I’m just saying that if someone is looking at a Rolls Royce and thinking it’s overpriced because you can buy a Kia sedan for under $20,000, they’re not really getting that they’re not really comparable.
This is true across products and up and down the scale as well. It’s like deciding that because you can get Milwaukee’s Best, that stuff like Unibroue’s Fin de Monde is overpriced. They’re not really comparable.
That sure brings back memories! 
I first read Danny Dunn and the Homework Machine back when I was in 3rd grade. That was nearly 50 years ago…
I’m glad I’m not the only one who remembers it. 
There was another one about “being invisible”, but he wasn’t actually invisible, he had a remote-control dragonfly with a camera and microphone in it.
Let me throw in college text books for an honorable mention.
Prostitution?
For a dishonorable mention, rental text books and/or digital textbooks with AN EXPIRATION DATE are worse. So much worse.
( in terms of overpriced, not always unjustifiable if it’s a required class outside your major, but even then… )
I occasionally buy bottled water, and then I reuse the bottle hundreds, if not thousands, of times. For some reason, I just don’t use commercial drink bottles for this, so why not?
My father seemed to have a limitless supply of batteries in his workroom. I don’t recall batteries ever being an issue growing up, and we grew up working class (father, non-union machinist, mother non-union factory worker.)
Batteries were always a problem for us, but we were poor. I had a transistor radio with a 9v that I used to play at night in my room, but I had to carefully conserve battery because a 9V battery was a good chunk of my allowance. Luckily, they lasted a long time in a small transistor radio.
I had some walkie talkies given to me that I really wanted to use, but they needed something like 6-8 AA batteries each, and only lasted for maybe an hour or two of use. I couldn’t afford to use them except very occasionally and sparingly.
My battery operated toys genrally went unused after Christmas because my mom couldn’t keep buying batteries for them. Especially if they used several ‘D’ cells, which were pretty expensive.
Along with cigarettes, pop is one of the things I’m happy I never got into (both due to health, but tbh probably mostly financial considerations), I’ve seen many friends and families spend a significant amount of money on it. And for some reason, it seems to be one of those things that those who consume a lot of it don’t really plan well on acquiring and budgeting. So many people go through a drive through for a soda (or soft drink/“coke”) when they could buy a 2L (pop drinkers tell me there’s a quality consideration for it losing it’s fizz), 12 pack, 24 pack, or more. And I don’t mean for just being “out” already and stopping for a drink. A fast food thread here has revealed I live in a bubble since going to a fast food place just for a sugary drink (or hanging out in gas stations as a non-smoker) is not part of my lifestyle. I don’t crave it, and I tend to spend my food budget on solid food. However, yeah I’ll have it occasionally at a restaurant or as a drink mixer on the 2-3 times a year I might drink. Recently paid $2.59 for a 2L, thought it was a little high, though more likely because the price stayed so low (can’t recall paying much more than a $1 over a 30 year or so period) for so long. I do drink coffee, and of course I think that’s mostly more ridiculously priced also. I don’t get too fancy but I buy pretty good stuff for home that’s a couple pounds for the price of perhaps 5-6 coffees out.
I’ve never consumed that, but the market of consumers who can obtain that for a non-zero cost is pretty low, and I’m told there are a wide variety of budget options.
Serious questions. What do you need a car to do other than drive? Are they not both cars? How are they not comparable?
/that Honda person
It used to be part of my lifestyle, and yeah, it tastes better from a machine than a can. I was bowled over when I realized my sole purpose in ordering in was often just for a soft drink. So for a while I did drink the little cans instead, but that created its own problems, because it wasn’t good for me. So I quit drinking soda. But as a former addict I can tell you, there is nothing like a fountain soda.
Is it expensive? Maybe? When compared to the ridiculous cost of smoothies, I’m going to nominate smoothies. The last time I ordered one it was $9.00.
Maybe because a Rolls-Royce is a Veblen good?
I know someone who was gifted an $800,000 Rolls Royce. They never drive it. They don’t even drive themselves.
“This thing has more intrinsic value because it’s a status symbol” is gonna be a hard sell for me.
My feeling is that things really do increase in quality proportionate to cost, up to a point of diminishing returns, and that point is way before you get to Rolls Royces.
(I guess on the other end, I would exclude Hondas from this equation, because they outlast many more expensive cars. My husband is still going in a 2007 and my Aunt drives a 1994.)
Fountain pop is a good example of something that people think is overpriced because the unit cost of a fountain pop is probably about ten or twenty cents, but they sell for maybe ten times that amount.
But you really do have to consider all the costs. For example, you have to pay for the machines (or if a soda company provides them, they’ll charge you more for the syrup.) Then there’s the floor space the machines take up, along with the storage space for the syrup bottles. The staff needs to be trained, and takes a couple of minutes to pour the pop for you and charge you for it. A $15/hr staff costs .25 per minute, so it adds up fast.
Starbucks is a perfect example of this. Coffee is as cheap as soda, but Starbucks can charge you $4 for one. The thing is, most Starbucks don’t make huge profit because their profits have been captured by the people who own the real estate. Starbucks are usually located in areas with very expensive real estate. And at the beginning they were extremely profitable, which caused future landlords to realize they could charge a lot more in rent, and did. The property is expensive because it’s a constrained good - there is a fixed supply in locations of high density population.
Gifted an actual Rolls Royce? Under what circumstances, may I ask?
I think fountain soda varies tremendously in quality. Is it overpriced, considering all the costs? Yes. The real costs are not in the opportunity cost of the physical space or any of the supplies. They do have to pay wages and things like movie theatres make much of their profit from food. But fast food meals, unless you use coupons or choose carefully, have often become as expensive as much better quality slow food meals. However, I often don’t drink booze at meals so don’t usually begrudge the expense of soda especially if amounts are unlimited.
If I enjoy coffee at Starbucks, I consider the coffee a reasonable expense since a lot of what I want is use if space to read or chat or study. But my drink tastes are simple and include few fanciful sugary things flavoured with pumpkin spice or mermaid essence.
An adult child got it for an adult parent. I’m not sure the occasion or if there was a specific reason.
As a diet soda addict, I always figure that what I’m paying for includes the use of the space. I just wouldn’t get a fountain drink at a drive-through: I want my endless refills. I do generally compare my soda costs with the equivalent in coffee or alcohol, and figure I’m still coming out ahead, even when a restaurant charges me $5 for a cup of ice with some soda sprinkled on top.