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Things that are unaccounted for can drive an organized person nuts.
Just like in movies, discerning audiences may think that a filmmaker's decision to leave an ending with unresolved conflict up to moviegoers' imagination is considered lazy.
But before we get all judgy, there are exceptions to these unanswered questions in life that can be advantageous.
Curious to hear examples of the positives of loopholes, Redditor Standard-Stock3454 asked:
"What's the greatest legal loophole you've found in life?"
People love taking advantage of an opportunity like this.
No Fine, All Is Fine
At one point, there was a statute in Virginia that essentially said if there was no one manning the booth to get on the toll road, you were not responsible for a fine if you ran it (because otherwise you had to have exact change)."
"But in my area, they ended up completely unmanned after a certain hour, so I had a letter I provided my friends as a template so that they could completely avoid this hefty fine. Worked for all of us."
– Lulu_42
"Virginia is the only state I've been to that actually took the toll off of a road because they'd made enough money. Unheard of these days."
– AnnieB512
The Price Was Right
"I missed out, but I loved the gold dollar fiasco. In 2008, the US Mint produced more than a billion new gold dollar coins. Nobody wanted them. So they figured maybe if they offered free shipping, then people would order some online."
"Some clever folks ordered books of them using credit cards that gave rewards, frequent flyer miles, etc. When the coins were delivered they just deposited them into their bank accounts, paid off the credit card bill, and went to Hawaii with their free frequent flyer miles."
– Igotthesilver
Taking Charge
"A co-worker had a car where it would come with a 30 day free trial of Sirius XM. He never signed up, but after getting a new battery installed he found that the trial renewed itself."
"Eventually he figured out that all he needed to do for free Sirius XM was to disconnect the battery every 30 days and the trial would automatically reset."
– Spindlebrook
Minimum Payment
"Pay off a insurance company 5 dollars a week untill it took so l long they settled the debt 2k less than what I owed. They couldn't take me to court as long as I paid something."
– Earthsubstance
"Had a very similar experience with medical debt that went to collections while I was fighting with insurance to cover it."
"Paid the absolute minimum monthly for a couple years, they eventually offered to forgive the debt for a significantly reduced portion of the remaining amount. Originally, my logic was just, 'f'k these guys, if I have to pay them I'll make it suck for them as much as I can,' but it eventually worked out even better!"
– a**hat123
Rules are rules, and in some cases, that's a wonderful thing, whether or not they were intended for specific purposes.
The Graduate
"My little brother got a job at Harvard. He didn’t have a college degree. He was allowed to take one class a semester (or something like that). It took him ten years, but he got a degree from Harvard in archeology."
– evil_burrito
"This is how I got into Penn State—I had to take 18 credits up front though (out of pocket) and receive a minimum C in all courses. Switches you from non-degree to degree status with no admission process. Not sure if it can still be done. My Mom knew about it since she was an Adviser there."
– abuz148
"I finished my BA at American University in DC as an employee. 3 years of 9 free credits a semester while working full-time. Great cheat code.
– BbakerStreet
Amateur Attorney
"I once got a speeding ticket for driving 52 in a 35 (mph / USA). I was driving on a stretch of road that was only about a mile long (intersections at both ends) and there were no speed limit signs on the road."
"All adjacent roads had a posted speed limit of 35, so one would assume that the speed limit on the road I was stopped on should be 35."
"BUT state law dictates that the default speed limit on county roads when not otherwise posted is 50 mph. I took pictures of the road at several places to show that there were no posted speed limit signs, and brought those pictures to court when I challenged the ticket and the judge dropped the ticket."
"This isn't truly great in the grand scheme of things, but for a moment I felt like I had just won the greatest legal case in history."
– airwalker08
Problem Solved
"My mom got a ticket once for driving on a dirt shoulder to get around a long line of cars to reach a right turn lane. She told the story to a friend who was a traffic engineer."
"He went out and took some pictures and submitted a report saying the turn lane should be longer. The ticket got dropped, and the county added another 100 feet of turn lane."
– anxiousautistic2342
The Surefire Bet
"Cruiseship casino: I was gifted 200$ in credit to pay for ship extras/activities when I ordered my cruise package."
"When I got to the casino, I realized you could load that credit into the slot machines."
"After one round of testing with depositing a small amount and immediately cashing it out worked, I went back and came out of the casino with 2 crisp 100$ bills, never placing a bet.""
– urbandk84
Businesses love return customers.
It Takes Work
"Local online retail store (think H&M) ran a competition to win a 150 bucks off coupon. I naturally entered with my account, my sister and my moms. All three of us won and the coupon code sent to all of us was the exact same."
"So I figured if I created a different email every time, I'd continue using it. Which I did, for the whole year until the expiration date, and by that time I had spent over 5000 bucks without them noticing."
– Ok_Spot_5629
Repeat Apology Meal
"This feels like when I ordered Jimmy John's in college and they messed my order up. They gave me a replacement order and added a couple cookies and a drink to my sub as an apology which was cool."
"For whatever reason, if I hit the 'express reorder' or whatever it was called, it would go through as free again."
"I didn't want to make it obvious, so I used it about once a week until the website interface changed, and it stopped working."
"It was awhile ago so I don't remember exactly how long this lasted but it was something like a year and a half."
Free Refills
"I was able to use a gift card with a balance of around 1.50 on a vending machine that charges $2.10 for a soda. I’m guessing it checked if the card was preapproved for a dollar. Then, the actual charge was denied."
"I was paranoid about using it, but it was pretty much an unlimited drink card. Didn’t feel too bad because the machine cheated me many times over the last 20 years."
– joemc04
How To Get Sick Of Pizza
"While in college, I won a 'free pizza for a year' contest from Papa John’s on a radio station. It was really one pizza per month for 12 total. I called in and told the guy I had the little card they gave me and he said no problem and sent the delivery guy over who confirmed I had the card and gave me my pizza. Next month I did the same."
"Then it dawned on me… they’re not taking my card or marking it in any way so I called a different Papa John’s and told them my story and sure enough it worked and they didn’t do anything with my card either. I started working 4 different PJ’s near me to get one pizza per week every month without arousing suspicion."
"With leftovers, I could stretch it to two or three days easily. I did this for almost two years before I was sick of PJ’s pizza and gave my card to my roommate as I finished college and moved out. For a broke college kid, this saved me. But to this day, I can’t eat PJ’s."
– cordsandchucks
There was a time when I used to repeatedly sign up as a "new customer" to take advantage of a promotion to entice new subscribers to a service.
I would quit a certain online service subscription before the 3 or 4-day trial period ended, then sign up as a new customer and get the free trial all over again.
This was a while ago, but I think now, services can detect whether or not an email was registered before to refuse free trial periods to previous customers.
They all eventually become wise to our clever ways and good on them. But it doesn't stop people from trying!