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  1. #1
    Veteran hater's Avatar
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    only idiots buy these things:
    http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home...riced-products


    1. Movie Theater Popcorn

    At the grocery store, microwave popcorn runs about $3 per box, and each box includes three 3.5 ounce bags. So why on earth would consumers even consider paying a whopping $6 for a single medium-sized bag of popcorn in the movie theater? No one knows exactly why - but for some bizarre reason, movie-goers continue to drain their wallets to crunch on a bag full of those greasy little nuggets during their favorite film.

    After considering that movie theaters purchase popcorn in bulk, the average markup of movie theater popcorn is a whopping 1275%! At that steep price, you'd think those buttery bags were laced with gold.

    2. Greeting Cards

    Since when does a folded up piece of paper cost $2.99? Since someone slaps a precious kitty picture and a cleverly written message on it and then stamps the back of it with a well-known logo. That's right - we're talking about those pricey greeting cards. Many consumers spend hours poring over the neatly arranged stacks in the greeting card aisle, searching for the perfect message for their sister's birthday, their parent's anniversary or "Just Because."

    The average greeting card costs between $2 and $4, and we consumers don't seem to think twice about paying that precipitous price. The markup is between 100 and 200% - which is not quite as shocking as movie theater popcorn, but it adds up quickly. When you consider how many of those paper jewels you buy each year, it's enough to send you running for the construction paper and markers. After all, it only costs a few cents to create a home-made card.

    3. College Textbooks

    In 2010, the annual in-state cost for the typical state university soared to more than $15,000, and private colleges now charge an average of $35,600 a year. As if college kids (and their parents) aren't financially drained enough, there's yet another inflated price they face: college textbooks. College students pay an average of $900 a year on textbooks and other supplies.

    College textbook prices have skyrocketed by 186% since 1986, and these expensive volumes of knowledge now account for 26% of the overall cost of college. Unfortunately, broke college students are required to purchase these costly books for their classes. At least they can try to sell their books back to local book store at the end of the semester - for a few measly bucks.

    4. Bottled Water

    You've probably heard that "Evian" is simply "naïve" spelled backwards. OK, so the well-known company probably did not choose their name for that reason - but many people believe that consumers who buy bottled water are certainly naïve. After all, water is one of the most abundant resources in the world and is available for free from countless water fountains and sinks across the nation. Yet, many consumers are still willing to pay $3 a bottle of it.

    In 2009, the U.S. Congress revealed that about 45% of bottled water comes from municipal taps - and then the bottled water company may or may not do some additional filtering before pouring it in their logo-stamped bottles. Still, Americans continue to buy more than 500 million bottles every week, making it the second most popular purchased drink (after soda).

    5. Printer Ink

    You may be able to buy a surprisingly affordable printer at your local office supply store, but don't start celebrating just yet. The printer companies make their biggest bucks on ink.

    Over the life of your printer, you'll probably pay more than 500% of the total price of the printer itself on ink refill cartridges. At $30, a 42ml cartridge of black printer ink comes out to 71 cents per ml. On the other hand, the Red Cross charges $200 for 500 ml of blood, which comes out to about 40 cents per ml.

    6. Brand-Name Fashions

    How much did you pay for those True Religion jeans, that Burberry scarf and those towering Louboutin stilettos? Probably a small fortune. But it was worth every penny, right? Not so much. When it comes to designer clothes, it's pretty obvious that you are paying for the label.

    As a matter of fact, brand-name clothes are often marked up by 500 to 1000%. Yet, fashion-conscious consumers continue to drain their bank accounts and pile up massive amounts of debt to stay on the cutting edge of couture.

  2. #2
    i hunt fenced animals clambake's Avatar
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    the expertise, material and cut of canali suits is worth every penny.

  3. #3
    #FreeGiuseppe BlackSwordsMan's Avatar
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    Why isn't healthy food up there?

  4. #4
    I can live with it JoeChalupa's Avatar
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    Only thing I buy on that list printer ink but I refill mine and rarely print anything at home. For cards I just use a free greeting card and print it.

  5. #5
    The D.R.A. Drachen's Avatar
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    Why isn't healthy food up there?
    Because it's not expensive. Fruit's veggies, etc don't cost that much relative to their nutritional value and ability to fill you up.

  6. #6
    Veteran hater's Avatar
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    how do I get into the college textbook market?? 26% of tuition!

  7. #7
    The D.R.A. Drachen's Avatar
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    Only thing I buy on that list printer ink but I refill mine and rarely print anything at home. For cards I just use a free greeting card and print it.
    Inksell.com is where I get my ink from. If you feel the need to buy name brand, they are usually cheaper, but the real value is in the generics. I got 5 rounds of ink (5 black, 5 yellow, 5 magenta, 5 cyan, etc) for $45 bucks 2.5 years ago. I still have 2 more rounds to go before I have to rebuy.

  8. #8
    Damns (Given): 0 Blake's Avatar
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    only idiots buy these things:
    http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home...riced-products


    1. Movie Theater Popcorn

    At the grocery store, microwave popcorn runs about $3 per box, and each box includes three 3.5 ounce bags. So why on earth would consumers even consider paying a whopping $6 for a single medium-sized bag of popcorn in the movie theater? No one knows exactly why - but for some bizarre reason, movie-goers continue to drain their wallets to crunch on a bag full of those greasy little nuggets during their favorite film.

    After considering that movie theaters purchase popcorn in bulk, the average markup of movie theater popcorn is a whopping 1275%! At that steep price, you'd think those buttery bags were laced with gold.

    same reason we buy $8 beer and $5 hot dogs at sporting events.

    Convenience and it's considered bad form to bring your own food in.

    2. Greeting Cards

    Since when does a folded up piece of paper cost $2.99? Since someone slaps a precious kitty picture and a cleverly written message on it and then stamps the back of it with a well-known logo. That's right - we're talking about those pricey greeting cards. Many consumers spend hours poring over the neatly arranged stacks in the greeting card aisle, searching for the perfect message for their sister's birthday, their parent's anniversary or "Just Because."

    The average greeting card costs between $2 and $4, and we consumers don't seem to think twice about paying that precipitous price. The markup is between 100 and 200% - which is not quite as shocking as movie theater popcorn, but it adds up quickly. When you consider how many of those paper jewels you buy each year, it's enough to send you running for the construction paper and markers. After all, it only costs a few cents to create a home-made card.
    I like home made cards from kids. Home-made birthday cards from adults to adults seem weird. Not sure why.

    I have no qualms about paying $1 for a card that saves me the time of making it and comes with a nice fitted envelope.

    3. College Textbooks

    In 2010, the annual in-state cost for the typical state university soared to more than $15,000, and private colleges now charge an average of $35,600 a year. As if college kids (and their parents) aren't financially drained enough, there's yet another inflated price they face: college textbooks. College students pay an average of $900 a year on textbooks and other supplies.

    College textbook prices have skyrocketed by 186% since 1986, and these expensive volumes of knowledge now account for 26% of the overall cost of college. Unfortunately, broke college students are required to purchase these costly books for their classes. At least they can try to sell their books back to local book store at the end of the semester - for a few measly bucks.
    I used to go to the school library and see if they had the text book there.

    If so, I would check it out and run off copies of the pertinent parts.

    4. Bottled Water

    You've probably heard that "Evian" is simply "naïve" spelled backwards. OK, so the well-known company probably did not choose their name for that reason - but many people believe that consumers who buy bottled water are certainly naïve. After all, water is one of the most abundant resources in the world and is available for free from countless water fountains and sinks across the nation. Yet, many consumers are still willing to pay $3 a bottle of it.

    In 2009, the U.S. Congress revealed that about 45% of bottled water comes from municipal taps - and then the bottled water company may or may not do some additional filtering before pouring it in their logo-stamped bottles. Still, Americans continue to buy more than 500 million bottles every week, making it the second most popular purchased drink (after soda).
    At the grocery store, the standard 24 pack of bottled water of brands like Aquafina or Dasani is $5.

    That's basically 20 cents a bottle.

    5. Printer Ink

    You may be able to buy a surprisingly affordable printer at your local office supply store, but don't start celebrating just yet. The printer companies make their biggest bucks on ink.

    Over the life of your printer, you'll probably pay more than 500% of the total price of the printer itself on ink refill cartridges. At $30, a 42ml cartridge of black printer ink comes out to 71 cents per ml. On the other hand, the Red Cross charges $200 for 500 ml of blood, which comes out to about 40 cents per ml.
    So what is the alternative to buying printer ink?

    6. Brand-Name Fashions

    How much did you pay for those True Religion jeans, that Burberry scarf and those towering Louboutin stilettos? Probably a small fortune. But it was worth every penny, right? Not so much. When it comes to designer clothes, it's pretty obvious that you are paying for the label.

    As a matter of fact, brand-name clothes are often marked up by 500 to 1000%. Yet, fashion-conscious consumers continue to drain their bank accounts and pile up massive amounts of debt to stay on the cutting edge of couture.
    What do they suggest to buy instead?

    I don't like to pay much for jeans, but I find that brand name shirts like Polo fit better and last a long time.

    Unless you are lazy, you can find them marked down on sale at places like Macy's or go to a place like Marshall's where they sell them at near 70-75% off retail price.



    One of the worst financial advice blogs on yahoo I've read in a while.

  9. #9
    I can live with it JoeChalupa's Avatar
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    same reason we buy $8 beer and $5 hot dogs at sporting events.

    Convenience and it's considered bad form to bring your own food in.



    I like home made cards from kids. Home-made birthday cards from adults to adults seem weird. Not sure why.

    I have no qualms about paying $1 for a card that saves me the time of making it and comes with a nice fitted envelope.



    I used to go to the school library and see if they had the text book there.

    If so, I would check it out and run off copies of the pertinent parts.



    At the grocery store, the standard 24 pack of bottled water of brands like Aquafina or Dasani is $5.

    That's basically 20 cents a bottle.



    So what is the alternative to buying printer ink?



    What do they suggest to buy instead?

    I don't like to pay much for jeans, but I find that brand name shirts like Polo fit better and last a long time.

    Unless you are lazy, you can find them marked down on sale at places like Macy's or go to a place like Marshall's where they sell them at near 70-75% off retail price.



    One of the worst financial advice blogs on yahoo I've read in a while.

    I do buy the $1 cards and always buy name brand clothing on clearance. I think the advice is looking at standard prices though for name brand clothing and we switched to those steel water containers to get away from the plastic water bottles. We go to sporting events on $1 nights.

  10. #10
    Mr. John Wayne CosmicCowboy's Avatar
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    College textbooks are a huge scam. The ticket to riches is to be a teacher in a required course at a big state university and write your own textbook. I remember having an american history prof that wrote his own textbook. There were 350 people in my class and he taught like 5 classes. He was probably making 150K+ a year just on textbook sales.

  11. #11
    Veteran
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    That's a dumb list. People buy popcorn because theatre seats aren't equipped with microwaves. People buy college texts so they won't have to work at McDonalds. It is a scam, but it beats the alternative. I buy bottled water because that municipal is laced with flouride. Brand name clothes are made better and look better.

  12. #12
    I can live with it JoeChalupa's Avatar
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  13. #13
    Veteran
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    College textbooks are a huge scam. The ticket to riches is to be a teacher in a required course at a big state university and write your own textbook. I remember having an american history prof that wrote his own textbook. There were 350 people in my class and he taught like 5 classes. He was probably making 150K+ a year just on textbook sales.
    I had a biology teacher who did that, but his book was published by the university press and was dirt cheap compared to most texts. And it was a great book. Great to have a professor who knows his own . I'd rather he pocket money for a reasonably priced text than some CEO not working in the board room at McGraw-Hill.

    Then again, the most expensive text I ever bought, was also written by a professor.

    I guess it just depends on how greedy an asshole any individual chooses to be.

  14. #14
    Damns (Given): 0 Blake's Avatar
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    College textbooks are a huge scam. The ticket to riches is to be a teacher in a required course at a big state university and write your own textbook. I remember having an american history prof that wrote his own textbook. There were 350 people in my class and he taught like 5 classes. He was probably making 150K+ a year just on textbook sales.
    I always hated the idea of knowing I was reading a text book forced on me by the professor that wrote that book.

    I'd really like to know how much they get on those book sales. I doubt they get anywhere near $150k but I bet it's a nice bonus to their salaries......

  15. #15
    Linger Ficking Good! CuckingFunt's Avatar
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    College textbooks are a huge scam. The ticket to riches is to be a teacher in a required course at a big state university and write your own textbook. I remember having an american history prof that wrote his own textbook. There were 350 people in my class and he taught like 5 classes. He was probably making 150K+ a year just on textbook sales.
    I don't think the huge markup on textbooks is going to the authors.

  16. #16
    The D.R.A. Drachen's Avatar
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    same reason we buy $8 beer and $5 hot dogs at sporting events.

    Convenience and it's considered bad form to bring your own food in.
    I eat before the movies. That being said, I don't normally go to the movies

    I like home made cards from kids. Home-made birthday cards from adults to adults seem weird. Not sure why.

    I have no qualms about paying $1 for a card that saves me the time of making it and comes with a nice fitted envelope.
    2/1.00 at the dollar tree FTW!

    I used to go to the school library and see if they had the text book there.

    If so, I would check it out and run off copies of the pertinent parts.
    This is an excellent suggestion


    At the grocery store, the standard 24 pack of bottled water of brands like Aquafina or Dasani is $5.

    That's basically 20 cents a bottle.
    My house has a built in water source, and my wife gets different sports bottles and the like at work all the time. I just use those.

    So what is the alternative to buying printer ink?
    Outside of a few industries, there is very little reason to print anymore other than "personal preference." The only reason I went through as many cartriges as I have was because I got married last year, and we printed a bunch of stuff. But of course you can still do the refills or generics to save money if you must print.

    What do they suggest to buy instead?

    I don't like to pay much for jeans, but I find that brand name shirts like Polo fit better and last a long time.

    Unless you are lazy, you can find them marked down on sale at places like Macy's or go to a place like Marshall's where they sell them at near 70-75% off retail price.



    One of the worst financial advice blogs on yahoo I've read in a while.
    They expect you to not buy Designer brand jeans. I don't think it was telling you go restock your closet with "faded glory", but instead it was telling you to NOT stock your closet with Burberry jeans or whatever.

  17. #17
    Veteran in2deep's Avatar
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    #7 Drinks at the bar/club

    $11 a shot!!! plus tip

    that . I carry my little 350ml tequila/rum in my backpocket everywhere I go

  18. #18
    Goodwill Ambassador spurs_fan_in_exile's Avatar
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    One of the few perks to being a history major is that with the exception of maybe a freshman level course I haven't had to buy any real textbooks. It's all stuff that I can get for cheap off the shelf at any number of places and don't mind having on my shelf for the years to come. One of my student workers who was a biochem major graduated last year. He knew all the corners to cut (rentals, sites where he could get pdf's of important chapters for free, etc) and still ended up having to s out $300+ last semester because one (ONE!) of his classes was using a couple of brand new texts that were in very short supply.

  19. #19
    Veteran
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    The real textbook scam is the publishers putting out barely-different, new editions every ing six months so they can undercut you on selling older ones back, or refusing them entirely.

  20. #20
    Veteran pawe's Avatar
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    Dumb article.
    I wont buy brand name shirts, scarves, socks or underwear but all my jeans are brand names. It just feels and looks way better than levi's.

    I wont print my own greeting card...its a waste of ink.

  21. #21
    Veteran in2deep's Avatar
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    The real textbook scam is the publishers putting out barely-different, new editions every ing six months so they can undercut you on selling older ones back, or refusing them entirely.
    very good point. some professors should be shot

  22. #22
    The D.R.A. Drachen's Avatar
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    I have a professor in one of my classes who said that she will never assign the "new" edition of a book until it has been out for 3 semesters at least. That way there are used ones available. The book for her course was $7.10 through half.com and the thing looks new.

  23. #23
    All Hail the Legatron The Reckoning's Avatar
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    7. Women

  24. #24
    Mr. John Wayne CosmicCowboy's Avatar
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    Even the professors that don't write their own books still get bribed by the major book companies to select their textbook. Expensive gifts, meals, paid "endorsements", and free books they can then sell on e-bay are all common and legal.

  25. #25
    Goodwill Ambassador spurs_fan_in_exile's Avatar
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    #7 Drinks at the bar/club

    $11 a shot!!! plus tip

    that . I carry my little 350ml tequila/rum in my backpocket everywhere I go
    I don't know how Draconian other stadiums are about checking people but I wonder why on earth they even sell beer at the UH football games. For every $6 beer sold there are at least ten in stadium who are ing the out of much a cheaper bottle of Coke.

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