# Random “Why don’t we have this in the US” thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 20, 2023, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-why-don-t-we-have-this-in-the-us-thread/987294 "2023-07-20T09:15:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![Digger11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/838e76/32.png) [@Digger11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digger11)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2023, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-why-don-t-we-have-this-in-the-us-thread/987294/221 "2023-07-26T22:17:30Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I have a friend who has a cash register that his employees use for each and every sale. At the end of the day though he reruns the day’s sales on a second cash register that is back in his office.The tapes from the second register are the ones he would provide if he were audited. He has explained how the extra work saves him a certain amount of money, but I am not an accountant, so I don’t really grasp the whole thing. Unlike Billie Sol Estes, however, he probably won’t have a song and a book written about him. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2023, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-why-don-t-we-have-this-in-the-us-thread/987294/222 "2023-07-26T22:21:59Z")
[Sarcasm] And of course, _everyone_ knows exactly who you’re referring to. [/Sarcasm] ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2023, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-why-don-t-we-have-this-in-the-us-thread/987294/223 "2023-07-26T22:23:23Z")
> [@Mops](#): > > When I bought books or other stuff from US retailers they billed me the net price, German customs looked at the invoice included with the parcel and decided whether price+shipping it was below a certain threshold. In the UK, paper books are VAT-free, but e-books are VATable at 20% ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2023, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-why-don-t-we-have-this-in-the-us-thread/987294/224 "2023-07-26T22:34:58Z")
Everybody “of an age” does. 😛 Or you could just, you know, Google him. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2023, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-why-don-t-we-have-this-in-the-us-thread/987294/225 "2023-07-27T00:43:09Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > That and the very idea of high-speed rail in California being unbelievably stupid to begin with, if for no other reason than geography. The people voted it in, by a large amount. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2023, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-why-don-t-we-have-this-in-the-us-thread/987294/226 "2023-07-27T01:05:26Z")
I rest my case. ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2023, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-why-don-t-we-have-this-in-the-us-thread/987294/227 "2023-07-27T01:08:13Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > In the UK, paper books are VAT-free, but e-books are VATable at 20% the brits really hate their trees ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2023, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-why-don-t-we-have-this-in-the-us-thread/987294/228 "2023-07-27T02:09:34Z")
They voted it in when the estimate was 1/100th of what it is now, with projected service to be about a third of the original promise. Numbers are pulled out of my ass, of course, but are suggestive of the actual circumstances within an order or magnitude or two. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2023, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-why-don-t-we-have-this-in-the-us-thread/987294/229 "2023-07-27T02:24:10Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > Numbers are pulled out of my ass, of course, One big ass, there 😛 it is $33B to around $120B. 4x. But that _always_ happens. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2023, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-why-don-t-we-have-this-in-the-us-thread/987294/230 "2023-07-27T02:40:52Z")
Hey, that’s totally within _one_ order of magnitude, and my disclaimer allowed up to two orders of magnitude! ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2023, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-why-don-t-we-have-this-in-the-us-thread/987294/231 "2023-07-27T02:44:38Z")
Are we talking orders of magnitude of the proposed expenses, or of your ass? Inquiring minds want to know. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2023, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-why-don-t-we-have-this-in-the-us-thread/987294/232 "2023-07-27T02:50:32Z")
As Winston observed, "hat’s a big \*Twinkie . ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2023, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-why-don-t-we-have-this-in-the-us-thread/987294/233 "2023-07-27T04:03:13Z")
When I’m overseas I really appreciate those lightweight, easy-to-use folding “airers”, or racks for drying clothes, that consist of several flat racks connected by some type of hinge mechanism and extend about a meter or more in all directions. Like [this.](https://www.bunnings.co.nz/storex-white-a-frame-clothes-airer_p0930590?store=9476&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIj9fNzP6tgAMVFbqWCh0Hgwz9EAQYCCABEgKd7_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds) Back home in the US, the folding clothes racks I have, and pretty much the only kind I ever see in stores, are the narrow accordion-style (or “concertina”) ones with a smaller footprint but much less linear footage for holding the wet garments. Like [this.](https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-Foldable-Drying-Rack-White/dp/B00H7P1GPO/ref=sr_1_1_ffob_sspa?keywords=Accordion%2BDrying%2BRack&qid=1690430296&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&th=1) Why is the former kind comparatively so rare in the States? Because everybody uses a clothes dryer except for people with actual clotheslines in their vast backyards or people with tiny cramped apartments who can’t spare the footprint? A mystery. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2023, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-why-don-t-we-have-this-in-the-us-thread/987294/234 "2023-07-27T04:10:31Z")
> [@Digger11](#): > > Billie Sol Estes I didn’t know who this was, but googling his name and Sol Hurok finally clued me in to the joke behind the name Billy Sol Hurok (from SCTV’s “Farm Film Report”). ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2023, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-why-don-t-we-have-this-in-the-us-thread/987294/235 "2023-07-27T08:36:24Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > When I’m overseas I really appreciate those lightweight, easy-to-use folding “airers”, or racks for drying clothes, that consist of several flat racks connected by some type of hinge mechanism and extend about a meter or more in all directions. Like [this.](https://www.bunnings.co.nz/storex-white-a-frame-clothes-airer_p0930590?store=9476&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIj9fNzP6tgAMVFbqWCh0Hgwz9EAQYCCABEgKd7_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds) Weird. I just checked our local Walmart (Southern Ontario) and they have both types and other kinds too. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2023, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-why-don-t-we-have-this-in-the-us-thread/987294/236 "2023-07-27T12:28:47Z")
That might be the only kind you see in stores, but Amazon has a larger selection including ones you may never have seen/thought of as a drying rack. Anyway, the availability of many items in the US is going to be very location specific - don’t try to describe a foldable personal shopping cart to someone who has always lived a suburban life. I would be really surprised to find the racks that you are looking for anywhere in my neighborhood - in fact, I’m not sure that I could find any sort of rack in my neighborhood or the one I grew up in . Almost everyone lives in a 1-6 family building with clotheslines in the not-vast backyard - like [this](https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/208335110_348682980258800_6259778873665926129_n.jpg?_nc_cat=103&cb=99be929b-59f725be&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=a26aad&_nc_ohc=8wWd722V-X4AX_Xih0L&_nc_ht=scontent-lga3-1.xx&oh=00_AfCV0avkDX6T4CfPtAAa4DkCUvs0xxfzQLfoJwMhne1B9w&oe=64C77B81) . ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2023, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-why-don-t-we-have-this-in-the-us-thread/987294/237 "2023-07-27T14:18:03Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > With Japanese machines, I could drop in a 500-yen coin, and the machine would give me my drink, then ask if I wanted my change or wanted to make a second purchase. Yes! And considering I managed to be there in the hottest part of the year, I usually needed more than one drink. I found Pocari Sweat here, but could not find the Lemon Squash drink I loved so much. ☹ Will have to check Chinatown next time I am down there! ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2023, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-why-don-t-we-have-this-in-the-us-thread/987294/238 "2023-07-27T21:38:08Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > Anyway, the availability of many items in the US is going to be very location specific True, true. > [@doreen](#): > > Almost everyone lives in a 1-6 family building with clotheslines in the not-vast backyard - like [this](https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/208335110_348682980258800_6259778873665926129_n.jpg?_nc_cat=103&cb=99be929b-59f725be&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=a26aad&_nc_ohc=8wWd722V-X4AX_Xih0L&_nc_ht=scontent-lga3-1.xx&oh=00_AfCV0avkDX6T4CfPtAAa4DkCUvs0xxfzQLfoJwMhne1B9w&oe=64C77B81) . Nice to see, in these days of excessive electrical-appliance use and draconian municipal rules about no clotheslines allowed! I miss my outdoor clothesline and just the occasional visual interest of neighborhood home clotheslines in general. (Best sighting: two separate halves of what was apparently a two-person sparkly pink fuzzy unicorn costume. Adult size, mind you. 🤣 ) ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2023, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-why-don-t-we-have-this-in-the-us-thread/987294/239 "2023-08-01T05:22:26Z")
A lot of water bottles in the US have the cap that stays on and I find them annoying and difficult to use. Maybe the European ones have better design. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-why-don-t-we-have-this-in-the-us-thread/987294.md?page=11)