The Mystery of High Prices
One of the things about money that’s difficult to understand is why the price of everything keeps going up so fast at the same time the government is reporting that the rate of inflation rate is slow.
I get used to the high price of some things…I don’t know why…but then, the high price of other things surprises and bothers me.
Just a few years ago I was paying $1.19 for a gallon of gas; now I’m paying $1.65 but I’ve gotten used to that. I don’t like it but it doesn’t bug me every time I fill up.
On the other hand, I was at the Super Bowl in Tampa and the price of anything in a stadium is crazy. A bag of twenty-five peanuts costs $2.75.
A Coke was $3.50.
A pint of plain water at the game cost $3. If it was gas, that would be $24. If your tank took fourteen gallons, it would cost you $45 to fill it with water. Not even high-test water.
If you wanted to know the names of the players in the Super Bowl, you had to pay $15 for the program.
The cost of going to a movie is hard to get used to.
In New York, it’s $9.50.
Tickets for senior citizens are only $6, but I hate to ask for one because I’m
embarrassed that they never demand proof that I’m over sixty-five anymore.
The medium-sized popcorn goes for $3.60.
Hotels have gotten expensive. A room at the Crowne Plaza in Pittsfield, Massachusetts,for example, will run you between $120 and $210…and you know how that is. There are none of the $120 rooms left. Pittsfield, for goodness sake!
And, don’t order room service in any fancy hotel.
At one, plain toast is $4.50.
Corn flakes, $7. I counted the flakes…there were about 135 in the box. That comes to five cents a flake – so don’t drop any.
For your convenience, they add a 17 percent service charge plus a $3 cover charge and 8 percent tax. All for your convenience.
I was looking at our phone bill for last month…directory assistance is $1.99.
I don’t get used to the fact a necktie costs $35 to $40. No wonder a lot of guys have stopped wearing them.
Mechanics are expensive. They’re probably worth $95 an hour but I don’t get used to it.
Haagen-Dazs is good ice cream. They get $2.32 for a small cone. As an experiment, I bought eight cones one night and put them in a one-quart container. The quart cost me $20.
Books seem expensive. This book of mine, for instance, is $20. To tell you the truth, though, this is one thing that doesn’t really bother me. See…I get 20 percent.
From Andy Rooney, Years of Minutes, pp. 451-453.
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