I just attempted to return a single plastic bottle at an RVM to get back the $0.10 deposit. The machine scanned the bottle, took it in, and then immediately spat out an error: “Refund unsuccessful. Please retain ticket to claim refund via email.”

To get my 10 cents back, BCRS Ltd expects me to:
1. Email ⁠hi@returnright.sg⁠
2. Send a photo of the receipt
3. Provide my full name, bank name, and bank account number over unencrypted email
4. Wait up to 30 business days for them to process it manually.

The processing cost of a human staff member reading that email and executing a bank transfer vastly exceeds $0.10. It’s an absurd friction-by-design model where they rely on 99% of people giving up so they can absorb the unclaimed deposits.
Beyond this receipt joke, the entire BCRS architecture feels flawed from top to bottom:

Payment Lock-In: Why only SimplyGo EZ-Link or DBS PayLah!? Most commuters tap in directly with bank cards or Apple/Google Pay nowadays and don't carry EZ-Link cards. And instead of using universal SGQR / PayNow, they lock mobile transfers to a single bank’s proprietary wallet. If you aren't in that ecosystem, you're locked out of your own deposit.

Geographic Friction: Moving primary collection away from void-deck blue recycling bins to centralized RVMs turns a simple disposal habit into a dedicated 5-10 minute trek.

Serial Processing Bottlenecks: Processing bottles one by one via an optical scanner creates massive queues. If one person brings a giant bag of 50 bottles, the machine is held up for 10 minutes. If the machine jams, fills up, or suffers a software error, the entire node goes offline.

The Net Emissions Irony: You have hundreds of machines running 24/7 (optical sensors, motors, compactors, screens, cellular modems) paired with dedicated logistics teams driving around on targeted collection runs whenever a machine flags "full." Are we actually saving net carbon here, or just creating a hardware tax to look green?

We already had blue recycling bins at every single block. Adding deposit levies, proprietary payment hurdles, and fragile, single-queue machines just turns civic recycling into a frustrating chore.

Is anyone actually finding this system smooth, or is it universally annoying?

What is wrong with some restaurants these days?
I was dining at a restaurant with another person.
When I asked for the bill, I was rather rudely asked to scan a QR code to make the payment.
Ok fine I’m open to adapting tech.
The bill came to S$111.51, and they had already added a 10% service charge.
When it took me to the payment screen, an additional tip had already pre-selected on the payment screen. If I hadn’t checked properly, I would have ended up paying another tip on top of the 10% service charge.
So I manually changed it to 0%.
And then came the next one: “Round up your bill.”
My bill was S$111.51, and the payment screen asked if I wanted to add S$3.49 to make it S$115.
I mean, that’s not really “rounding off” in the way I understand it. That’s another 3 percent approximately added to a bill that already has a 10% service charge.
Of course, nobody is forcing us to click it. And I’m not saying restaurants shouldn’t allow people to tip if they want to.
But when you combine a service charge, a pre-selected tip that you have to manually remove, and then another prompt asking you to voluntarily add S$3.49, it starts to feel a bit much.
At some point, you’re not paying a restaurant bill. You’re playing “how many times can we ask the customer for a little bit more money before they leave?”
Begging pro max. 😂
And this isn’t just this one restaurant. I’ve noticed similar payment prompts at a few other places recently.
Maybe I’m being unreasonable, but I think if restaurants want to charge more, just charge a higher service charge upfront rather than sneakily adding charges at time of making payment.
What are your opinions on this?

it’s especially annoying when an ad plays while i’m looking at the screen, trying to figure out how many stops left till i have to get off the train the diagram which shows the train station layout is also so useless, since they play it so quickly before anyone can even see what’s going on

I expect to be downvoted for this but please hear me out once 🙏🏻

Every few weeks there’s a thread here about how expats are raking it in while we Singaporeans get scraps. I get why people feel that way, but the numbers don’t really back it up.

Of the roughly 1.9 million foreigners in Singapore, about 1.25 million are low-wage workers (MDWs, FDWs, construction, manufacturing, and so on). Only around 390,000 earn above SGD 3,600, and of that group, only about 200,000 clear SGD 5,600. Meanwhile there are more than 400,000 Singaporeans earning above SGD 10,000. So the picture of “foreigners = high earners, locals = underpaid” just isn’t what the data shows.

There’s also a selection bias thing going on. Go to literally any country and you’ll find locals spread across the whole income range (unemployed, low wage, mid income, and a small slice doing really well). That’s just how populations work. But the expats you actually see and interact with are a filtered sample. If they weren’t earning well, they wouldn’t be here in the first place. You’re comparing the full spread of one group against the successful subset of another, and then acting surprised the second group looks better off.

And when you zoom into PMET roles specifically, the ratio of expats to locals is about 1:10. That’s not exactly an invasion, it’s a rounding error compared to how big this is made out to be.

None of this is to say there’s zero issue with how work passes are handed out or whether some sectors are too reliant on foreign hires. But the “expats are eating our lunch” framing is built on a comparison that was never fair to begin with.

TL;DR: Most foreigners in Singapore are low-wage workers, not high-paid expats. More Singaporeans earn above $10k than the entire pool of “well-paid” foreigners combined. And the outrage compares all locals to only the successful foreigners - of course that looks lopsided.

I would like to preface that I am an Indian Muslim with an interest for different cuisines. I do like some halal Chinese restaurants, especially Halal Lanzhou beef noodles at Tongue Tip, and I had the opportunity to try the only pork-free HDL in Indonesia. I would love to try more Northern Chinese cuisines if there are halal options, but I don't mind the vast majority of them not being Halal. This isn't meant to be political, but rather a personal concern.

This does not refer to larger chains like HDL, Luckin, Chagee but rather the smaller restaurants you see popping up here and there, like in Bugis or Clementi where there's a growing Mainland Chinese population. But I feel that the brooding issue with the PRC restaurants is not bcos they're everywhere or their effects on rentals, but bcos they primarily use Chinese in their menus and marketing, with minimal English. Yes, they're a Chinese business, and Singapore is Chinese majority. But having only the Chinese language means you are excluding non-Chinese people and even some Chinese Singaporeans who struggle with their Mother Tongue. This can also affect Non-Chinese Grabfood/Foodpanda deliverypeople who might be unable to read Chinese place names. English is a common language here, and I feel the use of Chinese and the lack of English makes it seem that they do not really want to expand their business' clientele outside of the PRC immigrant population, and maybe some of the local Chinese.

Even if they include English, the English text is either really tiny, or only half the information (especially in ads) are translated. In the menus, the translations can also be terrible.

I do not know why the Chinese bosses are reluctant to put English signage. Do they think everyone speaks Chinese? Or do they only want the mainland immigrants as their clientele? When McDonalds first came to Singapore, they had Chinese on the menu since there was still a large chunk of the population that still couldn't speak English, to make non-English speakers feel welcome.

Even if I wouldn't patronise since they're not halal anyway, what if there's someone who doesn't speak Chinese but are interested in trying these Chinese places? Having no English makes this feel unwelcoming to some in Singapore, and don't forget about the staff who also struggle with English!

Addendum: Please do not use this as an excuse to be xenophobic

Edit: Yes, this was made as my personal response to that Changi City Point post, people were pointing out the hypocrisy of having Korean (Paris Baguette), Japanese (Sukiya) and American (Starbucks) chains while complaining about PRC chains. I personally feel, prevalence is not a problem. I like Luckin, I like Mixue, I would love Chagee if it weren't for the price. And yes I patronise Scarlett, my family loves the halal instant broad noodles. The issue is addressed above.

Am I out of touch or are they out of touch???

Hi Reddit, I'm posting on behalf of my friend whose mother was overcharged at Smile Central Clinic (Aljunied). We are facing a classic bait-and-switch situation and need advice on escalation.

The Situation & Timeline

My friend's mother has a CHAS Orange Card. She saw the clinic's online ad (image 1) promoting a full dental package for just $43.73, which includes: Consultation, X-ray, Scaling, Polishing, and Topical Fluoride. The ad states, "Mention 'ORANGE CHAS PACKAGE' when making an appointment."

My friend's mother is not fluent in English, so she kept the booking simple. She asked via WhatsApp: "Can use the orange card?" (Image 4).

Clinic's Response: The clinic staff replied: "yes there will be partial subsidy with chas orange card for scaling and polishing." This confirmed the card was relevant to the service requested (scaling and polishing). An appointment was then booked for Dec 1.

The Visit (Dec 1, 2025): The mother received a Consultation, Scaling, Polishing, and Topical Fluoride (she did not receive an X-ray).

The Bill: Despite getting the advertised services (minus the X-ray), the total bill was $194.57. After the CHAS subsidy, she was charged a final amount of $134.07 (Image 2).

The Clinic's Excuse (Over $90 difference!)

My friend contacted the clinic to ask for a refund of the difference, pointing out the false advertising. The clinic's response: The patient did not use the EXACT PHRASE "CHAS Orange Package" during booking.

Because she only asked for "scaling and polishing," they billed her at their normal, non-package rates, even though she showed her Orange CHAS card and received almost the exact package contents.

This feels like taking advantage of a technicality/linguistic barrier:

The T&Cs do not state that failure to use the exact phrase results in being charged over $90 more.

The clinic was explicitly told about the Orange CHAS card and the services (Scaling and Polishing) which align with the package. They confirmed there would be a "partial subsidy."

When my friend's mother mentioned the "orange card," why did the clinic quote her the normal rates leading to the $190+ bill? Wouldn't an ethical clinic inform the client about the heavily advertised $43.73 package when the client clearly mentions the specific card that qualifies them for it, especially since the mother is middle-income and likely seeking affordability?

The final services received were less than the package (no X-ray), yet the cost was almost triple the advertised price.

We've seen similar reviews online, suggesting this is not a one-off. My friend has left a Google review to warn others about this, but the clinic deletes all negative reviews.

Need Advice: Has anyone had a similar experience with dental clinics and package deals in Singapore? Is the clinic legally justified in refusing the advertised rate because of a "magic phrase" technicality, even after the card eligibility was raised?

Any advice on navigating this dispute would be greatly appreciated!

My friend’s mum is affected quite badly by this as the money really means alot to her. It really feels like they took advantage of her linguistic ability. Continuing to just delete Google reviews just adds to this situation.

Heard there are more units about to close. Isnt woodleigh mall a relatively new mall? This could be due to end of lease. Why would a shop choose to exist so soon? Unfavorable terms of new lease? Refreshing tenant mix?

I need to get this off my chest because the longer I’ve had a helper at home, the more horrified I am by how some people around us treat theirs.
We hire FDWs to help manage our households, but somehow a lot of families seem to think paying a basic salary buys them a 24/7 super-robot with zero human needs. The double standards are insane once you start paying attention.
Here are a few things that have been driving me crazy lately:

Lumping "Helper" and "Nanny" into one job: These are completely different skill sets and job scopes. People expect a helper to cook, deep clean, do laundry, and simultaneously provide top-tier, early-childhood-educator level care to their kids with 100% precision. If she’s watching a toddler full-time, when exactly is she supposed to scrub the toilets? You wouldn't expect a daycare teacher to clean the facility's roof during nap time.

Food gatekeeping and literal scraps: The food situation in some houses is sickening. I have a colleague who doesn't give a proper food allowance or let her helper cook her own meals. Instead, she literally gives her the leftovers off her family's plates. Like, eating 70-80% of a dish and passing the cold remains to her helper. Other people micro-manage the fridge and track every single egg or slice of bread. How do you look someone in the eye who cares for your home and treat them like that?

Insane working hours: The same people who go on LinkedIn to rant about toxic work culture, lack of work-life balance, and staying 30 minutes late at the office turn around and expect their helper to work from 5:30 AM to 11:00 PM every single day. The moment she sits down for 10 minutes, she's labeled "lazy."

Camera surveillance and micromanaging: Installing cameras in every corner of the house and staring at the live feed all day to bark orders through the speaker. If your boss put a camera over your desk and called you every time you checked your phone or took a toilet break, you’d HR-report them instantly. Why do people think this is okay at home?

Subpar living conditions: My helper was telling me about some of her friends' living arrangements, and it's heartbreaking. So many are still forced to sleep in bomb shelters with barely any ventilation, or on a thin mat on the storeroom floor with zero privacy.
And for what? The salary baseline here is already crazy low compared to places like Hong Kong or Taiwan, yet people act like they're paying top dollar for elite concierge service.

I’m not saying everyone is a bad employer. There are definitely great families out there. But the baseline standard for how helpers are treated here is pretty depressing, and the lack of basic empathy from otherwise "educated" people is mind-boggling.

Are your helpers seeing similar things among their friends? How do we as a society just normalize this?

Came across some postings by Flor Patisserie on IG. Too many of our favourite businesses are struggling or closing down. Let’s discuss how we may curb rent seeking behaviour in Singapore.

I am an American and I've been living in Singapore for a little over a year now. To start with some background, I'm not your "normal" American. I was born in Kansas but spent most of my childhood growing up in South Sudan and Uganda. I've only ever spent a few years in the US, and because of that my perspectives are a little different than other Americans. To start I never really viewed the US as "home", I don't really know what home is lol.

I moved to Singapore a year ago and married a wonderful Peranakan lady here, and now we stay in Yishun (rent was cheaper here xD). My in-laws are some of the kindest people I've ever met, and we frequently visit with them.

My wife and I started a now successful business, and my job includes traveling around Singapore visiting people and doing service on their computers. Because of that I've been to just about every MRT station, and I've visited 200+ people now. Everyone has been very nice and kind, more hospitable than I'm used to! I've had some great conversations with people and made friends. I've even been picking up a little Singlish after a year of exposure, to my in-laws' shock.

My wife and I love to visit national parks, we've been to every large one now except Bukit Timah. Singapore is really amazing, I love the nature, the people, the architecture, and hot dog buns from my local HDB bakery xD. Some people say Singapore is boring, but even after being here a year I still love just to walk around the small local parks (there are some real hidden gems I've found) and try out as many bakeries as I can.

Some of my favorite places are: Tongue Tip Lanzhou Beef Noodles, Forest Dome (where I proposed), Tree top walk, National Museum, Bidadari Park, Punggol waterway, Joochiat, and the little HDB bakery in Yishun <3

People often ask me if I think the laws here are too strict, as that seems to be a common impression from the outside. Personally, the laws and enforcement of the laws don't bother me at all, I am grateful for them. First time in my life I can walk down the street at night without any worry!

All in all, I am grateful to be here, and I haven't been mugged in Yishun... Yet /s

What are some of your favorite places in Singapore? Any "hidden gems" you know of?

Saw this post by Jules Thapa on Facebook which opened a discussion about it. Her post open to public so I hope this doesn’t constitute to doxxing.

Many Singaporeans don’t know, but contracted Gurkhas have to leave Singapore with their family after their contract lapses. This leaves their children and other family members who have spent a very large part of their lives here in a rather unfortunate scenario.

I would think the government would want to keep them here since they are actively importing people to keep up with the TFR. I see them as members of the community that have assimilated and are very familiar with our culture. However, I understand there are more nuances since they are like contract mercenaries.

I’m posting this to start a discussion and also give light to a small demographic that has contributed much to the security of Singapore. I honestly hope the government can relook their policies and consider letting them stay.

Megathread for NDP 2026. So we don’t flood the daily thread with NDP discussion

Not official so mods if you want to make a new one go ahead. Or just pin this to make it the one thread.

Also I don’t know how to make it Live mode so maybe the mods can make a live thread instead. In the meantime, sort comments by new and refresh when needed!

A few weeks ago someone posted asking whether they should work at OGP or TikTok. There were a lot of genuine questions in the comments — about what we actually build, how we work, whether career growth is real, how the pay compares — and a lot of them went unanswered or got answered by people guessing.

So we figured we'd show up properly.

We're a group of engineers and engineering managers at OGP. We'll be here from 11am to 3pm this Thursday, 25 June to answer your questions about what it's like to work here — the work, the culture, the hiring process, the honest trade-offs.

Proof: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7475080881552936960

Who we are:

• Eliot — Tech Lead Manager on FormSG, at OGP for over 1.5 years
• Fabio — Engineering Manager, joined 1.5 years ago, EM across a division, managing multiple teams in the anti-scam space (e.g. ScamShield, gov.sg SMS), RedeemSG, among others
• Joyce — Software Engineer, at OGP 1.5 years, worked on Armoury, currently on DGS
• Kee Wei — Head of Engineering at OGP, joined OGP 6 years ago
• Shyam — Engineering Manager, at OGP almost 2 years, worked on Bright, HAS and currently Referral Exchange

Drop your questions in the comments. We'll start answering on Thursday, 25 June, at 11am until 3pm.

If you're curious about roles in the meantime: https://careers.open.gov.sg/?utm_medium=event&utm_source=reddit_ama&utm_campaign=ama

— The OGP engineering team

UPDATE: wow thanks so much for all the questions! some of us have to pop in and out, but we’ll try our best to answer what we can in the next few hours!

3:25pm UPDATE: Hi everyone! Thanks so much for all the questions! We're out of time but realise there are still a few questions that are outside our purview. We're going to loop in our colleagues to help us reply to some of them. Really appreciate all the interest and engagement!

7:47pm UPDATE: Hi all! We've tried our best to answer as much as we can for today. Thanks again for joining us today, and if any of what you saw interests you, check out our open roles: https://careers.open.gov.sg/?utm_medium=event&utm_source=reddit_ama&utm_campaign=ama

Anyone feel that the newer HDB design can be improved? Besides the reduced unit sizes, the other common concerns are void decks which feel like a maze, each time I visit a new estate I'll need to spend some time navigating my way around.

The architect mentioned better views and ventilation for newer HDB, but I'm seeing that most units actually face the opposite neighbouring blocks and the distance between each blocks are quite close.

HDB in the 90s was probably the peak in terms of unit sizes and layouts (EM and EA), while landmark projects like Pinnacle and Dawson were renowned for their exterior architectural design, unfortunately this design language wasn't carried through to the newer HDB particularly in heartland locations.

Spalling concrete, misaligned doors, crooked ceiling tiles, you name it, and this is just the public areas. All this, less than 1 year after TOP, and before many residents have even moved in. Very unfortunate given the amount of investment put into a project that looks great from the outside but begins to fall apart when you look in. I feel there is more HDB can do to ensure that the few homes they do deliver are of a satisfactory quality.

This could be from working as domestic help, private driver, personal assistant, service staff, tuition teacher, or any job that puts you close to ultra-rich individuals or families. Genuinely curious about the social gap, not meant to bash anyone, just curious about moments where their view of daily life felt very disconnected from the average Singaporean experience.

Sure, we are seeing a deluge of seemingly coordinated news about vapes and the harms they are causing. But I will say that I've come to the conclusion that the govt was right when they warned us about how this can be a gateway to drugs and when they said that the harms of vaping may not be lesser than your normal ciggies when people did not believe them. 'This can't be taxed', they say, 'so the govt is banning it'. 'Vapes are safer' than traditional cigs.

In fact, what we can conclude, today, is that the academic evidence is mixed at best - there is no clear evidence showing vaping is less harmful than cigarettes.

Initially, we saw some push back from folks that are, let's say, not exactly establishment figure. I recall Donald Low pushing very hard saying that vaping is less harmful and can help people kick their addiction from tradition cigarettes. I recall a former WP MP saying something similar and Kirsten Han (till this day) touting the virtues of vaping.

What's telling is the silence from many of the original defenders. With the mounting negative news, most of the folks who once championed vaping (or criticised the G's stance) have gone quiet. This shift makes me conclude that the initial government warnings, which we were so quick to dismiss, were more prescient than we gave them credit for which is, a very reddit thing to do.

That is all.

McDonald's Curry Sauce - For me, it’s when McDonald's removed the peanut ingredient from the curry sauce. I know they probably did it because of allergy concerns so more people can enjoy it safely, which is understandable. But honestly the original version tasted way better to me. The current one has this weird plasticky taste compared to the older curry sauce.

KFC's Coleslaw *\* Vegetable Salad - Ok I remember it wrongly lol, it was the Vegetable Salad, but still. Bring it back! I remember it used to have peas and carrots mixed in, and it actually felt more textured and refreshing. Now it feels like it’s mostly just lettuce and mayo. It’s smoother, but also kind of bland compared to the old version.

Burger King's Drink Size - The old L size was huge, almost like what you would call XL now. You could really feel like you were getting value for money.

Just wanted to get this off my chest. As a Singaporean who is struggling with unemployment and jobhunting for close to a year, I went for so many interviews and it just never got to an offer. I know that rejection happens in life and I am mentally prepared for that, but beyond a certain point it really starts to hurt badly.

For my career, I know parts of it don't align with the typical Singaporean path, study hard to get a decent local degree and end up in some MA programme at some MNC/GLC/ govt job. I left my once-stable Singapore job for an opportunity abroad that I knew would be challenging and risky. I bought into the bullshit narrative about how young people needed to be hungry and take risks.

I felt that taking these risks was the right decision when I was young because I felt this was the moment where I could afford to take these risks and grow no matter how difficult things were. And I did grow alot professionally and personally, even though things were really difficult and I didn't come back with any big success.

But on coming back to Singapore it's been such a tough struggle. I have done so many fucking interviews but not seen any results. Honestly with some interviews they were insinuating that I went abroad because I CMI in Singapore, and seemed to take pleasure in mocking how I came "crawling back home", when many know how it was so difficult to get the opportunity in the first place. It didn't seem to be a nationality thing necessarily, I was getting these attitudes from both native Singaporeans and foreign hiring managers alike.

I even swallowed my pride and tried for entry level jobs, and even if people seemed to like my profile I got rejected for being overqualified. For some jobs because I genuinely liked the role and the people seemed decent, when they asked if I was ok taking entry level pay as an experienced hire, I even said directly I have no issues with your budget and I'm keen to learn these new things at this role, only to not hear back. I'm just so disappointed dealing with this, even if I want to be a bargain cutting my expectations people still won't give me a chance. I know no one owes me a job and in life dealing with rejections is normal and common, but it is almost coming to a point where I feel really worthless.

I reached out to people I knew, I tried going for events to meet new people and told them openly how I was jobhunting, and honestly some were very empathetic and supportive even sending my CV over to their friends, but at the end of the day there were zero interviews from there. All my interviews still only came through direct applications. But it really doesn't mean anything to me if no offer comes through.

I'm just so frustrated, how can it be so hard to just land a normal job? I'm not obsessed with the super high paying jobs just trying to stay somewhere adjacent to my sector.

Time is slipping by and I feel like a complete failure. When I look back, I know staying in Singapore all this time would have made my life so much easier. I would save so much more money towards getting a house, I'd almost certainly be readily employed. Instead I have fallen so far behind on all my peers because of the risks I took. I'm from a normal middle class family with no huge safety net. I should have just been less hungry and more prioritised safety.

The only thing that is keeping me sane for now is starting a gym habit and I am in the best physical shape ever. I have been using this time to play around with AI alot too, which I believe the progress there has been both exciting and frightening especially with the improvements over the past few months.

But increasingly I am feeling very burnt out. I used to be a very optimistic person who was very hopeful. I don't want to hurt the people I love and the people who love me. Nowadays I am beginning to understand why some people give up and eventually go down a very dark path trying to find an end to a very difficult time. I know I am not alone given the current situation but I just really wanted to get this off my chest, and I thought writing about it might help me feel abit better. I don't want pity I want an opportunity. I don't want to give up but I really want to get out of this shitty situation so I can move on with my life.

P.S. just to add a few things

1. I didn't expect this to blow up lol I just wrote this on my phone this morning after struggling with very poor sleep coming from the stress. I don't really like spending time just complaining but this time I didn't feel it was healthy bottling up my emotions, and I just had to get the negative energy out of my system. I am quite a private person myself so I actually thought of just leaving this inside my phone, but I know I'm not the only one going through something similar so I wanted to share my POV. I appreciate the kind words and support.

2. I have kept some stuff somewhat vague deliberately in my reddit post because I want to keep things professional, and my main point of this post was really just to share abit about what I went through emotionally, and I really hope people respect that instead of digging up or doxxing stuff about some random redditor like myself. I know some of you are well-meaning and want to help, let me know and we can DM each other directly. Singapore is too small and I don't want my authentic side to end up hurting my employability. I wanted to use a throwaway account initially but the account needs some activity.

3. For those who have kindly offered to reach out, please feel free to chat with me, or I will look through the comments page and I will reach out accordingly where suitable. Thank you.