the 'You cannot eat money' one pretty frequently.)

[economicsresearch]

page 566 - it was a nice town until everyone started turning their households into business firms.

Everyone thought the same thing: my household is inefficient. It provides shelter for myself and my family but I cannot quantify that using my late-capitalism vocabulary. Also, I am not generating income from the pull-out couch in the basement.

So, instead of uniting with neighbours to build a new vocabulary that spoke of secure households for all people, they washed towels for strangers and fretted over star numbers. Hopefully, their business firm would earn enough that their household could join the wealthy hegemony actively destroying the public good. A new vocabulary was never created.

[dustwife]

i want to make one of those type bingo cards for leera, but she's all over the place

[doyoueverstopandthink]

what does it say about me if i cry about frankenstein’s creature every time i get even slightly tipsy

[novadreii]

i just now realized why umbrella academy s4 feels so much worse than its previous seasons. it's trying to be the boys. it's going for shock value which, if you've seen the boys, is not really that shocking. and it's juxtaposing that with a cringefuckfest of an attempt at humor to try and make it a Dark Comedy. but all we have is a show that is trying to be both scandalous and funny at the same time, while failing at both. the writing and acting is so fucking bad! is everyone ok? there are 2 actors i like on this show (those of viktor and five) and even they are kind of lackluster this season? i will have to hatewatch this whole season.

nothing can be the boys a second time. there's better tv out there but the boys really did a good job nailing down dark comedy. in so many ways. it's a hard thing to do and umbrella academy thought it would try to capitalize on the trend without actually studying what makes dark comedy so good. it just feels like a m*rvel movie but with more gore and killing. boo.

[blueskittlesart]

your blog has made me so much more competent with zelda lore

my greatest accomplishments with this blog have been making people play the games and making people Understand the games. i want more crazy people in the world so i dont look as insane

[toytulini]

insane how ppl casually bring up their families or significant others or whatever tracking their location via life360 or whatever else like its just normal and then if I'm weirded out by how creepy that is on multiple levels im the insane luddite or whatever

[graysongraysoff]

Wild to me that the response to the Honey thing has been "I can't believe how stupid y'all are for having that browser extension" and not oh I don't know. "Wow fucking shitty of PayPal to be scamming their user base like that" lmfao.

[byler-alarmist]

Seeing as how my post is getting low engagement, I'm curious:

Bonus: reblog with your answer and if you like, your home country.

[fantasticalleigh]

so glad netflix is in love with adam driver and has so many of his movies otherwise i'd never be able to see them all

in other news blackkklansman is now on netflix and i can finally watch it like four years after it came out lol

[caito-does-stuff]

crying because watcher is gonna be put behind a paywall. i've watched the guys grow from the beginnings of their shows on buzzfeed to finally having their own channel - and yes i'm super proud of them and think they deserve more than what youtube gives them but i literally can't afford to dish out money for streaming each month

[worldsportsboats]

Bad boys new Bertram 800 sets a new record pace

Bertram 800: http://wp.me/pzWMi-Fm

[economicsresearch]

page 566 - oh good idea, put some ice between those sticks. That's a nice bridge.