# Things that are just too damn expensive **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 30, 2001, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-just-too-damn-expensive/78924 "2001-08-30T13:56:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Vinnie\_Virginslayer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/53a042/32.png) [@Vinnie\_Virginslayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vinnie_Virginslayer)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-just-too-damn-expensive/78924/1 "2001-08-30T13:56:07Z")
Economics, theories of supply and demand, and costs of manufacturing aside, here’s some things that just seem too damn expensive for what they are: Hardcover books ($30 for a novel? Are you kidding me?) Camcorders (you would think someone would come up with a way to make them for $100. They did it with VCRs!) Ski equipment Playstation 2 (espcially now that Dreamcast is $80 and is not that far from PS2 in terms of power, $300 seems high, dvd player aside) Shoes (you wouldn’t believe what good shoes I can get at Payless!) DSL lines (for $35 less a month, I’ll survive with my 28.8k, thank you) Imported beer (I’d rather save $10 a case and drink the American swill) Tires Glasses and contact lenses (and I know the markups too) Food at sporting events of course Big name amusement parks What other items send you into immediate sticker shock? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Gorgon\_Heap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f475e1/32.png) [@Gorgon\_Heap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorgon_Heap)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-just-too-damn-expensive/78924/2 "2001-08-30T14:11:35Z")
Alright! Now this is the kind of griping I like! \*Shoes? How about any clothing? \*VHS tapes. DVD sales are quickly catching up to the old champ, yet I can’t find an unused, new movie on tape for less that 16 bucks. \*Cars. I have a hard time justifying this, but they just cost too damn much to buy or own. \*CDs. Half the country just burns their own with whatever they want on them for pennies, and yet to go to a store and buy a regular CD with a label on costs 20 dollars. \*Gas. That’s a new one. \*Freedom. ---
**Author:** ![Chanteuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de053/32.png) [@Chanteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chanteuse)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-just-too-damn-expensive/78924/3 "2001-08-30T14:19:20Z")
Clothing for big and tall men. You can’t convince ME that it costs all that much more to add a little more material to lengthen shirttails, sleeves, and pant legs, or expand waists and collars to fit a larger man. I’ve looked for dress shirts for my hubby in those specialty shops and I just can’t BELIEVE the markup. Sometimes it’s more than twice the price of regular sized clothing! Let’s not even get started on groceries–I got married in 1985 and $40 a week would run my pantry over. NOW I have trouble getting by on $100 per week. Of course there are two kids to feed now, but still, I cannot believe how prices have gone up these last few years! As for contact lenses, I get new ones when they are offered at special rates–I can afford them then! Still, they are less expensive now than they were when I got my first pair at age 15 (in 1981). Those suckers were $200.00 and now I can usually get them for less than half that–even at regular prices. Be that as it may, I wear a pair till I get all the good out of them 'cause cheapER don’t mean cheap!! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-just-too-damn-expensive/78924/4 "2001-08-30T14:22:48Z")
I don’t like the high cost of the shoes I buy, but I can tell you that Payless shoes make my hard-to-fit feet miserable. Please don’t get me started on the CD thing. I hate this gripe. They don’t cost “pennies” to make. Marketing, overhead, shipping, distribution, producing… all that costs money and has to be recouped somehow. Making a CD is not just churning out little discs of cheap material. And I’m with you on the glasses, sort of. Only not really. When you think about something that you wear every single day of your life (in my case, anyway), spending $500 isn’t actually so outrageous. I mean, that’s less than $1 a day to see well if I keep my frames for two years. And I’m one of these people who would have to be issued a seeing-eye-dog if I didn’t have my glasses on my face. But I will submit: Designer clothing. $800 for a pair of slacks? No, no, no. No. I’m sorry, but no. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-just-too-damn-expensive/78924/5 "2001-08-30T14:27:48Z")
A college education is entirely too expensive. However, this is coming from a privately educated spoiled rich kid who has just been tracked down by his student loan collection agent. Munch - who wants to know how it’s possible to accrue $1900 of penalties in 6 days ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-just-too-damn-expensive/78924/6 "2001-08-30T14:39:30Z")
I always thought that the following three items were insanely overpriced, given what it must cost to produce them: 1. Greeting cards 2. Wrapping paper 3. Contact lens saline solution Updating my list, I guess that I’d have to add bottled water. **Vinnie** , I have to take exception to one item on your list: Tires. You can get them for about $25 a pop these days, right? Ever hold a a tire in your hands? There is a LOT of raw material and value-added there, my friend. Secondly, think of the performance you get out of those babies. They hold up hundreds of pounds of metal + passengers at 65 MPH over lord-knows-what roadbeds, all the while staying inflated with AIR. Tires do a shitty, thankless job – and they do it amazingly well. (Yeah, well, we all know about the Firestone thing.) I think tires are remarkably durable, trustworthy and cost efficient. Given the quality of some other crap that costs more pound-for-pound, tires are one of the true bargains of our age. ---
**Author:** ![Gorgon\_Heap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f475e1/32.png) [@Gorgon\_Heap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorgon_Heap)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-just-too-damn-expensive/78924/7 "2001-08-30T14:42:40Z")
Hey, OldMan, I can say that I am not here to offend anyone, or I am here to offend no one, but nevertheless, I am here and someone might get offended. The real deal is, the man (man? Who can tell?) asked what we _felt_ is too expensive. Therefore, noting the vast difference in my wife’s enormous CD collection and my own tiny one, I feel CDs are too expensive and she really doesn’t. The end. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-just-too-damn-expensive/78924/8 "2001-08-30T14:57:50Z")
Sex - if you’re married, that is. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-just-too-damn-expensive/78924/9 "2001-08-30T15:07:43Z")
I just spent $280.00 for a motorcycle helment. I mean I know its an important piece of equipment but sheese. ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-just-too-damn-expensive/78924/10 "2001-08-30T15:07:53Z")
Sex - if you’re single, that is. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-just-too-damn-expensive/78924/11 "2001-08-30T15:20:20Z")
Computers. Every other electronic device is expensive when it first comes out and then the price drops. Computers always cost about $1000 and up. They should be down around $299 by now. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-just-too-damn-expensive/78924/12 "2001-08-30T15:21:47Z")
Flowers for a wedding. Cake for a wedding. Tuxedo rentals. For a wedding. Most wedding stuff just floored me. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-just-too-damn-expensive/78924/13 "2001-08-30T15:29:38Z")
Add wedding photography to **bup’s** list. I figured it would probably be expensive, and I was thinking it could be as high as $AU1000, but I nearly died when all the local photographers quoted around the $AU2100 mark. ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-just-too-damn-expensive/78924/14 "2001-08-30T16:09:34Z")
Ditto on the contact lens stuff. Two bucks for a bottle of salt water? Give me a break. Over the counter drugs in general. Cereal, except for the store brand stuff. I’m dreading the day my kids get brand conscious. ---
**Author:** ![tygre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c4cdca/32.png) [@tygre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tygre)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-just-too-damn-expensive/78924/15 "2001-08-30T16:52:23Z")
Tennis shoes, especially for kids. $40 for a pair of sneakers my son will outgrow in 3 months? I buy them on clearance at the end of the season, and a size bigger, instead. I want a carpet steamer, but can’t justify the $300+ outlay for it. ---
**Author:** ![c\_goat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@c\_goat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/c_goat)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-just-too-damn-expensive/78924/16 "2001-08-30T17:14:36Z")
Airline Tickets (sometimes): $900 round trip? I can only imagine what first class tickets must cost. Movie Tickets: $8.50 here. Not worth it for most movies. Hotel Services: $9.99 to watch a movie in my room? $12.99 to watch porn in my room? 19% service charge on Room Service, plus tax and gratuity, plus the food is overpriced to begin with… Cover Charges at bars/clubs, especially strip clubs. ---
**Author:** ![Bumbazine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbazine/32/362_2.png) [@Bumbazine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbazine)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-just-too-damn-expensive/78924/17 "2001-08-30T17:20:03Z")
Have you tried to get a ticket for a **good** seat at a NBA game recently? How about a concert? I don’t go anymore. **Stuyguy,** when I first got contacts I made my own saline solution. I figured out that it was costing me about 15 cents to make the equivalant volume that B&L was selling for about $3.00 then. Then they outlawed the sale of _pure salt_ tablets. (I used to buy them from the drug store.) Now I buy the generic saline for about $1.50, which is still a pretty good mark-up. And I hear ya’ on the big-n-tall clothing. I look for Clarence’s rack whenever I’m in that part of the store. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-just-too-damn-expensive/78924/18 "2001-08-30T17:32:26Z")
Decent wine. It’s gone up too much over the last several years. Yes, it’s better because of great growing conditions in California but did that cost the growers anything? Hell no. Sending flowers or, heck, just buying an arrangement. Luxury cars. I want one but I couldn’t enjoy it at 70K a pop. Bottled water. You should be able to walk on it for the prices they charge. Ties. I think I’ll just start weaving my chest hair instead. Organic vegetables. You want me to pay more for something that’s been around a fly swatter? Asparagus. For that price the Beano should come with it. ---
**Author:** ![Mofo\_Rising](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Mofo\_Rising](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mofo_Rising)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-just-too-damn-expensive/78924/19 "2001-08-30T17:48:47Z")
Comic books. $3 dollars for 32 pages of story, which boils down to 10 to 15 minutes of reading? Ridiculous. Beer. Well, good beer. ---
**Author:** ![LordVor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90ced4/32.png) [@LordVor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LordVor)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-just-too-damn-expensive/78924/20 "2001-08-30T18:01:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CrankyAsAnOldMan \* > \*\*Please don’t get me started on the CD thing. I hate this gripe. They don’t cost “pennies” to make. Marketing, overhead, shipping, distribution, producing… all that costs money and has to be recouped somehow. Making a CD is not just churning out little discs of cheap material. > \*\* Yes, but can you honestly say that Marketing, overhead, shipping, etc costs MORE when you’re creating a CD than it does when you’re creating a cassette tape? And, judging by what I can see (I can buy blank CDs for much, much less than I can buy blank tapes for), CDs cost LESS to actually manufacture than tapes. Finally, they SELL more CDs than they do tapes, and mass-producing almost always makes it cheaper to make a single unit. So why, in the blue hell, do CD’s cost 120% as much as tapes do? LV [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-just-too-damn-expensive/78924.md?page=2)