I guess that can be easier for some. Personally I kind of like looking for file sources myself, I’m somewhat particular about the quality I’m looking for. It’s probably also easier to manually handle edge cases, for example recently I found a TV show that came with all the extras such as the soundtrack along with the show itself, and I wanted those to end up in separate places.
I always see people with bad experiences with them and guess that I have to consider myself lucky. I travel with them pretty regularly (no choice) and there has only been one incident, the flight was overbooked. The attendants at the airport immediately informed me, handed me a check for $1800 CAD, and I was on another plane 2 hours later. The ticket was no more than $250 mind you. This happened last year.
I’m glad there are positive changes, and obviously those are most effective in healthcare situations.
However, from my personal experience as a university student in Canada, everything is the same if not worse than before. Hand sanitizer stations have been removed or simply not refilled, people straight up refuse to wear masks even when they’re sick. A week or two ago in class, I saw many people literally sneeze into their hands and then wipe the snot on their chairs (and these are supposed to be engineering students!). There is still no ventilation or even filtration in any of our classrooms.
Not only is personal protective equipment not used by almost anyone, its use is actively stigmatized by many, including professors at school. To me this is completely ridiculous, but unfortunately reality.
Those are not the primary long term problems with those. Electric cars still require roads, tires, parking lots, etc. That’s why they are ‘better’ due to no direct emissions and higher efficiency, but they can never be ‘environmentally friendly’ because they will always need expensive and harmful infrastructure.
Plus they tend to be heavier so they cause even more damage to road surfaces.
They still come with a power cable and a controller though, which are necessary to actually turn on the machine. If you don’t already have a charger and didn’t notice that the device you’re getting doesn’t come with one, you probably can’t even turn it on to see if it works before having to buy more things.
None of my existing chargers supported the fastest protocols that my device from a few years ago supported, and it didn’t come with one. Also, what if you’re getting a device for the first time and actually don’t have any? At least it should maybe be an option when buying one so you can decide not to get one if you don’t need it, but a new device should come with everything needed to operate it.
As some other people have said, I like the ones where you can scan with your own device or a handheld one they provide. However, I don’t mind the regular ones where you scan everything at checkout either, though that’s definitely easier given that I live alone and in walking distance, so I don’t need to buy that many things at once. I should note that I mostly saw the scan as you go types in Europe, though a Metro store in Canada also had the portable scanners.
Sarcasm sure, but I would say that nothing about it is subtle