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Current kitchen refitting got me thinking, so I'll start; taps. How the funk do taps cost as much as they do? They're some cast metal and a simple valve, made by the thousand, yet it's very easy to spend (far) upwards of a hundred quid.
Gas Fires.
Volkswagens
But it's equally easy to spend £30 for one that works perfectly well.
I think it needs to be things that you cannot get cheap even though it's not obvious why.
Rohypnol
500ml bottles of pop costing more than 2l ones
Whisky.
The Christian Louboutin shoes my wife would like.
most things in Australia
Holidays outwith term time?
inexplicably?
pine nuts
Tiles.
Memory in iPhones.
Randomly - spinning wheels. It's a wheel and a few planks, cheap ones are about four hundred quid. Guess what my OH wants for Christmas?
Moulds. The kind you make taps from.
Old stock 26 inch rigid low specified On Ones
hasThe Christian Louboutin shoes my wife
Paint wears off after 3 uses, can be re-applied for just £40ish! Bargain!
pine nuts
It's cos you have to fight squirrels for them, it's danger money.
Cars, thousands of people drive newer cars than me (mine is 13 years old), where does all the money come from to fund them?
Divorce
Gym membership.
They're some cast metal and a simple valve, made by the thousand,
To play devils advocate.... how many taps do you buy for your house in a lifetime? Although they are a mass market item the customer base its pretty small, I've only got 8 taps in my house and they've probably been there for at least 20 years. People don't buy very many and anyone who does buy a tap probably won't buy another to replace it for a very long time.
Compared to other products thats a pretty small market and and very length product cycle - compared to how many and how often people will buy a pair or shoes or a car.
Standard/ generic taps are pretty cheap, but anything more particular / stylish / fashionable is going to sell in relatively small numbers for the tooling / set up costs. 'Cast metal' can involve some pretty big set up costs, especially cast hollow form. I'd imagine theres the a fair bit of labour in finishing and polishing too.
Given they sell in relatively small numbers, manufacturers and retailers still need to make and stock a pretty wide range of designs.
Strippers
UK houses.
Sky TV...
500ml bottles of pop costing more than 2l ones
Bottled water in service stations costing more per litre than diesel. 🙂
Current kitchen refitting got me thinking, so I'll start; taps. How the funk do taps cost as much as they do? They're some cast metal and a simple valve, made by the thousand, yet it's very easy to spend (far) upwards of a hundred quid.
Look on ebay for the same things for less silly money.
Spectacles and sun glasses...
Printer ink cartridges...
Anything made by Apple. Except apples.. 😀
[i]inexplicably[/i]
Is, of course, what I meant.
towels
500ml bottles of pop costing more than 2l ones
Shouldn't this one be filed under annoying, rather than inexplicable?
after all, we all know [i]why[/i] they do it?
JoB - Member
pine nuts
This made me laugh far more than it should.
Macadamia nuts
coke and hookers
UK houses
That's not expensive, try Hong Kong Apartments.
Santa Cruz bikes?
Windows + installation
Woodburner installation by itself.
Kitchen roll
Coke & hookers
Pot gulley covers - £53!!
Cheese
Baked taters in pubs/restaurants.
Looking at the bar grub menu last week -
----------- Bar Menu -----------
Pastie with chips and salad - £5.95
Baked potato with tuna, cheese or beans - £[b]7.00[/b] <--------- holy CRAP!!!!
------------------------------------
I'll bake my own taters. Harumph.
I'll bake my own taters, Mr Frodo. Harumph.
FTFY 😀
Stella. It's not reassuringly expensive, it's overpriced. it's also shit, but that's another topic.
Starbucks Coffee
BDSM
Enterprise software.
SQL Server sir? That'll be three grand. Wait, your server has two CPU cores in it? That'll cost you double. Or you can pay extra for the client licences instead, in order to access something [i]you've already bought[/i]. Shysters.
Oh, and,
Soft drinks in pubs, specifically the postmix guns going for a comparable price to the beer. The markup on that stuff is in the thousands of percent.
[i]Cars, thousands of people drive newer cars than me (mine is 13 years old), where does all the money come from to fund them? [/i]
That's because the majority are leasing them, see the neighbours have a new one so need to do the same. I'd rather pay an extra £200 into my pension than have a new car just so I look like I can afford one.
Spectacles and sun glasses...
I was shocked at a pair of riding sunnies at over £150. That's just mental IMHO and I won't be buying them.
Popcorn in cinemas? In fact, food in cinemas in general, £3.50 for a bag of chocolate that £1 in Tesco? Yes, I know it's a secondary purchase to make the profit but it's still a rip-off.
Soft drinks in pubs, specifically the postmix guns going for a comparable price to the beer. The markup on that stuff is in the thousands of percent.
Yes this got charged - well they tried i declined to pay and they would not haggle- £1.60 for a half of coke.
Bike brake pads Hope ones by Hope cost the same as my car ones ! as do their discs
£1.60 for a half of coke.
Bargain! Coke is £4 a pint from the [url=www.alfordarmsfrithsden.co.uk]Alford Arms[/url] near my parent's place.
Had a a tab going, almost fell over when I had to settle up. Haven't been back since.
Crisps especially hand cut super crisps with salt gathered from the dried tears of unicorns and pepper from the foothills of the Himalaya, cooked with oil pressed from sunflowers grown in the butt crack of a playboy model. 3.95 to you sir.
Bargain! Coke is £4 a pint from the Alford Arms near my parent's place.
They can afford it round there.
joolsburger - where in the world do you buy your crisps? They sound amazing. Unicorn tear salt is my favourite tear salt, children's tears are so bitter.
Bicycle tyres!
There's no way they should cost nearly as much as car tyres. (and equivalent to in some cases)
But it's equally easy to spend £30 for one that works perfectly well.
What? A VW for 30 quid?
Anyway - unquestionably inexplicably and not at all reassuringly expensive, my bloody glasses.
Birthday cards.
[quote=joolsburger opined]Crisps especially hand cut super crisps with salt gathered from the dried tears of unicorns and pepper from the foothills of the Himalaya, cooked with oil pressed from sunflowers grown in the butt crack of a playboy model. 3.95 to you sir.
I cannot help but read that in t M & S voiceover style
Some clothing brands.. eg [url= http://www.bergfreunde.co.uk/yeti-strato-ultralight-jacket-down-jacket/ ]'yeti' brand[/url] down jackets.
BDSM
You joke about that but a friend of mine used to be quite heavily into the BDSM and fetishwear "scene" in Leeds, to the extent that he worked as a model and got most of his clobber knock down or free. He always said that he cpould never understand how people could afford to get into it without being able to buy stuff at trade price. I used to say the same about mountain biking.
You joke about that
he would never joke about that
Hunters Wellies, £90 for moulded rubber.
he would never joke about that
That would make him a bad man...
Things in London
lip gloss*
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
* I was with mrs b when she bought some 😯
mind you my shaving oil wasn't any better
You joke about that but a friend of mine used to be quite heavily into the BDSM and fetishwear "scene" in Leeds, to the extent that he worked as a model and got most of his clobber knock down or free. He always said that he cpould never understand how people could afford to get into it without being able to buy stuff at trade price. I used to say the same about mountain biking.
who's joking, an hour with a Pro Domme is painful on the wallet too!
Estate agent fees
Lawyers
Medicines for animals
Mrsfarmers' drinking habit (she is a good Bavarian lass!!)
Razor blade refills! 😕
alcohol in scandinavia
Ink in inkjet cartridges
Motorcycle tyres that do a couple k miles
SMEG fridges
Dyson Fan heaters
Black cabs - see uber 🙂
Children - but thats an ongoing cost
Dental care and teeth
Curtains - they are just sheets of material hanging off a pole
Pub own soft drinks as above. No excuse for the outrageous mark up.
Bottled water.
Chip shop gravy/curry sauce.
Gas boiler servicing.
Divorce.
Pasta in tomato sauce.
Artisan bread.
Leading makes of ice cream.
Parker specific fountain pen ink cartrages. [img] 
[/img]
broadband
gas prices
orange bikes
2nd hand older 125cc motorcycles (yamaha dt125 for instance).
Broad beans.
Piss easy to grow but supermarkets charge a fortune for them, I shelled split and weighed a packet from sainsburys and ended up at around £16/kg!
Knickers. They are shorter than shorts and have three huge holes in them, so why are they so blooming expensive?
S&M have a lot to answer for 👿
The outdoor clothing industry.
Some clothing brands.. eg 'yeti' brand down jackets.
Moncler clothing. I swear not long ago it was just another brand of puffa jackets. Now it's sold from fancy boutiques with a doorman.
contact lens cleaning solution. It's mostly distilled water anyway.
Inner tubes. But hey, it's probably to cover the costs of keeping the LBS going, so that's ok.
UK houses
+1
Bottles of wine in restaurants, but probably the same principle as inner tubes.
All of these things are just examples of "things that I think are expensive", but none of them is [b]inexplicably [/b]expensive.
Actually, Mr Smith's suggestion is bang on for the 'inexplicable'!
Broad beans.
Piss easy to grow but supermarkets charge a fortune for them
So true & never understood it myself either.