# Common everday items you can't believe are so cheap **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 6, 2007, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-everday-items-you-cant-believe-are-so-cheap/429021 "2007-12-06T14:13:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2007, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-everday-items-you-cant-believe-are-so-cheap/429021/21 "2007-12-06T16:30:56Z")
[QUOTE=olivesmarch4th] Windshield Washer Fluid… $2.75 for a big old jug. It was kind of refreshing. [/QUOTE] You do know you’re not supposed to drink it, right? ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2007, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-everday-items-you-cant-believe-are-so-cheap/429021/22 "2007-12-06T17:03:38Z")
[QUOTE=ZipperJJ] Water. I pay between $20-30 every 3 months for water. That’s 3 months worth of showers, dishes, cooking, laundry and drinking (and the occasional watering if the plants) for pennies every day. [/QUOTE] That’s pretty cheap. I pay between $20-$30 every month for water. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2007, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-everday-items-you-cant-believe-are-so-cheap/429021/23 "2007-12-06T17:08:52Z")
[QUOTE=Eleanor of Aquitaine] That’s pretty cheap. I pay between $20-$30 every month for water. [/QUOTE] Not really – I pay $20 a year for water. And, of course, there are places where you are not billed for water at all (though, of course, it’s paid for in taxes). ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2007, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-everday-items-you-cant-believe-are-so-cheap/429021/24 "2007-12-06T17:20:50Z")
Speaking of big ol’ jugs, the fact that you can buy a box of wine for not much more than the equivalent amount of “premium” water is pretty amazing. ---
**Author:** ![nashiitashii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7c8e57/32.png) [@nashiitashii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nashiitashii)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2007, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-everday-items-you-cant-believe-are-so-cheap/429021/25 "2007-12-06T17:52:10Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] Not really – I pay $20 a year for water. And, of course, there are places where you are not billed for water at all (though, of course, it’s paid for in taxes). [/QUOTE] There are also places (like around here) where I pay between $30 and $50 per month for water. I get charged more for the service being available (in the form of “service charges”) than for what I actually use in both potable and reclaimed water. I would say that at least $20 of my monthly bill is in service charges alone. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2007, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-everday-items-you-cant-believe-are-so-cheap/429021/26 "2007-12-06T19:02:31Z")
Basic food: rice, grains, beans, etc. Surely there’s no time in history when the minimum cost of feeding a person was anything like as low as it is now. And fresh veggies. Sure, what you find in the supermarket in winter doesn’t match what the farm stand will sell you in-season. But to be able to buy decent tomatoes in December for $1.99/lb is remarkable - 100 years ago, you couldn’t have that for 100 times as much. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2007, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-everday-items-you-cant-believe-are-so-cheap/429021/27 "2007-12-06T19:15:36Z")
[QUOTE=nashiitashii] There are also places (like around here) where I pay between $30 and $50 per month for water. I get charged more for the service being available (in the form of “service charges”) than for what I actually use in both potable and reclaimed water. I would say that at least $20 of my monthly bill is in service charges alone. [/QUOTE] I am a single person household, though. My dad reports that his dual-person household is about double my bill. Also, **Reality Chuck** and I live near the Great Lakes, so fresh water isn’t as hard to come by as it is in Florida. So I will change my answer to “I can’t believe water is so cheap, for those of us living near large fresh water sources” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2007, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-everday-items-you-cant-believe-are-so-cheap/429021/28 "2007-12-06T19:21:50Z")
Do you know what it takes to make a pineapple? That plant grows one (1) pineapple, and it takes it more than a year to do it. They have to be planted and harvested entirely by the human hand. They are spiky and protective garments need to be worn. Hot ones, in the tropics. Then they fly it from some paradise island to your local grocery store, and the whole thing costs you a couple bucks at the absolute most. Crazy! (I believe that means somebody is getting fucked up the ass in this chain of events.) ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2007, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-everday-items-you-cant-believe-are-so-cheap/429021/29 "2007-12-06T19:35:29Z")
[QUOTE=Rocketeer] The US Post Office. 41 cents to pick up a letter at your house, carry it clear across the USA and deliver it to the recipient’s door? Crimeny, it’s the bargain of the century! [/QUOTE] This is what I came in to post. All hail the U.S. mail! ---
**Author:** ![ChiefScott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58f4c7/32.png) [@ChiefScott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChiefScott)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2007, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-everday-items-you-cant-believe-are-so-cheap/429021/30 "2007-12-06T19:37:56Z")
Five-dollar crack whores. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2007, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-everday-items-you-cant-believe-are-so-cheap/429021/31 "2007-12-06T19:38:56Z")
[QUOTE=Paul in Saudi] An Arabic breakfast. Enough warm, flat bread for a dozen of us at the office, plus olive oil, humus and foul. A couple of three bucks. Great stuff. That and gasoline. You can’t beat it at US$ 0.65/gallon. [/QUOTE] I’m not sure I’d want even cheap foul. 🙂 I was going to post the mail system as well. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2007, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-everday-items-you-cant-believe-are-so-cheap/429021/32 "2007-12-06T19:57:27Z")
[QUOTE=Rocketeer] The US Post Office. 41 cents to pick up a letter at your house, carry it clear across the USA and deliver it to the recipient’s door? Crimeny, it’s the bargain of the century! [/QUOTE] Not to take away from the USPS, but compare that to **email** … Anybody who was around during, or before, the days when VCRs were first introduced has to be at least a little impressed at the wealth of cheap video entertainment available nowadays. And I can imagine a person from a century or two ago being impressed by a ball-point pen of the sort you can buy for a dollar or two for a package of 10. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2007, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-everday-items-you-cant-believe-are-so-cheap/429021/33 "2007-12-06T20:02:59Z")
Hard-drive storage space. I can remember when my computer had less than half a gig, and that was plenty… ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2007, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-everday-items-you-cant-believe-are-so-cheap/429021/34 "2007-12-06T20:07:44Z")
Ballpoint pens. Complex yet very simple design, defect/failure rate extremely low, contains and controls dispensing of what can be a very messy substance, seem to last forever, everybody uses them, yet they extremely cheap (a dozen bics for $2). ---
**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:** [December 6, 2007, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-everday-items-you-cant-believe-are-so-cheap/429021/35 "2007-12-06T20:28:27Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] I just went to Walgreens where I bought Christmas lights, and it occurred to me- I just bought 100 individual multicolored lights, set in their holders, affixed to 20 or so feet of electrical cord, filled with electricity and neatly folded up in a box with five spare lights, all for only 1.99! [/QUOTE] That’s extremely cheap when you consider that, when Christmas lights were first sold to the public, at the beginning of the 20th century, it cost $12 for a strand of 12. 12 bucks was worth more than half an ounce of gold back then. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2007, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-everday-items-you-cant-believe-are-so-cheap/429021/36 "2007-12-06T20:33:07Z")
[QUOTE=IvoryTowerDenizen] I’m not sure I’d want even cheap foul. 🙂 [/QUOTE] Yes, and isn’t “humus” soil/compost? What the hell is going on with the typical Saudi diet?? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2007, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-everday-items-you-cant-believe-are-so-cheap/429021/37 "2007-12-06T20:35:20Z")
[QUOTE=olivesmarch4th] Windshield Washer Fluid… $2.75 for a big old jug. **It was kind of refreshing**. [/QUOTE] Yeah, but only if you drink it really, really cold. ---
**Author:** ![nashiitashii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7c8e57/32.png) [@nashiitashii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nashiitashii)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2007, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-everday-items-you-cant-believe-are-so-cheap/429021/38 "2007-12-06T20:53:42Z")
[QUOTE=ZipperJJ] I am a single person household, though. My dad reports that his dual-person household is about double my bill. Also, **Reality Chuck** and I live near the Great Lakes, so fresh water isn’t as hard to come by as it is in Florida. So I will change my answer to “I can’t believe water is so cheap, for those of us living near large fresh water sources” 🙂 [/QUOTE] It’s a trade-off. My SO takes long showers, but we don’t really water our lawn all that often. Maybe every other week in the winter, and more often in the summer. Florida is one giant swamp, and our water supply is the underground aquifer and various lakes. I had to explain to a friend who’s a native of Phoenix what the “boil water” warning was the other week because something had gotten into a local city’s water supply. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2007, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-everday-items-you-cant-believe-are-so-cheap/429021/39 "2007-12-06T20:56:49Z")
I can’t believe how cheap 11 year-old Cambodian factory workers are! I _used_ to be amazed how incredibly cheap socks and T-shirts, watches and DVD players were. But _then_ I went out and bought myself a stable full of third-world child labor! And not only do they make that stuff for me personally at 10% of the already dirt-cheap price it was before, but I _also_ make extra cash renting them out as bed-warmers and mine-sweepers! ---
**Author:** ![Tool\_of\_the\_Conspiracy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@Tool\_of\_the\_Conspiracy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tool_of_the_Conspiracy)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2007, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-everday-items-you-cant-believe-are-so-cheap/429021/40 "2007-12-06T21:02:52Z")
[QUOTE=lieu] A gallon of gas. Yeah, I know all about the cost increase but still if you think about the cutting edge technology required to find the increasingly more remote fields and the tremendous amount of potential power produced by a gallon, it’s _still_ one helluva deal. [/QUOTE] It’s also much cheaper than bottled water. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-everday-items-you-cant-believe-are-so-cheap/429021.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-everday-items-you-cant-believe-are-so-cheap/429021.md?page=3)