Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

People Explain Which Things Are Actually Cheap To Make But Sell At A Ridiculous Price

People Explain Which Things Are Actually Cheap To Make But Sell At A Ridiculous Price
congerdesign from Pixabay

Businesses have to turn a profit to be able to stay operational.

We get it. A consumer is paying more than it costs to make the product to purchase the product. The upside of accepting this fact should be we're being provided a service and experience we couldn't possibly get on our own.

However, there are those products that are overcharged, especially compared to the development costs, that are charged a high price for what feels like no reason outside of making a ridiculous amount of money.


Redditor The_StoryTeller_Am wanted to hear what we're being ripped off on when they asked:

"What is cheaply made but sold at a ridiculous price?"

We've Failed As A Country

"Epi-pens. They cost like 2 bucks to make and then are sold for like $150"

Willis644

"Paid $400 two years ago."

Inlieuof456

stinging the simpsons GIFGiphy

Seeing The Numbers Laid Out For You

"I'll never forget learning that the movie theater I worked at paid $5 for a 24 pack of Dasani bottles. We charged $4.50 for 1."

DownBad1

"The movie theatre near me has a Starbucks built in with the same prices as other nearby Starbuxes. It's the cheapest drinks at the theatre."

ProfessionalYoghurt

You Might Say We're BLIND To The Costs?

"Glasses! I watched a video on the sunglasses/glasses/eyeware industry in middle school economics and we've been scammed this entire time!"

butteryturtle17

"I was a certified optician and ran a lens lab for Pearle Vision in the early 2000's."

"Our most expensive frames, excluding the weird Armani sh-t we carried, cost us $20-$30 per frame. They sold for $200-$400 depending. Our cheapest frames cost us $2-3 each, and none sold for less $50."

"The lenses, that's a lot of markup. I started in a brand new store, and we had a brand new lab full of Essilor hardware. Latest and greatest at the time. Standard lenses, nothing special just the standard CR32 plastic in a typical prescription? They cost $2 or so and we charged $40 each. So a "basic" pair of glasses cost us $8 in materials and was sold for $130."

ijustwanttobejess

Break It Down To Its Simplest Components

"Sodium Chloride IV bags in hospitals in the United States. It costs less than $1 to make but hospitals can charge over $200+ per bag."

ParaPixie

"$500 per bag...or so I have seen on medical records."

Inlieuof456

Overpriced Powder

" Makeup - that sh-t is produced cheap, especially the high end brands"

SlytherinGirl125

"This!! Most cosmetics in general basically. Part of why most makeup stores have such relaxed return policies... Eyeshadow palettes cost like 20 cents each to manufacture and sell for $50."

jengiekat

The Simpsons Reaction GIF by moodmanGiphy

Less Clothing Material Somehow Costs More?

Baby clothes are marked up by 1000% on average

GlutonForPUNishment

"No kidding. Buying clothes at Christmas for my niece, nephew, and stepson was flooring."

"Now we have another one on the way. I'm hoping hand-me-downs will be like 90% of the clothing we have for it."

wHUT_fun

Alan Wrenches Are Not The Way Of Lasting Through The Future

"I definitely feel like furniture is in this category. It's not sturdy like it was in the old days. Like how did my grandparents pass down tables through generations but now you're lucky if a coffee table lasts you within your own home's generation."

Mary_massacre

You Ever Thought About How Much Soda Is Anywhere Besides Theaters?

"Carbonated beverages and popcorn are what keep restaurants and movie theatres in business."

HIPS79

Costs Little To Plug In

"Any cable (usb, hdmi etc). They cost pennies to make"

Magazines192

"Company I used to work for would give us cables at the price they purchased them for. I would get HDMI and cell phone cables that would retail at $15-$20 for around $1-$2."

mockg

Ever Taken One Apart?

"Beats by Dr Dre. They cost less than 20 bucks to make, they're cheap and plastic-y and the earcups feel awful. If you want good headphones with some style get a pair of sony xm3 wh1000's. Aka sony noise cancelling bluetooth headphones. They're much better quality, more useable and sound better, and are over 50 bucks cheaper."

Rydoggo5392

Moving The Simpsons GIFGiphy

Don't Look At Them The Wrong Way

"iPhones. They are made with some of the same Samsung parts, but are made slowed down as new ones come out. They are God awful expensive, compared to the better, cheaper and easier to use, abuse and maintain, Samsung. Not to mention they the screens break when you look at them."

SpankingScreen

At-Home Printers Are A Nightmare

"Printer cartridges."

101forgotmypassword

"Lil fun fact. The [cartridge] in new printers are mostly just 1/2 or 1/4 filled :("

Feedcore

"Ink cardtridges."

"they only cost like .30 cents to make."

Which-Cockroach4958

Shoes Are Shoes

"Nike sneakers/gear."

"They are able to give so much of it away to their athletes and sponsors and still be Uber profitable because how much they make off the rest of us chumps overpaying"

aliciaf1

Coated In Gold

"Anything with fake gold on it. They will just raise the price because it has "gold" on it rather than the actual price it should be."

Guided_Gamer77

Pre-Game, Everybody

"Alcohol, just don't buy it at a bar or a club, buy it in a store and, if allowed, or if you can hide it well, take it to that bar or club."

"It is actually quite common in my country for people who go out at night to drink before getting to their destination, alcohol is so much more expensive to buy at certain places than it is at others due to the high demand that you could buy bottles of something for the price of a glass of it in a club, if you don't know how to make a certain drink yourself then you should really consider learning it and take it with you when going out."

HappyGuy223344

It's Only About Money. Every. Single. Year.

"College textbooks on their 2nd to 100th edition."

asecretspy

"It's annoying because they could keep the same text book and allow students to pass them onto the next generation of college students but no, they have to create a new book each time and make it a requirement to have that new book."

beluuuuuuga

the simpsons GIFGiphy

Okay, Seriously, We've Failed As A Country

"Insulin"

Scaryassmanbear

"It's criminal how much they charge compared to the manufacturing costs."

The_Mr_Ibad

Want to "know" more?

Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.

Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again.

More from Trending/best-of-reddit

Vivian Wilson
@vivllainous/Instagram

Elon Musk's Trans Daughter Just Made Her Drag Debut At An Anti-ICE Fundraiser—And Fans Are Obsessed

Elon Musk's disowned trans daughter Vivian Jenna Wilson has made a name for herself online for mercilessly dragging the father who once said she was "dead" to him because she was "killed by the woke mind virus."

But recently she took it to a new level, leveraging her fame in her first drag performance at a Los Angeles anti-ICE fundraiser.

Keep ReadingShow less
Donald Trump
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

Trump Administration Fast-Tracks Eliminating National Suicide Hotline's LGBTQ+ Youth Support

On Wednesday morning, news broke that the administration of MAGA Republican President Donald Trump was eliminating certain suicide and self harm resources provided through the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

The lifeline offered callers options to speak to people who specialize in meeting their needs. But the Trump administration decided this was a service that LGBTQ+ young people don't deserve.

Keep ReadingShow less
Donald Trump
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Trump Blasted For Announcing New Additions To The White House Lawn As Global Tensions Escalate

President Donald Trump was criticized after announcing that two new flagpoles would be added to the North and South Lawns of the White House—not the greatest look amid heightened global unease as tensions between Israel and Iran ramp up.

According to the Associated Press, Trump watched as a crane installed the newest flagpole on the South Lawn, remarking, “It’s such a beautiful pole.” He later returned to the site to salute as the American flag was raised for the first time.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots of Donald Trump from CNN supercut
CNN

Trump Mocked For 'Two Weeks' Iran Deadline With Supercut Of All His 'Two Weeks' Promises

President Donald Trump has a history of promising to resolve problems within "two weeks," and a new viral supercut mocks him for all the times he's said as much—including right now with tensions in the Middle East higher than ever.

Trump said Thursday he will decide within two weeks whether to involve U.S. forces directly in the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, citing what he called a “substantial chance” for renewed nuclear negotiations with Tehran.

Keep ReadingShow less
red flag with pole on seashore
Seoyeon Choi on Unsplash

People Break Down The 'Silent Red Flags' Folks Tend To Ignore In Relationships

A red flag has come to mean any warning sign in life, in addition to the literal red flags that are placed on beaches or industrial sites to warn people of danger.

People will respond to situations by saying, "That’s a red flag." But before that language evolved, they'd just call them "warning signs."

Keep ReadingShow less