44 “Unethical” Life Hacks That Range From Surprisingly Useful To Pretty Questionable
I like saving money. I also like being allowed back into places. Ideally, a life hack lets me do both.
There’s a pretty big difference between finding a discount code and needing to explain yourself to a judge. But when someone on AskReddit asked, “What are some unethical life hacks that are good to know for these trying times?” people interpreted “unethical” pretty generously. Some apparently think using the library is getting away with something. I’m fairly certain the librarians want you there.
These responses cover everything from harmless little workarounds to ideas you should probably leave in the comments. A few might save you money. But some might explain why a company has a policy that seems oddly specific.
1. Sometimes The Project Is A Sandwich
Block off an hour on your work calendar and call it “Project Review.” Nobody asks questions, nobody schedules meetings, and you finally get to eat lunch in peace. Been doing this for ages. Sometimes the project I’m reviewing is a sandwich.
2. Please Put Your Request In Writing
Whenever a coworker tries to dump some random task on you, ask them to send you an email with exactly what they need. Half the time they suddenly figure out how to do it themselves. Apparently putting things in writing is harder than making them someone else’s problem.
3. Apparently Loyalty Costs Extra
Start cancelling your subscriptions, even the ones you actually want to keep. A surprising number of services will suddenly offer you 20–50% off just to stop you from leaving.
I’ve found that the best deals are often hidden behind the cancellation button. Apparently being a loyal customer means paying full price, while threatening to leave gets you rewarded.
Just don’t click through the final cancellation confirmation unless you’re actually willing to lose the service.
4. A Very Suspicious Act Of Kindness
Most “Love Fridges” or DIY community food pantries are completely unsecured even at night. If you think it might be fun to put on a mask and gloves and sneak a bunch of food into the pantry at 1 a.m. when there aren’t any witnesses because it makes you feel good to “be like if Batman fought hunger instead of crime,” you can just do it. No one can stop you and the people who eat that food will never know it was donated by a weirdo.
Edit: It’s 2:15 a.m. My favorite neighborhood bar always keeps a couple shelves outside by one of their doors so people can leave and take nonperishables as they need them. I just walked by after close and left six cans of soup and a couple pounds of rice for anyone who needs it tomorrow. I think one person at a bus stop across the street might have seen me, but I had my hood up and took a different route home. I’m confident in calling that anonymous.
5. Congratulations On Your Unpaid Promotion
Always be a little less helpful than you’re actually capable of. Otherwise, congratulations, you’ve just been promoted to “the person who always does it.”
6. Out Of Office, At The Office
I put my out of office on when I’m at work sometimes so nobody bugs me and they answer their own questions.
— Bubcats
7. The Fried Chicken Closing Shift Special
I’m sure it depends on the management of the particular store, and this was like 25 years ago when I was a broke college student, but there was a Popeyes Chicken right off campus where if you went in like 15 minutes before close, they were always throwing tons of extra food in your order because they were just going to have to throw it out if they didn’t.
I’d order a two-piece box and walk out of there with 10 pieces, five biscuits, and like a quart of some red beans and rice.
I’d eat for days off of a $5 order.
8. “We’re Like A Family” Is Your Cue
If a company says “we’re like a family,” that’s usually a good sign to update your resume.
— AMEERpro
9. The Shopping Cart Can Wait
Never buy something immediately after seeing it. Wait 48 hours. Half the time you’ll realize you didn’t want it; you just wanted a little dopamine.
10. Let The Discount Come To You
I don’t think it’s unethical, but a lot of places email you a discount code if you leave stuff in your online cart but don’t check out.
11. Keep Your Efficiency To Yourself
If you automate your job, keep that close to the chest and look busy when needed. If the business knows you automated your job, they will give you more work or possibly cut you.
12. The Office Lunch Has Its Perks
Volunteer to make the work meeting lunch arrangements. Use a place where you can get points, i.e., free food.
At one point I had over 20,000 Chick-fil-A points and $100 in Panera vouchers and a smattering of points all over the place. Helped me get through a rough patch when I had a large, expensive repair on my house.
13. Two Root Beer Floats, One Small Investment
Not really unethical: Get a soda at Costco and a vanilla ice cream cup. Fill the soda cup with root beer.
Scoop out a big hunk of ice cream and pour half the root beer into the ice cream cup. Deposit scooped ice cream into soda cup. Voila! For dirt cheap, you get two root beer floats!
14. The Library Would Like A Word
Get a library card. Use the resources at the library at home like Kanopy and Libby. Cancel your TV and Audible subscriptions.
It’s not unethical, but if you don’t use the public library resources, they might be cut out of the budget someday.
15. The Accidental Professor Discount
If they ask implying some sort of special discount, just nod and take the discount.
A friend of mine who went to college later in life always received a faculty discount in the college cafeteria because they thought he was a professor. He never confirmed or denied it as he just nodded and the cashier gave it to him. I believe the discount was around 50% or so.
16. Suddenly Everyone Wants To Take Your Call
If you ever need customer service fast, select the option to “cancel subscription” or “pay a bill.” You’ll get a real human in 10 seconds.
17. A Snack-Based Car Shopping Strategy
Car dealerships have good snacks.
My kids fully exploited this when we were car shopping recently and my 13-year-old has announced she’s going to continue to do so at the busy one based inside a shopping centre we go to. On a Saturday, they’re busy and she plans to just wave towards someone in a car if asked who she’s with.
Hot chocolates, biscuits, cans of soft drink, bags of chips, brownies, etc. BYD was the best.
— YTWise
18. A New Neighbor And A Signing Bonus
Once you decide to move into a new apartment, before you sign the lease, go introduce yourself to your neighbor. Tell them you will list them as a referral if they split the cash bonus with you.
You make a new friend and get money.
19. Anyway, As I Was Saying
If someone keeps interrupting you, just stop talking and stare at them until they finish. Then say, “Anyway, as I was saying…” Works even better when other people are watching.
20. The Chip Clip Was In The Office Supply Closet
You know those chip clips they sell by the chip aisle? Don’t buy those. Instead, raid your office supply closet and get binder clips. They work better.
21. Breakfast With A Business Casual Dress Code
For a free breakfast, get dressed in business casual and go to any hotel offering a free breakfast.
22. A Childhood Misunderstanding About Tipping
When I was a kid, I thought my parents were so [clueless] for not picking up all the money left on the table at restaurants when people paid their check and left some cash behind.
23. Moving Somewhere The Gym Doesn’t Exist
If you are trying to end your gym membership early, and they’re giving you the runaround or instructing you to go to your home club in person to cancel, find a city where there are none of those gyms and tell them you are moving there. They’ll have no choice but to cancel your membership.
— erzamuro
24. Technically, They Did Ask
Three times in the last four years, I had a new big appliance delivered and every time when I ordered, I did not add for them to take away the old appliance for $40.
Every time the delivery people asked if they were hauling away the old one and every time I said yes and they took them away.
25. A Very Petty In-Flight Adjustment
If the person sitting in front of you on a flight reclines their seat all the way back and leaves you with no room, turn on the air con above you to full blast and point it at the top of their head.
— Adam302
26. An Available School Email Has Its Advantages
If you have a school email and access to it, you can get a bunch of subscriptions much cheaper. I pay for YouTube Premium and Amazon Prime this way.
27. An Unreliable Coworker By Design
If your coworker always asks you to do stuff for them, say “yes” but then don’t do it. That will teach them to stop asking you to do stuff for them.
28. Every Leaf Counts
I buy lettuce a lot for myself and a bunny. Quite often the green leaf is more expensive than the red leaf despite looking almost exactly the same.
It’s also “price per head,” so I grab all the extra leaves that have been knocked off by other people.
— Budakra
29. “I’m Already A Member, Thanks”
Borderline unethical because of the lie, but if there are some charitable organizations or whatever trying to collect donations from you, briefly look at the name of the organization and say, “I’m already a member, thanks.”
30. A Different Route Through The Phone Menu
If you’ve spent hours on hold with a government organization, try using the options to get you to a foreign language speaker, but not one that’s too common.
The Spanish line might be as bad as the English, but the Tagalog or Cantonese or French might get you to a person a lot faster, and they will speak English just fine.
31. The Fast-Food Fine Print
The $2 meal steal at McDonald’s, only slightly unethical:
My go-to in a pinch when I’m starving and just need a cheap option. The McDonald’s app always offers some sort of freebies with minimum purchase, and free fries with a lot of sports promos right now, so get a $2 McChicken, or like $2-something for a double cheeseburger, free fry, and keep a cup to sneak a free refill.
Though many locations are onto this and have removed fountain drink stations, there are still many that do, so I have scouted them out in my area because I’m just that [broke] these days.
Taco Bell breakfast hack, entirely ethical:
Instead of ordering a combo ($7+), order separately and side eggs are like $0.30 each, side potatoes $0.60, sausage side $1.40, add cheese for $0.50, sauce is free.
I’m sure prices vary by region, but you get the gist of it. Your mileage may vary.
Bonus: If you have a Costco in your area and know someone with a membership, you can pay to have them buy you a gift card and then you can use it to purchase discounted gas without a membership.
32. The Browser Workaround
Use Brave or DuckDuckGo as a browser and you don’t get ads on YouTube. No need to pay for premium membership.
Plus you aren’t giving money to the evil overlords that way.
33. Keeping The Background Audio Going
Most of the features of YouTube Premium can be easily replicated without even logging in to a Google account.
Brave on Android phones defeats YouTube ads and allows for background audio playback with a locked screen.
34. Back To The Menu, Then Try Again
Not unethical, but if you are using YouTube and you don’t pay for Premium and get an ad when you pick what you want to watch, just hit the back button on your remote to get back to the menu page and pick what you want to watch again.
The ad is bypassed and you can watch whatever you picked without waiting for the ad to finish playing. Sometimes you need to do it twice if there are two ads back to back.
— SR70
35. A Rental Car Repair Before The Return
If you don’t buy the car rental insurance but you get into a minor scrape on a fender that’s gonna show and cost you an increase with your own car insurance, you can look on Facebook Marketplace for whatever city you’re visiting and search “mobile dent and paint repair.”
Someone can meet you at your rental car and for a couple hundred bucks, more or less, they can quickly repair it well enough to pass the vehicle return inspection, and by the time someone notices it, they can’t determine who along the line of renters repaired it.
It’s shady, of course, but this is an “unethical life hack” thread.
36. A Best-By Date Isn’t The Whole Story
Not everything thrown in the dumpsters by stores, like food, is bad, since the best-by date isn’t about expiration. It’s about when it’s freshest.
37. A Claimed Delay On The Ride Home
If you have a PayPal attached to your Lyft, it takes two days to charge you.
So if you’re ever in need of an emergency ride home with nothing in your bank account…
38. Always Read The Fine Print
Never explain yourself twice, never reveal all your plans, and always read the fine print because sometimes the smartest move is knowing how to play the game without breaking your own rules.
39. The Digital Book Loophole
If your library has digital books online as EPUBs, they often forget to turn on protection against printing, so “print to PDF” creates a non-protected copy without technically breaking any rules.
If you are fine with breaking rules, however, EPUB protection is laughably easy to crack with readily available software that I won’t link here.
40. The Laundry Room Master Key
If you live in an apartment complex with coin-operated or card-operated washers and dryers, look up the exact machine model number online. You can often buy the physical master key on eBay for under $10, allowing you to bypass payment entirely.
41. A Return Policy Taken Too Far
99% of items you purchase either have no serial number linking them to your purchase or the serial numbers will never be checked.
Because of this, there’s no way to really know if the item a company like Amazon or Walmart receives in a return is the one that was actually purchased during the transaction in question.
This would allow a person to purchase an item they need. Use that item as they wish and, in the event that the item breaks for whatever reason, a second item can be purchased. The broken item can then be returned under the assumption that it was the second item that arrived broken, since the second item has a new return period associated with it.
42. A Claim About Medical Collections
Unpaid medical collection accounts under $500 do not appear on your credit report and do not affect your credit score. Only balances over $500 can be reported.
So, if, like, someone didn’t pay them…
43. A Very Questionable Moving Plan
Your credit rating is limited only to the US.
If you leave, it doesn’t follow you.
Feel free to ruin it on your way out!
44. An Anonymous ER Visit
If you don’t have insurance, or do have insurance but still can’t afford an ER visit, you can show up to any ER in the country and because of EMTALA, a federal law, they are required to treat you.
The unethical part is refusing to provide name, birthday, address, Social Security number. Just show up as a John/Jane Doe. Helps to walk in or have a friend drop you off so they can’t identify you via license plate.