The Old Dog Asks: Have You Been Ripped Off Yet Today?
Thirsty? How About an Ounce (about 30 ml) of Water For $.20?
Today I was driving home to Ticino from Luzern and I pulled over to a highway stop to buy a bottle of water. The cheapest bottle that I found was about $3.20 for half a liter (about 16 ounces)! That works out to about $.20 for a shot glass worth!
Sure, Charge us More, But Why Do You Have to Kill Us?
Ok fine, I expected to pay more than I would at a grocery store which would have been anywhere from between $.30-.80 cents! How about double? Maybe triple? Naw, that's peanuts, how about five times as much? That sounds about right!
Sip it like a fine liquor because you sure paid for it! Above is the actual bottle that I paid $3.20 for. It was the cheapest one that they had!
Why Are Prices so High at Airports And Highway Stops?
- Basically you're a hostage in those places. There is nowhere else to buy, so take it or leave it!
- The business owners who rent the stores are also hostages. Their rents are higher take it or leave it!
- Supply and demand. There are lots of hungry and bored people walking around in airports! Solution? Pay through the nose!
- Delivering food supplies to airports is tricky business. Deliveries need to be made on off peak hours and are subject to tight security checks! EXPENSIVE!
Here Are Some of My Personal Experiences!
- Recently I missed my flight from Frankfurt to Milan after traveling all night from Toronto. The airline gave all of the passengers a food voucher of 10 Euros to buy breakfast but guess what? That wasn't even enough to buy a coffee and a croissant!
- I've been to airports in many different countries and the high prices seem to be universal apart from Italy. At the airport in Milan I can get a cappuccino and a croissant for the same price as I can outside the airport! Wow!
All of This Had me Thinking About This 40 Second Clip From Seinfeld!
Do they even have any idea what the prices are on the outside?
What About You?
- Have you been subject to rip off pricing?
- What have you experienced at airports and highway stops
- Do you think that they should try and be just a little more reasonable?
I hope that you enjoyed this article about being ripped off today!
Until next time,
@kus-knee (The Old Dog)
Remember, if you upvote my post and leave a comment I will do my best to upvote it with some of my 41,000 plus Steem Power!
I am subject to rip-off pricing every time I do a bitcoin transaction lately. When you compare the cost of sending $10 worth of value via bitcoin as compared to sending an equal $10 worth of value via, for instance, bitshares - well, FEEL THE BURN!
I had not to change my hoard of bitshares since I keep it safe and WAIT :)
Yes, we are all waiting patiently!
i wanted to write about the priority miner's fee on btc but your bro did already
it's still cheaper than 12 euro per mini bottle of mineral water in summer in Venice
but yes airport food and souvenirs are over priced indeed!
so.. did you just imagine it was a tequila? or a gin tonic?hihi
Ouch! I feel your pain! Yes, Bitshares is a whole different animal.
another reason that TSA / customs agents take your water bottles away going through the checkpoints. all's left is for them to sell it back to you coming out the other side, or would that make the scam too obvious?! lol
That's funny and sad!
well someone might drown, it's a hazard
Allright.... that made me laugh...
feel you bro...transferring from coinbase to GDAX and setting a limit is the best idea
So then why don't you use Bitshares?
I do! It's all the other people and business who don't (stuck in their old ways) that are the problem.
Hopefully we can help to fix that ;)
Gotta be the change to make the change right ;) Get your point though, Bitcoin is too hyped. My bet is still with Bitshares, and hopefully it will grow once EOS comes to town :)!
well use others ltc, eth, btc is like a gold bar at this point, maybe even a box of gold bars probably, a satoshi is like a nugget :D
Yeahh central exchanges and bitcoin fees are really sh.. nowadays.. It's gets even worse, when the majority starts with crypto they all fall in the same trap as we did in the beginning.. at least we can choose now...
Better wear a hydration pack then used by military spec ops. You wear it as back pack and drink water on the go using a flexible tube/straw. You save on money and never go thirsty.
Hahah good one by a master of humor!
yay fallout :D looks amazing tho, nice back water pack
It truly has become a disgusting world...can't wait for things to change....(sigh)
I feel your pain @lellabird60!
I do my best to avoid the nickel and dime industry of death. How they have not started to charge per use of the bathroom is beyond my understanding.
I do feel for you. As if they have not come up with enough silly fees and other nonsense they have to take it out on your needs of food and water as well. At some point, you would think price gouging laws would come into effect over high surcharge of basics necessities. That fact you are only allowed to bring in some much liquid even in the form of water should merit that.
Next thing you know they will charge you extra for random body search you didn’t ask for. Having to scan your bag twice or chagrining an inconvenience fee if you trip the metal decor because you forgot something.
Good thing I don’t work for the airlines. No one’s wallet would escape with a cent remaining! They are greedy and I choose to not engage with them unless I am otherwise forced to due to time restraints.
You make a lot of great observations. At the place that i stopped at they do charge $1.00 do go to the bathroom but then you get a voucher for $1.00 to use to buy food or drink! There is nothing that costs only $1.00!
wow so the minimum fee for any transaction there is 1$ :D yeah they are bitcoin alright :D
some airlines have already tried that too... lol
Link: Paying to Pee: Have the Airlines Gone Too Far?
Greed appears to have no limits with those people. I wonder if people just pee on a wall and say "sorry I already spent all my money on the ticket" lol.
I totally hear you!
Now that the cattle-style enclosures, such as airports are in place, it is easy to ask for what ever you want from your minions.
Because I am aware of their stratagems, I always carry an empty bottle with me and load it up inside airports that still give access to water from a dispenser in the waiting rooms. This way, I have water all the way across the travelling journey. With food, I carry super foods with me, or a mix of super foods usually in the form of a bar or packet to which I only have to add up... Water! Something to ponder some more as the scarcity of freshwater and human freedoms & liberties are being chopped.
Good article, as always, thanks for sharing this outrageous madness with us. Exposing it may help others including us raise voices on this matter and/or become more aware of this water take over that is happening all over the world.
Namaste :)
yeah it's either travel with a bagload of cash and get mugged for being stupid or survive in a hostile environment :D
You make such good comments and you have great suggestions!
Español? Es bunghole! Habla, blah habla, habla habla, habla bunghole...
Ripped of everyday by different criminals - is it a tax thing by my state or just ridiculous business people knowing one has no alternative in certain situations - however when I am in Switzerland i always feel ripped off lol
the standards people set are amazing, we have to stop this, do that, basically stop global warming, so we make things more expensive, the good ones, like don't use cheap cars, make them cost thousands and have them break easily, we have to feed the hungry so regulate the food industry and make it a law to throw food out, make everything expensive :D we have problems to solve :D we need more money :D
Yes good old Switzerland is expensive!
That's true. But things of basic necessity like water and food shouldn't be handed over to market forces. Prices will skyrocket for things with inelastic demand.
We have a concept of MRP (Maximum Retail Price) in our country. Charging higher than that is illegal and any consumer can sue them in a Consumer Protection Court with just a receipt. But sadly, still businesses do charge higher illegally. So in upmarket places, the concept of "what the market can bear" is applied for pricing instead of what is reasonable or fair.
I just learned something about law and commerce in India! "What The Market Can Bear" is exactly what I faced. I was THIRSTY. Good points from you as always!
OMG!
Water should be free....
Yes what you say is true though also people who travel generally have plenty of disposable income so its an easy hostage situation.
I am very disappointed in humanity for allowing such corporate extortion to take place.
Yes it is true that corporations treat people like slaves or cattle and just try and get as much out of them as possible.
Yet the free market does exist, supply and demand does exist. If people (mostly ones with money) were to really make a stand and boycott dishonorable business practices and fund honorable ones it WOULD change.
We are the power~*~
I like your way of thinking Mighty Quinn!
Great to hear!
Hope to share more of it with you in the days to come!
SteemON!
yeah sure, we just like watching tv and agreeing with the status quo, we like easy, we like fun, we like being treated like kids, we like being crybabies, we are lazy :|
sooo yeah let's have institutions for everything so someone else is responsible, there is someone we can blame and someone we can ask and look up to :) we rule :) :D
I have been ripped off a lot at fairs and carnivals!! The food and water is super expensive because the owners know people will buy it when the get hungry because if you leave then you have to pay again to comeback in to the fair or carnival. There are also people selling balloons animals, stuffed bears, water guns and other things because they know kids can't stop themselves from buying it. Some kids will even start crying because their parents won't get them it so the parents buy the kid the thing they wanted so they don't get embarrassed.
Were you a kid like the one in your exmple! :) I guess we all were to a certain extent but most likely I need to ask @mathworksheets! :)
Lol that was just an example that I see happening!!
personally, I can't imagine shopping there, I know that even coffee is overpriced, since I've worked in a store, well percentage wise, I suppose there is a high demand for it so it evens out, still the material you use costs about 10/20 cents, the coffee costs a dollar, why? nobody knows, it's how you make a buck.
It's mostly regulations and requirements, for some reason you need a lot of papers to sell anything, so why not charge extra.
Highway stops are a mess, it's like people are waiting for your car to die off so they can make some thousands hauling that to the shop and fixing it, so since you can probably spend a couple of thousands when something goes wrong, why not charge 10 times as much for a sandwich, I think nobody shops there and they have to make up for that in prices, maybe 5% of people can stop and have a coffee at a gas station, personally I feel bad, sure the cups are porcelain but still it's like a
star restaurant
well you have some views and it's nice, humm I guess come prepared, have a water tank and a boiler some filters and a few porcelain cups in the car :)
Thanks for your experiences and your good advice!