# The product with the highest markup **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 17, 2009, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-product-with-the-highest-markup/521663 "2009-12-17T18:51:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-product-with-the-highest-markup/521663/41 "2009-12-18T18:49:23Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > Razor blades are insanely expensive and constantly obsoleted by new “technology”. Which is why I only ever buy disposable razors - four bucks for a dozen Bics, which will last me quite a long time, compared to $10 or $12 for a half-dozen (if even that) Gillettes. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-product-with-the-highest-markup/521663/42 "2009-12-20T09:30:04Z")
> [@zamboniracer](#): > > I’ve heard a quotation from the guy who used to run a successful printing company 50 years ago that “Ink is made up of water plus profit.” Considering the markup on copier toner I’d say things haven’t changed much. My brother ran a copy shop until recently and is in the process of making his own name in the game. He said that many shops in the Santa Barbara area charge 95 cents for a color copy, which is about an 18 fold increase in the actual cost of the copy these days. Admittedly, they have to hid the cost of the rent, utilites, labor, taxes, copier, toner in that price, but he says it’s still about that markup. They are resting on the perception from years ago that color copies are going to be expensive, and the truth is that most people don’t need that many (not hundreds), and they sort of don’t notice the cost. There are shops who are undercutting this by orders of magnitude and greater, but he says that the expensive shops are still getting away with it. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-product-with-the-highest-markup/521663/43 "2009-12-20T09:31:21Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > Figure out the cost of water as sold for contact lenses, dry eyes, etc. Typically $5-10 for a half an ounce. Pretty damned expensive when you convert to gallons. Usually just sterilized water with a drop or two of some stabilization agent added. > > Razor blades are insanely expensive and constantly obsoleted by new “technology”. My RN mother used to bring me half liters of saline that couldn’t be used for other CCU patients. I never had any trouble using it for my contacts. Win! ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-product-with-the-highest-markup/521663/44 "2009-12-20T09:34:38Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Any item for a backyard pool - I used to need to replace the gears in my Shasta pool circulator, and they would charge $5.99 for a piece of molded plastic that could not have more that a nickel’s worth of plastic in it. Ah, but as my industrial engineer father was fond of pointing out, the market is small, and the design and tooling cost something. Show him a pair of Chinese sandals for $.99 in 1980, though, and he’d go through the roof. “The design is nothing and that’s 20 cents of rubber and plastic!” ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-product-with-the-highest-markup/521663/45 "2009-12-20T10:16:25Z")
> [@sweeteviljesus](#): > > Also, note that high-markup items subsidize the cost of loss leaders. Movie theatre popcorn pays for the building, the insurance, the staff, etc. I think the ticket prices only cover the cost of the film itself. Well it’s not that the ticket is a “loss leader”, but that most of the ticket sale price goes back to the studio/distributor. They are the ones that made the movie so they get the money. The theater is just a middleman. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-product-with-the-highest-markup/521663/46 "2009-12-20T10:52:14Z")
A wealthy lady visits the most famous hat maker in New York and tells him she must simply have a stunning hat for the grand gala tonight. The hat maker pulls out a ribbon from under the counter and does a few twists and voila, he has turned it into a stunning hat. “Perfect!”. The lady grabs it immediately. “How much is it?” “Five thousand dollars” the hat maker replies. “Five thousand dollars!” the lady exclaims, “but, it’s just a ribbon!” “Oh no, no, no” the hat maker says while deftly unwinding the ribbon. “For you, Madam, the ribbon is free” ---
**Author:** ![The\_Urban\_Spaceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@The\_Urban\_Spaceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Urban_Spaceman)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-product-with-the-highest-markup/521663/47 "2009-12-20T11:05:12Z")
Flawless CVD diamond can be manufactured for c. $2-3 per carat (IIRC) and can be manufactured to size. Compared to the value of a ‘natural’ diamond of equal grade, a 50 carat example could make a percentage markup numbering in the millions, though in reality their retail value will be a smaller fraction of that. ---
**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:** [December 20, 2009, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-product-with-the-highest-markup/521663/48 "2009-12-20T11:26:36Z")
Surely in the future it will be a carbon offset. They are just made up out of thin air. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-product-with-the-highest-markup/521663/49 "2009-12-20T13:05:04Z")
How about a letter from the bank saying you went overdrawn? In the UK this can be £30 or more, you still pay the overdraft, you pay interest charges on the amount of overdraft, the cost of a letter, maybe 20 pence and since this types of billing is literally all automated except for the walk up your drive by the postman, there is virtually no staff cost either. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-product-with-the-highest-markup/521663/50 "2009-12-20T14:30:18Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Depends on if you want to look at dollars, or just percentages. Luxury items have a higher percentage markup than comparable low- to mid-range items, so profit on a Ferrari is higher than on a Ford. The difference could be many thousands of dollars. But just for percent markup, I am looking at movie theater popcorn, selling at something like 100 times direct costs, and sodas are probably close behind. It is an open secret that theaters make more money from the snack sales than the movie tickets. I don’t believe tat is true. For cameras, the markup (in pct) was less for a Nikon than it was for a low-end camera. If youthink about it, it makes sense. A Nikon and an a cheap digital take up the same amount of space. In order to make it worthwhile you may need a 100% markup on a $60 camera, On the other hand you can still make a good deal of money sellng a $1,000 camera with a 30% markup. It generally comes down to how much space it takes up, how quickly it sells, and the amount of labor involved in selling it. Cars have remarkably low markups compared to the impulse items you find at the checkout lines. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-product-with-the-highest-markup/521663.md?page=2)