So I started working for this company about 3 years ago they were startup in 2013 we've grown to a few dozen employees across both east and west coast. For my job title and responsibilities I'm paid pretty well probably in the upper half of my position. My company is never opposed to spending money as long as it makes sense. When we went fully remote during covid they offered to give us anything we needed including monitors chairs desks etc for free. And we're talking about the standing desks and the $400 office chairs not some cheap stuff.
Unfortunately because we're a software company they use Mac primarily and after 6 months I gave up and asked if I can use my own Windows laptop. They said they could probably provide me with one but I just said let me use my own since you guys don't install any software on there and I'll just make a second login that's password protected which I can give you that password. My laptop I just use for gaming on the go I don't do anything personal on it that's my desktop is for.
There's a free way to send mass emails integrated in Google that we used to use all the time but it's limited to 50 per day. I wanted the $20 year that gives me 1500 a month because I do have to send a few hundred mass emails a month to update our customers on very important technical issues. They said we have other tools in place that can do the same thing that I can use but frankly I don't like them.
So I just went ahead and paid the $20 a year on my own pocket to get the 1500 emails per month and never told them about it nor did I asked to be reimbursed. And that's okay because not only do they provide healthcare they provide the healthcare at no cost they also cover my short-term disability and their healthcare has no duct will know out-of-pocket expense when in network. I also get a 5% 401k match, 4 weeks of PTO, 6 sick days and a completely flexible work schedule that I can schedule personal appointments during work hours without taking any PTO.
So yes, sometimes paying $20/year isn't that big of a deal.