# 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:** 11\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2001, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-just-too-damn-expensive/78924/81 "2001-09-08T23:11:34Z")
**Cable TV** Why, when I was a kid, if you wanted to watch tv, you bought a tv and plugged it in. Now you pay for basic, then for the extra channels, and if you want any of the premium channels you pay for each one. Add the monthly charge for the cable box, and $1.50 a month for the remote. Pretty soon you’re looking at $60 plus. Sheesh. **Telephone service** Surcharges, access fees, taxes, if I call accross the street it cost me, if I dial in to my ISP it cost me. A separate bill for long distance with it’s own surcharges, access fees, and taxes. Then there’s the cel phone. Even if I didn’t make a phone call of any sort or receive one for an entire month it would still cost me $50 plus. Lord deliver me! ---
**Author:** ![kevja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/aeb1de/32.png) [@kevja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kevja)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2001, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-just-too-damn-expensive/78924/82 "2001-09-09T02:48:42Z")
Did anyone mention cable TV. I can’t believe I pay over $60.00 a month. It’s a nice set up; digital, 80 some channels, and DMX. But that seems like a lot of money to pay to watch TV. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2001, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-just-too-damn-expensive/78924/83 "2001-09-09T06:09:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kevja \* > \*\*Did anyone mention cable TV. \*\* …uh, I’m not sure, let me check… ---
**Author:** ![Corrvin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bbce88/32.png) [@Corrvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corrvin)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2001, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-just-too-damn-expensive/78924/84 "2001-09-09T07:52:00Z")
\<\\> OK, I feel better. I just paid my monthly phone bill of $44, including $12 of long distance calls to my parents. That includes BOTH phone lines. As for cable…don’t have it right now, but the roomie is about to start a job with the cable company, so for the first time in my life…I’ll have cable. Woohoo! But…gas is up to $1.51 for the cheapo stuff. And that’s vile. And SEVEN NINETY NINE for a freakin’ paperback book? Insane. I actually wondered for a minute if they were ringin’ up Canadian prices by mistake. Crochet needles. $1.50 for a freaking piece of aluminum? And $5 for less than a half pound of yarn? Makes me wanna buy a sheep. Corr ---
**Author:** ![HirokoAoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/7c8e57/32.png) [@HirokoAoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HirokoAoi)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2001, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-just-too-damn-expensive/78924/85 "2001-09-09T17:32:41Z")
Screen printing. Registration pins. Two little peices of metal you are sure to lose at least twice in a year, each set costing nine dollars. Wasted ink: extender base: twenty one dollars a bottle transparency base: thirteen dollars a bottle retarder: nine bucks gloss varnish: twenty bucks small jar of ink: eight to thirteen dollars depending on colour large jar of ink: twenty to thirty depending on colour Screens: medium sized: forty five bucks larger: depends, from forty up to a hundred or so Intaglio printing: RIDICULOUS AMOUNTS OF MONEY last but NOT least: PAPER. the costs of good paper… practically limitless. Over fivehundred dollars on paper in the last twomonths, and still going strong. OUCH. ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2001, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-just-too-damn-expensive/78924/86 "2001-09-10T14:57:23Z")
Any pair of jeans that cost more than $40, and really, even that is too much. ---
**Author:** ![Sasquatch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e79b87/32.png) [@Sasquatch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sasquatch)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2001, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-just-too-damn-expensive/78924/87 "2001-09-10T18:28:21Z")
SOFTWARE…particularily releases of the Windows OS. I realize the concept that prices are so high because of money lost due to piracy, but I maintain that piracy is more commonplace because prices are too high. I’m sorry, but there’s no damn way that I’m shilling out $189.98 for a copy of Windows 98SE or $269.95 for Windows 2000 Professional. It just ain’t happening. If they were more reasonably priced I would most certainly purchase them, but that is just too steep. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2001, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-just-too-damn-expensive/78924/88 "2001-09-10T19:35:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mayflower \* > **Diapers ARE ourageously priced. I spend $10.00 per week on them (that’s for a pack of 32 size six). My son is 19 months old and if I don’t get him potty-trained before March rolls around, I’ll be spending $20.00 per week.** Where do you shop? I get diapers from Costco (one of those club wholesale warehouse things), and I can get a super-jumbo box of Huggies (136 diapers a box) for $30. Granted, potty-training will be better, but you may want to shop around… ---
**Author:** ![pestie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e5b9ba/32.png) [@pestie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pestie)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2001, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-just-too-damn-expensive/78924/89 "2001-09-10T20:20:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by HirokoAoi \* > **Intaglio printing: RIDICULOUS AMOUNTS OF MONEY** Yeah, but once you get the presses you can start printing your own money. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![evilhanz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba8739/32.png) [@evilhanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/evilhanz)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2001, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-just-too-damn-expensive/78924/90 "2001-09-10T21:17:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by maryliza \* > \*\* > Medicine is cheap here, luckily, and prescriptions are totally reimbursed by Social Security. But in the US? Ridiculous. \*\* They are expensive, but they help keep us healthy and alive a lot longer than without them. All that research costs money, too. How much is your health or an extra ten years of life worth to you? **Taxes** Every time I look at my pay stub, I weep over the thousands of dollars that are going to waste in the hands of bureaucrats. **Wedding** Three grand for a photographer? You’ve got to be kidding me. Outrageous! Then we found out his was the best price around. **New Car** Twenty-five grand for a brand new car? No thanks, I’ll drive a three-year old car and save $16,000 dollars. **Books** I buy used books almost exclusively. **Hiking and Climbing gear** The yuppies and young hipsters have ruined it for those of us who actually use the gear for it’s intended purpose. Sure you folks want to look trendy in your down-filled, expedition-weight shell, but my life might actually depends on them. **Legal advice** The list of minute charges is infuriating. You’re gonna charge me for leaving a message at my office? No thanks. Hello EZ Do-It-Yourself legal forms 🙂 **Music, Videos** I can’t remember the last time I bought a CD, DVD, or VHS tape for myself. I just can’t justify $20 or $20 for a film and $15 for an album. I know all about distribution. It’s just an unnecessarily top-heavy industry. **Hotel Rooms** Whew. I’d rather stay in my tent for the quality of service you get at your average hotel. **Milk and Orange Juice** Thank you Dairy Compact. Whats the deal with OJ? $3 for 1.5L? **Chinese Food** It just seems overpriced. It sure is tasty, though! **Airfare** Unless you plan months in advance, a cross-country round-trip fare can empty your bank account. **Paint/Lumber** I’ve never gotten over the cost of paint. or paint brushes! **Cable TV** I just priced some of those digital tv packages. Ouch! Oh sure, digital cable is all the rage, but they can’t find a way to offer a la carte packages. I watch a total of about 6 channels. Can’t you come up with a price structure for that? **Furniture** Mattresses, couches, dressers, et cetera. I can’t believe the prices being demanded for particle board. ---
**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:** [September 10, 2001, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-just-too-damn-expensive/78924/91 "2001-09-10T21:18:07Z")
Amen about the paperback books. How’d they get to be that expensive? They may not be **over** priced, but it took me a while to get used to spending money on trash bags. What, spend good money on something for the express purpose of throwing it away? And toilet paper! You hand over your hard earned cash for something only to smear it with feces and flush it down the toilet. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-just-too-damn-expensive/78924.md?page=4)