Cheapskate Wisdom … Gathered After Going to the Movies for $6

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“Basically, everything in America is 40% overpriced.”

Joe Queenan, in the LA Times, came to the conclusion after going to $6 movie nights with his son and realizing that very few films—and very few other products, for that matter—are actually worth the full retail price:

Basically, everything in America is 40% overpriced. My 2009 Camry, which set me back $21,000, is a good car, but it isn’t worth $21,000….

Bananas run 99 cents a pound at the store up the street. That’s 39 cents more than my optimal price point…

It cost me $43,000 a year to send my son to a fancy college. He got a swell education at Franklin & Marshall, but I paid 40% too much to send him there…

Basically, everything in this society is way more expensive than it should be. That’s why we’re still in the doldrums. MRIs should run $875, not $1,500. Yankees tickets should run $180, not $300 apiece. And it should only cost $60,000 to buy a congressman’s vote, not $100,000.

I have to agree on most counts. But for that matter, $6 is too much to pay for a lot of the movies out there. Especially when you consider you can watch them for free if you can endure a bit of delayed gratification.

Related:
The Movies: Never Cheaper, Never More Expensive