Things that are just bafflingly expensive

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Not all messages are displayed: show all messages (608 of them)

Train ticket pricing is far more baffling than airline pricing. With the latter, it's usually just a case of the earlier you book, the cheaper it is. With trains, certain tickets become available at certain times, two singles are someetimes cheaper than a return, sometimes it's even cheaper to buy two separate A-B and B-C tickets than one A-B-C one when you need to change trains.

otm. and it's shocking how much you can be ripped off if you don't 'shop around' for the best priced ticket. For instance my monthly visits to Bristol could cost me £82 if I just asked the teller "return ticket to Bristol please", but booking online and looking for certain types of tickets I end up saving about thirty quid.

― Ste (Fuzzy), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:38 (seventeen years ago) link

29. Getting your car serviced at a main dealer.

Who does that? I thought everyone took it to A Little Bloke Down The Road.

(although, saying that, I have been pleasantly surprised by how competitively priced the dealership has been in doing some work on my BMW)

― C J (C J), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:39 (seventeen years ago) link

because the whole industry keeps something artificially expensive

how does that not make sense (to them)?

― reverto levidensis (blueski), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:39 (seventeen years ago) link

bottled water OTM.. how can it cost more than soft drinks i.e. water with added fun in it!!!!??!??!

― ken c (ken c), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:40 (seventeen years ago) link

How do you get around the counter to the popcorn in order to effect this trick? It seems dangerous.

You don't. Popcorn + pick'n'mix are freely available ~~to scoff at will~~ to fill up your container with in the main concourse of the cinema. (at least where I live, anyway)

― C J (C J), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:41 (seventeen years ago) link

non-price competition!

― jel -- (jel), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:41 (seventeen years ago) link

I think it's more a case of expecting things to come down in price after a while, as they do in most markets, but this never happening

xpost to Stevem

― Feargal Hixxy (DJ Mencap), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:42 (seventeen years ago) link

People don't buy things if they are cheap.

i.e

Panda cola

― jel -- (jel), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:42 (seventeen years ago) link

Pizza is insanely cheap i.e. free if you go to that bar in Williamsburg where they give it out. Do they still do it?

― reverto levidensis (blueski), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:42 (seventeen years ago) link

Roller Cola! Eight litres for 49p!

― C J (C J), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:43 (seventeen years ago) link

are you buying the tickets from the teller in advance though?

― ken c (ken c), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:43 (seventeen years ago) link

People don't buy things if they are cheap.
i.e

Panda cola

Yes there is a funny 'if it's that cheap it must taste shit' thing with this.

Fentimann's glass bottled cola is 're-assuringly expensive' otoh.

― reverto levidensis (blueski), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:44 (seventeen years ago) link

10p space invader crisps!

― jel -- (jel), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:44 (seventeen years ago) link

they were great tho

― reverto levidensis (blueski), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:44 (seventeen years ago) link

We need a thread about cheap things which aren't crap!

― C J (C J), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:44 (seventeen years ago) link

panda cola is a bad example though becuase it's ACTUALLY NASTY.

― ken c (ken c), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:45 (seventeen years ago) link

ken, no that would be the day of the travel. would that make a difference?

― Ste (Fuzzy), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:45 (seventeen years ago) link

yeh but jel is saying people don't even bother to find that out, i think

― reverto levidensis (blueski), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:46 (seventeen years ago) link

Yes there is a funny 'if it's that cheap it must taste shit' thing with this.

Price is generally a good indicator of quality.

Panda cola tastes shit. xpost grr.

― ledge (ledge), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:46 (seventeen years ago) link

Space Invaders crisps are horrible.

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:46 (seventeen years ago) link

31. Women's haircuts. I pay £5, my wife pays about £70.

― bham (bham), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:46 (seventeen years ago) link

Yes there is a funny 'if it's that cheap it must taste shit' thing with this.

Concept of 'brand equity' to thread.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:47 (seventeen years ago) link

God through female haircuts OTM. Why hasn't ANYONE tried doing a budget airline version of this? Chain of women's hairdressers that are cheap but have a reputation for being Not Shit.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:48 (seventeen years ago) link

No, we're talking about things where the price just makes no sense. Either because the whole industry keeps something artificially expensive and no one can be bothered to start a price war, or because they're considered a delicacy, or because there's wildly inconsistent pricing policy, or something like rail fares which is just absurd.

i forget what the proper term is for economics of luxury goods but for things like truffles, diamonds &c their "artificially" high price is an integral part of their market appeal in the first place

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:48 (seventeen years ago) link

EasyHairdresser

― reverto levidensis (blueski), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:49 (seventeen years ago) link

Because truffles aren't actually that tasty, you mean? See also caviar.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:49 (seventeen years ago) link

Ferrero Rochet?

― reverto levidensis (blueski), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:50 (seventeen years ago) link

Printer cartridges are dear because you're a captive audience - the printer is a loss leader that traps you into buying hugely pricey toner that you can't do without.

Macamadamia nuts are expensive because they need shelling by hand (I think?) because they'd be poisonous otherwise.

― === temporary username === (Mark C), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:50 (seventeen years ago) link

**Who does that? I thought everyone took it to A Little Bloke Down The Road**

Yes, I take it to the little guy down the road, but I have used the main dealer for one or two jobs over the years. You'd be amazed how many people just pay through the nose for jobs that any mechanic could do.

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:50 (seventeen years ago) link

run that one past me again. How can they be non-poisonous if you shell them by hand but poisonous if you shell them using a machine?

― New Mark H (New MarkH), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:51 (seventeen years ago) link

Bottom of market:

Gent's barber

Other end:

Male Grooming

Saw this on 211 bus through Fulham yesterday.

― jel -- (jel), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:52 (seventeen years ago) link

Mark C, you are thinking of Blowfish surely?

― jel -- (jel), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:53 (seventeen years ago) link

re: women's haircuts - having said that I pay a fiver to get my hair cut and it takes about five minutes; most ladies' cuts probably take several times that

― Feargal Hixxy (DJ Mencap), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:53 (seventeen years ago) link

Last £5 haircut I had took 45 mins and it was the best "no. 4 all over" I ever had.

― ledge (ledge), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:54 (seventeen years ago) link

How is it even possible to take that long?

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:55 (seventeen years ago) link

You go very slowly and talk to the other barbers a lot. It's part of what you pay for, at least for me.

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:56 (seventeen years ago) link

Iceland

― Ste (Fuzzy), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:59 (seventeen years ago) link

God, my last haircut took less than 45 minutes, including washing, cutting, drying and straightening. It cost £18. I do not understand ANYONE who pays £70 to get their hair cut.

(I had an ex-boyfriend who used to pay about £30 to get his hair cut. He was a poncey twat).

― ailsa (ailsa), Friday, 5 January 2007 12:00 (seventeen years ago) link

Mark H, you're right, I was misremembering. Macamadamias are a) very difficult to shell and b) need prolonged leaching to remove poisonous glycerides.

― === temporary username === (Mark C), Friday, 5 January 2007 12:00 (seventeen years ago) link

God through female haircuts OTM. Why hasn't ANYONE tried doing a budget airline version of this? Chain of women's hairdressers that are cheap but have a reputation for being Not Shit.

i always imagined part of the joy of female haircut is to be able to tell others how much you've spent on your haircut.

― ken c (ken c), Friday, 5 January 2007 12:05 (seventeen years ago) link

this is why diamonds are expensive, and rolex, and designer clothes.

― ken c (ken c), Friday, 5 January 2007 12:05 (seventeen years ago) link

oh xpost to lex

― ken c (ken c), Friday, 5 January 2007 12:07 (seventeen years ago) link

Lapdances.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Friday, 5 January 2007 12:08 (seventeen years ago) link

ken, no that would be the day of the travel. would that make a difference?

well buying in advance is usually cheaper than day of travel (you're paying for the convenience and flexibility of just wandering to the counter and get your ticket and go?)

― ken c (ken c), Friday, 5 January 2007 12:09 (seventeen years ago) link

i thought lap dances aren't that expensive.. it's the drinks at lap dancing places that kill your wallet?

― ken c (ken c), Friday, 5 January 2007 12:10 (seventeen years ago) link

How is it even possible to take that long?

Attractive Russian hairdresser, probably recently trained, being very slow and very methodical. I would recommend the experience if you're ever in Waterloo and in need of a haircut.

― ledge (ledge), Friday, 5 January 2007 12:10 (seventeen years ago) link

£20 for five minutes worth of entertainment? I'm trying to think of a more expensive form of entertainment, that'd get me, what, six hours worth of cinema?

Don't get me started on the drinks as well. £11 for a double whiskey and Coke I paid the other week.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Friday, 5 January 2007 12:11 (seventeen years ago) link

you went to a lapdance place

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 5 January 2007 12:11 (seventeen years ago) link

correct?

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 5 January 2007 12:11 (seventeen years ago) link

Skipping 508 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.