Have you ever looked at the number of cookies different sites set in your browser? I would have thought 1 or 2... youtube.com and google.com both set 20, just for bringing up their home pages.
The admin's "life isn't fair" comment, while harsh, reflects an economic reality: meeting required specifications is often valued over exceeding them at extra cost or effort. For example, a machinist meeting a 0.2mm tolerance gets paid the same as one achieving 0.02mm, and the more efficient one might be preferred.