"Save Yourself The Money": 22 Industry Secrets That The General Public Probably Doesn't Know About (But Totally Should)
Recently, a Redditor asked the members of the Reddit Community to share the secrets of the industry they work in, and they range from juicy to incredibly insightful. Here are some secrets that might just have you rethinking the next time you check into a hotel, buy a car, and more:
1."Everything you tell an airline reservation agent is noted in your flight itinerary: threats, lying, false claims, demands, and the list goes on and on. Whatever you say will be there for the next agent to see when you call back. Most people should know this, but few do. So, the next time you try lying to your agent, just know that they know."
2."I work in visual effects for TV and film. Most people assume that that means I work on big explosions and such, and though it is, a lot of my work is on cosmetic fixes and de-aging the stars."
3."Hotel housekeepers have to clean 10–13 rooms in 30–45 minutes daily. They have to strip the bed, remake it, clean all the surfaces, clean the bathroom, and do the floors. In an easy room, that's no problem. In a dirty room? Things get skipped. That floor got looked at and picked over, not vacuumed. That trash got emptied, not changed. Those sheets were remade, not cleaned. Why? Because they don't have time. Housekeepers are pushed by management and are constantly pressured to get those rooms done and out because guests are waiting. That was my experience working in the industry in 2021."
4."TV commercials really ARE louder than the programs."
5."Carpenter here! After eight years of framing houses, three as a foreman, and now three years of trim carpentry, I've realized that the vast majority of houses either aren't built to code or are just slapped together with the cheapest products. Most inspectors aren't willing to crawl around in the roofs and won't look in the subfloor, and plenty of contractors know this, so they will take shortcuts and splice things together or will block off and hide shitty work. If you have an island in your kitchen that has been framed, there is a phenomenal chance that pizza crusts or beer bottles are hidden inside. One-hundred-year-old houses are a thing of the past."
6."The best time to buy a car is the second model year of its release."
7."I don't work for Wendy's, but they actually have higher standards for their food than anyone else we distribute to. Their beef is actually never frozen, and the company will send the patties back if they get packed with frozen items. Wendy's will send back expired or off-batch produce, and will even turn away shipments if produce is touching in boxes. I mean, they should do those things, but no one else does. I still don't eat fast food, but I like to see food quality taken seriously."
8."Anyone giving stock advice is basically reading a horoscope. If they had the ability to pick up superior investments, they'd do it themselves and not talk about it."
9."I work at a milk processing plant. All milk is the same, regardless of the brand. It comes out of the same tank — we just change the labels."
10."The lumber industry is actually pretty wild. The federal government will raise tariffs on Canadian lumber if the price starts to beat American lumber. If this happens, lumber mills will sometimes shut down for extended periods of time, essentially causing a lumber shortage. Because of supply and demand, this artificially inflates the price of US lumber. This is a never-ending cycle. All of this causes incremental increases in the price of goods. ANY goods that arrive on white wood pallets, as well as building materials, start to increase in price because companies pass along this higher cost to the consumer — as with everything else that impacts goods. For everything that is transported or built with lumber, you pay for the inflated costs on a daily basis. But it's probably the last thing you think about when going to the store."
11."I'm a teacher. The reading level of most teenagers is far, far worse than most Americans realize.
12."The 'signal strength' bars on your phone doesn't mean anything real. Each phone manufacturer comes up with their own 'secret formula.' It might change between software versions, but it's just a holdover from the old first-generation analog phones when received signal strength was the only important metric. 4G and 5G networks are way too complex to distill into one bar graph, but customers are used to it, so phones still have it."
13."Bartenders find a discreet spot to Google the recipe of the rare drinks people order."
14."The ham in the gold foil is the same as the ham without the gold foil. I worked the line where both hams are made, and the gold foil packaging was added without even stopping the line or changing anything at all. Save yourself the money and buy the one without the gold foil."
15."When financing a car at the dealership (including leasing), they can and will almost certainly mark up the interest rate. Unless you, the consumer, specifically ask them, 'Is this the best rate I qualified for?' then they don't technically have to give you the best rate. They can add as much as they feel they can get away with, then act like they're doing you a favor by 'discounting the rate.' The Truth in Lending Act states that if asked, they must disclose — but only if asked."
16."IT will absolutely slow walk tickets if you're an asshole."
17."I'm an environmental technician at a native plant nursery. Many commercial garden centers pump their plants full of fertilizer before selling them so that the plants look their best. They usually do this so much that the plants die or cause severe, long-term harm. Buy locally or go to a legit nursery where they actually care about the quality of their products."
18."Web analytics guy here. Just about every big company with a website uses the same two free Google web programs — GA4 and GTM — to track your data, and the setup only takes about an hour. If you're starting a business and want the same marketing data quality as the high rollers, just use GA4 and GTM."
19."The things you buy that come in 'eco-friendly' packaging are first removed from their regular plastic packaging and then put back into the new packaging. It's actually double the waste. The places that manufacturers get their inventory from overseas are not using eco-friendly packaging. Go to a container shipyard and you'll see that everything is shipped to minimize cost."
20."Healthcare equipment costs are massively inflated in the US. For example, the batteries that go into the little blood pressure electric carts will cost hundreds to replace. But they are virtually identical to the game feeder batteries you can buy at a sporting goods shop for maybe $20. And those costs are lower in other countries. The manufacturers know they can inflate costs in the US far more than anywhere else. It is cheaper to buy a replacement X-ray tube overseas, import it legally, and pay all of the associated fees and shipping costs than to buy one here in the US. It's the same tube with the same specifications."
21."Your packages get the crap beat out of them while they are being processed. Fragile? That just means to throw them underhand."
22.Lastly: "I work in a pharmacy. We get calls every day from patients asking for ways to make their medications last longer (like if it's okay to skip doses) because they can't afford their meds. We know this is happening, and there is nothing we can do about it. I've taken one of those calls where I had to tell a patient that if they don't take their medications as directed, THEY WILL DIE. They then asked what the odds were of living without food. It sucks a lot."
I knew I got good vibes from Wendy's. Do you have any industry secrets you want to share? Let us know in the comments, or you can share your secret anonymously using this form!
Note: Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
