# What common item is most overpriced? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 17, 2022, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-common-item-is-most-overpriced/976681 "2022-12-17T00:07:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2022, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-common-item-is-most-overpriced/976681/101 "2022-12-25T16:57:13Z")
Diamonds. Neither rare nor valuable, and their supply is artificially limited by an immoral cartel. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2022, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-common-item-is-most-overpriced/976681/102 "2022-12-25T17:02:20Z")
I haven’t read the thread. Has beef jerky been mentioned? That stuff is expensive! ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2022, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-common-item-is-most-overpriced/976681/103 "2022-12-25T17:20:38Z")
You think beef jerky is expensive? Check out vegetarian beef jerky. Got some for my daughter and SIL for Xmas. Oh holy night! ---
**Author:** ![Galactus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galactus/32/3581_2.png) [@Galactus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galactus)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2022, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-common-item-is-most-overpriced/976681/104 "2022-12-25T17:30:41Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > vegetarian beef jerky Proof that vegetarians really wanna eat meat? A gateway drug, if you will. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2022, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-common-item-is-most-overpriced/976681/105 "2022-12-25T18:59:49Z")
You know, if they can make a passable vegetarian beef jerky, then I think mankind has achieved peak technological mastery. ---
**Author:** ![abcdefghij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/43a26b/32.png) [@abcdefghij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abcdefghij)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2022, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-common-item-is-most-overpriced/976681/106 "2022-12-25T19:46:24Z")
Birch bark soaked in soy sauce? ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2022, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-common-item-is-most-overpriced/976681/107 "2022-12-25T19:55:46Z")
I once saw a recipe for gluten-free seitan, so I guess anything’s possible. ---
**Author:** ![JaneDoe42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janedoe42/32/14104_2.png) [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2022, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-common-item-is-most-overpriced/976681/108 "2022-12-25T20:01:06Z")
I bought a small bag of fake beef jerky because I wanted to try it. Texture wasn’t bad and it did taste like peppery beef jerky. I won’t buy it again, but I don’t usually eat real beef jerky either. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2022, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-common-item-is-most-overpriced/976681/109 "2022-12-26T23:23:26Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Eyeglasses. Ridiculously expensive. You can thank Luxottica for having a monopoly. Why antitrust lawyers have not gotten after them I do not understand. - [How badly are we being ripped off on eyewear? Former industry execs tell all](https://www.latimes.com/business/lazarus/la-fi-lazarus-glasses-lenscrafters-luxottica-monopoly-20190305-story.html) ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2022, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-common-item-is-most-overpriced/976681/110 "2022-12-27T01:35:37Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > I haven’t read the thread. Has beef jerky been mentioned? That stuff is expensive! I’m going to disagree on this one. I love making homemade jerky, but the final product is pricey even with home production. The last time I did, I was using BOGO (net cost of 4 dollars US per pound) top round, which I sliced myself at home. Leaving out the costs of the marinade (homemade jalapeno / tomatillo / cilantro salsa with lime and cider vinegar ), after dehydration it boiled down to roughly 16 dollars US per pound, as you lose roughly 3/4 of the original water weight of the meat. Sure, the store crap is often further processed with additives and the beef is certainly bought for less than retail to us the consumer, but the final product is probably a mere 3x-4x costs. Practically nothing compared to some of our examples. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2022, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-common-item-is-most-overpriced/976681/111 "2022-12-28T23:37:48Z")
True… I hadn’t really thought of Veblen goods. I was more getting at the idea that a Rolls Royce is competing in the car market segment with other super high-end luxury cars - Bentley and Mercedes-Maybach also make comparable cars. They’re NOT competing for the same sort of consumer who buy $20k Kias. So within their market segment, they’re priced appropriately, even though it may be many multiples of the price of that Kia. Being “overpriced” comes in when something is priced too high in their particular market segment. If a Kia was priced at $35k, it would be overpriced. $12 for a six-pack of mass-market light beer is overpriced. But $15 for a single bomber of actual imported Belgian ale isn’t, for example. They’re both beer, and both will get you drunk, but they’re not really competitors any more than those Kias and Rolls are. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2022, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-common-item-is-most-overpriced/976681/112 "2022-12-29T02:22:41Z")
Tickets Is a sportsball player really worth [$300+ million](https://www.mlb.com/mets/news/carlos-correa-mets-deal)? You’re paying for all of those exorbitant contracts if you go to a game. Same with concerts & movies; they’re entertainers. They’re not making mankind better off, like the doctor & scientists who finds a vaccine or a cure for some disease, they’re not saving lives like firefighters & EMTs are; they’re merely entertaining us & making exorbitant salaries for doing such. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2022, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-common-item-is-most-overpriced/976681/113 "2022-12-29T04:58:21Z")
That’s simple supply and demand. People _ **LIKE** _ seeing Sofia Vergara in movies and TV. People _ **LIKE** _ watching Lionel Messi play for PSG. People _ **LIKE** _ seeing Ezekiel Elliott play for the Dallas Cowboys. So if millions, if not billions of people want to see Tom Cruise movies, he’s got _enormous_ bargaining power. Enough to get him paid 100 million this last year. It’s supply and demand. They’re not overpriced by definition, if that many people are willing to pay, and the studios are willing to pay. My vote for most overpriced items are many name-brand OTC pharmaceuticals. Go to your local Wal-Mart, and you can find generic loratadine for $7.56 for 60 tablets. Meanwhile name-brand Claritin is _$19.62_ for 30 tablets. All because of the name. Same active ingredient and everything else. This isn’t one of those cases where the name brand works better than the generic. It’s literally paying for the blue and green packaging and the word “Claritin” on the package, vs. “Equate Allergy Relief”. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2022, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-common-item-is-most-overpriced/976681/114 "2022-12-29T14:24:05Z")
The majority of baseball games are not sold out; there’s unused supply. It costs the same to see the latest Tom Cruise or Marvel blockbuster as it does to see the latest kids movie or best picture contender even though the latter two get far less eyeballs watching them. The industry is charging the same admission for all movies, not pricing the most popular ones higher which would be the case if it was supply/demand pricing. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2022, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-common-item-is-most-overpriced/976681/115 "2022-12-29T16:14:12Z")
It’s not that sort of supply and demand. In aggregate, people WANT to watch Aaron Judge and the Yankees play baseball- in person and on TV. And in aggregate, it’s worth it to the _owners_ of the team to pay him that much to play for him- presumably they make enough profit beyond what they pay him for it to be worth it. Supply and demand wasn’t the right term- maybe a “market system” is a better description. Along the years, owners and players ended up in a system where there’s a league minimum salary ($700k), and anything all the way up to Mike Trout’s salary. Same thing for movies- more people watch Tom Cruise or Marvel than they do something like “Strange World” from Disney. So again, the owners/execs of the movie studios find it advantageous to pay Tom Cruise or Chris Hemsworth or whoever, that crazy money to star in their films. It’s presumed that they derive a benefit from engaging their services above and beyond what it costs them. In other words, in the sports world and the motion picture world, those folks have seriously _differentiated_ themselves from the other players and actors, and there isn’t a substitute. I mean, sure you _could_ sub in some schlub off the street, but he wouldn’t be fun to watch play baseball, and certainly not against pro caliber players. Same thing for acting. Meanwhile if you look at my example of name-brand OTC drugs being overpriced, you’ll see that something like name-brand Claritin is like 3 times the cost of a _direct_ substitute- the exact same dosage of the exact same compound- absolutely NO difference whatsoever in performance or administration or anything like that. It’s literally just marketing that differentiates one from the other, and that’s overpricing in my opinion. There’s no reason whatsoever you couldn’t take Equate loratadine at 1/3 the cost and sub it in for name-brand Claritin. THAT is overpricing. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2022, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-common-item-is-most-overpriced/976681/116 "2022-12-30T09:33:05Z")
Tide pods. I say this because it was my practical-gag gift at a white elephant exchange and the damn things were so popular that the host had to set up a rule where the tide pods are only allowed 3 steals _per round_. And, yes, I find them expensive as all hell. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2022, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-common-item-is-most-overpriced/976681/117 "2022-12-30T14:15:36Z")
Tide pods are proof that modern marketing can sell anything for 10x if you just put it in a different package. ---
**Author:** ![pirviii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pirviii/32/3233_2.png) [@pirviii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pirviii)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2022, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-common-item-is-most-overpriced/976681/118 "2022-12-31T05:47:52Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > only allowed 3 steals This was always a rule when I’ve played, only 3 steals for any item, then it can’t be traded again. ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-common-item-is-most-overpriced/976681/119 "2023-01-09T03:00:33Z")
> [@bump](#): > > My vote for most overpriced items are many name-brand OTC pharmaceuticals. Go to your local Wal-Mart, and you can find generic loratadine for $7.56 for 60 tablets. Meanwhile name-brand Claritin is _$19.62_ for 30 tablets. All because of the name. Same active ingredient and everything else. This isn’t one of those cases where the name brand works better than the generic. It’s literally paying for the blue and green packaging and the word “Claritin” on the package, vs. “Equate Allergy Relief”. Same is true for the already-mentioned ink jet cartridges, and printer toner as well. I just bought some new toner cartridges. HP name brand was $103 for each cartridge. No-name brand was $22 each. The only difference is the brand name. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-common-item-is-most-overpriced/976681.md?page=5)