List things that seem inexplicably expensive

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and maybe ILXors with a grasp of economics or manufacturing can explain why they are so expensive.

n/a (Nick A.), Thursday, 18 August 2005 12:56 (nineteen years ago)

e.g., razor blades for stupid razors like Sensor Excel, Mach III, etc.

n/a (Nick A.), Thursday, 18 August 2005 12:56 (nineteen years ago)

companies be wanting profit.

g-kit (g-kit), Thursday, 18 August 2005 12:58 (nineteen years ago)

Truffles

Diddyismus (Dada), Thursday, 18 August 2005 12:58 (nineteen years ago)

They are hard to find (requires a hyper-sexualized piglet).

roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Thursday, 18 August 2005 12:59 (nineteen years ago)

(The above sentence is 37% true.)

roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Thursday, 18 August 2005 12:59 (nineteen years ago)

ferraro rochet

Ste (Fuzzy), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:00 (nineteen years ago)

Topic bars (they so small why so dear?)

Ste (Fuzzy), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:00 (nineteen years ago)

Cornettos

(beginning to see the nut connection)

Ste (Fuzzy), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:01 (nineteen years ago)

Magnum ice cream
Solero ice cream

Ste (Fuzzy), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:01 (nineteen years ago)

Pizza

Chewshabadoo (Chewshabadoo), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:02 (nineteen years ago)

Iced moccachino

mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:02 (nineteen years ago)

amtrak

mookieproof (mookieproof), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:02 (nineteen years ago)

I second Amtrak, WTF?

n/a (Nick A.), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:03 (nineteen years ago)

Hay fever remedies. They're tiny tiny tablets made in obscene quantities, yet even the generic ones are much dearer than, say, aspirin.

Markelby (Mark C), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:04 (nineteen years ago)

I always wonder how they calculate the price of, say, a Balenciaga handbag or a pair of Gucci loafers. Is it only the name that makes it that much more expensive? I realize they use better leather (or other fabrics) but still...

nathalie starts to cry each time we meet (stevie nixed), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:04 (nineteen years ago)

Music CDs in Britain

Diddyismus (Dada), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:04 (nineteen years ago)

Everything everywhere in the UK (but esp. London).

Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:05 (nineteen years ago)

Cell phones. There's only a few bucks worth of plastic and circuitboards in each one and they're practically considered disposable by the service providers (who recently opted to replace my phone entirely rather than solving one little service problem), but when you want a new one OH NO you should expect to pay THROUGH LE NOSE.

I assume the rest of the cost is to cover promotion/marketing, but I don't know nuthin about this business of business.

Laurel (Laurel), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:06 (nineteen years ago)

-tube tickets
-rent
-taxes
-booze

N_RQ, Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:06 (nineteen years ago)

Blade Runner on dvd

Ste (Fuzzy), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:06 (nineteen years ago)

Beer, made from the most inexpensive ingredients found on earth.

laurence kansas (lawrence kansas), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:07 (nineteen years ago)

-west end cinema tickets (i mean, why bother? you buy the film outright for the same price within a few months)

N_RQ, Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:07 (nineteen years ago)

Houses, someone's having a laugh.

not-goodwin (not-goodwin), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:07 (nineteen years ago)

My incredibly wealthy flatmate just spent $570 on an LV bag that is essentially a purse with a zip and the LV logo printed across it.

Ridiculous. But she seemed so happy I didn't have the heart to make a snarky comment.

Anyway, the question is not why are things expensive but why would anyone would buy them?!!!

Roz (Roz), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:08 (nineteen years ago)

also, I just paid 4 dollars for a loaf of "artisan" bread. i r sucker.

laurence kansas (lawrence kansas), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:09 (nineteen years ago)

We need more explanation on this thread. I was thinking about the razors for Mach III etc. this morning and figured it must be because the companies can basically monopolize the production of the specially designed razor blade cartridges for their own razors, but why can't CVS or whoever create a cheaper generic blade that fits on the Mach III handle? Does Gilette own the design patent to such a degree that no one can produce a cheaper generic?

n/a (Nick A.), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:09 (nineteen years ago)

Amusement Parks (Kings Island is like $35 to get in for one day now)

jocelyn (Jocelyn), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:10 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.cybersalt.org/cleanlaugh/yourturn/images/ytf34.jpg

Markelby (Mark C), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:10 (nineteen years ago)

vet bills
dentist bills

Ste (Fuzzy), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:10 (nineteen years ago)

Cat Litter

jocelyn (Jocelyn), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:10 (nineteen years ago)

Cigarettes (I speak as a non-smoker)

Diddyismus (Dada), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:11 (nineteen years ago)

NYC

roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:11 (nineteen years ago)

Fresh vegetables. At Sainsburys. Or at least, the ones that are chopped and washed and stuck in little packages. Why do they cost so much more than the ordinary ones? Sure, labour. But it can't cost THAT MUCH to pay someone to wash and chop and stick broccoli in little bags.

Win A Lie-Down, Mrs. Davies (kate), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:14 (nineteen years ago)

they don't wash them, I think

RJG (RJG), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:15 (nineteen years ago)

vet bills

fucking tell me about it!

N_RQ, Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:15 (nineteen years ago)

Organic food (my original, flawed reasoning being that if it's truly organic it should be cheaper as there shouldn't be as much involved in the process (no pesticides etc.)

Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:16 (nineteen years ago)

Doritos.

laurence kansas (lawrence kansas), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:17 (nineteen years ago)

Nathalie, I used to wonder the same but I find that as long as you keep a lookout on the finishing details and are moderately selective, you can often see what your $$ is buying you. Obv not true of every designer/house but I have gotten really good results from some of my "luxury" items, like shoes that never need breaking in and don't rub or scratch or pinch anywhere at all (even though they're heels!) and feel like butter inside & out, or clothes with finishing details inside known only to wearer (like colored piping or secret pockets). Learning to sew also really made me sit up and notice stuff like this.

Please note that I am a sample sale junkie & haunt places like Century 21 & TJ Maxx -- even with the points above I can't justify paying FULL price for stuff.

Laurel (Laurel), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:17 (nineteen years ago)

Oh yeah, new editions of uni textbooks. Daylight robbery especially if they're only useful for about one semester.

Roz (Roz), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:17 (nineteen years ago)

Well, if they don't wash them, it's violation of truth in advertising or whatever, because it certainly says on the little bags "washed and ready to eat".

Win A Lie-Down, Mrs. Davies (kate), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:18 (nineteen years ago)

toilet paper...you wipe your ass with it for crying out loud.

Lupton Pitman (Chris V), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:19 (nineteen years ago)

washed = water has passed over them, perhaps.

N_RQ, Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:19 (nineteen years ago)

software

RJG (RJG), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:19 (nineteen years ago)

graphics cards.

g-kit (g-kit), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:20 (nineteen years ago)

Breakfast cereal.

laurence kansas (lawrence kansas), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:20 (nineteen years ago)

I thought they rinsed them with lots of chemicals

I don't eat "ready to eat" things, if I can help it

RJG (RJG), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:20 (nineteen years ago)

Parking lots. The lot near this one venue in Chicago was asking $25!

Josh in Chicago (Josh in Chicago), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:20 (nineteen years ago)

software

professional software hell yes. everything else, nay.

Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:20 (nineteen years ago)

Cherries. The price of cherries compared to rasberries, bluberries etc is mad.

Neither do I RJG. I find them a little creepy.

Anna (Anna), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:21 (nineteen years ago)

ha software, RJG, yes!
(Autocad = £trillions)

Ste (Fuzzy), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:21 (nineteen years ago)

used uni textbooks' expense is even more inexplicable. fuckers.

mookieproof (mookieproof), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:21 (nineteen years ago)

Doritos aren't expensive!

n/a (Nick A.), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:23 (nineteen years ago)

RJG, you have destroyed my world.

I am far too lazy to wash and chop mine own vegetables at work. I want to pay Tibetan orphans in sweatshops to do it for me. But not with chemicals. :-(

Win A Lie-Down, Mrs. Davies (kate), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:24 (nineteen years ago)

Laurel, yeah, I know what you mean but does it warrant, say, a 1800 dollar price tage for a Balenciaga handbag? That said, I have never ever had comfier shoes than Gucci loafers. I don't think it's silly to buy expensive clothes/bags or shoes, because it's not about the function (anymore), but about status (and comfort).

nathalie starts to cry each time we meet (stevie nixed), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:27 (nineteen years ago)

oh shit:

-can cds. even before the remasters.

N_RQ, Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:27 (nineteen years ago)

I think Fopp are currently throwing Can cds out at £5 a pop

Onimo (GerryNemo), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:32 (nineteen years ago)

aye, but now the remasters exist... oh, that's agony.

N_RQ, Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:34 (nineteen years ago)

Fopp Can Pop?

Over to the inexpensive thread with you...

mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:34 (nineteen years ago)

Beatles CDs. Who even likes that shit anyhow?

NickB (NickB), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:34 (nineteen years ago)

Nath, I still think it's silly to spend nearly 2 grand on a handbag with diagonal zippers and some fringe. I guess the "quality materials/construction" argument only holds true for the mid-range -- above a certain point there's just no practical excuse. That said, I would like to buy a pair of shoes so luxe that when I gouge or break a heel I can have it replaced for free for the lifetime of the shoes. Because I am MURDER on heels.

Laurel (Laurel), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:37 (nineteen years ago)

Doritos are like 3 or 4 dollars a bag! That's highway robbery.

laurence kansas (lawrence kansas), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:37 (nineteen years ago)

cheese and spinach seem annoyingly expensive to me.

Maria (Maria), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:45 (nineteen years ago)

SKIRTING BOARD!

Britain's Jauntiest Shepherd (Alan), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:45 (nineteen years ago)

Printer Cartridges. I know there are cheaper generic versions, but the official ones are still £25 for a plastic box of ink.

Slumpman (Slump Man), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:50 (nineteen years ago)

You can get a BIG GRAB bag of Doritos for 99 cents! And spices are expensive, you know. Which reminds me:

Spices.

n/a (Nick A.), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:50 (nineteen years ago)

you can get blade runner for like 10 bucks
but
why can't you get a decent video projector for less than a grand?

Outsider Enter Port City (sexyDancer), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:52 (nineteen years ago)

dignity.

also, chicken.

strng hlkngtn, Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:53 (nineteen years ago)

printer cartridges are so expensive! it's ridiculous!

Maria (Maria), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:54 (nineteen years ago)

real estate

hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:54 (nineteen years ago)

organic produce is more expensive because they cannot produce the volume of product that other "conventionals" (as we call run-of-the-mill produce in the grocery biz) can. Also I would assume they have to throw a lot out, no pesticides and what not means a good portion of it isn't quality enough to be consumed.

Homosexual II (Homosexual II), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:55 (nineteen years ago)

Oh yeah, new editions of uni textbooks. Daylight robbery especially if they're only useful for about one semester.

In one of my Publication Specialist classes, the instructor rather gleefully admitted that publishers often produce new editions of textbooks more to exploit their relatively inelastic market, and less because the subject has changed all that much.

Parking lots. The lot near this one venue in Chicago was asking $25!

That's at least partly a function of scarcity of space in a fairly built-up city. But I would like to know what sort of profits parking garage operators make on top of their costs of doing business (space, salaries, etc.)

I'd also like to know what it "really" costs Starbucks and its competitors to produce a single cup of coffee. Especially the costs of a cup of drip coffee versus a Frappucino or other drink that requires a greater amount of labor and individualization.

j.lu (j.lu), Thursday, 18 August 2005 14:01 (nineteen years ago)

Venus Divine replacement razors - over £5 for 4 and they are NEVER on offer anywhere.

Quality food is just plain expensive. I find that I'm spending more of my budget every month on decent food rather than any other necessity new clothes. It keeps me feeling balanced and reasonably healthy. But it does irritate me.

Council tax - £120 a month for our wee 2 bed flat just because it's in the city centre.

elisabeth k, Thursday, 18 August 2005 14:02 (nineteen years ago)

In the case of organic foods, other pricing factors include:

1) Competing with the enormous multinational factory-scale food factories -- small producers don't have the big comapnies' resources or economies of scale.
2) There presumably are costs associated with converting farmland that previously has been used for "conventional" production to organic, and costs for getting official verification that their operations are organic.

j.lu (j.lu), Thursday, 18 August 2005 14:08 (nineteen years ago)

Gym memberships. I understand the equipment is expensive to purchase initially, and there's probably some upkeep, but how much could expenses be?

n/a (Nick A.), Thursday, 18 August 2005 14:09 (nineteen years ago)

I pump bags of Doritos which is probably more expensive than a gym membership.

Also, goat cheese is pricey. We need more goats.

laurence kansas (lawrence kansas), Thursday, 18 August 2005 14:12 (nineteen years ago)

Printer cartridges are expensive for the same reason printers are inexpensive: creation and exploitation of a captive market.

M. V. (M.V.), Thursday, 18 August 2005 14:15 (nineteen years ago)

tampons

sgs (sgs), Thursday, 18 August 2005 14:17 (nineteen years ago)

I am going to start making mine own ink. We have plenty of oaks on Streatham Common! It can't be too hard...

Win A Lie-Down, Mrs. Davies (kate), Thursday, 18 August 2005 14:17 (nineteen years ago)

PORN AND HOOKERS

-rainbow bum- (-rainbow bum-), Thursday, 18 August 2005 14:20 (nineteen years ago)

I shudder to think what a bag of goat cheese flavored Doritos would cost.

laurence kansas (lawrence kansas), Thursday, 18 August 2005 14:20 (nineteen years ago)

YOUR ETERNAL SOUL.

n/a (Nick A.), Thursday, 18 August 2005 14:22 (nineteen years ago)

Gym memberships. I understand the equipment is expensive to purchase initially, and there's probably some upkeep, but how much could expenses be?

1) Rent or mortgage payments for the facility.
2) Facility upkeep. Locker rooms with showers and swimming pools are going to require certain types of maintenance.
3) The equipment. A company presumably can depreciate those costs over the equipment's useful life, but if something breaks down the customers are going to expect repairs or replacement as soon as possible.
4) Labor -- trained and accredited athletic instructors are professionals and expect to be paid accordingly. Plus the gym requires janitors to meet public health requirements, and some sort of administrative staff to handle membership fees and other paperwork.
5) Insurance. If customers trip over a mat or work themselves into a heart attack, even if they signed waivers they're probably going to try to sue the gym.

j.lu (j.lu), Thursday, 18 August 2005 14:26 (nineteen years ago)

there's that one sorted

roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Thursday, 18 August 2005 14:36 (nineteen years ago)

Locally grown organic produce is not that expensive if you get involved with a co-op to receive a regular drop-off.

superultramega (superultramarinated), Thursday, 18 August 2005 14:50 (nineteen years ago)

also: asparagus

superultramega (superultramarinated), Thursday, 18 August 2005 14:50 (nineteen years ago)

Ireland

JohnDSinclair, Thursday, 18 August 2005 14:52 (nineteen years ago)

and avocados.
air filters for foreign cars

oops (Oops), Thursday, 18 August 2005 14:54 (nineteen years ago)

Lush bath bombs

kyle (akmonday), Thursday, 18 August 2005 14:55 (nineteen years ago)

now that i don't understand!

especially, because i am assuming you only get to use them once?? what a rip!!

Homosexual II (Homosexual II), Thursday, 18 August 2005 14:58 (nineteen years ago)

We were just at Lush last night and I convinced Sarah that those things were way too expensive for something you use once! They gave her a broken one as a free sample though.

n/a (Nick A.), Thursday, 18 August 2005 14:59 (nineteen years ago)

THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

mookieproof (mookieproof), Thursday, 18 August 2005 15:10 (nineteen years ago)

True that.

Also, fines at the Maryland DMV. arrrrgh..

dar1a g (daria g), Thursday, 18 August 2005 19:42 (nineteen years ago)

FREEDOM

The Ghost of Dean Gulberry (dr g), Thursday, 18 August 2005 19:46 (nineteen years ago)

Also, WHITE COTTON UNDERSHIRTS

The Ghost of Dean Gulberry (dr g), Thursday, 18 August 2005 19:46 (nineteen years ago)

how could the expense of organic produce be inexplicable?

my thing: chairs. chairs are realyl expensive!

ambrose (ambrose), Thursday, 18 August 2005 19:49 (nineteen years ago)

Amtrak is expensive because our government expects Amtrak to be self-sustaining, so they don't give it any moneys. Plane tickets would be astronomical if we didn't give them billions of dollars every year. (And the airline industry wouldn't be self-sustaining without funding.)

Although Amtrak isn't actually all that expensive -- I went cross country for $300, which is about how much it costs to fly, and it was a much more pleasant and beautiful experience on the train (although of course it took 6 days total instead of 2).

Artisan bread is expensive because it takes a lot of time for a person to make it. The ingredients are usually pretty cheap, but the human time is a bit long. Yet people aren't willing to pay more than, say, $4 for a loaf of bread -- which makes sense, I guess, but it still makes selling hand-crafted bread a bitch. (There is no high end bread market like there is for, say, wine, and yet you can craft a bread just as carefully and create a flavor just as complex as any wine -- but it's a huge timesuck and there's no market for it.)

Casuistry (Chris P), Thursday, 18 August 2005 19:50 (nineteen years ago)

lawyers

cozen (Cozen), Thursday, 18 August 2005 19:58 (nineteen years ago)

A certain 250-mile intrastate Amtrak route costs $55 west to east, $39 east to west. Costs are fixed, routes are never full. What's the explanation for this? Headwinds? Gravity?

M. V. (M.V.), Thursday, 18 August 2005 20:30 (nineteen years ago)

a doctor looking at you for 5 seconds.

oops (Oops), Thursday, 18 August 2005 20:33 (nineteen years ago)

playing tennis indoors

The Milkmaid (of Human Kindness) (The Milkmaid), Thursday, 18 August 2005 20:34 (nineteen years ago)

c'mon nobody thinks real estate is in this category?

hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 18 August 2005 20:35 (nineteen years ago)

seems explicable to me

oops (Oops), Thursday, 18 August 2005 20:38 (nineteen years ago)

plutonium

M. V. (M.V.), Thursday, 18 August 2005 20:40 (nineteen years ago)

marissa marchant cd's?

$1000, Thursday, 18 August 2005 20:41 (nineteen years ago)

Import CDs

walter kranz (walterkranz), Thursday, 18 August 2005 20:42 (nineteen years ago)

diamond engagement rings

mookieproof (mookieproof), Thursday, 18 August 2005 20:42 (nineteen years ago)

brand name clothing/shoes

oops (Oops), Thursday, 18 August 2005 20:43 (nineteen years ago)

Diamonds in general are just a big scam.

walter kranz (walterkranz), Thursday, 18 August 2005 20:45 (nineteen years ago)

Artisan breads are priced according to the market, not because they're labor intensive. In Germany of France, a loaf of incredible bread (certainly in the artisan category if it was sold in New York) is the same as a can of coke (ie, less than one euro).

In America there's just not the volume sold, cos people have been brought up on soft sugar bread, and kind of get use dto it, I suppose...

paulhw (paulhw), Thursday, 18 August 2005 20:45 (nineteen years ago)

And as for brand names clothes...erm, they wouldn't be brand name if they weren't inexplicably expensive!

paulhw (paulhw), Thursday, 18 August 2005 20:45 (nineteen years ago)

In Germany or France, those bread prices are set by the government, and break-making is not especially profitable.

Casuistry (Chris P), Thursday, 18 August 2005 20:48 (nineteen years ago)

Erm, no the prices aren't set, Casusistry. And people wouldn't enter the industry if prices were set, with little profit.

paulhw (paulhw), Thursday, 18 August 2005 20:50 (nineteen years ago)

Amtrak is I think forced to maintain very lightly travelled routes for what are basically political reasons. So the prices on the heavily-travelled, could-be self-sustaining routes need to subsidize (mostly DC through Boston, I think) the rest of the system. That's the problem with being publically funded, you're subject to wishes of elected officials who don't necessarily have the interests of the system in mind.

Chris H. (chrisherbert), Thursday, 18 August 2005 20:53 (nineteen years ago)

Also the reverse, Chris: Amtrak runs lines through as many districts as possible, in order to give representatives an economic incentive to support Amtrak development. Money is lost on lines like the one from Florida to southern California, which I believe loses something like $300 per actual passenger every time it runs.

CELL PHONES: I think the retail prices of the phones are set at a ridiculous artificial high so that service providers can offer massive discounts with their packages. The usual sign-up package seems to offer a $250 phone (retail) for, say, $40 (with two-year contract). It needn't even require collusion between the phone manufacturers and the service provides; possibly Motorola could sell you the phone for $60 flat-out, but there's not really a market for that kind of direct selling, and the service provider can always just say you need to have one of "their" phones to use their network.

nabiscothingy, Thursday, 18 August 2005 21:06 (nineteen years ago)

razor blades... cell phones... printer cartridges

There's a phrase that's frequently used to describe the business model employed by both razor makers and wireless carriers: razors and blades.

Which is to say, list things that seem inexplicably cheap:
- razors (when you buy that starter kit that comes with one blade)
- cell phones (when you first sign up with a carrier)
- printers

In each case, the initial product is offered at close to cost, if not at a loss, to acquire a customer for the highly profitable and predictable long-term business.

Until recently, the Motorola RAZR went for $599 unlocked, but only $199 when you signed up for a two-year contract with Cingular. While Cingular made nothing on the handset, it ensured a steady flow of new subscribers valued at $300-$1200/year. Not bad.

Similarly, Gillette makes pretty much dick selling TEH MACH 5 TURBONITRO VIBRATING WHISKERDOOM razors for five bucks a pop, but each buyer will spend about $200 a year on refill blades, and Gillette reaps a nearly 40% margin in that $5bil+ blade market. So yes, n/a, they defend those patents jealously. James Surowiecki, who now writes the weekly New Yorker business column, wrote a fantastic piece on this in the June 15, 1998 issue. It's reprinted here, with odd margin notes: http://www.mnlincs.org/abeonline/economics/less10.htm

And it worked as a nice piece of pre-release promotion for Gillette's Mach III, too...

adamsmithxico (rogermexico), Thursday, 18 August 2005 21:47 (nineteen years ago)

my love

Adam In Real Life (nordicskilla), Thursday, 18 August 2005 21:47 (nineteen years ago)

Cherries grow on big trees that take a while to mature. They have only a short fruiting season, and they don't keep well. A cherry grower has a lot of the year tending the trees with no produce and then a short time to get the fragile fruits to the shop. Other berries tend to grow on bushes which mature quicker and have a longer season.

Asparagus and avocados might be the same: a short season and the plant just sits there doing nothing for the rest of the year. Though if you live close to the producers occasionally there's gluts and prices come way down.

isadora (isadora), Thursday, 18 August 2005 22:09 (nineteen years ago)

c'mon nobody thinks real estate is in this category?

No, everyone knows that real estate currently is so pricey due to low interest rates and, in overheated markets, lots of money and demand chasing after a limited supply. Therefore real estate is expensive, but not inexplicably so.

j.lu (j.lu), Thursday, 18 August 2005 22:12 (nineteen years ago)

"Lush bath bombs"

Almost anything from Lush is pretty expensive, compared. But you do get a product not tested on animals, carefully composed, quite unique in 'flavour'. I think buying Lush products means paying for *care*. All products are made with care. Which is legit for me, I'm willing to pay for that (as I do).

Gerard (Gerard), Thursday, 18 August 2005 22:15 (nineteen years ago)

lamb (in the uk)

ambrose (ambrose), Thursday, 18 August 2005 22:17 (nineteen years ago)

the smell of lush makes me feel sick, literally. i have to cross the road when i walk past their shops

ambrose (ambrose), Thursday, 18 August 2005 22:17 (nineteen years ago)

Printer cartridges.

Adam In Real Life (nordicskilla), Thursday, 18 August 2005 22:24 (nineteen years ago)

I like how they warn you in big font not to ever attempt to refill your ink jet cartridge yet there is a whole industry devoted to doing just that. They almost make it sound like it's a health hazard to squirt ink into a plastic cup.

kyle (akmonday), Thursday, 18 August 2005 22:27 (nineteen years ago)

octopus drug test?

M. V. (M.V.), Thursday, 18 August 2005 22:31 (nineteen years ago)

thank you

kyle (akmonday), Thursday, 18 August 2005 22:31 (nineteen years ago)

In each case, the initial product is offered at close to cost, if not at a loss, to acquire a customer for the highly profitable and predictable long-term business.

The needle and first taste are free; after that, the heroin's at market price.

Rock Hardy (Rock Hardy), Thursday, 18 August 2005 22:40 (nineteen years ago)

So what's the deal with import CDs (in the US at least)? Most CDs are manufactured overseas anyway and domestic releases by British or European labels are not expensive. Is it because stores have to order import titles directly from foreign distributors and there's an exchange rate issue? Something doesn't seem to add up.

walter kranz (walterkranz), Thursday, 18 August 2005 22:46 (nineteen years ago)

Fucking sunglasses...wtf? crap pairs for $10 but reasonable pairs are always $100+. And you know you're just going to lose them in a year or two, if you don't sit on them first.

mikef (mfleming), Thursday, 18 August 2005 22:55 (nineteen years ago)

bottles of water

Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 18 August 2005 23:26 (nineteen years ago)

i have a very vivid memory of seeing them for sale in the supermarket as a child, big gallon jugs of water, and wondering at them, and checking the labels to examine the ingredients. when they turned out to indeed be plain, garden-variety water, i was massively confused at why they did not cost in the region of 3 or 4 cents per gallon (to pay for the plastic of the jugs)

Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 18 August 2005 23:28 (nineteen years ago)

of course, one trip to zimbabwe might have disabused me of this attitude towards clean water

Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 18 August 2005 23:29 (nineteen years ago)

Fucking sunglasses...wtf? crap pairs for $10 but reasonable pairs are always $100+. And you know you're just going to lose them in a year or two, if you don't sit on them first.

thank you mike, please tell this to my wife the next time you see us because she badgers me daily about not having sunglasses and these are my reasons for not getting any.

kyle (akmonday), Thursday, 18 August 2005 23:34 (nineteen years ago)

toothbrushes are nor ridiculously expensive now they look like this

http://www.colgateprofessional.com/ColgateProfessional/Home/US/EN/Products/ProductItems/images/heros/360_hero.jpg

rather than this:

http://www.lww.com/static/covers/W5355.jpg

and are they really doing a better job?

jed_ (jed), Friday, 19 August 2005 00:12 (nineteen years ago)

New vinyl is prohibitively expensive in Australia.

wombatX (wombatX), Friday, 19 August 2005 00:31 (nineteen years ago)

YES!!! look at those cleaning.. nexuses!!!

xpost

Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Friday, 19 August 2005 00:57 (nineteen years ago)

you can still get toothbrushes like that! you need to go to morrisons, they cost about 35p

vinyl in the uk is now up to about 5-8 pound per 12". im paying 8 pound for grime abotu 6/7 pound for house.

ambrose (ambrose), Friday, 19 August 2005 00:58 (nineteen years ago)

"bottles of water"

Unbeatable answer, administrators please lock thread.

Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Friday, 19 August 2005 07:43 (nineteen years ago)

Yes, but it's COCA-COLA branded tap water!

Anyway - on the Lush bathbombs, I don't care, they're worth every penny.

Win A Lie-Down, Mrs. Davies (kate), Friday, 19 August 2005 07:45 (nineteen years ago)

furniture

Ste (Fuzzy), Friday, 19 August 2005 07:50 (nineteen years ago)

I second furniture, in fact anything for the house really. Curtains, carpets etc. Also, anything to do with the care & raising of children.

I recently had some work done on the garden and am now faced with the prospect of having to buy about 10 bags of topsoil. That's around £300 on dirt. Every time I'm about to go to the garden centre I think of the CDs/books/wine this could get me & resign myself to another month of staring at an empty garden.

bham, Friday, 19 August 2005 08:24 (nineteen years ago)

stupid question?
why is wine more expensive than beer?

willdabeast, Friday, 19 August 2005 10:32 (nineteen years ago)

A: it isn't

N_RQ, Friday, 19 August 2005 10:35 (nineteen years ago)

Because it takes longer to make!

Plus grapes are more labour intensive to grow than wheat/hops etc.

I Dream Of Sleep (kate), Friday, 19 August 2005 10:35 (nineteen years ago)

well, it is, but in terms of alcohol, it isn't. i still think in terms of fuckedness/price ratio.

xpost

N_RQ, Friday, 19 August 2005 10:36 (nineteen years ago)

in bars wine is more expensive than beer. in shops beer is more expensive than wine.

spirits are extortionately priced in bars. especially shooters.

ken c (ken c), Friday, 19 August 2005 10:39 (nineteen years ago)

Cheep wine is around the same price as cheep beer on a $/alcohol basis. Fine wines can charge huge amounts because name vinyards produce only a limited amount of grape a year. Although beer manufacturers are now finding excuses to charge stupid amounts for beer now (= "oak aged!"). The most expensive and ridiculus price for a beer I've seen is $42 for a 750 mL of Bush Prestige ("oak aged!"), although how a few months of oak aging quadruples the price is inexpilcable.

mjfan, Friday, 19 August 2005 10:55 (nineteen years ago)

More from the world of curiously affordable mobile hardware:

http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/deals/index.php#buy-pizza-get-a-blackberry-7100g-118112

adamsmithxico (rogermexico), Friday, 19 August 2005 21:40 (nineteen years ago)

Laundromats. I spent nearly $20 everytime I go in those places, and my clothes are still damp because I'm too cheap and impatient to have them fully dried. Maybe I should only wear clothes made from synthetic fibers. Those are usually nearly dry by the time you take them out of the washer.

Chris H. (chrisherbert), Sunday, 21 August 2005 00:54 (nineteen years ago)

$100 for a new power cord for my laptop? Really?

I hate you, CompUSA.

Laura H. (laurah), Sunday, 21 August 2005 03:32 (nineteen years ago)

Please, do not buy any cord or wire from any retailer EVER! Don't buy Monster! Go to the internet, please! If you can't do that, go to Radio Shack or even a dollar store. The prices for cables at Best Buy, CompUSA and Circuit City are criminal. I've heard that the margins for the retailers approach 100% on cables, and that salesmen get special commissions for selling those worthless lenths of copper wire, but that could be an urban legend. In any case, DO NOT BUY THEM.

Chris H. (chrisherbert), Sunday, 21 August 2005 04:27 (nineteen years ago)

Laura, is it just the cord or the transformer brick shit too?

I'm Hi, Jared Fogle (ex machina), Sunday, 21 August 2005 05:46 (nineteen years ago)

Amsterdam...A short break (Monday to Friday) just cost me £400 (hotel and flight from London) & around £250 spending money.

Bob Six (bobbysix), Sunday, 21 August 2005 07:20 (nineteen years ago)

soufflé. It's just egg and air, people. And it doesn't even take any effort to make.

CMB, Sunday, 21 August 2005 07:51 (nineteen years ago)

healthcare
strippers

kephm (kephm), Sunday, 21 August 2005 11:24 (nineteen years ago)

photographic lighting

I'm playing it cool but it's terribly cruel / Kate (papa november), Sunday, 21 August 2005 11:56 (nineteen years ago)

Marmite - isn't it supposed to be the crap they skim off the top of something else when they make it? Then why is it something like £1.05 for even the smallest jar?

Alcohol - it is a drink, a liquid. Then why so damn expensive? (yes I know, it's a rhetorical question.)

A taxi from Toulouse Blagnac airport to the Toulouse Blagnac Ibis Hotel less than a kilometer away - 15 Euros, wtf?!?!?!

Train tickets in Britain. Those sponging cunts take up to 30% of commuters' wages so that they can have the pleasure of being jostled about for half an hour and then missing work cos the fucking thing is late. Please don't get me started on WAGN, please.

dog latin (dog latin), Sunday, 21 August 2005 12:38 (nineteen years ago)

TICKET INSPECTORS ARE ALL SPONGING ASYLUM SEEKERS

RJG (RJG), Sunday, 21 August 2005 12:47 (nineteen years ago)

Marmite is a beer-brewing byproduct.

Train tickets might be hugely expensive, but trains are very, very expensive to run, and very few rail routes run at a profit.

Forest Pines (ForestPines), Sunday, 21 August 2005 13:03 (nineteen years ago)

that's because they pay their train drivers a starting fee of £45,000 plus £1000 and a month off per fatality.

dog latin (dog latin), Sunday, 21 August 2005 13:06 (nineteen years ago)

Actually, train drivers usually get about £25-30k per year, depending on how much overtime they do.

If they kill anybody, they get as much time off as they want before returning to work. Which is entirely reasonable.

Forest Pines (ForestPines), Sunday, 21 August 2005 13:08 (nineteen years ago)

Laura, is it just the cord or the transformer brick shit too?

It's the cord and AC adapter for the Inspiron 8100. I found it for around $50 online, but it still seems like a lot since I'm getting a new computer soon.

Laura H. (laurah), Sunday, 21 August 2005 14:18 (nineteen years ago)

glad i'm not the only crazy one

hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 22 August 2005 02:15 (nineteen years ago)

Hrmmm. All the more reason for me to Get One Railway.

I Dream Of Sleep (kate), Monday, 22 August 2005 07:38 (nineteen years ago)

asparagus

Asparagus is expensive because it is so fucking lush.

Also, asparagus plants only produce once every two years, in a small 1 month window. So, as isadora guessed, for the remaining 23 months it just sits there taking up space.

Chewshabadoo (Chewshabadoo), Monday, 22 August 2005 08:33 (nineteen years ago)

Hardback books. Who buys them?

bham, Monday, 22 August 2005 10:48 (nineteen years ago)

ben and jerry's ice cream, my fucking apartment.

AaronK (AaronK), Monday, 22 August 2005 11:20 (nineteen years ago)

Hardback books. Who buys them?

-- bham

i do, if they're bound well. and since paperbacks are all like $12 now it doesn't seem that ridiculous to me in comparison.

kyle (akmonday), Thursday, 25 August 2005 21:57 (nineteen years ago)

I'm listening to side three of a copy of 'Layla' I bought years ago for three bucks when my first CD disappeared. Cheap -- there's so much slide guitar going on here I'd have paid another buck.

Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Friday, 26 August 2005 08:07 (nineteen years ago)

Always looking on the bright side.

Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Friday, 26 August 2005 08:07 (nineteen years ago)

reiki 2

mullygrubbr (bulbs), Friday, 26 August 2005 08:08 (nineteen years ago)

I didn't know train drivers go time off for killing people. Is that why a train chased me over a field last week?

Inexplicably expensive - somewhere to live.

Marston's Pedigree in London as opposed to, say, Newton Burgoland.

PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Friday, 26 August 2005 08:16 (nineteen years ago)

I believe they get indefinite sick leave, although I could be wrong about that. Certainly, some never do feel able to drive again.

Forest Pines (ForestPines), Friday, 26 August 2005 08:18 (nineteen years ago)

I never understand why cashew nuts appear to be so much more expensive than, say, their pistachio cousins.

Laurel (hi Laurel!), way upthread said: shoes that never need breaking in and don't rub or scratch or pinch anywhere at all (even though they're heels!) and feel like butter inside & out

...and *now* I have my idea for food science day. Mmmmm shoes of butter.

Tim (Tim), Friday, 26 August 2005 08:50 (nineteen years ago)

Possibly a bit skiddy.

Forest Pines (ForestPines), Friday, 26 August 2005 08:57 (nineteen years ago)

There are any number of audiophile accessories which are appallingly expensive (digital interconnects for $500, brass and carbon isolation cones for $100, modular equipment racks running into the thousands) in comparison to their material costs, but that whole sector of the industry is based on small companies doing their own R&D (of frequently dubious merit) and then developing low-volume runs of niche products.

Also, the "you wouldn't drink Dom Perignon out of a paper cup" notion holds sway, where high price tags confer a sense of quality on the items concerned, whether they offer any real benefit over cheap alternatives. So if you dare to connect your high-end SACD player to your high-end amp with $10 Radio Shack/Maplin cables you're clearly "strangling it"; throw some more money at wires with basically the same electrical properties but chunky locking plugs, hose-like insulation, and in a plush box with some pseudoscientific literature, and you're "doing it justice".

Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Friday, 26 August 2005 09:06 (nineteen years ago)

My brother-in-law bought a fucking huge shagpile rug to make his stereo sound better (he listesn to crap).

PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Friday, 26 August 2005 09:12 (nineteen years ago)

No rub contact solution. I mean, God, it's just saline!

Eric H. (Eric H.), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 08:49 (nineteen years ago)

Mr Muscle Sink And Plughole Unblocker.

koogs (koogs), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 11:19 (nineteen years ago)

Bottled water at the TDK thing at the weekend.

Raston Warrior Robot (alix), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 11:27 (nineteen years ago)

Books, you say?! Listen, you sniveling little-- actually I forget who brought it up. But anyway, books are EXPENSIVE TO MAKE and hardcovers moreso than PBs! Unlike CDs, which cost, what?, a few cents each to manufacture and most of the cost goes to marketing/promotion, books are subject to different physical realities, first and foremost the cost of PAPER, which has been on a steady increase for ages now. Paper's expensive, yo. Not to mention the cost to engage someone to print & bind the thing for you, or the cost of the cover/jacket with special inks, metallic foil, & special finishes.

Hm, I don't have numbers handy but a surprising percentage of the cost of a book goes directly to physical production & warehousing, and not into the publisher's pocket.

Laurel (Laurel), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 12:36 (nineteen years ago)

(Hi, Tim!)

Laurel (Laurel), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 12:37 (nineteen years ago)

audiobooks

RJG (RJG), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 12:39 (nineteen years ago)

I didn't make shoes of butter. It's probably just as well.

Tim (Tim), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 12:39 (nineteen years ago)

I never understand why cashew nuts appear to be so much more expensive than, say, their pistachio cousins.

cashew shells are very toxic, so I expect the costs come in for processing them properly. Also (and I could be wrong on this one) I think pistachios can be grown in more regions.

teeny (teeny), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 12:51 (nineteen years ago)

http://amos.indiana.edu/library/scripts/cashews.html

teeny (teeny), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 12:52 (nineteen years ago)

oops sorry that one's not so interesting, I meant to paste this one:
http://www.hyperorg.com/blogger/mtarchive/002011.html

teeny (teeny), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 12:53 (nineteen years ago)

I think books are generally fairly priced, but it's annoying when a book that's only like 150 pages costs the same as a book that's like 400 pages.

n/a (Nick A.), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 12:54 (nineteen years ago)

Yes, 400 page books should cost less because they are less like fun, obv.

Tim (Tim), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 13:08 (nineteen years ago)

i never seem to see hardbacks in sales or in cheap places like Fopp, whereas i snap up huge paperbacks in same places for a couple of quids

Slumpman (Slump Man), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 13:09 (nineteen years ago)

oh and Car Insurance for younger types like me. I was sold a car for £100 once and never actually drove it because the cheapest quote i was given was £1500. The thing only had a top speed of 70mph! someone wrote it off in a hit and run while it was parked near my house
THE END

Slumpman (Slump Man), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 13:12 (nineteen years ago)

who buys hardback books? me, occasionally, if it's something i don't want to wait 6 months for the paperback of (last two were Pattern Recognition and Absolution Gap). also, people buy them as presents.

and you forget that they may cost as much as a cd but last a lot longer - a cd takes me an hour to listen to, a book can take me a month to finish 8) more if it has lots of pictures...

comics, now comics are expensive. £2 for 24 pages. every month.

anyone mentioned Cinemas yet?

koogs (koogs), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 13:20 (nineteen years ago)

N/a, if the two books are the same trim size and use the same paper and were printed at the same facility, contracted by the same publisher, that is, ALL ELSE BEING EQUAL, a shorter book should be less expensive (and most editors I've known are fairly sensitive about perceived value to the customer, editors usually want their books to be as CHEAP as possible for greatest accessibility). But different trim sizes are more or less efficient to produce, different publishers will have negotiated different pricing scales from the printer based on volume of work, and so on.

The most common HC size is 6 x 9", so lots of paper stock & presses are configured to this size and can manufacture a 6 x 9" book very efficiently with little waste. But a 5 x 5-1/2" gift book or daily devotional or even a cute little Salinger edition that fits nicely in the hand, say maybe 5 x 7-3/8", can be disproportionately expensive because the size is irregular: maybe paper use isn't as efficient at that size and more trimmed-off edges are thrown away, the binding line has to be slowed down for best quality if the odd size is harder for the machines to handle so the rate of production falls (necessitating more total machine time to finish the run), the jackets are more expensive because the jacket printer had to special order the sheets of jacket stock to get the same number of finished jkts from each sheet, etc etc ad boredom.

And of course smaller publishing houses won't get the same pricing scales or rebates as, say, R4ndom H0use, because they don't have the volume or leverage with manufacturing suppliers. And a smaller print run for a specialty book with limited audience will have to be priced higher because in any print run there are standing costs which are averaged over the whole job -- the more books printed, the less those standing make-ready costs will affect each book individually. So if you're only doing a first printing of 12,000 copies there's really no wiggle room.

Sorry, this is turning into book of its own! Getting the general idea?

Laurel (Laurel), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 13:23 (nineteen years ago)

In Oxfam bookshops, new or new-ish hardbacks are often cheaper. I asked someone about this once and they said that people prefer paperbacks. This is MADNESS.

Cinema is cheap, in Peckham.

Heh Laurel I suspect most of the publishers of the books I tend to read would choke on their polenta if they read the words "only doing a first printing of 12,000 copies".

Tim (Tim), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 13:26 (nineteen years ago)

Oh, I'm sure. I was just talking to one of our sci-fi eds the other day and she said that doing 12K in a 1st ptg hardcover was unacceptably low! I was a little surprised, myself, 'cos I'm certainly not standing in line for our SF titles -- it's not like we publish Iain M Banks/China Mieville/William Gibson, you know?

Laurel (Laurel), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 13:33 (nineteen years ago)

Car Insurance for younger types like me.

The insurance industry (at least in the U.S.) claims to have studies and records indicating that men under age 25 are statistically more likely to get into accidents, which increases the likelihood that the insuror will have to pay out to meet claims.

j.lu (j.lu), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 13:39 (nineteen years ago)

Laurel, I know.

Well, I do now.

Tim (Tim), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 13:40 (nineteen years ago)

Cadmium Yellow

Ste (Fuzzy), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 13:43 (nineteen years ago)

a smaller print run for a specialty book with limited audience will have to be priced higher because in any print run there are standing costs which are averaged over the whole job

The instructor of my publications management class said that when he was at the Naval Institute Press, he kept a spreadsheet into which he entered the projected number of copies a title would sell, and the projected costs of producing (including printing, marketing, distributing, and other factors) that title. If the final cost per copy was more than the market for that particular title would accept, he passed on the title under review.

j.lu (j.lu), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 13:52 (nineteen years ago)

and people, libraries!

Ste (Fuzzy), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 13:55 (nineteen years ago)

The insurance industry (at least in the U.S.) claims to have studies and records indicating that men under age 25 are statistically more likely to get into accidents, which increases the likelihood that the insuror will have to pay out to meet claims.

yeah, that's the explanation i heard. but i'm a very safe driver, they should know that

Slumpman (Slump Man), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 13:55 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, J. Lu, that kind of spreadsheet is called a "p&l" for "profit and loss" and projects have to pass it above a certain standard or be able to pull their weight in other respects (ie I'm not sure how much H H0lt really profitted from Thomas Pynchon in the several decades between GRAVITY'S RAINBOW and MASON & DIXON, but they were hardly going to refuse to publish the latter, were they?).

Laurel (Laurel), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 14:09 (nineteen years ago)

No rub contact solution. I mean, God, it's just saline!

Get the generic stuff. I pay 2 bucks for a 12 oz bottle. And often it's on a 2-for-1 sale.

oops (Oops), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 19:05 (nineteen years ago)

and you forget that they may cost as much as a cd but last a lot longer - a cd takes me an hour to listen to, a book can take me a month to finish 8) more if it has lots of pictures...

Except I listen to my CDs all the time, and after I'm done with a book, it just goes on my bookshelf for eternity.

jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 19:09 (nineteen years ago)

Libraries are great.

jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 19:09 (nineteen years ago)

Sex.

Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 19:12 (nineteen years ago)

Bottled water at the TDK thing at the weekend.

Damn right. But never mind that, many a non-clubbing usually-gigging type was heard to moan verybloodyloudly about FOUR FUCKING POUNDS for a 33ml plastic bottle of lager.

CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 19:20 (nineteen years ago)

er, 330ml obv.

CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 19:35 (nineteen years ago)

>Amusement Parks (Kings Island is like $35 to get in for one day now)<

Not a problem. Its a combination of a few things. Oddly, however, I'll preface it with this: most amusmement parks aren't making their money back on admissions. That $2.50 soda? The $7 hamburger? Yup. That's where they make their money for the season. Anyhow...

1) Labor. This is the chief cost in pretty much anything, but its especially so in the service enviroment of Amusement parks. Kings Island probably employs about 2,000 people, and pays them probably very similarly to Cedar Point up north (about 100 are fulltimers making about $40K on average, and the other 1600 are making about 6.50 an hour, 55 hours a week). Their labor costs are probably around $12-14 million a operating season.

2) Utilities. Electricity to power a park is gargantuan, as is the cost of water and natural gas. I can't even imagine what a large park like Kings Island uses for electricity on a yearly basis. I could ask, but I don't feel like it. Basically, millions upon millions.

3) Maintaining current attractions. There's many, many rides in Kings Island. Lots and lots. Some of them, like Son of Beast, and Beast, have maintenance budgets well into lower 6 figures for yearly upkeep. We're talking probably $2 million or so to keep everything greased and in one piece.

4) New attractions. In the boom years of the late 90s, you could expect a attraction to jump the gate enough to pay for itself in a season. No longer true. General rule of thumb has always been at least 2 seasons. Longer if the maintenance is so intense it becomes a drain (see: Son of Beast). Italian Job may not seem like a giant ride or anything, but given the themeing and the technology of a magnetically launched coaster, its at least a $15 million dollar ride.

5) General upkeep/loans. Trees, grass, parking lots, signage, and whatever banking deals have been done all require vast sums of money. There's also the issue of state and federal taxes, which are all massive.

6) Charge what the public is willing to pay. Now, if Kings Island ran their park with everyone having to pay $30 to get in...they'd probably be okay, though not so positively that they'd be rushing to build new attractions. They charge what the public is willing to pay, and offer discounts as advertising to bring in more people. Discounted tickets through supermarket chains and coupons on Coke cans being some of the more famous ones out there.

In short, some parks charge a lot because they can, but most charge a lot because they have to. Disney relies on the park business to keep them afloat these days. Six Flags tried cutting the gate to create repeat customers...and ended up in 2.3 billion in debt and at a current state of near total collapse. Rides are only getting more costly and large; Spiderman at Universal's Islands of Adventure, for instance, is undoubtedly the most expensive ride ever built, rumored to have cost somewhere between $125-250 million dollars when all said and done.

Alan Conceicao (Alan Conceicao), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 19:43 (nineteen years ago)

xpost.

I've never payed for it, but you'd think it'd be free, man!

Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 19:52 (nineteen years ago)

a desk hutch! for fucks sake i can by entire desk units for cheaper than a hutch. there are only schmancy 200$ oakfinish bullshit things for sale. no nice cheap useful ones -- desks WITH hutches cost less than hutches themselves.

it makes no sense.

Sterling Clover (s_clover), Monday, 5 September 2005 00:21 (nineteen years ago)

In Oxfam bookshops, new or new-ish hardbacks are often cheaper. I asked someone about this once and they said that people prefer paperbacks. This is MADNESS.

I'll take a nice paperback (Vintage or one of those semi-boutique brands in the US) over a hardcover. Cheaper, easier to carry around, less guilt for damaging, often a better size for reading.

milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Monday, 5 September 2005 00:49 (nineteen years ago)

Studio Flash Lighting.

Bombed Out and Depleted / Kate (papa november), Monday, 5 September 2005 01:08 (nineteen years ago)

audio software plugins

jimmy glass (electricsound), Monday, 5 September 2005 01:10 (nineteen years ago)

Guitar cables! Like, WTF? 10 feet of wire, wrapped in plastic and with a pin at each end. £10!!! Why oh why? If I knew how to make mine own, I would!

Luminiferous Aether (kate), Monday, 5 September 2005 09:45 (nineteen years ago)

plectrums, someone please explain why they cost so much.

please.

not-goodwin (not-goodwin), Monday, 5 September 2005 09:57 (nineteen years ago)

tertiary education

rainy (rainy), Monday, 5 September 2005 10:14 (nineteen years ago)

magazines in australia. they all seem to have the 'special air freight' sticker and cost like $20 and theyre not even new. and $12.95 for the new source!

minna (minna), Monday, 5 September 2005 12:54 (nineteen years ago)

ok i'm still waiting for an answer on this hutch thing!

Sterling Clover (s_clover), Monday, 5 September 2005 15:21 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.vinylexchange.co.uk/ProductDetails.asp?ArtistID=&GenreID=430&IID=416822

piscesboy, Monday, 5 September 2005 15:23 (nineteen years ago)

Guitar cables! Like, WTF? 10 feet of wire, wrapped in plastic and with a pin at each end. £10!!! Why oh why? If I knew how to make mine own, I would!

kate they're really easy to make!

ken c (ken c), Monday, 5 September 2005 15:29 (nineteen years ago)

(from parts - from raw material it'd be difficult)

ken c (ken c), Monday, 5 September 2005 15:29 (nineteen years ago)

Old Superman and Batman collections on Amazon.

jel -- (jel), Monday, 5 September 2005 15:38 (nineteen years ago)

(from parts - from raw material it'd be difficult)

Smelt your own copper!

Forest Pines (ForestPines), Monday, 5 September 2005 15:44 (nineteen years ago)

This is going to be like experimental archeology, isn't it? "here A Celt smelts her own copper... is it for a ceremonial headdress? for a ploughshare? No! It's for guitar cables!!!"

Luminiferous Aether (kate), Monday, 5 September 2005 15:45 (nineteen years ago)

two years pass...

greetings cards

koogs, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 11:07 (seventeen years ago)

bulldog clips. for seriouslies.

That one guy that hit it and quit it, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 11:10 (seventeen years ago)

Envelopes

Mark C, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 11:12 (seventeen years ago)

Diamonds, gold, gemstones in general. Hmm, there's a bit of rock.

moley, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 11:13 (seventeen years ago)

band t-shirts

Just got offed, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 11:13 (seventeen years ago)

banned t shirts.

darraghmac, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 11:18 (seventeen years ago)

did anyone ever answer about the mach 3's? it's because they are BLOODY GOOD.

darraghmac, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 11:25 (seventeen years ago)

I use an old fashioned safety razor. Blades are cheap.

Jeff, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 11:31 (seventeen years ago)

skin grafts aren't.

darraghmac, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 11:33 (seventeen years ago)

girls

max r, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 11:37 (seventeen years ago)

Crazy psychopath exes
http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2006/10/23/mills_mccartney_narrowweb__300x372,0.jpg

DavidM, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 12:08 (seventeen years ago)

Watch batteries - when the battery in your watch runs down it's cheaper to buy the same watch again rather than just replace the battery.

snoball, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 12:15 (seventeen years ago)

Getting a key cut. Usually at the same type of establishment or market stall you'd get your replacement watch batteries from.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 12:33 (seventeen years ago)

Also, why do places that cut keys almost always fix shoes? What's the common link?

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 12:33 (seventeen years ago)

Eh? Getting a key cut is cheap isn't it?

Tom D., Tuesday, 16 October 2007 12:33 (seventeen years ago)

Last time it cost me about £6. Seems steep for a small hunk of metal.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 12:54 (seventeen years ago)

dry-cleaning is pretty expensive.

That one guy that hit it and quit it, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 12:55 (seventeen years ago)

High class escorts. £2,500 for a weekend? Ridiculous.

Dom Passantino, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 12:55 (seventeen years ago)

Last time it cost me about £6. Seems steep for a small hunk of metal.

You're going to the wrong places then, I think it cost me about £1.50 last time I got a key cut - about a month ago

Tom D., Tuesday, 16 October 2007 12:56 (seventeen years ago)

fillets of chicken

i might have already nominated this

that's just how strongly i feel about it

Ste, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 12:57 (seventeen years ago)

What makes them high class other than the price?

xpost to Dom

onimo, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 12:59 (seventeen years ago)

They listen to indie music. That's about it.

Dom Passantino, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 13:01 (seventeen years ago)

Oh, they're trained in burlesque dancing rather than poll dancing, that's easily worth another 2k

Dom Passantino, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 13:01 (seventeen years ago)

xxxxpost-Seems so. Serves me right for going to the tradesman in Sainsburys.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 13:01 (seventeen years ago)

There's a new music sweeping the world and it's called indie!

Emily is a whore then?

onimo, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 13:07 (seventeen years ago)

poll dancing = team cameron circa right now

Just got offed, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 13:07 (seventeen years ago)

Cameron stuffing fivers in George Osborne's g-string as we speak

Tom D., Tuesday, 16 October 2007 13:08 (seventeen years ago)

Series on DVD.

baaderonixx, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 13:09 (seventeen years ago)

tbh, Emily BB strikes me as a kind of de rigeur nu-escort.

Dom Passantino, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 13:09 (seventeen years ago)

They're all at it these days, missus

Tom D., Tuesday, 16 October 2007 13:10 (seventeen years ago)

Waify, blonde, posh, money obsessed. I think escorts are inherently bad people.

Dom Passantino, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 13:10 (seventeen years ago)

Waify, blonde, posh, money indie obsessed

Tom D., Tuesday, 16 October 2007 13:12 (seventeen years ago)

gotta make a p, innit.

max r, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 13:12 (seventeen years ago)

Pie?

Dom Passantino, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 13:12 (seventeen years ago)

p = pound = £

max r, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 13:13 (seventeen years ago)

Waify, blonde, posh, money obsessed. I think escorts are inherently bad people.

the more i think about it, the less surprised i am that some of my fellow-students have been selling their bodies for cash

Just got offed, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 13:18 (seventeen years ago)

breast augmentation

max r, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 13:25 (seventeen years ago)

three years pass...

Cans of compressed air.

I understand that it's not just air, it's something that becomes liquid under pressure, usually tetrafluoroethane, and can freeze your skin, permanently damage your lungs if inhaled directly, or permanently blind you if sprayed in your eyes. That still doesn't explain why it's like ten bucks a can.

DSMOS has arrived (kenan), Thursday, 14 April 2011 11:55 (fourteen years ago)

this car

mari$$a marchant (Pillbox), Thursday, 14 April 2011 11:58 (fourteen years ago)

*cough* Dubai *cough*

did you notice "you spin me round" was playing in the background? (snoball), Thursday, 14 April 2011 12:02 (fourteen years ago)

xxpost - presumably the number of blindings/disablings would increase if a lower price made the stuff more accessible to more people

I was bored/trolling one day (Myonga Vön Bontee), Thursday, 14 April 2011 14:22 (fourteen years ago)

four years pass...

Greeting cards.

Immediate Follower (NA), Monday, 4 May 2015 20:59 (ten years ago)

bed sheets

marcos, Monday, 4 May 2015 21:00 (ten years ago)

radar detectors

Sufjan Grafton, Monday, 4 May 2015 22:14 (ten years ago)


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