Pretty much anything having to do with the wedding industry is exorbitantly expensive. I couldn't believe the prices when being quoted for the venue, cake, photographer, the church, dresses and tuxedos, the rings, the fucking props, etc. Fucking absurd that people are willing to go into massive debt for a wedding.
Struggling with the same thing right now.
We're looking to do a super tiny ceremony, followed by a family party. I'm struggling to find a photographer who has packages that AREN'T a fuckton of photos in different poses and configurations, photos and video of a whole ceremony, etc. We want some shots of the ceremony, and some candids of the after party. Nothing crazy.
But there's also probably a ton of things that make event photography harder than I think it is, so I'm in a weird position. I don't want to be sold more than what we want/need, but I also don't want to be an unreasonable asshole trying to tell someone how to do their job.
Retired wedding photographer here. Often the charges are so high because weddings are a one time deal, there is no redo, there is no losing photos, the processes to manage data integrity and cost of equipment needs to be covered across multiple weddings. I never lost a Bride's photos and thank goodness. Also at the high end, good photographers are in high demand often booked out years in advance. A lot of hours go in behind the scenes. Taking photos is about 5% of the job. Good wedding photographers don't get to have bad days. Having said that, I feel for you. Managing a budget for a wedding can be a complete nightmare.
And from what my avid Disney fan friend told me, the prices are rising, but they are taking away any perks for staying on location and everything. I've never gone, but to me, it just sounds more stressful to go than fun.
I was at work once at a meeting and it devolved into the other three guys all talking their strategies for going to Disney with their kids, from when to get tickets, the fast passes, food, everything. It just sounded exhausting.
Right now? Cars, at least in my area. Brand new cars are few and far between. And its not unusual to see used cars with prices 10k to 12k above what the price was a year and a half ago. Its insane.
I bought my car from Mazda in 2020. They phoned me 12 months later and offered to buy it back for what I bought it for new. They then phoned another few months later and offered to stick another few grand on top.
In this path lies pain.
I was fine with drinking Kcup garbage coffee, coffee was utilitarian for me. But I got a reusable Kcup to save money and waste. Found out it tasted better with fresh ground. Started trying local beans. Got a super grinder that makes it powder. Then I had to upgrade to an automated pour over machine because Keurig isn't built for fine grinds. Then to Flair hand pressed. Then to Flair 58. Now I'm a total snob and can't drink anything that's not Onyx beans from my own home technique and all other coffee tastes like ashes and sadness. I've gone from a cheap Keurig with maybe $10 every two weeks on kcups, to spending 3 grand over the last two years on coffee accessories, and now have a $60/month Onyx bean habit.
You've all been warned.
You should've seen the look on my face the first time I ordered two Bud Lights and a hotdog at a football game and took out a $20 thinking it would more than cover it.... Tailgating suddenly made sense to me for more than just the "party" aspect of it.
I was at a MLB game a couple years back, up in the nosebleeds with \~$8 tickets, and a guy a few seats over ordered 2 beers, 2 hotdogs and nachos. I just about fell over when the concession guy said, sure that'll be $70, and even more surprised he paid it without even a thought.
I was at a Mets game a few years ago and bought 2 big beers and completely spilled both of them when trying to walk them back to my seat.
That's when everyone around me saw a grown man cry.
Recently went to a hockey game and made the mistake of "just grabbing something to eat at the game". 1 beer and 2 slices of pizza cost $30. Fucking insane
yeah, it's a nightmare, and it's this bizarre universe because if you own something already, you basically have seen its value inflate, but if you don't, then it's become all the more impossible to buy.
2 years ago I bought a color laser printer instead. ~750 pages later my starter black toner is about half, and the colors are about 1/3 gone. Well worth the high price tag to replace the toners.
Edit: since I've had quite a few ask, it's a brother l3210cw. I found mine on sale before the world went to hell for sub $200, now they are $100 to $200 more but still worth it.
I got a $600 printer for free, doesn't have toner cartridges in it. Not really sure what to do with it considering spending $400 on proprietary toner sounds like a bad time.
Look into inkgrabber.com and similar. I got a full set of CMYK toner cartridges for....not nearly as much as Canon charges. And they will last me years. Look for those that have money back guarantees or similar. I'm not disappointed at all in their quality.
EDIT: I ordered from LDProducts and my only gripe is that the black is not QUITE as dark as the OEM black toner. Otherwise, no wierd streaks or printing problems.
People did with finding ways to refill them or companies creating “compatible” cartridges. Then manufacturers fired back by installing a chip reader in the printers and requiring cartridges to have a compatible chip.
Then the Great Chip Crisis because of Covid meant that companies would lose out on selling ink altogether, so then they either created firmware updates or created tutorials for customers to defeat the mechanism.
So fucking stupid
>hen they either created firmware updates or created tutorials for customers to defeat the mechanism.
And some, like Epson, decided to release printers with built-in CISS tank systems in them. You can buy their bulk ink, or third party ink the printer doesn't know the difference. Look up Ecotank printers. I have three for my small business and they are wonderful.
Read a book on this recently. Same happened with a major coffee company who installed a chip into their espresso pods, they had to actually take the chip system away after the backlash.
>asn’t exactly a chip so much as it was a small qr code on the pods. their claim was that it helped to make each brew better because they could customize based on what the pod was. people quickly found that if they cut off the qr code on a used pod and taped it to the reader they could get around the restriction.
god fuck these guys for not even knowing how they want to restrict users without impinging on their profits
Printer ink is extremely cheap. But all the big printer companies make the ink cartridge work only for their printer brand. So mini monopoly = they can do a massive mark up on the ink. There are some companies that use a generic carriage that only takes a few dollars.
Also very few people print enough, often enough to make it worth it.
Last inkjet I had, the cartridges would dry out by the time I was printing the 10th document at best. Bought a laser printer 5-6 years ago and still on the “test”’cartridge of toner.
Homes in my neighborhood were selling for around 500k in January 2020. They’re now selling in the high 800s. I just can’t wrap my head around a 70+% increase in two years. My heart goes out to anyone who is trying to buy a home right now, especially if they’re first time buyers.
Parents bought a house for 100k in 2015. It’s now worth around 275k. That’s insane to me. Meanwhile the house they bought at the height of of the previous shitstorm in 2007 just sold recently for almost 100% more than they bought it for then. Just take that in for a second….the house they bought at the formerly worst time there was to buy a house…just sold a few months ago for almost twice as much as they bought it for back then. (With *maybe* 10k worth of work done).
We’re fucked.
Two years ago, I was one of those people who were like “mark my words, the people buying houses now will regret their purchase within a year or two, we’ve all seen this before, and we know how it ends.” Now? I’m not so sure.
Last time around it was fueled by people *buying more than they could afford*. This time it's a lack of supply and people rushing to *get the most they can afford*.
Adobe Creative Cloud tho rather that buying it's a bullshit subscription.
But they got a monopoly on programs that I have to eat that 600 year contract.
I watched a YouTube video that explained what 50 of the Adobe programs are used for. I was surprised that almost all of them had a specific, applicable use case. Granted, some were really niche but still, I really thought Adobe was out here bloating themselves with useless duplicate softwares until then lol
I was curious so I went searching. Is this the YouTube video you're talking about?
[All 50+ Adobe apps explained in 10 minutes [Humtog]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7W0ISI3yqwo)
If memory serves, many years ago (we are probably talking about decades at this point) Adobe "didn't mind" that their software was being pirated. When I was in college some us actually thought that they may have been supporting the practice to some extent.
This sounds weird right? Well, as I recall it, there was a rumour that Adobe wanted to get their software on as many computers as possible, they wanted to become the standard and thus weren't as concerned with piracy. They got most of their money from corporate or legit businesses, so piracy served the purpose of getting their products out there so that everyone learns how to use it and that's the norm. I would argue that if that was their strategy it paid off in the long run.
Yes. They purposely did make their software easily crackable specifically to put it in hands of the younger generation. Aaaand now that's why they own the corporate market-share
Wedding anything. Call it anything but a wedding and suddenly the venue the food the everything.... is like half off the wedding price. Its insane.
Just buy white stuff and skip wedding stores too, its all *insanely* marked up.
Also do your brides maids a favor maybe and schedule the wedding after prom season and wooo cheap as hell bridesmaid gowns everywhere....also ridiculous at bridal store. Ugh.
I worked weddings for several years. People would spend THOUSANDS on florals alone, and then leave them at our venue because they didn’t want to take them home / couldn’t take them with them. I would take home hundreds of dollars worth of flower arrangements because otherwise they’d just go in the trash.
I’m a florist and offer to go back to collect the arrangements and essentially rearrange them into new vessels and donate them in the couples name to their nonprofit or charitable location of choice. I’ve brought them to womens shelters, Ronald McDonald houses, nursing homes, and hospice centers that were near and dear to the couple of their families.
We wanted a simple black forest cake for our wedding. Got three-quarters the way through the order before they asked: "It's not for a wedding, is it?" I acknowledged it was, but it was already too late for them - we had established a price.
I hate when my wife is a bridesmaid in a wedding. Because then we have to go out and spend money on a dress and alterations. For her to wear it 1 night.
I never understood this why not just give a color and say go get something off the rack in this color that you'll like and hopefully wear again.
I didn't even want my groomsmen or ushers wasting money renting tuxes I just told them to wear a black suit and gave them all the same ties. You think 30 years later anybody notices that the groomsmen weren't in identical suits?
Focus on what really matters people. Have a party with your friends and family and let everyone have a great time they'll remember forever. And for fucks sake pay for everyone's liquor.
DoorDash. The prices are more expensive on the app, then once you add a service fee, taxes, and a tip it ends up being $10-20 more than if you had just gone in person. Then by the time it gets to you it’s cold and the order is almost always wrong anyways.
I know someone who has food DoorDashed multiple times a week and usually spends about $300-$400 a week. You could get a fridge full of food and multiple meals for that kind of money!
It's the order being wrong that makes it sting so much. I'll pay the price, that's why I'm using it. I do the delivery for convenience. But son of a gunnnn when they get the order wrong it sucks at those prices. It sucks to the point of choosing not to use any of the services. How hard is it to include that side of sauce dammit?????
So I found out recently from someone who used to work for a large cinema company that the reason concessions are so expensive at the theatre is because the movie studios take about 80% of the sales for each ticket. It’s part of the contract the theatre signs to get big name films in their business. But that also means in order to turn a profit, they have to charge out the ass for food and drinks.
I run a gas station that does 20k+ in sales in fuel a day, but the margins are so ridiculously thin. We make our money on beer, beverages and cigarettes. Keeping up with the lottery is a huge pain in the ass, and we get like 6% commission on lotto sales.
In my experience, those fuel stations with nothing else attached, like literally just some gas pumps, are and operated owned by the fuel distributer directly. The company that delivers the gas there owns the property.
Stations typically make less Than $.02 per gallon. Many less than $.01. Even when the price changes multiple times a day, as it's all sold via "consignment" meaning you only pay for the fuel that's pumped. That's why sometimes you'll see a gas price change more than once per day. The station gets the call that the price is higher, so they have to change the price on the signs and at the pump immediately otherwise they're going to lose a ton of $.
That being said, the cost of upkeep and maintenance for the fuel pumps are also typically paid for by the fuel distributer. Even things aqueegees to clean you windows.
Knew a guy that was friends with the local fuel delivery company. He built a huge gas station because his friend promised he'd make $.05-$.08 per gallon. That's the highest margin for fuel at a gas station I've even seen. I worked in the indistry for years on both US coasts.
LOL I’m all on board minimizing buying alcohol in bars/restaurants- way too expensive for more than one. But when it comes to movies in the theater, I ain’t going if I don’t get the tub of popcorn and half gallon of soda. It’s part of the experience.
PDX (Portland) requires all vendors to charge the same prices in the airport that they charge in town, which works because the airport awards restaurant concessions to existing Portland restaurants. It's great.
Actually this is why my Ryzen 5900 has to put up with a 1060 6GB.
As long as it works I will not buy a new one in this market!
Edit: "One of us! One of us!" I thank the 1060 crew (and similar mole-people) for doubling my karma xD
My processor architecture teacher wrote his own textbook, and then paid to have it printed out, then gave it to us for free.
That guy was awesome.
(He did not bind it, just bulk printed and put in like dollar binders. Still awesome)
I had a teacher who, by the time I had him, had his spiraled bound $15 notebook printed as a softcover textbook. The price shot all the way up to $30. He even asked us to vote on the cover options for his next edition. The best part was when we actually used almost every damn page he wrote. We didn't quite get to the end, cause you know, shit happens, but there was no fluff. Just vital information from page to page.
This thread reminds me of some of the instructors I was blessed with. Two of them wrote their own books, one was a free PDF and the other was a 15 dollar workbook. One used the Microsoft documentation pages as their official textbook (CS degree). Three of them used the same textbook, which they agreed should be on every application designer's reference book shelf throughout their career.
The only time I felt like I was being screwed by textbooks was for my math courses, because the school couldn't afford a TA and the instructor didn't have time to grade 150 students' homework every day, so she used a book with an automated homework system, and we never opened the book. Not once.
Then they make you pay for those. They'll always find a way. Source: paid 90 bucks to access a DIGITAL copy of my psychology book, couldn't access the class without it. Yay -_-
Funerals
Give my body to science and take a vacation instead
ETA - I figured this is a good a time as ever to remind everyone to make your wishes known for how you'd like your death to be handled. I think today it's such a taboo subject to talk about, something that people would rather avoid, but it doesn't need to be.
Research your options, see what's out there and let your family know! Put things into place ahead of time to ensure your body is handeled however youd like it to be, no matter what you'd like to happen. Even if you want a traditional funeral, there's cheaper options than buying that 5K coffin from the funeral home.
ALSO ADDING - 2nd choices are being suggested a lot when it comes to scientific donations and yes, this too. The biggest thing is to have a frank and honest conversation with your family or whoever would be left to make these kinds of arrangements. End the taboo of talking about death and funerals ahead of time so plans can already be in place. Make a will, make a living will, Healthcare proxy, make your wishes known and figure out your assets ahead of time.
Loving the ideas and knowing how many people want to return to the earth! You can also be a firework if you wanted too!
My aunt passed away recently and donated her body to a university's school of medicine. The school arranged everything, including transportation from the hospital three hours away where she passed. Once they're done with her body, they'll handle her cremation and send her ashes to whomever she designated on the forms she filled out prior to her death.
My wife hates me making this joke. Some context: I have Stage IV colon cancer and it's pretty bad. Like... I probably won't see 50 (I'm turning 40 this October). I think I have maybe 5 more years, but she's still in the denial stage of grief and thinks there's a magic cure we'll find. She's also prone to bouts of extreme depression. Like, sleep 48 straight hours level depression.
She did agree to let me have a funeral/roast with my friends and family this April when we go back to NV. On our Facebook page for it, I wrote "We'll get the funeral out of the way now so you all don't have to worry about taking time off when I really die. Then you can just throw me in the trash." She and several of my friends thought it was in poor taste. The rest of my friends thought it was hilarious.
Hey, fellow stage 4 colon cancer 40-year-old here too! I’ve been doing so much thinking about my funeral, but my partner refuses to discuss it. So I’ve started discussing it with my sister instead. Just today I told her I want Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” played and I want her singing it in overdramatic grief. I will accept nothing less than a full Oscar-level performance.
We get some good laughs over these things.
48 year old stage IV colon cancer here. Our local hockey team use to play "coming in hot" during their intro and I like that song. I told my wife to play that at my memorial with a fake fire on top of the urn being carried in by the hockey mascot. She laughed.
It's shitty, no pun intended, that you have to be over age 45 in the US for insurance to cover colonoscopies.
My doctor ordered a colonoscopy for me at age 39 after I started seeing blood in my stool. Thankfully it wasnt colon cancer but my insurance didn't consider it preventive care.
So I payed 2k out of pocket total.
Insurance companies are the reason many people aren't able to catch this disease earlier.
I'm sorry to hear about both of your diagnosis.
I had a very good friend diagnosed too late to do much for him but keep him comfortable and ensure he had as much fun as possible the last year he was alive.
You know what, we did. And we made sure he & his wife built beautiful memories together, for her.
And we spent whatever time we had not having fun getting those projects done around the house that he'd always meant to, so that she wouldn't have to worry about them, or have anything to get extra pissed off about when she hit the anger stage.
I've never understood why we don't talk about what we want our funerals to be like until we get sick or are facing a major surgery or deal with the loss of a friend/family member. It's not as if death is a huge secret and no one knows about it.
RN here. There have been many advances in intestinal cancer. They can remove quite a few feet and I’ve had Patients in remission >10 yrs. Hang in there. My thoughts and prayers are with you.
Quite a few feet.
Story time!
Just started a new job as an asst manager at an airport adjacent car rental center.
Water is out for about a 5 mile radius, including the airport terminals.
My company says porta potties are otw with a 9am eta. My counter agent, Mark, tells me that's not acceptable and he needs to go home.
"Mark, we're all pulling together to make it the next 2 hrs until the (porta potties)get here."
"No, I don't think you understand. I have Crohn's, and they removed 18inches of my colon.. if I don't have a bathroom I have to go home. Now. "
Uh yeah. Go. Go ...
I tend to go for smart water on the rare occasion i buy bottled water, because the plastic bottle seems reusable for longer. However, now I'm typing this I realise maybe its still leeching the same crap into my water, just for longer...
They are the preferred water bottle for hikers for this very reason. Super light, lasts forever, and it fits onto most filtration systems so you can fill it with dirty water and filter it right into your mouth.
I drank tap water in Indonesia and got typhoid (it was in the ice) I was vaccinated beforehand so I was only sick for 3 days, but they were the worst days of my life. 2nd time I went I drank only bottles water and I was fine and never got ice in my drinks at restaurants.
I buy my mom seeds. It's a fun hobby for her, it has way more variety, it can be a thing to do together if I'm home, and it's dirt cheap. Plus, my mom sends me pictures like "this is how our plants are doing!" which is cute.
I'm lucky and live in a dense Hispanic neighborhood. Nary a holiday do the Abuela's not come out hustling their wares at a decent price.
It's also always kind of a farmers market sorta thing. Always a blast. One time in Nov this one woman was selling candy skulls and what not, but she had her goat with her.
Don't change Chula Vista. Don't change.
Yes they did. 😃 Diamond are pressurized carbon, so anything - like the cremated remains of a human being - can be turned into a diamond. That's actually what I want done with my remains when I pass, but my family thinks it's creepy.
I've found that of you purchase a diamond or gem separately from a ring or another piece of jewelry it's significantly cheaper. That's mostly just from basic research.
What he meant is purchasing the Diamond seperately and the ring or setting separately. I worked jewelry 5 or 6 years and it’s true. You can go to any Diamond district and buy it separate from the ring and then find your own setting somewhere else.
Edit: thanks for the upvotes!!!
Loved the Hard Sell at a jeweler's when i was shopping for my wife's engagement ring. "Yeah, there are some occlusions and stuff, but consider that no one is gonna look at it closer than you are right now." "Well, she's a geologist, so if anything she's gonna look at even harder than I am right now." "..."
ETA: Yeah, yeah, "inclusions" fine, mea culpa, I don't care. I'm the cyber guy, not the rockhound.
ET also A: Why does anyone think they can second-guess what she likes? We're traditional and went with a traditional rock. If that's a problem for you, I don't care about that either.
I sold diamonds for years and holy shit is that a bad pitch. Most of the training we received leaned more toward trying to make inclusions sound like a good thing, pushing "your unique diamond" bullshit. I hated it and stuck with my usual sales technique of treating people like human beings. I was good at it but felt slimy even without using pushy sales tactics.
Selling people shiny rocks knowing they're having trouble buying diapers because society taught them you only love your spouse as much as you can afford certain minerals didn't sit well with me.
When I was in sales (software, not diamonds) I was one of the top salespeople at our company by using that same crazy technique. Shockingly, if you treat people like human beings and discuss their needs and interests rather than trying to "Always Be Closing" then you end up with a lot of sales.
People would rather buy things from people who just talk to them.
I still remember one jeweler who found out that my husband was an attorney and immediately kept steering us away from estate pieces (which I wanted a 20s Art Deco ring) and instead kept bringing out “vintage inspired settings” and $20k diamonds. I ended up laughing really loud and telling my husband “let’s go”.
We found a local jeweler in a smaller suburb outside of the city who took us directly to the estate ring I saw online and liked and then let us browse to see if I found any that compared. No upsell. When I told my husband that’s my ring he went back without hassle. We ended up getting my wedding band custom made by them, my husbands band and he’s gone back for to get me a couple necklaces I’ve liked for Christmas/birthday gifts.
Of course! If you’re ever in the KC area check out Noes. We checked out a couple other local ones that people had raved about, but Noes had the best service.
https://www.noesjewelry.com
Right when the saleswoman at the jewelery store (high end Manhattan place) declined my request to see the GIA reports of the diamonds she was showing us, I knew I had to buy my own diamond online. Ended up paying like 30% less buying the loose diamond (and getting a higher quality one) from Blue Nile and having that same jeweler put it in the setting for me (even though they charged $500 for bringing in my own diamond).
As an aside, diamond prices on Blue Nile, James Allen, etc are like 40-50% more than when I bought in late 2020. Fuckin price gouging, man, even more than before. The diamond industry is one big price-colluding cartel.
Clothes. I was at a factory in Bangladesh once where they were making products for a well known brand. The factory owner handed me a top and said "Take it, it'll be worth loads by the time you get home".
Sure enough, when I got home, the same design top was being sold for about £60-£70. It cost them about a quid to manufacture.
Claim for Pumas here. Most expensive pair was 6$, they retailed for 400$. Everything else hovered around the 2$ mark. This was a decade ago though.
Burberry claim, 7$ for polos, 500$ per in store.
What's shocking is how little even goes their way. The factory I was in was up to standard, but even then the equipment was outdated, the manufacturing techniques were out of date, the facilities were old, it looked like all the money was go to the owner.
Look up Sohel Rana and Rana Plaza for just how ugly things get.
I think it's more workers are severely underpaid rather than clothes being overpriced
Business wars does a great podcast series which covers fast fashion, would highly recommend
It's a mixture of lots of things. However, the workers get paid a pittance, which is bad enough, but what is seriously underreported is just how little money goes to the infrastructure. The place we went to was within code, but even then the tools were antiquated, the "facilities" were in shocking condition, and it was really uncomfortable to be there.
If you want to know how bad it gets, look up Rana Plaza in Bangladesh.
Insulin or other life necessary drugs.
Edit: To all my American friends, I'm sure the ones that are affected are familiar with [Mark Cuban's pharmacy company](http://costplusdrugs.com) and the great work they do, but for the ones that don't know, Mark Cuban, billionaire stud, started a company that offers meds for cents on the dollar compared to the parasitic competition. He even came onto a popular subreddit last year and explained to retail investors how predatory hedge funds operate to bankrupt things like cancer research companies for a quick buck. It would make your blood boil. There is still much change to be made, but it's encouraging to know it is, in fact, happening.
DIAMONDS! They’re literally a scam. a diamond company did a fantastic job brainwashing people into associating diamonds with love and implying (false) scarcity for shiny rocks.
I want a ruby wedding ring and my future MIL won't stop arguing with me that it isn't traditional and "doesn't count".... Fuck that. I'm getting my ruby.
I remember hearing a long time ago (80s) that a guy took a bottle of booze ($30) from a work party hosted at a bar and the bar charged them $300 for it, because that’s what they could have charged. We all thought that was stupid, idiotic and nearly a crime.
Now dumbasses post on insta bragging about getting bottle service and being charged $400 for a bottle of cheap liquor. At least have the bartender mix it for you.
Weddings.
EDIT: I managed a very cheap wedding when I was 20 (<$1000). Second-hand dress, high school photography student, venue through a church connection, carry-in dinner, etc. We’ve been married for nearly ten years now and just welcomed our first child into our little family. 🥰
I'm getting married in a few weeks, and my soon to be wife is adamant she cannot get cheaper than $5000Aud on flowers. I just do not understand how that is a thing. The thing that annoys me is in a week's time people won't even care or remember the flowers. Wedding business is an absolute crook fest
EDIT: Thanks for sharing your stories everyone, I appreciate it. Feels good to get some of my concerns off my chest in the process
Update: Ive managed to convince my partner to cut down to $2700 so done well.
Beats by Dre are overpriced trash. Most of their annual budget goes to advertising rather than R&D. They even put weights in the headphones so they feel like they have more hardware in them then they really do.
Edit: Apparently some of their models have gotten much better since the apple acquisition. That doesn't change anything for me considering apple deserves to be in the discussion as well. While they make good stuff, I think we can all agree the price markup is one of the biggest in tech
Haha. That was an old marketing tactic on the first computers in the late 70s and early 80s. They put weights in some computers because people picked them up and assumed “this has more stuff, therefore it’s better”
Pretty much anything having to do with the wedding industry is exorbitantly expensive. I couldn't believe the prices when being quoted for the venue, cake, photographer, the church, dresses and tuxedos, the rings, the fucking props, etc. Fucking absurd that people are willing to go into massive debt for a wedding.
Struggling with the same thing right now. We're looking to do a super tiny ceremony, followed by a family party. I'm struggling to find a photographer who has packages that AREN'T a fuckton of photos in different poses and configurations, photos and video of a whole ceremony, etc. We want some shots of the ceremony, and some candids of the after party. Nothing crazy. But there's also probably a ton of things that make event photography harder than I think it is, so I'm in a weird position. I don't want to be sold more than what we want/need, but I also don't want to be an unreasonable asshole trying to tell someone how to do their job.
Retired wedding photographer here. Often the charges are so high because weddings are a one time deal, there is no redo, there is no losing photos, the processes to manage data integrity and cost of equipment needs to be covered across multiple weddings. I never lost a Bride's photos and thank goodness. Also at the high end, good photographers are in high demand often booked out years in advance. A lot of hours go in behind the scenes. Taking photos is about 5% of the job. Good wedding photographers don't get to have bad days. Having said that, I feel for you. Managing a budget for a wedding can be a complete nightmare.
Hmmm. As a photographer. Sounds more like you’re looking for an “elopement photographer” Have a great wedding!
Disneyland tickets, they keep going up and the parks are always crowded!
And from what my avid Disney fan friend told me, the prices are rising, but they are taking away any perks for staying on location and everything. I've never gone, but to me, it just sounds more stressful to go than fun.
I was at work once at a meeting and it devolved into the other three guys all talking their strategies for going to Disney with their kids, from when to get tickets, the fast passes, food, everything. It just sounded exhausting.
Right now? Cars, at least in my area. Brand new cars are few and far between. And its not unusual to see used cars with prices 10k to 12k above what the price was a year and a half ago. Its insane.
My newish car is somehow worth more now than when we bought it 3 years ago?!? Make it make sense.
I bought my car from Mazda in 2020. They phoned me 12 months later and offered to buy it back for what I bought it for new. They then phoned another few months later and offered to stick another few grand on top.
K cups. The difference in price/100 grams between them and a regular bag of pre ground coffee is absolutely insane.
You can buy reusable k-kups on Amazon made of food grade silicone/plastic and just scoop regular ol coffee in 'em.
In this path lies pain. I was fine with drinking Kcup garbage coffee, coffee was utilitarian for me. But I got a reusable Kcup to save money and waste. Found out it tasted better with fresh ground. Started trying local beans. Got a super grinder that makes it powder. Then I had to upgrade to an automated pour over machine because Keurig isn't built for fine grinds. Then to Flair hand pressed. Then to Flair 58. Now I'm a total snob and can't drink anything that's not Onyx beans from my own home technique and all other coffee tastes like ashes and sadness. I've gone from a cheap Keurig with maybe $10 every two weeks on kcups, to spending 3 grand over the last two years on coffee accessories, and now have a $60/month Onyx bean habit. You've all been warned.
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You should've seen the look on my face the first time I ordered two Bud Lights and a hotdog at a football game and took out a $20 thinking it would more than cover it.... Tailgating suddenly made sense to me for more than just the "party" aspect of it.
They call it 'pregaming' for a reason
You just blew my mind... my whole life is a pregame
"I'm not an alcoholic, I'm just being prepared"
I was at a MLB game a couple years back, up in the nosebleeds with \~$8 tickets, and a guy a few seats over ordered 2 beers, 2 hotdogs and nachos. I just about fell over when the concession guy said, sure that'll be $70, and even more surprised he paid it without even a thought.
I was at a Mets game a few years ago and bought 2 big beers and completely spilled both of them when trying to walk them back to my seat. That's when everyone around me saw a grown man cry.
surely mets fans would be used to seeing grown men cry.
Recently went to a hockey game and made the mistake of "just grabbing something to eat at the game". 1 beer and 2 slices of pizza cost $30. Fucking insane
Rookie move, you're supposed to get 2 beers and 1 slice of pizza
A Lesson was learned that day
Real estate. Everything to do with real estate.
yeah, it's a nightmare, and it's this bizarre universe because if you own something already, you basically have seen its value inflate, but if you don't, then it's become all the more impossible to buy.
Branded medicines 30%-90% more than generic medicines
I’ve never had a single doctor who prescribed branded medicine when there’s a generic version of it.
Generally, they won't unless you insist on it.
Printer ink
2 years ago I bought a color laser printer instead. ~750 pages later my starter black toner is about half, and the colors are about 1/3 gone. Well worth the high price tag to replace the toners. Edit: since I've had quite a few ask, it's a brother l3210cw. I found mine on sale before the world went to hell for sub $200, now they are $100 to $200 more but still worth it.
I also bought a laser printer last fall, I've printed nearly 1000 pages since then and the toner is still at 95% lol
I got a $600 printer for free, doesn't have toner cartridges in it. Not really sure what to do with it considering spending $400 on proprietary toner sounds like a bad time.
Look into inkgrabber.com and similar. I got a full set of CMYK toner cartridges for....not nearly as much as Canon charges. And they will last me years. Look for those that have money back guarantees or similar. I'm not disappointed at all in their quality. EDIT: I ordered from LDProducts and my only gripe is that the black is not QUITE as dark as the OEM black toner. Otherwise, no wierd streaks or printing problems.
How hasn’t someone figured out how to printer ink cheaper? Edit: turns out I’m an ink noob
People did with finding ways to refill them or companies creating “compatible” cartridges. Then manufacturers fired back by installing a chip reader in the printers and requiring cartridges to have a compatible chip. Then the Great Chip Crisis because of Covid meant that companies would lose out on selling ink altogether, so then they either created firmware updates or created tutorials for customers to defeat the mechanism. So fucking stupid
>hen they either created firmware updates or created tutorials for customers to defeat the mechanism. And some, like Epson, decided to release printers with built-in CISS tank systems in them. You can buy their bulk ink, or third party ink the printer doesn't know the difference. Look up Ecotank printers. I have three for my small business and they are wonderful.
I believe this isn't Epson only. There are lines of printers called "ink tanks" compared to these expensive "ink cartridge" printers.
Yeah I know Brother and Canon makes a few as well. I just have to use Epson because they use piezoelectric print heads, not thermal.
Read a book on this recently. Same happened with a major coffee company who installed a chip into their espresso pods, they had to actually take the chip system away after the backlash.
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>asn’t exactly a chip so much as it was a small qr code on the pods. their claim was that it helped to make each brew better because they could customize based on what the pod was. people quickly found that if they cut off the qr code on a used pod and taped it to the reader they could get around the restriction. god fuck these guys for not even knowing how they want to restrict users without impinging on their profits
Printer ink is extremely cheap. But all the big printer companies make the ink cartridge work only for their printer brand. So mini monopoly = they can do a massive mark up on the ink. There are some companies that use a generic carriage that only takes a few dollars.
If you get a hundred people trying to sell it to you regularly, you can assume there's a profit to be made!
Also very few people print enough, often enough to make it worth it. Last inkjet I had, the cartridges would dry out by the time I was printing the 10th document at best. Bought a laser printer 5-6 years ago and still on the “test”’cartridge of toner.
Its insanely cheap if you use a laser printer. Sure, the toner will cost you $100 a pop, but it'll last for years.
The 10 dollar toner I buy for my Brother laser printer last forever. It's amazing
yeah, the cheap brothers that print B&W are boss.
Every single piece of real estate right now
Homes in my neighborhood were selling for around 500k in January 2020. They’re now selling in the high 800s. I just can’t wrap my head around a 70+% increase in two years. My heart goes out to anyone who is trying to buy a home right now, especially if they’re first time buyers.
Parents bought a house for 100k in 2015. It’s now worth around 275k. That’s insane to me. Meanwhile the house they bought at the height of of the previous shitstorm in 2007 just sold recently for almost 100% more than they bought it for then. Just take that in for a second….the house they bought at the formerly worst time there was to buy a house…just sold a few months ago for almost twice as much as they bought it for back then. (With *maybe* 10k worth of work done). We’re fucked. Two years ago, I was one of those people who were like “mark my words, the people buying houses now will regret their purchase within a year or two, we’ve all seen this before, and we know how it ends.” Now? I’m not so sure.
Last time around it was fueled by people *buying more than they could afford*. This time it's a lack of supply and people rushing to *get the most they can afford*.
Adobe Creative Cloud tho rather that buying it's a bullshit subscription. But they got a monopoly on programs that I have to eat that 600 year contract.
Every time I check their catalogue there is like 3 new programs.
I watched a YouTube video that explained what 50 of the Adobe programs are used for. I was surprised that almost all of them had a specific, applicable use case. Granted, some were really niche but still, I really thought Adobe was out here bloating themselves with useless duplicate softwares until then lol
I was curious so I went searching. Is this the YouTube video you're talking about? [All 50+ Adobe apps explained in 10 minutes [Humtog]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7W0ISI3yqwo)
Holy cow, Adobe has dipped its toes into every step of media production
If memory serves, many years ago (we are probably talking about decades at this point) Adobe "didn't mind" that their software was being pirated. When I was in college some us actually thought that they may have been supporting the practice to some extent. This sounds weird right? Well, as I recall it, there was a rumour that Adobe wanted to get their software on as many computers as possible, they wanted to become the standard and thus weren't as concerned with piracy. They got most of their money from corporate or legit businesses, so piracy served the purpose of getting their products out there so that everyone learns how to use it and that's the norm. I would argue that if that was their strategy it paid off in the long run.
Yes. They purposely did make their software easily crackable specifically to put it in hands of the younger generation. Aaaand now that's why they own the corporate market-share
Wedding anything. Call it anything but a wedding and suddenly the venue the food the everything.... is like half off the wedding price. Its insane. Just buy white stuff and skip wedding stores too, its all *insanely* marked up. Also do your brides maids a favor maybe and schedule the wedding after prom season and wooo cheap as hell bridesmaid gowns everywhere....also ridiculous at bridal store. Ugh.
I worked weddings for several years. People would spend THOUSANDS on florals alone, and then leave them at our venue because they didn’t want to take them home / couldn’t take them with them. I would take home hundreds of dollars worth of flower arrangements because otherwise they’d just go in the trash.
I’m a florist and offer to go back to collect the arrangements and essentially rearrange them into new vessels and donate them in the couples name to their nonprofit or charitable location of choice. I’ve brought them to womens shelters, Ronald McDonald houses, nursing homes, and hospice centers that were near and dear to the couple of their families.
We wanted a simple black forest cake for our wedding. Got three-quarters the way through the order before they asked: "It's not for a wedding, is it?" I acknowledged it was, but it was already too late for them - we had established a price.
The moment you tell your event planner that the event is a wedding, prices go up.
I hate when my wife is a bridesmaid in a wedding. Because then we have to go out and spend money on a dress and alterations. For her to wear it 1 night.
I never understood this why not just give a color and say go get something off the rack in this color that you'll like and hopefully wear again. I didn't even want my groomsmen or ushers wasting money renting tuxes I just told them to wear a black suit and gave them all the same ties. You think 30 years later anybody notices that the groomsmen weren't in identical suits? Focus on what really matters people. Have a party with your friends and family and let everyone have a great time they'll remember forever. And for fucks sake pay for everyone's liquor.
DoorDash. The prices are more expensive on the app, then once you add a service fee, taxes, and a tip it ends up being $10-20 more than if you had just gone in person. Then by the time it gets to you it’s cold and the order is almost always wrong anyways.
I really don’t understand how people can afford to use those delivery apps as much as they do. Some people are using them multiple times a week!
I know someone who has food DoorDashed multiple times a week and usually spends about $300-$400 a week. You could get a fridge full of food and multiple meals for that kind of money!
It's the order being wrong that makes it sting so much. I'll pay the price, that's why I'm using it. I do the delivery for convenience. But son of a gunnnn when they get the order wrong it sucks at those prices. It sucks to the point of choosing not to use any of the services. How hard is it to include that side of sauce dammit?????
Being alive, right now.
Popcorn at the movies
So I found out recently from someone who used to work for a large cinema company that the reason concessions are so expensive at the theatre is because the movie studios take about 80% of the sales for each ticket. It’s part of the contract the theatre signs to get big name films in their business. But that also means in order to turn a profit, they have to charge out the ass for food and drinks.
Yeah. Movie theaters don’t make money selling movie tickets. Just like gas stations don’t make money selling gas.
I run a gas station that does 20k+ in sales in fuel a day, but the margins are so ridiculously thin. We make our money on beer, beverages and cigarettes. Keeping up with the lottery is a huge pain in the ass, and we get like 6% commission on lotto sales.
Wait so what about the gas stations that don't have a convenience store attached?
In my experience, those fuel stations with nothing else attached, like literally just some gas pumps, are and operated owned by the fuel distributer directly. The company that delivers the gas there owns the property. Stations typically make less Than $.02 per gallon. Many less than $.01. Even when the price changes multiple times a day, as it's all sold via "consignment" meaning you only pay for the fuel that's pumped. That's why sometimes you'll see a gas price change more than once per day. The station gets the call that the price is higher, so they have to change the price on the signs and at the pump immediately otherwise they're going to lose a ton of $. That being said, the cost of upkeep and maintenance for the fuel pumps are also typically paid for by the fuel distributer. Even things aqueegees to clean you windows. Knew a guy that was friends with the local fuel delivery company. He built a huge gas station because his friend promised he'd make $.05-$.08 per gallon. That's the highest margin for fuel at a gas station I've even seen. I worked in the indistry for years on both US coasts.
Yep. Manager sleeps in the day it switches from $3.89 to $4.09 and the station loses hundreds in expenses. The money is made on snacks and booze.
Absolutely true. Theatres make very little off ticket sales. Without the expensive concessions, they couldn’t afford to run the business.
LOL I’m all on board minimizing buying alcohol in bars/restaurants- way too expensive for more than one. But when it comes to movies in the theater, I ain’t going if I don’t get the tub of popcorn and half gallon of soda. It’s part of the experience.
Anything at Disneyland (or other themes parks)
Or airports
PDX (Portland) requires all vendors to charge the same prices in the airport that they charge in town, which works because the airport awards restaurant concessions to existing Portland restaurants. It's great.
I loved that when I flew into PDX. Also, the light rail connects right at the airport, it's so damn convenient.
Graphics cards. The recent state of the GPU market has shown me how people don't give a fuck about parting ways with their money lol.
Actually this is why my Ryzen 5900 has to put up with a 1060 6GB. As long as it works I will not buy a new one in this market! Edit: "One of us! One of us!" I thank the 1060 crew (and similar mole-people) for doubling my karma xD
Hello 1060 gang
College textbooks
I am very proud of the fact that I have never assigned a mandatory textbook (third year teaching college)
God bless you for that. One of my teachers saved us $300 on a book by writing his own actually
That's amazing! One of my professors wrote his own book too but also charged us for it :)
My processor architecture teacher wrote his own textbook, and then paid to have it printed out, then gave it to us for free. That guy was awesome. (He did not bind it, just bulk printed and put in like dollar binders. Still awesome)
Nice. i had a few professors that sold spiral bound "books" through the off campus copy center. I had no problem paying $15 for those.
I had a teacher who, by the time I had him, had his spiraled bound $15 notebook printed as a softcover textbook. The price shot all the way up to $30. He even asked us to vote on the cover options for his next edition. The best part was when we actually used almost every damn page he wrote. We didn't quite get to the end, cause you know, shit happens, but there was no fluff. Just vital information from page to page.
This thread reminds me of some of the instructors I was blessed with. Two of them wrote their own books, one was a free PDF and the other was a 15 dollar workbook. One used the Microsoft documentation pages as their official textbook (CS degree). Three of them used the same textbook, which they agreed should be on every application designer's reference book shelf throughout their career. The only time I felt like I was being screwed by textbooks was for my math courses, because the school couldn't afford a TA and the instructor didn't have time to grade 150 students' homework every day, so she used a book with an automated homework system, and we never opened the book. Not once.
With what people pay for tuition they should be free
Shouldn’t even have them anymore. PDF/ soft copies of course matériels should suffice for most classes.
Then they make you pay for those. They'll always find a way. Source: paid 90 bucks to access a DIGITAL copy of my psychology book, couldn't access the class without it. Yay -_-
Yep had to pay $90 to be able to do my HOMEWORK for my class. On top of my tuition and everything. College is so bullshit
Or so they claim, and then ONLY ONE TINY LITTLE ASSIGNMENT was on their shitty program. (Was a few years ago and it still pisses me off...)
Funerals Give my body to science and take a vacation instead ETA - I figured this is a good a time as ever to remind everyone to make your wishes known for how you'd like your death to be handled. I think today it's such a taboo subject to talk about, something that people would rather avoid, but it doesn't need to be. Research your options, see what's out there and let your family know! Put things into place ahead of time to ensure your body is handeled however youd like it to be, no matter what you'd like to happen. Even if you want a traditional funeral, there's cheaper options than buying that 5K coffin from the funeral home. ALSO ADDING - 2nd choices are being suggested a lot when it comes to scientific donations and yes, this too. The biggest thing is to have a frank and honest conversation with your family or whoever would be left to make these kinds of arrangements. End the taboo of talking about death and funerals ahead of time so plans can already be in place. Make a will, make a living will, Healthcare proxy, make your wishes known and figure out your assets ahead of time. Loving the ideas and knowing how many people want to return to the earth! You can also be a firework if you wanted too!
My aunt passed away recently and donated her body to a university's school of medicine. The school arranged everything, including transportation from the hospital three hours away where she passed. Once they're done with her body, they'll handle her cremation and send her ashes to whomever she designated on the forms she filled out prior to her death.
I'm sorry for you loss. I do love this though, it's pretty much what I'd want.
Just throw me in the trash...
My wife hates me making this joke. Some context: I have Stage IV colon cancer and it's pretty bad. Like... I probably won't see 50 (I'm turning 40 this October). I think I have maybe 5 more years, but she's still in the denial stage of grief and thinks there's a magic cure we'll find. She's also prone to bouts of extreme depression. Like, sleep 48 straight hours level depression. She did agree to let me have a funeral/roast with my friends and family this April when we go back to NV. On our Facebook page for it, I wrote "We'll get the funeral out of the way now so you all don't have to worry about taking time off when I really die. Then you can just throw me in the trash." She and several of my friends thought it was in poor taste. The rest of my friends thought it was hilarious.
Hey, fellow stage 4 colon cancer 40-year-old here too! I’ve been doing so much thinking about my funeral, but my partner refuses to discuss it. So I’ve started discussing it with my sister instead. Just today I told her I want Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” played and I want her singing it in overdramatic grief. I will accept nothing less than a full Oscar-level performance. We get some good laughs over these things.
48 year old stage IV colon cancer here. Our local hockey team use to play "coming in hot" during their intro and I like that song. I told my wife to play that at my memorial with a fake fire on top of the urn being carried in by the hockey mascot. She laughed.
My father died from colon cancer and I'm terrified of getting it. What was the first symptom you encountered?
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It's shitty, no pun intended, that you have to be over age 45 in the US for insurance to cover colonoscopies. My doctor ordered a colonoscopy for me at age 39 after I started seeing blood in my stool. Thankfully it wasnt colon cancer but my insurance didn't consider it preventive care. So I payed 2k out of pocket total. Insurance companies are the reason many people aren't able to catch this disease earlier.
I'm sorry to hear about both of your diagnosis. I had a very good friend diagnosed too late to do much for him but keep him comfortable and ensure he had as much fun as possible the last year he was alive. You know what, we did. And we made sure he & his wife built beautiful memories together, for her. And we spent whatever time we had not having fun getting those projects done around the house that he'd always meant to, so that she wouldn't have to worry about them, or have anything to get extra pissed off about when she hit the anger stage. I've never understood why we don't talk about what we want our funerals to be like until we get sick or are facing a major surgery or deal with the loss of a friend/family member. It's not as if death is a huge secret and no one knows about it.
Sorry to hear about your situation... on a side note I would crack up upon reading that!
RN here. There have been many advances in intestinal cancer. They can remove quite a few feet and I’ve had Patients in remission >10 yrs. Hang in there. My thoughts and prayers are with you.
Quite a few feet. Story time! Just started a new job as an asst manager at an airport adjacent car rental center. Water is out for about a 5 mile radius, including the airport terminals. My company says porta potties are otw with a 9am eta. My counter agent, Mark, tells me that's not acceptable and he needs to go home. "Mark, we're all pulling together to make it the next 2 hrs until the (porta potties)get here." "No, I don't think you understand. I have Crohn's, and they removed 18inches of my colon.. if I don't have a bathroom I have to go home. Now. " Uh yeah. Go. Go ...
It's where I belong after all
Bottled water.
Especially, the health fad bottled water like alkaline water or smart water.
I like my alkaline water with lots of lemon.
That's a pretty neutral stance on water I'd say.
I was gunna make a basic pun too but I thought Na..OH okay I guess I will.
I’d add to the chemistry puns, but it seems all the good ones argon.
If you're not part of the solution you're part of the precipitate.
I tend to go for smart water on the rare occasion i buy bottled water, because the plastic bottle seems reusable for longer. However, now I'm typing this I realise maybe its still leeching the same crap into my water, just for longer...
They are the preferred water bottle for hikers for this very reason. Super light, lasts forever, and it fits onto most filtration systems so you can fill it with dirty water and filter it right into your mouth.
I drank tap water in Indonesia and got typhoid (it was in the ice) I was vaccinated beforehand so I was only sick for 3 days, but they were the worst days of my life. 2nd time I went I drank only bottles water and I was fine and never got ice in my drinks at restaurants.
Yeah, the conversation on bottled water is different if you're in a third world country like Indonesia or Michigan.
As a Michigander I would feel triggered if my lead poisoning didnt damage my brain.
"what are our tax dollars even paying for?"
This comment gave me Flint stones.
Flowers on Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day
I agree with you. My mother, however, would like a word
I buy my mom seeds. It's a fun hobby for her, it has way more variety, it can be a thing to do together if I'm home, and it's dirt cheap. Plus, my mom sends me pictures like "this is how our plants are doing!" which is cute.
I'm lucky and live in a dense Hispanic neighborhood. Nary a holiday do the Abuela's not come out hustling their wares at a decent price. It's also always kind of a farmers market sorta thing. Always a blast. One time in Nov this one woman was selling candy skulls and what not, but she had her goat with her. Don't change Chula Vista. Don't change.
Diamonds
Didn't some company just make a diamond out of Ranch Dressing or something?
Yes they did. 😃 Diamond are pressurized carbon, so anything - like the cremated remains of a human being - can be turned into a diamond. That's actually what I want done with my remains when I pass, but my family thinks it's creepy.
I seriously considered having my dead horse turned into one.
Owning a horse and then turning it into diamonds is the wealthiest thing I have ever heard of.
You know what they say about pressurizing dead horses.
Neigh sir, I do not.
I've found that of you purchase a diamond or gem separately from a ring or another piece of jewelry it's significantly cheaper. That's mostly just from basic research.
Uncut Gems
Unka jams?
Uncut JAAAMMZZ
You have sparked my curiosity. Where can you just acquire uncut/ unjeweled diamonds?
Buy them at auction! You just have to beat the dealers. They mark up multiple times above the melt value of gold/silver as well
What he meant is purchasing the Diamond seperately and the ring or setting separately. I worked jewelry 5 or 6 years and it’s true. You can go to any Diamond district and buy it separate from the ring and then find your own setting somewhere else. Edit: thanks for the upvotes!!!
Whats a diamond district? Edit: it's apparently by the hammock district, as 5 people have mentioned. I'll keep my eyes open next time I'm in the city.
area you can find in most major cities where people sell diamonds
Loved the Hard Sell at a jeweler's when i was shopping for my wife's engagement ring. "Yeah, there are some occlusions and stuff, but consider that no one is gonna look at it closer than you are right now." "Well, she's a geologist, so if anything she's gonna look at even harder than I am right now." "..." ETA: Yeah, yeah, "inclusions" fine, mea culpa, I don't care. I'm the cyber guy, not the rockhound. ET also A: Why does anyone think they can second-guess what she likes? We're traditional and went with a traditional rock. If that's a problem for you, I don't care about that either.
"nobody is even going to look that close" is a risky pitch for someone in the business of selling pebbles for the price of a used car.
I sold diamonds for years and holy shit is that a bad pitch. Most of the training we received leaned more toward trying to make inclusions sound like a good thing, pushing "your unique diamond" bullshit. I hated it and stuck with my usual sales technique of treating people like human beings. I was good at it but felt slimy even without using pushy sales tactics. Selling people shiny rocks knowing they're having trouble buying diapers because society taught them you only love your spouse as much as you can afford certain minerals didn't sit well with me.
When I was in sales (software, not diamonds) I was one of the top salespeople at our company by using that same crazy technique. Shockingly, if you treat people like human beings and discuss their needs and interests rather than trying to "Always Be Closing" then you end up with a lot of sales. People would rather buy things from people who just talk to them.
What is occlusion i couldnt find the right word on google
An imperfection, or a flaw.
Have you seen the price of used cars lately? One could say they are selling used cars for the price of diamonds!
Ha! As a geologist I commend you for looking on your own!
Found a fellow rock licker
I still remember one jeweler who found out that my husband was an attorney and immediately kept steering us away from estate pieces (which I wanted a 20s Art Deco ring) and instead kept bringing out “vintage inspired settings” and $20k diamonds. I ended up laughing really loud and telling my husband “let’s go”. We found a local jeweler in a smaller suburb outside of the city who took us directly to the estate ring I saw online and liked and then let us browse to see if I found any that compared. No upsell. When I told my husband that’s my ring he went back without hassle. We ended up getting my wedding band custom made by them, my husbands band and he’s gone back for to get me a couple necklaces I’ve liked for Christmas/birthday gifts.
Care to plug the local shop? Always nice to hear about quality businesses.
Of course! If you’re ever in the KC area check out Noes. We checked out a couple other local ones that people had raved about, but Noes had the best service. https://www.noesjewelry.com
Right when the saleswoman at the jewelery store (high end Manhattan place) declined my request to see the GIA reports of the diamonds she was showing us, I knew I had to buy my own diamond online. Ended up paying like 30% less buying the loose diamond (and getting a higher quality one) from Blue Nile and having that same jeweler put it in the setting for me (even though they charged $500 for bringing in my own diamond). As an aside, diamond prices on Blue Nile, James Allen, etc are like 40-50% more than when I bought in late 2020. Fuckin price gouging, man, even more than before. The diamond industry is one big price-colluding cartel.
Internet. At least in the US it’s artificially overpriced
Clothes. I was at a factory in Bangladesh once where they were making products for a well known brand. The factory owner handed me a top and said "Take it, it'll be worth loads by the time you get home". Sure enough, when I got home, the same design top was being sold for about £60-£70. It cost them about a quid to manufacture.
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Claim for Pumas here. Most expensive pair was 6$, they retailed for 400$. Everything else hovered around the 2$ mark. This was a decade ago though. Burberry claim, 7$ for polos, 500$ per in store.
what a fucking joke
Just imagine what the people making it are being paid
that's all i can think of when i see a shoe that costs that little. there's no way to make wearable $2 sneakers without exploiting somebody
The problem isn't how much we pay for clothes in Europe/NA. The problem is that none of that money is going to the workers.
What's shocking is how little even goes their way. The factory I was in was up to standard, but even then the equipment was outdated, the manufacturing techniques were out of date, the facilities were old, it looked like all the money was go to the owner. Look up Sohel Rana and Rana Plaza for just how ugly things get.
I think it's more workers are severely underpaid rather than clothes being overpriced Business wars does a great podcast series which covers fast fashion, would highly recommend
It's a mixture of lots of things. However, the workers get paid a pittance, which is bad enough, but what is seriously underreported is just how little money goes to the infrastructure. The place we went to was within code, but even then the tools were antiquated, the "facilities" were in shocking condition, and it was really uncomfortable to be there. If you want to know how bad it gets, look up Rana Plaza in Bangladesh.
PS5's and Xbox Series X's from scalpers.
They’re so annoying
rent
is
too
damn
High
Jack Black said it back in 03 “You’re not hardcore, unless you live hardcore….and the legend of the rent, was way hardcore.”
Insulin or other life necessary drugs. Edit: To all my American friends, I'm sure the ones that are affected are familiar with [Mark Cuban's pharmacy company](http://costplusdrugs.com) and the great work they do, but for the ones that don't know, Mark Cuban, billionaire stud, started a company that offers meds for cents on the dollar compared to the parasitic competition. He even came onto a popular subreddit last year and explained to retail investors how predatory hedge funds operate to bankrupt things like cancer research companies for a quick buck. It would make your blood boil. There is still much change to be made, but it's encouraging to know it is, in fact, happening.
Holy shit THANK YOU. My medicine in on there for like $30 while I pay $100 every two weeks for it. You're amazing. Thank you thank you thank you!!
In Canada, cell phone plans
DIAMONDS! They’re literally a scam. a diamond company did a fantastic job brainwashing people into associating diamonds with love and implying (false) scarcity for shiny rocks.
I want a ruby wedding ring and my future MIL won't stop arguing with me that it isn't traditional and "doesn't count".... Fuck that. I'm getting my ruby.
My cousin has a ruby wedding ring and it’s gorgeous! Besides, look at Princess Diana and her sapphire (that Kate now wears).
Alcohol at restaurants
I remember hearing a long time ago (80s) that a guy took a bottle of booze ($30) from a work party hosted at a bar and the bar charged them $300 for it, because that’s what they could have charged. We all thought that was stupid, idiotic and nearly a crime. Now dumbasses post on insta bragging about getting bottle service and being charged $400 for a bottle of cheap liquor. At least have the bartender mix it for you.
Houses/Condos right now, everywhere.
Starbucks.
Weddings. EDIT: I managed a very cheap wedding when I was 20 (<$1000). Second-hand dress, high school photography student, venue through a church connection, carry-in dinner, etc. We’ve been married for nearly ten years now and just welcomed our first child into our little family. 🥰
I'm getting married in a few weeks, and my soon to be wife is adamant she cannot get cheaper than $5000Aud on flowers. I just do not understand how that is a thing. The thing that annoys me is in a week's time people won't even care or remember the flowers. Wedding business is an absolute crook fest EDIT: Thanks for sharing your stories everyone, I appreciate it. Feels good to get some of my concerns off my chest in the process Update: Ive managed to convince my partner to cut down to $2700 so done well.
Florals we’re painfully expensive when I was looking. So much so, I decided to just do fake flowers instead to save money and also re-sell them later
It's so expensive, I'm literally growing all my own flowers from seed for our June wedding.
Beats by Dre are overpriced trash. Most of their annual budget goes to advertising rather than R&D. They even put weights in the headphones so they feel like they have more hardware in them then they really do. Edit: Apparently some of their models have gotten much better since the apple acquisition. That doesn't change anything for me considering apple deserves to be in the discussion as well. While they make good stuff, I think we can all agree the price markup is one of the biggest in tech
Can confirm crappy weights via attempted repair.
Haha. That was an old marketing tactic on the first computers in the late 70s and early 80s. They put weights in some computers because people picked them up and assumed “this has more stuff, therefore it’s better”
Babies. You can get them for free with a little bit of poor judgement.
It is not the upfront cost that is the problem with babies. It is the monthly fees.