Things that are just bafflingly expensive

okay are we really playing captain-save-a-kors

I spend most of time worrying about the internet message board industry

I ain't broke, I was just off-raoding there for a stretch.

Scotty?! Don't give me you lithium crystals bullshit! What happened to spell-check?!

I spend most of time worrying about the internet message board industry

We DO need more fair-trade boards.

The only area that we can't make the Far East conform to Western labor standards is in hours worked

Also - environmental standards, or SEVERE lack thereof, tend to effect the cost of production.

We don't use any vendors that haven't passed a certain test that sets ethical business & labor practices. And everything I import has to pass stringent safety testing, so no fears on that count either. And it's still a freaking bargain compared to US pricing.

Laurel I forget who you work for...

i wish colleges would charge twice as much so education would be that much more precious

I produce children's books for the US arm of a French multi-media company.

books have to pass a safety test?

Children's books and toys and anything intended for an under-12 market do. Google "CPSC".

Or ASTM, or EN71.

I'll stick with just imagining a bunch of guys in white coats hitting each other with children's books/trying to give each other papercuts

It's find to imagine the squeaky sound as the scientists bonk each other in the head with bathtub books.

Haha that might cover EN71 but actually the CPSC is mostly concerned with testing every stitch, flake, and scrap of material for lead and phthalate content.

Sounds like a fetish to me.

yeah but his answer is just "because that's how expensive they are" which is, you know, not really illuminating

― Wet Hot American Oil Spill (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, March 11, 2010 3:34 PM (38 minutes ago) Bookmark

THEY ARE REALLY EXPENSIVE BECAUSE "MICHAEL KORS" HAS SPENT ONE BAJILLION TO MAKE THE WORLD THINK THE SHIRT IS FASIONABLE. THAT'S THE COST THAT THE PRICE ON THE SHIRT IS SUPPOSED TO RETURN.

if not very many people shell out, then obviously the marketing costs were a waste that year and they have to come up with a new product+advertising mix for next year. more people find it "bafflingly expensive" instead of "totally worth-it expensive" and life goes on. ometimes products fail, you know!

jesus christ i don't even know anything about fashion. or business!! this isn't that hard to put together

dude no need to yell - I understand and no its not that hard to put together, I just find it annoying when I'm confronted with the realities of Michale Kors' spending bajillion dollars on name recognition when I'm just trying to find a nice shirt to wear to a work party

Doesn't Michael Kors have an inexpensive ready to wear line at Macys?

I could imagine selling a prestige version of your product with no intention of pulling a return for the purposes of increasing demand for your downmarket version where you pull in the real $$. Who knows what chicanery the fashion industry is up to?

No different than advertising then, really. The opposite can happen, though. Look at Cardin.

dunno the truth of this anecdote, but i heard somewhere that at some point, BMW ("luxury" brand in the US, everyday brand in europe) decided to be a luxury brand everywhere and just jacked up its prices across the board. didn't change their product line at all. and it worked!

there's a "you charge for the customer you want to have" axiom in business, isn't there?

for those of you who think upholstery is bafflingly expensive, jack white has answers4u

http://www.believermag.com/issues/200305/?read=interview_white

http://www.amazon.com/Strange-Place-Religion-Contemporary-Art/dp/0415969883/ref=sr_1_18?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268348863&sr=1-18

Why does this book cost $125? Why does Routeledge charge so much for hardback books?

i've seen explanations why academic books and college textbooks are so expensive, and none of it made sense to me.

I have no freaking idea. Maybe it's print-on-demand? That means demand is so low that there's no point in printing a set quantity until someone actually pre-purchases it at a store, and then one copy is digitally printed and manufactured as a one-off. I still don't understand the price tag, though.

I mean that would be more than your average book, but not THAT much? I saw a children's book the other day that used to be 4.99 or something -- as a POD it's now 12.99.

Only 1 left in stock--order soon (more on the way).

hmmm

Admittedly I don't know anything about academic publishing.

this book

http://www.amazon.com/Selected-Nuclear-Materials-Engineering-Landolt-B%C3%B6rnstein/dp/3540484744/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268349395&sr=1-1

Selected Nuclear Materials and Engineering Systems (Landolt-Börnstein: Numerical Data and Functional Relationships in Science and Technology - New Series / Physical Chemistry) (Hardcover)

List Price: $8,039.00
Price: $7,838.03 & this item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. Details
You Save: $200.97 (2%)

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Renting a car to drive from Portland to San Francisco. (One-way, alas.) $450 for two days!

― sean gramophone, Thursday, March 11, 2010 1:13 PM Bookmark

Amtrak imo

On the Strange Place of Religion in Contemporary Art is a pretty good little book BTW... good thing the library had it...in paperback.

some great reviews for that book there.

dunno the truth of this anecdote, but i heard somewhere that at some point, BMW ("luxury" brand in the US, everyday brand in europe) decided to be a luxury brand everywhere and just jacked up its prices across the board. didn't change their product line at all. and it worked!

there's a "you charge for the customer you want to have" axiom in business, isn't there?

― goole, Friday, March 12, 2010 6:43 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

coach is almost the equivalent of gucci and lv over here

different strokes for cummin on different markets

Fender Custom Shop guitars, specifically Esquires.

Someone said saffron way upthread but that one isnt baffling, surely. The crocus flower is fairly hard to grow and you only get like 3 stamens out of a flower or something ridiculous!

Stigmas. Whichever bit of the plant it is.

Wiki says stigma...I thought flowers only ever had one pistil, but I am le stupid, so...

Theyre all rude bits either way! :D

eyeglasses.

― r|t|c, 2010年03月12日 星期五 上午2:07 (9 hours ago) Bookmark

for real - if you have your prescription alraedy, there's no reason for a pair of glasses to cost more than $50 if you're just getting generic frames and regular plastic lenses.

Tell me about it, I spent over $500 on my last pair :/

But in fairness they were some kind of "designer" frames.

you're in australia right? send me your prescription, I'll get a pair made for you :P

in the US, you can go to places like 39dollarglasses.com

Yeah ppl tell me I should get glasses online or something. Its a thought - but how do you try them on and whatnot, I fuss around forEVER before I can bring myself to settle on a pair to buy :/ And then I went and lost my last (also $500+) pair by getting drunk and falling flat on my face in the dark and rain one night lol don't ask.

Saffron is kind of unbafflingly expensive to me, based on how much you get per some ridiculous amount of flowers.

This thing, on the other hand, is basically a fifty dollar piece of cardboard: http://www.amazon.com/Kodak-Color-Separation-Guide-Scale/dp/B00009R7GB/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1268370571&sr=8-2.

THIS thing, I mean: http://www.amazon.com/Kodak-Color-Separation-Guide-Scale/dp/B00009R7GB/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1268370571&sr=8-2

Soundmen. The kind that "operate" a mixing board.

yeah, it's rough when they're making way more than anyone in the band and doing a shitty job, but it's also a pretty thankless gig. if you do a good job, you usually don't get props, but everyone hates you if the sound is bad. and i would hate to have to show up early, deal with bands, and be the last one to leave. it's like all the worst parts of being in a band without getting to play any music.

Well it should be a thankless gig 'cause it's really so goddamn simple. Just don't mess it up, that's all you have to do. You are not doing anything creative. You are not doing anything that requires pre-planning or special expertise. You don't have to rehearse. Any idiot off the street could be taught how to do a soundman's job in under 30 minutes. Anyway, it's not "thankless" if you're getting guaranteed more money than the band could possibly be getting. The worst part of being in a band is lugging your equipment everywhere, and that's something a soundman never has to worry about. And what does "getting to play music" mean anyway? You don't just get to play music. You play it because you work at it and presumably are good at it. If you want to "get to play music" pick up an instrument and good luck to you...