# What's the most money you lost in the dumbest way?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-money-you-lost-in-the-dumbest-way/845030>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [December 18, 2019, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-money-you-lost-in-the-dumbest-way/845030 "2019-12-18T16:59:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 5

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**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\
**Post date:** [December 27, 2019, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-money-you-lost-in-the-dumbest-way/845030/81 "2019-12-27T02:02:31Z")

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> [@Zyada](#):
>
> You’re looking at the suburbs. I assumed this store was in a densely populated/densely built up area like New York or San Francisco, where real estate is extremely expensive.

So did I - I don’t go to malls in NYC a lot, but I know of at least 5 actual malls that charge for parking in Brooklyn and Queens and one in Manhattan that doesn’t even _have_ parking\*. The stores/malls that do have “free” parking lots are not in the prime real estate areas - and the individual stores that have their own parking lots tend to be either supermarkets or Home Depots/Lowes. If I go to a clothing store/jewelry store/salon with its own parking lot in Manhattan\*\* and am offered champagne , the prices for the goods/services are probably at least 10x what I’m used to paying.

- Situations I’m sure people in suburban areas can’t even imagine.

\*\* Something I can’t even imagine. I can sort of imagine such a thing in an outer borough - but the prices would still be higher than normal , although not quite so high as I would expect in Manhattan.

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**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\
**Post date:** [December 27, 2019, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-money-you-lost-in-the-dumbest-way/845030/82 "2019-12-27T03:14:54Z")

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We bought a scooter (a Honda Elite) on a credit card once, many years ago. It was around $1200.

I guess that’s not a big deal compared to some of the stories here, but we use it as our standard example of a foolish purchase.

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