# A Thread In Which We Call Out Ripoff Products **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 23, 2018, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-in-which-we-call-out-ripoff-products/807270 "2018-01-23T04:11:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2018, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-in-which-we-call-out-ripoff-products/807270/161 "2018-01-28T23:50:04Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > Regarding textbook ripoffs, a while back I took a class in 19th century literature. The class requirement was that the student must purchase the 8th edition of the textbook, which was published that year, for $139. > > Because, I guess, so much has changed in 19th century literature since the previous edition that was published three years prior. > > I grabbed a used copy of the 7th edition for $20 and did just fine in the class I did the same maybe 6-7 years ago for an Anthropology textbook. I figured there probably hadn’t been world-shaking developments in the world of introductory anthropology in the last decade and bought the previous edition online for $10. Not only was it nearly identical, most times I was even on the same literal page as the rest of the class. I assume that’s where they started in with the online codes and mandatory downloaded study guides. ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2018, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-in-which-we-call-out-ripoff-products/807270/162 "2018-01-29T05:48:28Z")
> [@Jennshark](#): > > A product that worked really well was the home dog biscuit maker (As Seen on TV!) The problem was it had four batter molds and it took three hours to make a mix and cook 25 biscuits. The puppers loved them but they’ll have to make do with Milkbones until I can retire and make biscuits fulltime. I got one of those too! This was decades ago, but the biscuits went over really well with the dog. The recipe I got at the time was pretty simple, it involved whole-wheat flour and parmesan cheese. (which was still pretty cheap at the time.) I expect any firm gratable cheese would do. But you’re right, it’s not like cookies where you can make a dozen at a time. **Magiver:** “I’ve washed my hands of the issue.” Ha ha, but not with Dial soap! ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2018, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-in-which-we-call-out-ripoff-products/807270/163 "2018-01-29T06:34:07Z")
> [@brujaja](#): > > **Voyager:** Had to be a Hungry Man. National Champion for “Most Ironically Named TV Dinner.” Definitely. Hungry Gerbil is more like it. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2018, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-in-which-we-call-out-ripoff-products/807270/164 "2018-01-29T06:36:03Z")
> [@SigMan](#): > > I can tell you this. I’m nearly 68 years old and I’ve seen food quality and quantity go downhill. Really? I’m 66, and food quality is a lot better. Now price is another matter. I remember fondly getting hamburger meat for 68 cents a pound and T-bone steaks for $1.68. Of course I was making $400 a month then. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2018, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-in-which-we-call-out-ripoff-products/807270/165 "2018-01-29T08:45:58Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > The HALF GALLON is also the RIGHT size for a carton of orange juice. And it’s also going away. > > Dammit. > [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](#): > > But, a HALF GALLON isn’t metric. It’s gotta be metric to be modern. So, let’s make it 1.75 Liters, that’s metric. > > What? I guess we could make it 2.0 Liters, but that’s more than a HALF GALLON (by a whopping 3.6 ounces, or nearly a half-cup), so we’d have to raise the costs, by at least about 25% or so… Your observations might be relevant if the available cartons of OJ (or ice cream) were in metric portions, but they’re not. Orange juice is now typically sold in 56-ounce cartons. And after Big Ice Cream successfully changed the standard carton to hold 56 ounces (to the point where the store brands followed suit), they went back for seconds, and shrink-rayed it again, this time to 48 ounces. Grrrr. ---
**Author:** ![SigMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@SigMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SigMan)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2018, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-in-which-we-call-out-ripoff-products/807270/166 "2018-01-29T09:56:14Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Really? I’m 66, and food quality is a lot better. Now price is another matter. I remember fondly getting hamburger meat for 68 cents a pound and T-bone steaks for $1.68. Of course I was making $400 a month then. By quality I meant stuff taken out. For example, I liked Budget Gourmet Swedish Meatballs but when they took the onions out I liked it less. When they put less gravy in I stopped eating it. I’m not gonna pay the same price when it’s mostly just noodles. That’s the quality I’m talking about. ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2018, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-in-which-we-call-out-ripoff-products/807270/167 "2018-01-29T17:32:23Z")
> [@brujaja](#): > > I got one of those too! This was decades ago, but the biscuits went over really well with the dog. The recipe I got at the time was pretty simple, it involved whole-wheat flour and parmesan cheese. (which was still pretty cheap at the time.) I expect any firm gratable cheese would do. But you’re right, it’s not like cookies where you can make a dozen at a time. > > **Magiver:** “I’ve washed my hands of the issue.” Ha ha, but not with Dial soap! I did a cheese and peanut butter batch that the doggies went wild for. I had visions of making biscuit bags for my pup-owning colleagues, but found that I didn’t have the 72-hours to spare 😃 I wonder if there is a bigger biscuit “waffle iron” available? Hmm, I’ll take a look today. A people waffle iron could work, but couldn’t make the cute little bone shapes . . . ---
**Author:** ![SigMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@SigMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SigMan)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2018, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-in-which-we-call-out-ripoff-products/807270/168 "2018-01-29T17:55:10Z")
> [@Jennshark](#): > > A people waffle iron could work, but couldn’t make the cute little bone shapes . . . I don’t think the dogs will mind. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2018, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-in-which-we-call-out-ripoff-products/807270/169 "2018-01-29T19:57:45Z")
Hee hee. But I’d like to see a cartoon where they do. \ “I say, what is she thinking with these pedestrian waffle-shaped atrocities? Only a traditional bone-shaped delicacy will satisfy me gustatorily and please my artful eye. And by the way, do you have any Grey Poupon?” ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-in-which-we-call-out-ripoff-products/807270/170 "2018-01-30T05:14:28Z")
> [@brujaja](#): > > Regular dish soap, the kind we have always had, just regular standard dish soap, is now marketed as expensive “concentrated” dish soap. “Regular” dish soap will now only wash two or three plates per squeeze of soap on the sponge. All they did was water down standard dish soap, and make that the new “regular.” Clearly they think we’re stupid. I always used to notice that “anti-bacterial” hand soap, which used to be displayed right next to the dish soap in identically shaped bottles, but was always watered down by comparison and it used to be a minor PITA when I would buy it by mistake. A year or two ago ABHS was tested out as ineffective, and the manufacturers had to stop marketing it that way. I wonder now if they decided to rebrand ABHS as regular dish soap, and what had formerly been regular dish soap as concentrated. ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-in-which-we-call-out-ripoff-products/807270/171 "2018-01-30T14:56:56Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > Hee hee. But I’d like to see a cartoon where they do. > > \ “I say, what is she thinking with these pedestrian waffle-shaped atrocities? Only a traditional bone-shaped delicacy will satisfy me gustatorily and please my artful eye. And by the way, do you have any Grey Poupon?” Our old guy is rather snooty, I could imagine him wearing a monocle and saying this with an English accent. The young dogs are rather indiscriminate. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-in-which-we-call-out-ripoff-products/807270/172 "2018-01-30T16:17:33Z")
> [@SigMan](#): > > I can tell you this. I’m nearly 68 years old and I’ve seen food quality and quantity go downhill. In my experience, while prices have obviously gone up (and quantities of many packaged goods sneakily decreased), overall food quality is better and selection has vastly expanded, notably in the produce department of supermarkets. And despite the occasional food poisoning/contamination scare, safety seems to have improved as well. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-in-which-we-call-out-ripoff-products/807270/173 "2018-01-30T18:50:22Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > Of course I consume the aforementioned “bodywash, fuck that shit”. Ew, I’ll bet that smells horrible! ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-in-which-we-call-out-ripoff-products/807270/174 "2018-01-30T20:21:42Z")
Meh, it gets so I barely notice it anymore. ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-in-which-we-call-out-ripoff-products/807270/175 "2018-01-30T20:36:38Z")
> [@Randolph](#): > > When Mott’s started selling “Light” apple juice, they advertised “50% the calories!” and such. A quick look at the nutritional label showed that they were just selling 50% juice / 50% water pre-mixed. For the same price. Welch’s, I believe, also added in some artificial sweetener to make up for the watered-down sweetness. I can’t entirely decide if that’s better or worse. ---
**Author:** ![Plumbkrazy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f05b48/32.png) [@Plumbkrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plumbkrazy)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-in-which-we-call-out-ripoff-products/807270/176 "2018-01-30T21:25:21Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Ok that sounds sorta reasonable. But for the price they charge you’d think you’d get a whole book. There really is no way to resell it if pages are scattered. It is a racket! This is the single most ridiculous thing, and high priced, that I have had to purchase for my college student. It really chaps my ass. She gets a book allowance in her scholarship, but it still makes me mad. I hope I never have to buy a book for $192.00 again. Stupid University! I would be tempted to scan the entire book, and sell copies at a steep discount. Copyright, schmopyright. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-in-which-we-call-out-ripoff-products/807270.md?page=8)