Author Topic: Things That Are Expensive But Should Be Cheap(er) ((aka Lose Value Instantly))  (Read 13401 times)

Travis

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"Designer" anything.

I don't care if it's clothing, a watch, a computer, a purse, a car, or whatever.  If it's got the name of some designer, you will pay ridiculous amounts for essentially the same product you can get in a non-designer version for 1/10th the price.

FFS, it's a pair of jeans made in China.  There is no reason to pay $400 for it.  Even if "Yves Saint Laurent" or whatever slaps his name on a label.

Or worse, a celebrity's name on it.  They might have approved the font of the label.

Imma

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Sheets are expensive.  They're just a piece of fabric.
Large, seamless pieces of fabric made from higher quality materials aren't exactly cheap to make though. Raw materials can cost a lot more than people think.

This. Doublewidth fabric is quite expensive. I considered sewing my own until I found out what the fabric cost.

KBecks

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Modern art.

A local artist sells her paintings on line and in local galleries for mid-four figures.  I picked up a pair of her works at auction for £220 including buyer's premium.    Almost anything that you like that is for sale in a gallery, check on line for the resale prices for that artist first.  If you love it, still buy it, but in almost all cases its a money loser.

Any more advice for buying art? I like art and love owning original paintings but prices can be high. I highly doubt anything I own will become valuable someday so I can't see myself paying more than a few hundred for a painting.

I shop a bit on shopgoodwill.com and their art section is interesting to browse.  There is a market for secondhand art and some of it will go for hundreds, but I'm guessing it's nice stuff.

Seadog

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Taxis.

I can rent a car for $15 per day, lease for like half that, or own an old one for a few dollars a day. Gas is about $3(city)-$10/hr if you're at highway speeds. Insurance is maybe $1-2 a day. However, put all that together and pay some poor immigrant $8/hr to drive, and suddenly it's worth more than a top end surgeon.

The basic idea behind trade/money is it acts as a value store. I drive you home from the bar tonight, you give me an IOU. You drive me home tomorrow, I give you that same IOU back. Right now that exchange is an order of magnitude out of whack.

Naturally they are only so outrageously overpriced because of the monopolistic cartel system you have in the west and artificially inflated tag fees. In Asia I've spent 5 hours in a taxi in stop and go traffic burning not a lot of gas for $25. In the west the cost would have equated to leasing an SUV for a month, and paying the driver his $8 an hour.

Cranky

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Sheets are expensive.  They're just a piece of fabric.
Large, seamless pieces of fabric made from higher quality materials aren't exactly cheap to make though. Raw materials can cost a lot more than people think.

This. Doublewidth fabric is quite expensive. I considered sewing my own until I found out what the fabric cost.

Traditionally, sheets were seamed down the middle and when they got worn, the seam was picked out, the fabric was turned so that the old "sides" were in the middle and reseamed.

Imma

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Sheets are expensive.  They're just a piece of fabric.
Large, seamless pieces of fabric made from higher quality materials aren't exactly cheap to make though. Raw materials can cost a lot more than people think.

This. Doublewidth fabric is quite expensive. I considered sewing my own until I found out what the fabric cost.

The frugality of people back in the days is inspiring. I still darn socks and mend holes in my sheets, but I would never have thought of doing something like that.

Traditionally, sheets were seamed down the middle and when they got worn, the seam was picked out, the fabric was turned so that the old "sides" were in the middle and reseamed.