We all know some things are worth every penny, and others are absolutely not. You’ve been there. You’re minding your own business, buying groceries or looking for a new pair of shoes, and then you see it. A price tag that makes your eyes pop out of your head and wonder why anyone in their right mind would pay it. Other times instead, to make us skip a heartbeat or two, it’s a contract, a bill, or a medication receipt. Unfortunately for us ordinary folks, most of these things are essential items, because even those have the audacity to be THAT pricey. And when you find yourself in front of those insane numbers, you may wonder if price gouging is being tolerated a little too much.
More specifically, which things are criminally overpriced? What stuff is so expensive to the point of being ridiculous? That’s the question people were asked to answer on AskReddit. The results are in, and it turns out that these expensive things are far from being luxuries you can simply decide to give up. Sometimes, you really don’t have a choice.
If you’ve got a few minutes to spare, take a look at this list of overpriced products and services and see if you agree with what people have submitted. Some of these are sadly known for their exorbitant costs — healthcare, in the first place — others instead are more unexpected and will probably make you think, “Wait… you’re right!”
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"Prescription drugs in The US. It’s absolutely immoral that US politicians don’t do something to keep sick people from getting totally screwed."
"Human pharmaceuticals. My dog needed a chelation medication that my vet specifically said was on the pricy side but recommended a pharmacy that she worked with. I called with a prescription in hand, and they quoted $3,000+ for a month’s supply. Then the rep stated they accidentally read the cost for humans. The dog cost was actually $60. Same dosage, and same pill count, but adding chicken flavor and putting a little dog on the label dropped the price by 98%."
So now I'll bet people will be calling and asking for the dog chelation pills - 98% cheapers and bonus, they're chicken flavored!
"Adopting babies. $40,000 and people wonder why there are so many kids in orphanages."
Jfc, I had no idea adoption was so expensive in the US! That's shocking and disgusting and sad.
"Anything with the word "wedding" attached; photographer, cake, etc."
"Airport food and drinks. $7 for a granola bar. $6.95 for water. $22 for beer. $17 for a chicken wrap. $9 for trail mix. It’s criminal."
"Inhalers. I have a crappy high-deductible plan and pay $220 a month for something I need to breathe."
"Epi-pens in the U.S. I mean, at least it's not something I need to use regularly, but those things are SO expensive. I'm just trying to not die if I accidentally eat a peanut. Thankfully I found a much cheaper alternative, but they're hiking their prices now too."
"Eyeglasses. Because of a blatant monopoly."
“Luxottica controls 80% of the major brands in the $28 billion global eyeglasses industry….”
"Ticket website service fees!"
Tickets for anything - plays, sports, you name it, the only thing left for the common man to go to are the movies - well, except for the ridiculously overpriced snacks.
"An ambulance in the USA."
I have no idea why people are so patriotic about this country when this is just an example of how messed up the country is.
"Mental healthcare."
What mental health care? Not nearly enough therapists or Psychiatrists. They're all overbooked. Too expensive a degree for what it pays. I'm an American, we have and are all actively paying extra to fail our citizens. Because health care for-profit is evil. It's like we've set a judgment challenge that if you are too unlucky to be born wealthy enough to get good care then we as a nation DGAF if you die. We pay more for less than the rest of the entire planet for far worse results. Pay *extra* to prop up the 100% unnecessary health insurance industry. Only in USA do we need to concoct a separate for-profit industry to ensure you cannot actually afford to and now often can't find because of lack of practitioners. Because in USA profits-first wins. Every time. Always. In practice we place $0 value on human life, especially anyone earning median wages & below. Only the already successful are deemed worthy.
"Women's beauty products. They are often exactly the same as for men but just a different color, pink for example."
"Furniture? 1500 dollars for an ok-looking couch? No thank you."
"Disability equipment."
3D printer are everything for this market. If you know how to program it, you could make a bundle printing out devices for people for a fraction of the price companies charge and still make a profit.
"Baby formula, if you can find it."
I am counting the days till my baby is 1 because finding and buying formula is criminal. And even when you do your limited to how much you can buy.
"Diapers. One of the benefits of my old hospital was that employees could purchase diapers at cost from the medical supply company. A case of newborn diapers was $2.70. A case at Walmart is well over $40. The markup is criminal when you consider how many diapers a baby goes through in a day."
Buy cloth ones and laundry detergent. Millions of women did that until somebody invented disposable ones now stuffing all the landfills. Biggest rip off of the 20th century.
"Concert tickets. Ridiculous these days. The scalping bots snatch up all the tickets and it should be illegal. I refuse to pay for most concerts unless it is a once-in-a-lifetime chance and they are in my top five bands."
"My husband needs rituximab infusions due to rare kidney disease. They are $16,000 each. That's $16,000 per four-hour infusion. And they aren't covered by our insurance."
"Italian food in Italian restaurants. Specifically pasta. Like it's one of the cheapest things to make right? I know the ingredients are quality but why is this spaghetti $22???"
"Salads. Man, it's so frustrating, sometimes I just want something light and it costs me more than 6 hamburgers."
We have one really great salad bar in my town and it's $10+ for a decent small one, ridiculous.
"Adobe software."
It was so much better when you could buy the software. Now it's a subscription which sucks. I need it for my side gig but sometimes I go a month without using it and yet I still have to pay.
"Contacts and glasses. One time I got done with my appointment and couldn't afford the payment for the contacts. My glasses were broken and I was completely screwed until my next paycheck two weeks later."
Online markets have really slammed the glasses monopoly. My daughter needed glasses in junior high and the first pair we bought was $260, then when she broke those, we discovered Zenny and the other stores. $30 a pair? Yes, please!
"On a small scale? Hummus. Seems like everywhere in the US, a small tub of hummus is $5 or more and marketed like it's some kind of exotic, bougie foreign condiment. Dude, hummus costs nothing to make, I would almost wager it's cheaper to make than ketchup. And it takes almost no time. You pretty much throw shit in a blender and you're done. I had some friends over, and one of my friends didn't believe me. I walked into the kitchen and 10 mins later walked out with a massive bowl of hummus that just about everyone agreed was the best hummus they'd ever had (because they'd only ever had storebought crap)."
Hummus is mashed chickpeas aka garbanzo beans with seasoning added. Because it's chic to eat exotic - har har - they gouge you. Buy a can of chickpeas and as the op says make your own if you want mashed chickpeas.
"Pizza and soda. I worked at a local Phoenix chain when I was in college, and a large Pepperoni was between $10-$12 if I remember right. The soda was $1.50 for a large or so. After a while, I was promoted to shift supervisor and got to see the P&L data. Turns out it cost around $1.09 to make a large pepperoni pizza (including ingredients, labor, etc.), and a large soda costs the company around $.06."
But if people believe they're getting value and are prepared to pay $12 for a large pizza (which seems fine to me - you can feed two people on that) then what's the problem? You also need to factor in other costs when determining how much it costs to make the pizza: staff costs, running the oven, lights, heat. All of that costs money.
"Disneyland."
When I was a kid in the sixties, general admission was $1.65, and a 15 ticket book was $4.25. In 2009 I took my family of 8 for Christmas and the tickets alone were over $800. Not including the food, and the place was so overcrowded. From that point I decided never to visit again. And tickets are now double what they were then. Greedy sons of biitches!
"Popcorn at the movies. It's a scam."
I'm not ashamed to admit I brought in a shake, burger and fries once. My purse didn't look nearly big enough so they didn't look twice. (There was a food court at this theater so it wasn't out of place, just a third of the cost.). Once my sister brought in a 2 litre bottle of pop and cups in the arm of her coat. I'd happily buy from the theater if prices were fair.
"Maintaining a healthy lifestyle and health in general."
I disagree entirely. A healthy lifestyle can be had by simply walking places instead of driving, or even just GOING FOR A WALK every evening. Take the stairs instead of the lift. Eating healthily is often cheaper than junk food. I cook every night and creating a meal for four from scratch is often much cheaper than putting junk food in the oven.
"I know everybody is going to give better answers, but for the life of me, I cannot without why suitcases are so expensive. They're just plastic shells, a zip, and some wheels, yet they sell for hundreds."
"Albuterol. How the hell does a life-saving medicine go from $15 to $75 while simultaneously lowering the amount of dosage?"
Health insurance change? I've been using it for years, my copay has alwbeen $10, as far as I can remember. Or is that price without Health insurance?
"Everything scalpers have gotten their hands on. Game stations, graphics cards, you name it."
"Vehicles. The MSRP the dealer gives online never seems to be even remotely close to anything you can actually get your hands on."
This is why I always buy used! That and I can't afford new... Let someone with cash pay for all the options etc then let me pick it up at a discount.
"Therapy man a decent therapist is hella expensive."
If you can find one who cares, or even pays attention to what your needs are . Some are just want to medicate you to death. And the side effects, don't get me started.
"Toiletries. Basically, any product meant to keep you clean and non smelling cost a ludicrous amount. We spend so much money on soap, toothpaste, deodorant, etc. Feminine products like pads and tampons, which are a necessity, also cost a lot."
I see shampoo going for almost $7 just because they hype it up to be some miracle thing for your hair, crazy
"Braces."
"Have you seen the price of lettuce in Canada?"
"In a small town in Saskatchewan just last week one bunch of cauliflower was $21."
"Water."
So many places without clean water. You would think we were trying to make it from atoms by hand.
"Mattresses!"
I got arrested at a mattress store..... The salesman wanted me to buy immediately but I told him I would just sleep on it.
"Internet."
depends on where you live but having it as a human right is a big step in the right direction
"Legos. I get why but like... 800-900 dollars??? Really???"
The only 800-dollar Legos I know are those massive Star Wars sets like Millennium Falcon or Star Destroyer... I have this Darth Vader helmet which costs like 60-ish dollars - it's affordable-ish, looks amazing and doesn't take up much space.
"Parking at the airport."
And parking at doctors offices and hospitals. Should be totally illegal to have to spend $30 or more just to park for medical services.
"Grapes. This makes no sense. Buy an 8 pack of donuts for $2, and a bunch of grapes? $10"
Sugar is cheap because sugarcane is an easy crop and is so industrialized its cheaper to manufacture. Grapes take more effort to get intact and pretty to the store.
"Car parts."
And car repairs. Plus, modern cars are specifically engineered to make repairs and maintenance by owners nearly impossible.
"Anyone Christmas shopping right now might notice how ridiculously expensive kids' toys are."
Claim to have converted to Eastern Orthodox and take advantage of the December 26 sales with still two weeks to spare.
"Starting next year in Connecticut electricity rates are going up by 50%."
"Gluten-free food, especially since you generally get less of it than the gluten version."
It's a supply demand thing for this. Not many manufacturing it, stores have to shelve it but theoretically only people that need it would be buying it meaning the demand for it is both lower than other products but higher than the relative availability of non specialty products. It's a whole web.
"Flights on planes. We've had the ability to fly for over 100 years and a domestic one-trip flight is like $900-$1000 at minimum."
I kind of disagree. I fly regularly and haven't noticed that much of a price difference, i.e. a round trip from home to Seattle has been $250 +/- for years now.
"Eggs!"
I freaking love eggs. I buy 36 ct every month and when we can’t afford to eat, it’s eggs.
"Sanitary napkins, XXL, soft, gives you no rash or itching, soaks dry within seconds kind of napkin is so costly."
"Beer at an event."
Maybe go and enjoy events without having to drink? Or why not sodas or something else rather than alcohol? ;-;
"Los Angeles."
Fortunately you can easily avoid that cesspool of corruption and delusion.
"Trains in the U.K."
When the cost to the next city is about the national debt of a small country.
"Team branded sports apparel, things like Official football or NHL jerseys. Do people spend over $100-$200 for an "Official" jersey of their favorite player? It's just a cheap jersey with a person's name and number on it, I'll never understand."
"Carpets, they’re like $500-1000. It’s shocking."
"TI-83/ TI graphing calculators."
Ha! This made me laugh remembering how I was going to buy one that was required for high school. Never used any of the features past what a standard calculator would do.
"Alcoholic drinks at restaurants/bars."
"Starbucks."
"Hair combs for men. $7 WTF They are made from plastic. Everything is wrapped in plastic (even the comb). Should be 25 cents. I no longer use a comb. Just my fingers. Take that big comb."
Where the heck are you buying a comb? Go to the dollar store and get a multipack for $2.
"Designer clothes."
"Pokemon games man."
I keep saying they should just make an MMORPG and release new generations as expansions and charge $15/ month ...bet you people would flock to it, they would make even more money than they do selling their latest handheld and the next two games.
"I think their point was that most people don't even go skiing and just need something to get to the office and back. Sportswear for cold can justify a high price. most people just don't do that stuff."
Living in America seems to cover all of these things. One post for all. Most aren't applicable to other jurisdictions. Land of opportunity? Not anymore. 🤯
Most of these could be removed and replaced with the word, "healthcare." It's overpriced, I agree, but I didn't need to read 80/90 of the same thing. I was hoping to see more unusual items, like the furniture one, or sports wear, but when people wrote those, I saw comments like, "but you don't need that." I didn't realize, "overpriced," was synonymous with, "necessity."
If it's necessary foe people's lives then they're going to buy and no matter how expensive and that's why capitalism sucks (:
Load More Replies... Living in America seems to cover all of these things. One post for all. Most aren't applicable to other jurisdictions. Land of opportunity? Not anymore. 🤯
Most of these could be removed and replaced with the word, "healthcare." It's overpriced, I agree, but I didn't need to read 80/90 of the same thing. I was hoping to see more unusual items, like the furniture one, or sports wear, but when people wrote those, I saw comments like, "but you don't need that." I didn't realize, "overpriced," was synonymous with, "necessity."
If it's necessary foe people's lives then they're going to buy and no matter how expensive and that's why capitalism sucks (:
Load More Replies... 