# Most ridiculously overpriced item you've ever had to buy in a pinch? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 7, 2006, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculously-overpriced-item-youve-ever-had-to-buy-in-a-pinch/363448 "2006-07-07T01:51:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gene\_Frenkle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Gene\_Frenkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gene_Frenkle)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2006, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculously-overpriced-item-youve-ever-had-to-buy-in-a-pinch/363448/1 "2006-07-07T01:51:49Z")
I recently had the misfortune of paying $3.49 at an LAX Burger King for the same sausage biscuit I can get at any regular Burger King for 99 cents. Ok, so I’m easily annoyed, but thats like a 350% increase- it would be like paying 10 bucks for a Big Mac. But I’ve never paid 12 dollars for the hotel cashews though. ---
**Author:** ![Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harriet_the_Spry)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2006, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculously-overpriced-item-youve-ever-had-to-buy-in-a-pinch/363448/2 "2006-07-07T01:57:26Z")
In approximately 1990, I paid $3 for can of Coca-Cola (not especially cold, IIRC) in the the Paris airport (DeGaulle). At the time, that probably would have purchased about 2 six-packs in the US. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2006, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculously-overpriced-item-youve-ever-had-to-buy-in-a-pinch/363448/3 "2006-07-07T02:06:13Z")
Last summer, on a 30-degrees-C sort of day: a small bottle of Sprite, outside of the Uffizi gallery in Florence. Cost 3 Euro. Un-freaking-believable. But I’d gone through my giant water bottle much faster than I’d expected and there wasn’t any convenient place to fill it up. Besides, I needed the bubbly sugar rush too. But hell, that was expensive! ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2006, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculously-overpriced-item-youve-ever-had-to-buy-in-a-pinch/363448/4 "2006-07-07T02:11:07Z")
A $20 umbrella that probably would have cost me $3 if it hadn’t been pouring rain unexpectedly… ---
**Author:** ![Danalan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@Danalan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danalan)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2006, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculously-overpriced-item-youve-ever-had-to-buy-in-a-pinch/363448/5 "2006-07-07T02:21:27Z")
I once paid nearly $10 for a 6-pack of Heineken. This was 20 years ago, in Bali, Indonesia. I could buy a sixer in the states for about $3 – $4, IIRC. I’d been at sea for over a month. It was real, it was cold, it was so worth it. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2006, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculously-overpriced-item-youve-ever-had-to-buy-in-a-pinch/363448/6 "2006-07-07T02:22:49Z")
In 1977 we were snowed in at Belgrade airport for days. We were poorly attended by the airline and decided to buy a bottle of Coke to share. The way the system worked you ordered and handed over your money at one end of a long counter and when you reached the far end you got your order and your change. However I received no change and 5 pounds for a bottle of coke seemed quite pricy since days before we had been paying 16 pounds a week to rent a flat in Notting Hill. We were flying the Yugoslav airline from Belgrade to Sydney and it was really quite funny. All the Yugoslavs coming as immigrants or tourists wanted to talk to us because, “You must know my brother Mikal, he lives in Melbourne.” In those days in flight drinks including alcohol were free but the Yugoslavs drank the plane dry of Coke in about half an hour. Whereever you looked stewardesses were hustling around with cans of Coke for the apparently dehydrated passengers. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2006, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculously-overpriced-item-youve-ever-had-to-buy-in-a-pinch/363448/7 "2006-07-07T02:29:01Z")
In Zefat, Israel, I bought a lighter with the Goldstar (Israeli beer) logo on it for five shekels ($1.25). Pretty lame, but not that overpriced–except I gave the guy a ten-shek piece and expected five back. Nope, I got another lighter instead (and what was I gonna do–try to grab the other five back from the register? Call the cops over five shekels? My group was leaving in 15 minutes). I gave one lighter to a homeless guy who didn’t seem too appreciative of it, and the other lighter got confiscated in boot camp several months later, as I’d forgotten to take it out of the backpack I took with me. Oh well. Anyway, turns out you give exact change in Zefat, Israel. ---
**Author:** ![Gozu\_Tashoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7993a0/32.png) [@Gozu\_Tashoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu_Tashoya)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2006, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculously-overpriced-item-youve-ever-had-to-buy-in-a-pinch/363448/8 "2006-07-07T02:47:01Z")
I once paid $8 for a box of Pepto Bismol tablets at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Given the circumstances, I’d do it again. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2006, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculously-overpriced-item-youve-ever-had-to-buy-in-a-pinch/363448/9 "2006-07-07T02:52:49Z")
I once left my laptop cord at home when on a business trip. It was late at night and in a smallish town, so there were no specialty shops or even a Radio Shack available. I had a presentation at 8 AM the next morning, so I went to the only possible option - Wal Mart. The only things they had were universal adapters, and they cost about $120! I could have gotten one from Dell directly for around $40-$50. I was somehow able to sneak it in my expense report, though. ---
**Author:** ![Roland\_Orzabal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@Roland\_Orzabal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roland_Orzabal)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2006, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculously-overpriced-item-youve-ever-had-to-buy-in-a-pinch/363448/10 "2006-07-07T05:51:31Z")
$75 for a Virginia Tech jacket. I was down in Blacksburg with my ex, she was freezing to death, and the campus bookstore was the only place handy that sold clothes. I hadn’t worn a jacket because I don’t get cold barring sub-zero temperatures and I don’t like hauling extra clothes around, and she hadn’t brought one because she would start shivering if it dipped below 60 (don’t look at me; it seemed to make sense to her). I have since learned my lesson: I picked up a sweet leather coat that I wear anytime I’m out with female friends during the winter months, which grants me the ability to be “sweet” and provide a (pre-heated!) jacket if needed, while saving my hard-earned for more well-considered expenditures. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2006, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculously-overpriced-item-youve-ever-had-to-buy-in-a-pinch/363448/11 "2006-07-07T06:16:25Z")
You guys are pikers. I got you all beat. One Sunday about 8 years ago I arrived in Portland at my training center. The computer support people were supposed to have shipped me a set of CD’s for the diagnostic computers I had there. When I got my mail I did not have the installation CDs (they sent them somewhere else I guess) As I had students coming the next day, I was in a panic. I called the instructor in SF and he drove to the airport and dropped off 1 CD (securly wrapped) at the airline small package express desk. They put the CD on the plane. I picked it up at baggage claim. It cost $75 freakin dollars to ship a CD 500 miles (or so) with no delivery at either end. Top that I dare you. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2006, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculously-overpriced-item-youve-ever-had-to-buy-in-a-pinch/363448/12 "2006-07-07T07:53:37Z")
Airline tickets to Vegas when we got married. Had we planned more than 1/2 hour in advance, I could have got two round trip tickets for around $450. We paid around $1100. I once ran out of cigarettes in Chicago and had to pay $7.00 when I normally pay $4.50. ---
**Author:** ![Klaatu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Klaatu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Klaatu)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2006, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculously-overpriced-item-youve-ever-had-to-buy-in-a-pinch/363448/13 "2006-07-07T08:09:40Z")
8 bucks apiece for beer at a concert at Journal Pavillion in Albuquerque ---
**Author:** ![Stark\_Raven\_Mad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Stark\_Raven\_Mad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stark_Raven_Mad)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2006, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculously-overpriced-item-youve-ever-had-to-buy-in-a-pinch/363448/14 "2006-07-07T08:51:20Z")
I signed my soul over to a ex-girlfriend for an autographed Bjork CD. Which I then misplaced in a move. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2006, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculously-overpriced-item-youve-ever-had-to-buy-in-a-pinch/363448/15 "2006-07-07T08:56:30Z")
I sold my soul for $1 in 9th grade to buy a bag of Fritos. But I bought a soul for $1 in 12th grade and smoked it, so I think I’m even. ---
**Author:** ![dogbutler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogbutler/32/428_2.png) [@dogbutler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dogbutler)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2006, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculously-overpriced-item-youve-ever-had-to-buy-in-a-pinch/363448/16 "2006-07-07T09:06:44Z")
> [@Klaatu](#): > > 8 bucks apiece for beer at a concert at Journal Pavillion in Albuquerque I went to a concert where a glass of freaking _tapwater_ was $1! ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2006, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculously-overpriced-item-youve-ever-had-to-buy-in-a-pinch/363448/17 "2006-07-07T09:30:26Z")
I once bought an egg, yes, a frigging _egg_, for $9.6 million… Oh wait, I imagined that. ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2006, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculously-overpriced-item-youve-ever-had-to-buy-in-a-pinch/363448/18 "2006-07-07T11:58:47Z")
> [@dogbutler](#): > > I went to a concert where a glass of freaking _tapwater_ was $1! I was at a strip club where water was $6 for 8oz. The kicker was you had to buy a new one every 15 minutes or get the boot. That was 7-8 years ago so I don’t want to think what it is now. Strange thing is people still want to go there?! ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2006, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculously-overpriced-item-youve-ever-had-to-buy-in-a-pinch/363448/19 "2006-07-07T12:19:23Z")
I paid $2.20 for a banana yesterday. Bloody cyclone. ---
**Author:** ![velveeta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/13edae/32.png) [@velveeta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velveeta)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2006, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculously-overpriced-item-youve-ever-had-to-buy-in-a-pinch/363448/20 "2006-07-07T12:22:49Z")
$88 to FedEx a paperback book to the UK. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculously-overpriced-item-youve-ever-had-to-buy-in-a-pinch/363448.md?page=2)