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submitted 1 month ago by NateNate60@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml
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[-] NateNate60@lemmy.world 91 points 1 month ago

I will start. I'm in the United States.

Credit unions! Nearly half of all Americans are credit union members. They don't seem to be popular in Europe and Asia. A credit union is a not-for-profit co-operative financial institution that essentially provides all the same services as a bank, except it's run as a democratic institution with directors elected by the customers instead of as a profit maximisation machine for shareholders.

[-] owenfromcanada@lemmy.world 32 points 1 month ago

They're common in Canada as well. In my experience, they're much better than larger banks for things like fees and interest rates.

Historically the main advantage of a larger bank was having banks and ATMs everywhere, but lots of CUs have formed mutual agreements for ATM access, and internet banking being ubiquitous has rendered any advantage the big banks have had moot (in my opinion, at least).

[-] linearchaos@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago

The biggest problem I've had with My credit union is there an ability to fix problems, and they're absolutely antiquated systems.

I went to Florida on vacation instantly tripped fraud. I had contacted them prior They put a note in my account because they had no other way to do anything. I tripped fraud on a Friday night and they were not able to answer a call from me until Monday morning.

A couple of years later I spent a few days in Niagara. The very first day I got up there I tripped fraud. I had already called them went through three different people to make sure there was nothing else I could do. I made sure that I didn't arrive on a Friday this time. My big problem now was that I was looking at an hour-long phone call and I was roaming. I drove up to one of the higher points in town and managed to get a US Tower. I got them to unlock me which worked for approximately one day.

Their web portal the last time I used it required me to have a 7 to 10 character password uppercase lowercase only. Tell me you're storing my data and securely without telling me your storing my data in securely.

You don't always end up with the best management by having the clientele pick the management. And sometimes those really low rates end up making you suffer on the security side of things.

Still the best interest rate I've ever gotten on a car loan and the entire staff was absolutely sweet, They were just entirely incapable of keeping my card working whenever I left the state.

I ended up going back to a larger bank. 24-hour fraud unlock hotline, also capable of unlocking me via a link in email as soon as it's tripped.

Apparently years later I find out that I possibly could have gotten by some of the fraud issues with the credit union if I would have used the card in debit mode. They apparently assume that a debit transaction is inherently secure. I have no idea if this actually works but if you're having trouble it's not a bad idea to try it. Just do at least one pin transaction every time you go to a different location.

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[-] ScreamingFirehawk@feddit.uk 11 points 1 month ago

The UK has building societies which sound like what you're describing

[-] NateNate60@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago

Yes, they're similar, but from what I've heard, most UK building societies are basically the same as or worse than banks in terms of fees, rates, and service quality. In the US, most credit unions will absolutely spank the big banks on at least two of those, if not all three.

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[-] aMockTie@lemmy.world 73 points 1 month ago

Not from the US but currently living here. I would say the Disability Act is the gold standard worldwide. The amount of consideration for people with a variety of disabilities that almost universally applies is exceptionally amazing. It's kind of shocking to see the dedication to adhering to that law while otherwise abandoning that portion of the population (e.g. Healthcare, SSDI, etc.).

[-] KoboldCoterie@pawb.social 32 points 1 month ago

Incidentally it's a lot easier to take legal action against a business that violates the ADA than to take action against a government that insists on defunding programs like that.

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[-] magnetosphere@fedia.io 18 points 1 month ago

I’ve lived in America all my life. Thank you for this interesting outside perspective. I never would have guessed that the ADA is held in such high regard!

[-] RebekahWSD@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago

The ada is amazing. My husband grew up just as it was being put into place and remembers the protests (to get it, not against it). Without it, things are much more difficult. I know there will be handicapped parking, and cutins on sidewalks and bathrooms and stuff wherever we go without having to look it up.

[-] Habahnow@sh.itjust.works 12 points 1 month ago

Yeah it was surprisingly jarring going to Europe and seeing places that were completely inaccessible by wheel chair. I have never used a wheel chair in my life but I know there's bars in my area that have mini elevators for peole on wheel chairs to access the lower level that's only like 4 steps down.

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[-] dan@upvote.au 73 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Australia: Consumer protection laws are better than most other countries, even European countries. For example:

  • Products must last as long as a "reasonable consumer" would expect them to last, regardless of the warranty period. For example, at least 5-10 years for large appliances.
  • If there's a "major failure" any time during that period (a big problem with the product, if it stops working, if it differs from the description, is missing advertised features, or you wouldn't have bought it if you knew about the problem beforehand), the customer has a choice of whether they want to have the item repaired, replaced, or return it and get a refund. Customers can also ask for a partial refund based on loss of value.
  • The store you bought the item from must accept returns and warranty claims. They can't tell you to go to the manufacturer.
  • For repairs, returns and replacements of large items (like appliances), the company must pick it up and drop it off for free.
  • It's illegal for a store to not offer refunds (unless the items are second-hand).
  • Products must match descriptions in advertising, including what a sales person tells you. If a sales person tells you the product does something but it actually doesn't, you can get a refund.
  • Businesses get fined for breaking these rules. A chain of computer stores had to pay a $200,000 fine for showing an illegal "no refunds" sign and forcing people to go to the manufacturer for warranty claims, and were later fined $750,000 for doing it again: https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/msy-technology-ordered-to-pay-penalties-of-750000-for-consumer-guarantee-misrepresentations

This applies for digital goods, too. As far as I know, Australia is the only country where you can get a refund from Steam for a major bug in a game regardless of how long you've owned the game for or how many hours you've played. Valve tried to avoid doing this and was fined $3 million: https://www.cnet.com/culture/entertainment/valve-to-pay-3-million-fine-for-misleading-australian-gamers/

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[-] shalafi@lemmy.world 58 points 1 month ago

US here. I don't think we get enough credit for our anti-smoking culture, and given that Hollywood is a major culture driver...

Even in my poor little town, where the broke and uneducated smoke more, it's getting to be where I'm a little taken aback when I see someone smoking in public.

All this coming from a guy that smoked for 20+ years. The culture shift has been dramatic and I hope we're exporting it.

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[-] DrunkenPirate@feddit.org 51 points 1 month ago

Germany: We moved our power creation from 60% coal and atom-driven to 60% wind and solar-driven in the last 6 years. This change is fundamental and can’t be reversed. We stopped our atom plants and have a plan out of coal. Even though our geography isn’t in favor for renewables, our country is dedicated in becoming carbon neutral. This is supported by most of the population and industry. (Yes renewables are cheaper than coal, gas, and atom)

Still open is the transition of heat and cars to electricity. Rather an emotional debate - Germans are car-crazy. The car discussion is similar to the gun debate in the US.

[-] Habahnow@sh.itjust.works 22 points 1 month ago

By atom, do you mean nuclear energy? Why did you stop the nuclear plant?, assuming that's what you're referring to.

How does this relate to Germany relying using natural gas from Russia, before their invasion of Ukraine? My understanding was that Germany had energy issues at the offset, which I wouldn't expect considering how much renewavles you use

[-] Ptsf@lemmy.world 12 points 1 month ago

Honestly, despite all of nuclears many benefits, there's still no good action plan for the significant amounts of substantially dangerous waste it leaves around. Hard to figure out a storage plan for an invisible poison seeping from a rock for the next 50,000 years.

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[-] klangcola@reddthat.com 10 points 1 month ago

Sudden culture shock from a Norwegian:

Still open is the transition of heat and cars to electricity..

Almost all electricity used by Norwegian homes goes towards heating (including cooking and hot water), and charging cars. So counting heating separate from electricity suddenly makes the electric transition sound less impressive. (And the transition away from nuclear more baffling). It's still impressive to see Germany really follow through on renewables though. 60% renewable electricity is still a lot

Is there a plan to transition away from burning fossil fuels for heating?

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[-] rautapekoni@sopuli.xyz 7 points 1 month ago

We stopped our atom plants and have a plan out of coal.

Yeah you folks did this in the wrong order.

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[-] dragonfucker@lemmy.nz 7 points 1 month ago

Why lump atom in with coal? Atom is great, coal stinks. You're confusing the stats.

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[-] superkret@feddit.org 35 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Germany. Bicycle parts.
Sure, the market leaders for drivetrain components are Shimano from Japan and Sram from the US.
But look into the higher-priced niches and there's:

  • Bosch, market leader for e-bike motors
  • Schwalbe and Continental, market leaders for bicycle tires
  • SKS, market leader for bike accessories like fenders
  • Ortlieb and Vaude, market leaders for bike bags
  • Rohloff, makes the best gear hubs in the world
  • Pinion, makes the best bottom bracket gearbox in the world
  • SON, makes the best hub dynamos in the world
  • Busch & Müller, makes the best bicycle lights in the world
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[-] Railison@aussie.zone 33 points 1 month ago

Australia: carrying out elections.

Voting is compulsory and you will be fined if you don’t vote without an acceptable reason.

But because voting is compulsory, it’s extremely easy and accessible. Waiting in line for more than 15 minutes is a long wait. Even in the suburbs you’re not usually more than a five minute drive from a polling place.

If you think you’ll have trouble getting to a polling place on election day (a Saturday), you can request a postal ballot or vote early at a different polling place.

We have an independent electoral commission federally and in each state/territory to organise elections (depending on which level of government you’re voting for). They also handle district boundaries to remove gerrymandering.

All ballots are marked and counted by hand. The counting process is open and transparent: any candidate can send people to inspect the counting process and ensure there are no irregularities.

[-] Ross_audio@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago

And the democracy sausage!

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[-] Kiralani22@lemmy.world 32 points 1 month ago

I'm currently living in the Netherlands and I found some awesome, (for me) novel things, like ATMs all being from one company that all the banks in NL share ownership in. That means no matter your bank you dont pay for getting cash. Which is ironic cos I dont need cash as much anymore since non-cash payments are so much more prevalent here compared to Germany, for example.

[-] Fleppensteijn@feddit.nl 17 points 1 month ago

It's also fun that we can go to Germany and still get cash out for free whereas Germans have to pay a fee for using their own ATMs.

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[-] red@lemmy.zip 32 points 1 month ago

India: what India does wayyy better than others is digital payments. we have what is called UPI this is a open payments interface made by government (rbi) but their APIs can be used by any bank's and any verified third party apps, and all you need to use UPI is just a bank account that's it, and with this we can send money to any bank account through any other bank account with just phone number or QR code, the reciver and sender don't even have to use same app because the backend is same for all, i just have to search for their number and send money, or i just have to scan QR code and send money, and it happens instantly with no minimum limit, this is so widely used that pretty much any shopkeeper keeps a UPI qr code even the ones in smallest and remote villages. infact i dony think I used single rupee in cash since like last 3 years, i don't carry cash anywhere either, this is integrated with popular apps too like uber online food ordering apps , Netflix and basically any app that needs payment. upi is pretty much only reason why India has the most digital transaction in world even more than China and it's not even close.

also public digital infrastructure, pretty much anything government related is done digitally, like our id cards, driving licence, income certificate, and even high school and degree certificate is digitised, infact even our college credits is digitised, like my college credits will be automatically added so it will be seamless to change college in between my degree, and ofc all this is verified cryptographically with an app, so it's not just one pdf which can be forged or something. and recently a law was passed which made the cryptographically verified digital documents legally same thing as physical one's, so now if you have a phone with the app installed ( government made app that store's and verifies documents) and if you have all your documents in that app you are good to go anywhere. this is more than just concinence of not having to carry physical documents because now we can make bank accounts completely online because verification can be done through their APIs and cryptographically. and yeah it was super useful in covid times because we could do appointment for vaccination online in the app and we could get covid certificate digitally.

[-] dharmacurious@slrpnk.net 8 points 1 month ago

I'm curious, how does that work for people from remote villages? India still have a pretty large population who live traditional lifestyles with limited access to the Internet, don't y'all? Do they have the option of more traditional paper documents, or do they have to find a computer somewhere to use for certain things?

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[-] Hugh_Jeggs@lemm.ee 30 points 1 month ago

France - treating people the same no matter what they do for a living.

It's really nice to be respected even if you're a cleaner or a bin man, and very much deserved

[-] SuperApples@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago

I've only spent a couple months in France, but I agree from my experience. I think that foreigners that complain about the French being rude were just expecting special treatment, didn't put in any effort themselves to be friendly, then shocked that the storekeeper/waiter wasn't kissing their ass, even though they didn't even manage to say 'bonjour'.

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[-] Ugurcan@lemmy.world 29 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Turkiye: E-Devlet.

We have this E-Government system that centralizes almost all relations with the State, I really don’t remember when was the last time I saw an official document in paper. With all 1000+ official agencies involved, you can access and manage over 8000+ services like GDPR permissions, analogue tv frequency infos, paying traffic tickets, state-backed escrowing, fraud checks, my kids grades, my medical records etc within an handsome mobile/web app.

It was shocking to see even my German friends still need to use their physical mailboxes to handle official stuff. I can imagine it’s even worse at the rest of the western world.

[-] digdilem@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 month ago

Much of the UK's regular government stuff is online and very simple too - their website is actually very good. It doesn't integrate everything though. The health service is particularly fragmented and communication is often by post and not that good.

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[-] qevlarr@lemmy.world 28 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Dutch traffic infrastructure. It's incredibly safe, promotes walking, bicycling and public transport, well maintained and easy to understand. There's a reason the largest Youtube channel on urban planning center around the Netherlands experience (and how other places could learn): https://youtube.com/@notjustbikes

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[-] 0485919158191@lemmy.world 24 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Recycling. In Sweden we recycle so much that we have to buy trash from other countries!

[-] VonReposti@feddit.dk 9 points 1 month ago

In Denmark our district heating is so great that we have to import trash to burn at our Combined Heat and Power plants. Bit ironic given that we're also a market leader on windmills that are supposed to replace plants.

[-] IMongoose@lemmy.world 22 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Falconry is set up really well in the US and several foreign countries clubs are petitioning their government to emulate us.

  • It's difficult to get into on purpose. This reduces impulse buys of raptors by completely inexperienced people which reduces raptor harm.
  • Self regulated for the most part through an apprentice / sponsor system.
  • Clearly defined as a hunting sport with "pet keepers" kept to a minimum as they can lose their license for not hunting. Raptors make shit pets and need to fly and hunt for their mental well being.
  • Wild take of raptors. This is a huge one, pretty much no other country that actually has wildlife protections allows this. Falconry in the US is basically built off of wild take as an exclusion to the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
  • Very difficult to monetize. A falconer cannot use their license to make money. Educational programs can be done but they can't be paid more than gas money and if they are doing more programs than hunting they can lose their license. Doing abatement (using a raptor to chase off pests at an airport for example) is a separate license which requires 7 years as a falconer minimum.
  • Each state has their own club that works with their state government and then there is a national club that works with the feds and other countries.
[-] XTL@sopuli.xyz 8 points 1 month ago

It's difficult to get into on purpose.

Had to read this a few times until it clicked that it doesn't mean as opposed to getting into accidentally.

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[-] bremen15@feddit.org 22 points 1 month ago
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[-] tetris11@lemmy.ml 22 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

UK: Crumpets. Crumpets lightly toasted with butter soaking into its pores, and then lightly toasted once more with a slather of Marmite.

These are nothing like pancakes. You bite into the crispy surface and are met with a butter/Marmite infusion that explodes into the back of your mouth, and whilst you're dealing with that sensual assault, your teeth sink into the soft almost creamy texture of the crumpet itself.

They are divine, and are the sole reason I stay in this cold dreary backwater of a country.

[-] Sweetpeaches69@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago

Ah, yes. Trypophobia pancakes.

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[-] Underwaterbob@lemm.ee 18 points 1 month ago

Say what you will about the chaebols running the country and the rampant corruption, Korean roadworkers are incredibly fast and efficient. There's never some guy standing around doing nothing.

[-] ahal@lemmy.ca 13 points 1 month ago

Canada: we're the best at being annoyingly modest while simultaneously feeling smugly superior.

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[-] Schlemmy@lemmy.ml 11 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Billiard balls and playing cards. Belgium is world leader in both.

Edit: forgot to add pigeons. Belgian competition pigeons are the most expensive in the world.

Edit 2: Belfries. Clock-O-Matic is a Belgian company and world leader in the automation of Belfries. It's not that hard because most Belfries are located in Belgium and France, if not all of them.

Edit 3: It never ends. Roller coaster wheels. Let that sink in. No their country produces more roller coaster wheels nor is as good as we arr at it.

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[-] BlitzoTheOisSilent@lemmy.world 11 points 1 month ago

America: our mail system is. USPS processes 23.5 million packages per day, and processes and delivers 318 million pieces of mail every day, to every single household in America, 6 days per week (7 days per week for packages).

They will throw mail sacks onto the backs of donkeys and trek them down into the Grand Canyon to deliver to tribes down there. They will deliver by bike, plane, boat, truck, car, etc. Hell, name any other organization where you could hand someone a letter and $0.62 and ask them to take it to Alaska for you, and they'd say no problem.

"Post" roads in the U.S. are named as such because they were roads built specifically for the movement of "post" across the country, and people have even argued that USPS (then the Postal Service) created the layout of the country as we know it.

And despite what many may think or know, USPS is incredibly efficient when it comes to mail and delivery compared to other countries. I remember them telling us during our orientation (I used to be a mail carrier) that back around 2013, representatives from USPS were actually flown to Germany to teach and help them start delivering 6-days per week. USPS taught Germany how to be more efficient at something 😂

[-] nudnyekscentryk@szmer.info 10 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Poland: Blik.

Some would probably also say Paczkomaty and Żabka, but neither automatic parcel lockers nor breaking labour laws are strictly Polish inventions, so I wouldn't count them

[-] nis@feddit.dk 10 points 1 month ago

Denmark: Hygge, apparently. But a lot of writers are working hard to make money off of getting a lot of people to know about it.

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[-] julia@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago
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this post was submitted on 28 Oct 2024
139 points (97.9% liked)

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