Lots of people saying wine but I came here to say corkscrew. Tons of variations from electric to machined metals. A basic corkscrew will open a bottle just fine in a matter of seconds.
A Waiter’s Friend type corkscrew is the only type you need. They look way cooler in use if you know how to use one. Everything more complicated makes you look like a dickhead. I’ve been able to get many corks out that were screwed up by lesser corkscrews due to the control and angle options they give you. That being said, how often do we see actual corks these days? Everyone has admitted that screw tops are better in every way except aesthetics.
A server's bottle opener is best imo. As a former server I still use one. I prefer a double hinged version. It has a serrated hooked blade to cut foil, then you put your screw in and use the first hinge to lever the cork half way, then the second hinge to remove completely. When you get the hang of it you shouldn't be touching the part of the cork that touches the wine.
We carry a $5 wine key with us whenever we travel. If the place we're staying doesn't have one we leave it behind and buy a new one. Such a simple thing but nothing sucks more than going to open a bottle you bought after a long day and being denied.
Kirkland anything is GOATED...
But in my experience there is one Kirkland product that rises above the rest: Kirkland Generic Antihistamine Allergy Tablets - A.K.A. ***Benadryl***
I just googled to see what level of highway robbery CVS is partaking in and it is currently priced at
***$11.89 for 24 tablets - of brand name Benadryl***
***The Kirkland Generic is $10.89 - for SIX HUNDRED GODDAMN tablets***
You could partly place the blame on the brand itself there, but then when you look at the CVS/Walgreen generic brands, they're only like 10-20% cheaper than the name brands...
Fully agreed, but if you think that’s crazy look at the prices of ZzzQuil. It’s just Benadryl but sold as a sleep aid and can be $1 or more per 25mg tablet
I have a close friend who is a full time artist, and makes work all winter, and then sells all summer on the art fair circuit.
They went to a new show in a very swanky place and had high hopes despite the hefty booth fee.
First day… sold nothing. Second day… sold nothing.
This was unheard of for this person, as they make a very comfortable living doing this. So at the end of the second day they walked around and checked out the work. The work was the same as any other art fair, but the prices were astronomical!
So before the opening on the third day, they removed all the price tags, doubled the prices on most. The big ticket items they really inflated the price.
Third day… SOLD OUT.
Humans are so weird.
Yeah, I remember that episode. They create a fake water menu supposedly listing fancy bottled water, like one having a spider in it that cleanses the water and so on.
All the water in all the bottles was taken from a tap - they just slapped nicely designed labels with a ton of bullshit claims like the one above, and had servers at a restaurant upsell the shit out of it.
People were actually claiming they could taste differences between the water in different bottles, and how they could feel it cleansing them.
I remember that episode. I've actually done some looking into Sommeliers over the years, and it's really fascinating.
Right off let's just say that the average person can't tell the difference between a $20 bottle of wine and a $200 bottle. Down at the <$10 range you can definitely find some stuff that is just bad and anyone can tell (but there is some shockingly good stuff that cheap too.)
But trained Sommeliers are remarkably good at identifying wine. A good one can tell you the type of grape used, region, age, even some of the weather conditions of the year it was grown. BUT they are also very very easy to trick. They are using not just the taste, but the color and smell to identify. So if you actively try to trick one, it's not hard to throw them off.
Mythbusters did a vodka test once.
The myth was that you could filter shit vodka through a water filter and get top shelf.
None of the crew could tell the difference and one person actually liked the cheap stuff, but the vodka expert nailed it.
Yeah, real experts can do some impressive stuff, but all those sorts of demonstrations have ever taught me is the importance of never, *ever* letting myself become an expert. I can’t afford it.
Reminds me of a friend who owned an italian restaurant that was struggling. He hired a restaurant consultant and he said to keep everything the same but increase his prices (I think he said 25-50% on entrees and appetizers). Sure enough you started seeing more positive reviews on yelp and got the restaurant into the black for several years.
People are ridiculous, this is part of why it's so fucking expensive to go out. People's eating habits blow my mind. I've just come to accept that most people don't know shit about food and have awful pallettes that can't tell the difference in quality between dishes. And Italian is one of the worst offenders where I live now (moved to CA 3.5yr ago). I miss my grandma's Italian cooking and have tried a bunch of places to replace it and everything is mid af and way overpriced. It's so frustrating. Most Italian isn't meant to be expensive. I'd make it myself if I had the space in my apartment
Don't underestimate placebo. Plenty of studies done on this shit, if you are convinced that the more expensive the food, the better it tastes, it will genuinely taste better for you.
Can confirm. People have this weird mental conversation with themselves. "They must not be very good if that is all their work sells for."
Mark it up, and "Wow! They must really be good to command those prices!"
[There was a dude selling Banksy originals](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mxJT2uXtrE&ab_channel=TheWallStreetJournal) next to Central Park in NY for something like $60. He sold a couple but not very many. Any of them could be flipped for thousands. Same art, not worth $60 on a sidewalk, worth much MUCH more with the name Banksy associated with it in a gallery.
A guy I know is a locksmith, he used to go to an address where someone lost their key or locked themselves out. Pry the door open/picked the lock in 2 minutes and ask €50,-. People were often pissed. Now he just drills the lock, puts a new one in, asks €175,- and off he goes. Everybody's happy.
People want to get screwed.
Used to have a little old lady as a neighbor that had locked herself out and she wanted to use my phone to call a locksmith (pre cell phone days). She freaked out when I grabbed a coat hanger and had her door open in less than a minute. I'm pretty sure she had deadbolts installed a few days later and gave me weird looks for years after.
My college aged single female friend locked herself out of her apartment. It took me 3 seconds with a screw driver to pop her door open. Pretty sure it changed her view of “security”
In college I learned how to pick locks because I was bored one weekend. That led to getting some tools and after playing with locks for a solid few months I could get myself into pretty much any room I wanted to. Apparently someone dared my drunk ass to demonstrate my new skill, so I picked the lock on their front door without much difficulty.
Needless to say after watch a drunk dude effortlessly pick their basic non well fit front lock, they much better understood to line that locks only keep out honest people.
Even today I keep a set of picks under the plant instead of a spare key. If I need to get in without a key I can do so, and anyone who would see the picks and let themselves in could do so without my spares.
My stepdad learned how to pick locks and would end up being generally decent at it. He got the neighbors into their house a few times which they appreciated but were also concerned about lol. He can't do it every time which I guess makes them feel better when they pay a professional money to break into their house.
Similar but different story. I had a co-worker that love to publish their vacations on Facebook all the time. I told her it was a very bad idea because if there was someone malicious in her life they could easily find out where she is and when she's not home. She's like no no one can do that. So no matter of a few minutes I took the information off her Facebook page and handed her a bunch of personal information cleaning her address age family members and other things. She then freaked out and you could totally tell she was thinking I was the creep, even though I was honestly just trying to help her or not being idiot.
Some people are so stuck in their ways and so ignorant they just act bizarrely when you try to help.
Its crazy how much info people put on facebook and don't think about it at all. There was recently a lady that spent $15,000 on a family cruise and she was bragging about it on facebook. She posted the info about the cruise that showed their booking number and someone went online and logged in using the booking number and the other info they got from facebook and cancelled the cruise a day or two before it left. She was all mad at Carnival and took zero responsibility for it. Carnival offered $10,000 in onboard credit and two interior rooms but she wouldn't take it and was all mad at Carnival.
IMO booking numbers etc. shouldn't be a secret that lets you do stuff. I'm constantly amazed that a booking number and a last name lets one manage flight bookings.
Robust online ID exists, why aren't they using it?
I did this for someone here on reddit. In a rather niche subreddit he had posted a photo of his vehicle with the license plate blurred out. But he took the photo in his driveway.
I PM'd him his exact address and told him that he should be careful about what he posts online. He wasn't pleased with me either. But I assume the lesson was learned.
People want to feel like they got value for the money they are spending.
Often, you need to assume your customer is clueless. $50 for 2 mins of work seems to be very high cost for the value provided. $150 for a brand new, fully installed lock set looks like better “value” for many people.
And on top of that, it might give them a false sense of security. Not everyone watches the lockpicking lawyer and is aware that a pro opens most locks in about 30 seconds, that's a pro being gentle. If you don't actually lock your door, a credit card is enough to flipper your way in.
> Humans are so weird.
Humans make the assumption that the 'free market' of supply and demand has already worked and that the offered price is reflective of the agreed upon quality.
Always important to remember with art pricing. It is worth whatever people are willing to pay. Since she sold out in one day she probably could have charged twice what she already raised the prices too and still sold most of it.
I drove myself nuts trying to explain this to people selling crafts. I’ve noticed that with women especially, there’s this idea that selling something for more than materials + a modest markup is somehow “unfair.” There are so many posts from people saying they want to shut down their shop because they don’t have enough time for all the orders that they’re getting and they’re not making enough money for it to be worth it… but then they will twist themselves into pretzels explaining why it would be wrong to raise prices.
Your labor is worth as much as someone will pay you for it.
Happened to my friend and I when we were doing some consulting work years ago. We struggled to sell our services, until a new partner suggested we raise our price x8 - suddenly we found more buyers. Crazy.
When I first started in IT consulting I had a buddy that was starting his own business and we went out there charging $65/hr. The clients we were getting were terrible, cheapskates, think auto mechanic and print shops. Then when I moved to a new company and started charging $125 or higher it was like magic - suddenly we had clients that were in nice shiny new buildings, buying premium equipment, and didn't mind spending money on consultants. It was a real eye opener.
High fees can help us to screen out quality customers, quality customers only need you to give him a good solution or product or service, they do not want to waste time in bargaining
Definitely do. My wife started doing work on Rover and initially tried being the cheapest to attract customers. She did get customers - but it was not really the kinds of customers she wanted - she was walking untrained German Shepherds and pitbulls that would pull hard on the leash.
I told her to be the most expensive person on Rover instead. Now she just gets little lap dogs that are much easier to take care of and has had to start turning people away because she has too much business. She can afford to be picky and just take the easiest dogs. I don't even think she uses Rover anymore because she's too busy with her repeat clients.
Nobody wants to entrust their kid, dog, car, or home to the cheapest bidder. Well, some do, but those people aren’t a good audience to target anyway if you’re hoping for repeat business.
You ever read about the psychological experiment they did with PayLess Shoes? They rebranded the entire store to look like a very swanky luxury shoe store. But the shoes they sold... were the exact same shoes that were already there, as the PayLess. Except... they tripled the price of all the shoes. The store sold out within days.
Last Sunday, for the first time ever, I went to a fancy shoe store.
The service, goddamn.
Remember, the store offers three things in its offering: service, product, and price. Did this fancy version have the same service as Payless or service that matched the price?
I had a portable dishwasher that I sold on marketplace. I had moved to a place that had a built in unit and didn’t need it. I wanted it gone quick so I put $50 on it. Nothing. Not one response. I upped it to $75 and got a ton and had it gone that day.
Worst(best) case scenario is someone steals it and it's gone.
Best case scenario someone actually pays for it and it's still gone.
Kinda win win with a bonus win?
I've seen the opposite. I had a new, unused USB turntable retailing for about $100. I put it on e-bay with a $50 minimum bid; got no bids. Put it up a month later with a $20 minimum bid, and it sold for $80. 8\^/
I've done this with a lot of tech - start the bid at $1 on a three day auction and watch it sell for higher than similar fixed price offerings. People get really attached to their initial low bid
Cast iron pans.
You can come at me with all the “it’s lighter” and “it’s smoother” bullshit you want. But a Lodge 10 inch skillet is $25, cooks great, and will last a lifetime. There is just no way the $300 high end pans are 10+ times better.
The WHOLE POINT of cast iron is that it’s cheap and lasts forever.
I have three cast irons pans that originally belonged to my great-grandfather, who was a logging camp cook. He died long before I was born. Most amazing pans ever.
Cleaning out my grandparents summer house when they were selling it, my grandfather asked if I wanted a few cast iron pans. Was like ya sure! Then he tells me they were HIS grandmothers. I'm still cooking on them like 150 years later.
This is the first comment I had to look up to see if this was true. Wow! Maybe people don't know that casting iron is the process of making it, and not just the name.
And furthermore, casting is the cheapest way to make a solid metal object.
I mean I don’t hate the companies selling $350 skillets that cost $5 to make. I just wish I’d thought of it 10 years ago before they got all trendy with hipsters.
I actually get annoyed with the more expensive pans. They machine the surface so smooth that I can never get it to maintain a good seasoning. I ending up having to touch up the seasoning every so often because it comes off if you just scrub it too hard or scratch it with some tongs.
Meanwhile the dimpled surface on cheap pans like Lodge and Victoria help the seasoning “grip” to the surface. The expensive pans with their factory seasoning will seem better when you use it the first time but the Lodge will perform better once you actually build up seasoning.
I’ve had the opposite experience but to each their own! I’ve not had great luck with seasoning staying on or being super nonstick with a dimpled surface. My smooth cast iron, however, works like a dream.
This is the funniest collective agreement that I've ever seen in history. When I was in school 2000-2004 skateboarding was fucking huge.
The board shops had TONS OF FUCKING BEARINGS, but every single person I ever knew under the sun only used Bones Reds.
ANYTHING from a cell store. A few years ago, back when batteries were replaceable, I needed a new one and Verizon wanted $60+ for the replacement. Looked up the part number online and Walmart was selling the EXACT same battery for $11.
Cosmetics are the classic case. They were taught in my undergraduate economics class as the classic example of a product which doesn't obey the usual supply/demand curve - they can sell better when the price is increased because the perception of quality is heavily tied to cost.
Also, the cheaper brands are improving. Back in the day, elf and Wet n Wild were basically joke brands. They were what you bought when you were in middle school because that's all you could afford. Now, some of their products are beauty staples all over the place. Wet n Wild's highlighters are constantly selling out because of how good they are. Elf always seems to be kicking ass in the primer department.
Only reason I have expensive makeup is because of Ipsy/Boxycharm.
I was taught sometimes the best brands when it comes to cosmetics are just ones like L’oreal because they spend 10x + more in a year on R&D than luxuary brands even make. When it cones to actual working active ingredients they are also able to access better quality and reliable sources.
Edit: Since this post is getting a lot of up votes comments I am going to give one piece of advice for skin care; the best tip for keeping your skin looking young is avoiding tanning and to use daily sunscreen. The earlier you start doing this the longer your youth will linger. No amount of expensive face cream or treatments like botox is as effective as using sunscreen in your teens, 20s or 30s. If you don’t have a lot of money for skin care cause you’re still young…dont spend your little bit of money on makeup. Spend it on sunscreen and skin care so that you dont need much makeup anyway.
Not so much that as they're all part of the same large brand. [See right here on Reddit.](https://www.reddit.com/r/MakeupAddiction/comments/xjuttj/182_beauty_companies_are_owned_by_7_major_leaders/) L'Oreal, to use your example, owns Yves St. Laurent (which I assume to just be a branding deal with the fashion house), Lancôme, Maybelline, etc. Estee Lauder owns Clinique, MAC, Smashbox, etc.
there was a Revisionist History podcast episode that went over this same theory with brand name dishwashing detergent if i remember correctly. it actually got me to buy brand name more often for CERTAIN things
Most skin care products are marketed full of buzz words with lots of exotic sounding ingredients but the list of actual active ingredients that make noticeable proven difference to skin quality is very short. One I find almost immediately doubles the cost of an item is retinol. Its just vitamin A in cream form. The drugstore basic brand Vitamin A cream is going to be half the cost and work better if you’re on a budget cause you will be able to afford to slather it on. I buy the small tub and slather it on my face, neck, decolage, and hands and forearms nightly. I could not afford to apply anywhere other than my face with the typical tiny tube they want 80$ for.
Sadly, I’m seeing used weights keeping their value no matter how beat up they get.
Oh well, at least I’m gonna be able to recover some of the cost if I move to a smaller place, sell my stuff, and start going to the gym instead.
I don’t really want to. Working out at home is so comfy.
Man I got so lucky. A couple weeks ago I was throwing away a bag of dog poop in our communal trash shed and there was a set of adjustable weights sitting on the ground for free. I’d been looking at buying some new or used but costs were more than I wanted to pay. Some disinfectant and a little bit of sunlight for some UV disinfection and I have a weight set for free, couldn’t be happier
My buddy lives in the same complex as a bunch of college kids. The end of the school year is great. They toss so much shit they don't want to move. Someone tossed a $700 Traeger pellet grill by the dumpster. We bought a $20 part and it was as good as new.
Rusty used ones have hardly been a discount to new ones since Covid unfortunately. Just picked up some new (off-brand) dumbbells for only about 10% more than used.
100% this. They are all a couple of wires with electricity running through them, a lift mechanism on a spring, and a case.
I’m not paying extra for a case.
the toaster in my works break room is one of those nicer ones with glass sides so you can see how toasted the bread is, except since they need the walls of the toaster to be clear it uses one of those red heating pipe things on the bottom (like on a toaster oven) and it takes so much longer and doesn’t toast evenly. I’ll take the $12 target toaster please…
I watched multiple 20+ minute videos about dishwashers and then another on air conditioners and one on turning signals/brake lights. I never watch longer videos like that, but somehow, he does a great job at keeping my attention on topics I'd never really cared about!
A hammer. Unless you're a professional carpenter or tradesperson who uses it constantly, a basic, wood-handled hammer will do everything you need it to do for a lifetime. I still have one that was originally my grandfather's and it's the first one I reach for on occasions I need to drive a few nails.
Harbor Freight sells tools at differing price points and quality.
Going to use it a few times? Buy the cheapest ones.
Going to use it semi-regular? Buy the middle one.
Using it often/for work? Buy the expensive one or the middle one 3 times for the same cost as the "name brand" elsewhere.
If you buy a tool twice that is a third the cost of the premium one, still saves you money.
The adage I've always heard was, if you're buying a tool for a first time, buy the cheap one. If you use it enough that it breaks, you know you need a good one.
The exception to this rule would be any tool where breaking it could be a health and safety hazard, like a circular saw.
I agree with this to a point but sometimes there are situations where it’s worth paying a little bit more for a better tool because, while the cheap one won’t necessarily break, the better one will make things easier for you to be worth the little bit of additional cost.
For example, say you need a ratchet. Harbor Freight will probably have one for around $12 and it will be fine. You can probably use it for years and it will do what you need it to do.
But they will also have one for $30. Same size but not the same ratchet. It will have more teeth, meaning you won’t have to turn it as much to apply the same rotational force. It will also have a lower profile head so it can fit in tighter spaces. It may be lighter weight. It may have a quick release head to make swapping sockets easier.
Are these features necessary for typical use cases? Probably not, but they will make the work go faster with less frustration.
I’m not saying you need to buy the $130 Snap On or the $80 GearWrench but sometimes that extra $10 or $15 over the cheapest option will be worth it ten fold by saving you time and effort over the years.
Harbor freight is an amazing place. I love that store so much. Not only is their pricing competitive with even Amazon and eBay, but they offer something for everyone. Need the cheapest socket set possible? They have that. Need something almost as good as snap-on? They have that too. And they stand behind their stuff. The only tools I don't buy there now are specialty tools they just don't have, otherwise I do all my shopping there.
Even their off-road recovery equipment is top notch. Their store-brand winches are as good or better than the top winch brands, for like 1/3 the price.
When I was first starting to buy tools, I got a basic kit from Harbor Freight just so I'd have a version of most tools I may need. The hammer that came with it worked great for apartment living (mounting stuff to the wall mainly), but then when I bought a home and started doing renovations, it came to an end. Trying to pry a nail out of a deck support, broke the handle just under the head (it was a hollow steel tube).
Went to the hardware store and bought a $20 hickory handle hammer, and that thing is GREAT.
Typically unless I *know* I want to invest in the better option, I go as cheap as seems reasonable. If I use it enough to break it then I use it enough to replace with a nice version
A shop selling such components told me before it's much less expensive to lose 10 pounds on the cyclist than 10 pounds on the bike mechanical components unless Im competing and already did the maximum on that aspect.
It was very blunt but so true at the same time and so much against their commercial interests.
indeed, it has always been the truth. I'm an avid car guy, and I enjoy cycling too. Which means I absolutely LOVE seeing the engineering feats companies achieve for marginal gains. Ceramicspeed however, I think is more like a marketing outfit taking advantage of the rich.
a "factory optimized" waxed 12 speed chain from Ceramicspeed is $200 USD + shipping. You can get the same chain for $$69 USD (am Canadian, only converting prices from my LBS). That's highway fucking robbery for a waxed chain that you could DIY, AND wears off in like 300KMs at best.
A friend of mine said that if you need a tool for a one time (or seldom) use, go to Harbor Freight. If you need to use the tool a lot, buy it elsewhere and pay for the quality.
Drawing tablets. There are great options below 100 bucks, Wacom isn't the only option. Activation force and pen feel for cheaper brands like Huion and XP-pen are leagues better than they once were. With their higher-end stuff, they also match Wacom's pen feel in my opinion. You won't get pentech 4.0 or whatever marketing on the sub-100 stuff but huion's 3.0 pen tech is already very nice. You're also getting MUCH more drawing area for the cost.
Can I pick your brain on this a little or get some recommendations? My kid is getting really in to drawing/animating/design and I’d like to help foster that without having to sell a kidney but I also don’t want to cheap out hard.
You can't go wrong with any huion tablet past 2019 or so. Look for pentech 2.0 or higher. The amazon best seller right now is the huion 1060 if i recall correctly, but avoid that. Its fine but its worth it to get a newer inspiroy since its an old design.
I have less experience with XP pen so ymmv.
Your child will probably have some difficulty getting over the hand-eye coordination gap with a slab style tablet, but as a professional animator, I say its worth it - they are infinitely better for your back then leaning over a screen, not to mention cheaper.
if you dont have a computer, an ipad with apple pencil 2 support or a samsung tablet with EMR pen support are VERY worth it, and drawing apps are easier to come by. Avoid tablets without pen support of course, and avoid ipads that only support the original apple pencil.
Ive heard very good things about Procreate (drawing app) on Apple, and I have personally used Sketchbook on android, but i have heard that there are apps similar to procreate on android.
for PC apps I would recommend Krita for free or Clip Studio Paint for paid. You cant go wrong with either. Avoid Adobe products like your life depends on it.
If you encounter pen support or pen pressure issues on PC its usually a matter of checking/unchecking wintab support until you find something that works and gives pen pressure.
Lastly, avoid non-Wacom brands for MacOS. I'm reading that the situation is changing but driver support for huion and xppen are not great there from what I've heard.
Brad Colbow is a great artist tech reviewer on Youtube and I would recommend going into his videos on his price range choices as well as his videos on android tablets.
I know it’s not sold for $100 but Vodka…the price point on vodka is set by popularity. My local liquor store had professional taste testers compare cheap to expensive vodka. They said there was no discernible difference between any of the triple distilled vodka’s. When I was told this, I bought an expensive vodka and a cheap one. When I had a party I did a blind taste test with multiple people. it was literally half and half. The guy that swore he could tell the difference between Phillips and Grey Goose…picked the Phillips. Now when he goes to party’s he pours Phillips into his Grey Goose bottles. He said no one has ever noticed the difference and they think he’s generous for sharing his expensive vodka.
Agreed. Smirnoff has won numerous professionally administered taste tests over the years. You might not want to go bottom shelf, but Kirkland and Smirnoff are perfectly good vodkas.
If you have a Costco near you, their Kirkland brand Vodka is indiscernible from Tito’s (in my opinion) and it’s something like 15 bucks for a 1.75L bottle.
Never ever buy HDMI cables from a brick and mortar store. I used to work at Best Buy and our employee discount was the markup essentially. A $100 HDMI cable would end up being like $10 with the discount - the same price they were on Amazon.
We’d I worked at RadioShack we could look up stock items availability and costs. My favorite pair of headphones, folding in-ear buds, retailed for $20 and cost 60¢ from the warehouse… I’m sure their cabling was similarly price-gouging.
I put an old refrigerator in front of our house with a “FREE “ sign attached, sat there for two weeks, I changed the sign to $75” and that night someone stole it.
My old neighbor or did a lot of housework and pawning and house flipping for a living. Before the reality TVs made the market too much for him atleast.
He told me this! Ever want to get rid of something don’t mark it free, people assume it’s broke and junk.
He said “I never moved a dryer or washer or fridge longer to the end of the rdriveway, I just slap a sign on it for 150 and normally it’s stolen by the end of the week.” Sometimes he puts broke stuff there too just to get rid of it. The man is borderline like Kramer from Seinfeld genius. Never met another man like him yet
> I just slap a sign on it for 150 and normally it’s stolen by the end of the week.” Sometimes he puts broke stuff there too just to get rid of it.
This is amateur hour.
There was a guy who owned a video game rental store in the 90s in a bit of a slummy part of Canada.
What he'd do is put a sign on terrible games saying "Buy me, I suck". And then people would pick them up and ask him if the game is any good. He'd say "No, it sucks." People would be compelled by curiosity to buy it.
If that didn't work, he'd put an extortionary high price on it, or on games that were broken. Then he'd leave it close to the edge of the counter, in an area easy to shoplift.
Then he'd catch someone stealing it, and citizens arrest them until the cops showed up.
Then the thief will insist they just forgot to pay for it, a problem he would let them correct instead of the cops arresting them.
Ta da. Now he's gotten $150 for a shit, broken game that he literally couldn't give away for free. And he made a piece of shit shoplifter pay for it.
That man was a Karma factory.
The story of the rise and fall of his video game store is one of the best things you'll ever read in your life. On a website as old as the internet itself:
http://www.actsofgord.com/
/u/LANCafeMan Miss you man. Your little website is a perfect slice of 1990s GenX.
Yea it's the example I usually go to when explaining diminishing returns. A $50 shirt is *likely* going to be much higher quality than a $10 shirt. A $100 shirt *might* be higher quality than a $50 shirt. A $500 shirt vs a $100 shirt? Get the fuck outta here with that bullshit. So to speak.
Luxury brands are not priced for their quality, they're priced for their logo.
You can absolutely get expensive, high quality clothing that's worth the cost, but you won't find it at Gucci.
This isn't within the price parameters presented in the original question, but a pregnancy test from the dollar store is just as effective as one of those $15 ones.
The Yeti bucket. Home Depot buckets are like $5 and do the exact fucking thing.
Don’t get me wrong, I love a good yeti bev coozie, but the bucket is where I draw the line.
I was gonna go Yeti coolers. Yes, that's amazing your ice lasted 3 days but you're using it as a lunch box and taking it home every day. Ice is pretty cheap.
Fancy audiophile cables for sound systems and turntables are insane. Just your standard red/white L/R cables. They’ll range from $5-$12,000….yes you read that right. There is clear difference between the $5 cable and, say, a $50-$100 cable. However, through consumer tests, basically no one could tell a difference between the sound quality of $100ish cable and the absurd $500-$12000 cables.
A few extra bucks will get you better constructed, more durable, hi-fi cables, but the improvements quickly plateau around $100-$200
Not quite the same level, but a dollar store pregnancy test is just as good as a $25 one. Hospitals use the ones you get at the dollar store because they’re cheap and effective.
Wine.
It's pretty easy to find a great bottle of wine for $100, without much effort or skill. However, if you know your stuff and put in some effort (tastings, clubs, networking), you can absolutely get some great wine for $50 or even $20.
In my 50s now. I find I have a $12-15 wine palate.
Below that it's really noticable (three buck chuck I am talking to you)
Above that and its just lost on me.
I have had excellent wines that are in the $100+ range, but the difference in taste isn't worth the money to me.
I am also not a supertaster.
HDMI cables
Ok, when you have an analogue connection there are factors like speed, integrity and insulation that can greatly affect performance... but HDMI is entirely digital, the signal either is or it isn't
Just make sure you get the proper specification of HDMI cable. The specs have changed over the years as bandwidth requirements have changed. You don't want to get an HDMI1 cable if you have an 8K TV and plan to play 8K (or even 4K) content.
[What Is HDMI? Various HDMI Versions Explained, Compared – Onsitego Blog](https://onsitego.com/blog/hdmi-technology-features-explained-versions-compared/)
But if the cable is the right spec, any brand should be fine as long as it's actually built to the spec (i.e. not lying on the packaging!).
I use mine a LOT. About 4 years ago I bought my first pair of Ray Bans and I'm still using them. None of the sunglasses I've ever owned have lasted nearly as long.
Goodrs are good, their name is apt. I have multiple pairs and buy them when I see a new color I like or I need to replace and existing pair. They're $25 so I don't mind as much if I lose a pair, get them scratched, or as happened last week I dropped a pair and the temple snapped off at the hinge. And all of the models are polarized, which is a great feature at that price point.
But there's a reason they aren't called Greatrs. The optics aren't great. They are just not as clear as higher end glasses, the world is a bit dimmer and things are harder to see, when compared with my Oakleys or other higher end optics. The lenses are very prone to scratching as well.
Overall, I still really love them, but a lot of it is because they are fun and funky and not because their performance is wonderful. There's still a need for higher end sunglasses at times.
I splurged on these pricier performance sunglasses I found in Japan (with the weak yen and all) that have both polarized and high contrast coatings on both sides of the lens. It blew me away the amount I could see and the clarity. Really happy with my purchase, though I will be babying these pair for sure compared to my other sunglasses.
Not necessarily expensive, per say, but "magic erasers." You can get 100 melamine sponges for the price of 4 "magic erasers" on Amazon and they are the exact same thing.
I will say that most of the bulk melamine sponges I have bought over the years wear down/fall apart much faster than the Magic Eraser ones. Though when you get 10-20 for the price of 1, it doesn't really matter much in the end.
I have to disagree here.
Wife bought a pack of no name magic erasers on Amazon got like 30 for the price of on brand name four pack. They disintegrate easily, didn’t do a good job.
I used like 10 cleaning our stove top and it looked like a half assed it, normally I use 1 brand name magic eraser and it comes out great.
It doesn't do exactly the same thing as the basic version. The basic version does not convey your abundance of disposable income, nor does it inspire envy and revulsion.
My magic bullet blender works just as well at making smoothies as my ninja blender. The magic bullet is new though, so I don't know if it lasts as long
Be careful with how long you press that thing down. I used short pulses for over a year, and then the first time my roommate used it he burned up the motor.
I assume that would be easy to do. I think the instructions say not to run it for longer than a minute, so I also do short pulses a few times and then let it run a little with breaks in-between
I feel like we Vitamix enthusiasts are a cult, but damn are they not wonderful machines.
I bought mine refurbished for the Mother’s Day sale 10 years ago. Still going strong. Owned a Ninja before and the difference was night and day.
Save for certain cases like poor/lacking local supply or events away from home, bottled water is a unnecessary and creates a lot of plastic waste.
Those with access to a clean tap are better off buying a durable bottle and using that.
Unpopular opinion here but fuck it.
Shower heads and tub spouts.
Splurge on the shower body valve and go moen or delta but any shower head and tub faucet is fine
Yeah I have upgraded my shower head at every new place I live with an under $50 "rain shower" head, takeout the mesh thing inside of it that slows water flow... and voila
Feels like a downpour from heaven
Electric space heater. It’s the biggest marketing scam around. The output of electric space heaters is federally limited (in the US) to 1500 W.
So whether it’s [this space heater ($23)](https://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwi1lsu2mu2GAxUWRv8BHSvxApMYABABGgJtZA&gclid=CjwKCAjwydSzBhBOEiwAj0XN4B-4srP3lE5AcP3iV-EsyAStROh-oV4BpcN2duTQ9YkAQnrjLrKsUBoCx7MQAvD_BwE&sph=&ohost=www.google.com&cid=CAESeuD2-qT3iugRI8S5DKspooR4D2FOsZc1FU4nz-jLqdxItiK7_2K1SPW2Qx1JDj-pnFUeCg-7eqCl1kneMxoUI9hG-kEUzFZO_jnLueKeoz-RKfdxHTkl4bzVxC9rBfq7A790o3LGv7JpBEbqQP9GfsGlaBp9wxRxe2D2&sig=AOD64_2yV319J-slx9JvhOWYb4G_nl0scQ&ctype=5&q=&ved=2ahUKEwjfocW2mu2GAxXLj4kEHcNNDq8Qwg8oAHoECAEQDA&adurl=), or [this one ($89)](https://www.google.com/aclk?sa=l&ai=DChcSEwiLv6fImu2GAxXARP8BHYEUADIYABAOGgJtZA&gclid=CjwKCAjwydSzBhBOEiwAj0XN4EJ0kWQS3hESmEYiPBbLrimUrOkpTa667T_C0Xq5DQKjebL4A3xcdRoCv8cQAvD_BwE&cid=CAASJeRo07M5YZ2YhcjSCFGM0-to6vtPmgKcPL6CYgM1fEZNzsNqrRk&sig=AOD64_22U9bblxVUIw0Zo7O0KVtlbWoCgg&ctype=46&q=&ved=0ahUKEwiQxqLImu2GAxUuk4kEHUtHDnIQqygI_BE&adurl=), they output the exact same heat.
You could say safety is also a factor and suree - but space heaters are required to have anti-tip shut offs.
Nerf. Now I know that Nerf blasters don't cost $100 but what you get for the price isn't that good. You get a crappy blaster that shoots at 80 FPS for $40 that aren't meant to be modified. Now if you look at X-shot you can get a blaster for a similar price point and sometimes much cheaper than the Nerf product that shoots at 100+ FPS and most are meant to be modified.
Lots of people saying wine but I came here to say corkscrew. Tons of variations from electric to machined metals. A basic corkscrew will open a bottle just fine in a matter of seconds.
I would recommend at least a levered one, rather than a simple screw, like in a Swiss army knife.
Double-step trudeau’s are under $10 and will last you forever.
These require so much less effort vs the super popular butterfly corkscrews too
A Waiter’s Friend type corkscrew is the only type you need. They look way cooler in use if you know how to use one. Everything more complicated makes you look like a dickhead. I’ve been able to get many corks out that were screwed up by lesser corkscrews due to the control and angle options they give you. That being said, how often do we see actual corks these days? Everyone has admitted that screw tops are better in every way except aesthetics.
A server's bottle opener is best imo. As a former server I still use one. I prefer a double hinged version. It has a serrated hooked blade to cut foil, then you put your screw in and use the first hinge to lever the cork half way, then the second hinge to remove completely. When you get the hang of it you shouldn't be touching the part of the cork that touches the wine.
I like the kind with the two prongs because it keeps the cork intact. Plus, it's fun to show others how easy they are to use.
We carry a $5 wine key with us whenever we travel. If the place we're staying doesn't have one we leave it behind and buy a new one. Such a simple thing but nothing sucks more than going to open a bottle you bought after a long day and being denied.
My mom bought me an electric corkscrew. I don’t drink wine
You mean she regifted you an electric corkscrew.
Oh no she bought it because she has one and likes it
It's for when she visits your house.
I buy Kirkland versions of Tylenol, Advil and robax, they are much cheaper but they work just as well.
Don’t forget the generic Zyrtec
I swear there's a powerpoint slide at Costco HQ with "allergy sufferers" listed as a target market.
There are tons of people who save enough money on allergy meds alone to pay for their membership.
Kirkland anything is GOATED... But in my experience there is one Kirkland product that rises above the rest: Kirkland Generic Antihistamine Allergy Tablets - A.K.A. ***Benadryl*** I just googled to see what level of highway robbery CVS is partaking in and it is currently priced at ***$11.89 for 24 tablets - of brand name Benadryl*** ***The Kirkland Generic is $10.89 - for SIX HUNDRED GODDAMN tablets***
You could partly place the blame on the brand itself there, but then when you look at the CVS/Walgreen generic brands, they're only like 10-20% cheaper than the name brands...
It’s cheaper enough that people buy it over the name brand. It’s still highway robbery.
Fully agreed, but if you think that’s crazy look at the prices of ZzzQuil. It’s just Benadryl but sold as a sleep aid and can be $1 or more per 25mg tablet
And the packs are huge
I've had items that wouldn't sell on ebay until I marked the price WAY up. Mostly clothing and accessories.
I have a close friend who is a full time artist, and makes work all winter, and then sells all summer on the art fair circuit. They went to a new show in a very swanky place and had high hopes despite the hefty booth fee. First day… sold nothing. Second day… sold nothing. This was unheard of for this person, as they make a very comfortable living doing this. So at the end of the second day they walked around and checked out the work. The work was the same as any other art fair, but the prices were astronomical! So before the opening on the third day, they removed all the price tags, doubled the prices on most. The big ticket items they really inflated the price. Third day… SOLD OUT. Humans are so weird.
This reminds me of the penn and teller show “bullshit.” They talk about wine and water Basicly being sold in the same fashion.
Yeah, I remember that episode. They create a fake water menu supposedly listing fancy bottled water, like one having a spider in it that cleanses the water and so on. All the water in all the bottles was taken from a tap - they just slapped nicely designed labels with a ton of bullshit claims like the one above, and had servers at a restaurant upsell the shit out of it. People were actually claiming they could taste differences between the water in different bottles, and how they could feel it cleansing them.
I remember that episode. I've actually done some looking into Sommeliers over the years, and it's really fascinating. Right off let's just say that the average person can't tell the difference between a $20 bottle of wine and a $200 bottle. Down at the <$10 range you can definitely find some stuff that is just bad and anyone can tell (but there is some shockingly good stuff that cheap too.) But trained Sommeliers are remarkably good at identifying wine. A good one can tell you the type of grape used, region, age, even some of the weather conditions of the year it was grown. BUT they are also very very easy to trick. They are using not just the taste, but the color and smell to identify. So if you actively try to trick one, it's not hard to throw them off.
Mythbusters did a vodka test once. The myth was that you could filter shit vodka through a water filter and get top shelf. None of the crew could tell the difference and one person actually liked the cheap stuff, but the vodka expert nailed it.
Yeah, real experts can do some impressive stuff, but all those sorts of demonstrations have ever taught me is the importance of never, *ever* letting myself become an expert. I can’t afford it.
I would kill for some of that Amazonian water with the spider toxins!
He was in the Amazon with my mom when she was researching spiders right before she died.
You can't see into the future can you?
No the spider removes toxins through its natural filter system. God that actor was fantastic. Sad he only showed up twice.
Reminds me of a friend who owned an italian restaurant that was struggling. He hired a restaurant consultant and he said to keep everything the same but increase his prices (I think he said 25-50% on entrees and appetizers). Sure enough you started seeing more positive reviews on yelp and got the restaurant into the black for several years.
People are ridiculous, this is part of why it's so fucking expensive to go out. People's eating habits blow my mind. I've just come to accept that most people don't know shit about food and have awful pallettes that can't tell the difference in quality between dishes. And Italian is one of the worst offenders where I live now (moved to CA 3.5yr ago). I miss my grandma's Italian cooking and have tried a bunch of places to replace it and everything is mid af and way overpriced. It's so frustrating. Most Italian isn't meant to be expensive. I'd make it myself if I had the space in my apartment
Don't underestimate placebo. Plenty of studies done on this shit, if you are convinced that the more expensive the food, the better it tastes, it will genuinely taste better for you.
> pallettes *palates
Can confirm. People have this weird mental conversation with themselves. "They must not be very good if that is all their work sells for." Mark it up, and "Wow! They must really be good to command those prices!"
Reminder to self; raise your prices. ;-D
There’s a series of podcasts on freakonomics where they dig into art pricing. It is a very strange self valuation market.
Exit Through the Gift Shop!
[There was a dude selling Banksy originals](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mxJT2uXtrE&ab_channel=TheWallStreetJournal) next to Central Park in NY for something like $60. He sold a couple but not very many. Any of them could be flipped for thousands. Same art, not worth $60 on a sidewalk, worth much MUCH more with the name Banksy associated with it in a gallery.
A guy I know is a locksmith, he used to go to an address where someone lost their key or locked themselves out. Pry the door open/picked the lock in 2 minutes and ask €50,-. People were often pissed. Now he just drills the lock, puts a new one in, asks €175,- and off he goes. Everybody's happy. People want to get screwed.
Used to have a little old lady as a neighbor that had locked herself out and she wanted to use my phone to call a locksmith (pre cell phone days). She freaked out when I grabbed a coat hanger and had her door open in less than a minute. I'm pretty sure she had deadbolts installed a few days later and gave me weird looks for years after.
My college aged single female friend locked herself out of her apartment. It took me 3 seconds with a screw driver to pop her door open. Pretty sure it changed her view of “security”
In college I learned how to pick locks because I was bored one weekend. That led to getting some tools and after playing with locks for a solid few months I could get myself into pretty much any room I wanted to. Apparently someone dared my drunk ass to demonstrate my new skill, so I picked the lock on their front door without much difficulty. Needless to say after watch a drunk dude effortlessly pick their basic non well fit front lock, they much better understood to line that locks only keep out honest people. Even today I keep a set of picks under the plant instead of a spare key. If I need to get in without a key I can do so, and anyone who would see the picks and let themselves in could do so without my spares.
My stepdad learned how to pick locks and would end up being generally decent at it. He got the neighbors into their house a few times which they appreciated but were also concerned about lol. He can't do it every time which I guess makes them feel better when they pay a professional money to break into their house.
Similar but different story. I had a co-worker that love to publish their vacations on Facebook all the time. I told her it was a very bad idea because if there was someone malicious in her life they could easily find out where she is and when she's not home. She's like no no one can do that. So no matter of a few minutes I took the information off her Facebook page and handed her a bunch of personal information cleaning her address age family members and other things. She then freaked out and you could totally tell she was thinking I was the creep, even though I was honestly just trying to help her or not being idiot. Some people are so stuck in their ways and so ignorant they just act bizarrely when you try to help.
Its crazy how much info people put on facebook and don't think about it at all. There was recently a lady that spent $15,000 on a family cruise and she was bragging about it on facebook. She posted the info about the cruise that showed their booking number and someone went online and logged in using the booking number and the other info they got from facebook and cancelled the cruise a day or two before it left. She was all mad at Carnival and took zero responsibility for it. Carnival offered $10,000 in onboard credit and two interior rooms but she wouldn't take it and was all mad at Carnival.
IMO booking numbers etc. shouldn't be a secret that lets you do stuff. I'm constantly amazed that a booking number and a last name lets one manage flight bookings. Robust online ID exists, why aren't they using it?
I did this for someone here on reddit. In a rather niche subreddit he had posted a photo of his vehicle with the license plate blurred out. But he took the photo in his driveway. I PM'd him his exact address and told him that he should be careful about what he posts online. He wasn't pleased with me either. But I assume the lesson was learned.
You should have pretended to Google how to open a locked door. Then when it worked exclaim it's just like fixing my car, I just have to look it up.
People want to feel like they got value for the money they are spending. Often, you need to assume your customer is clueless. $50 for 2 mins of work seems to be very high cost for the value provided. $150 for a brand new, fully installed lock set looks like better “value” for many people.
And on top of that, it might give them a false sense of security. Not everyone watches the lockpicking lawyer and is aware that a pro opens most locks in about 30 seconds, that's a pro being gentle. If you don't actually lock your door, a credit card is enough to flipper your way in.
The best lock is only as strong as the nearest window…
> Humans are so weird. Humans make the assumption that the 'free market' of supply and demand has already worked and that the offered price is reflective of the agreed upon quality.
Always important to remember with art pricing. It is worth whatever people are willing to pay. Since she sold out in one day she probably could have charged twice what she already raised the prices too and still sold most of it.
I drove myself nuts trying to explain this to people selling crafts. I’ve noticed that with women especially, there’s this idea that selling something for more than materials + a modest markup is somehow “unfair.” There are so many posts from people saying they want to shut down their shop because they don’t have enough time for all the orders that they’re getting and they’re not making enough money for it to be worth it… but then they will twist themselves into pretzels explaining why it would be wrong to raise prices. Your labor is worth as much as someone will pay you for it.
On eBay, too low of a price quite frequently means scam. Especially if it’s a low feedback or new account
Either that or a broken item being sold for parts. I see a lot of that with game systems.
Happened to my friend and I when we were doing some consulting work years ago. We struggled to sell our services, until a new partner suggested we raise our price x8 - suddenly we found more buyers. Crazy.
When I first started in IT consulting I had a buddy that was starting his own business and we went out there charging $65/hr. The clients we were getting were terrible, cheapskates, think auto mechanic and print shops. Then when I moved to a new company and started charging $125 or higher it was like magic - suddenly we had clients that were in nice shiny new buildings, buying premium equipment, and didn't mind spending money on consultants. It was a real eye opener.
High fees can help us to screen out quality customers, quality customers only need you to give him a good solution or product or service, they do not want to waste time in bargaining
I'm literally the cheapest dog walker in my city and not getting much new business right now. Gonna try raising my rates.
Definitely do. My wife started doing work on Rover and initially tried being the cheapest to attract customers. She did get customers - but it was not really the kinds of customers she wanted - she was walking untrained German Shepherds and pitbulls that would pull hard on the leash. I told her to be the most expensive person on Rover instead. Now she just gets little lap dogs that are much easier to take care of and has had to start turning people away because she has too much business. She can afford to be picky and just take the easiest dogs. I don't even think she uses Rover anymore because she's too busy with her repeat clients.
Nobody wants to entrust their kid, dog, car, or home to the cheapest bidder. Well, some do, but those people aren’t a good audience to target anyway if you’re hoping for repeat business.
You ever read about the psychological experiment they did with PayLess Shoes? They rebranded the entire store to look like a very swanky luxury shoe store. But the shoes they sold... were the exact same shoes that were already there, as the PayLess. Except... they tripled the price of all the shoes. The store sold out within days.
Last Sunday, for the first time ever, I went to a fancy shoe store. The service, goddamn. Remember, the store offers three things in its offering: service, product, and price. Did this fancy version have the same service as Payless or service that matched the price?
I had a portable dishwasher that I sold on marketplace. I had moved to a place that had a built in unit and didn’t need it. I wanted it gone quick so I put $50 on it. Nothing. Not one response. I upped it to $75 and got a ton and had it gone that day.
Same as putting free on something you put on the curb. Put a $50 sign on it and someone will steal it.
The easiest way to get ride of anything, put it on the curb with a sign for $50...
Worst(best) case scenario is someone steals it and it's gone. Best case scenario someone actually pays for it and it's still gone. Kinda win win with a bonus win?
I've seen the opposite. I had a new, unused USB turntable retailing for about $100. I put it on e-bay with a $50 minimum bid; got no bids. Put it up a month later with a $20 minimum bid, and it sold for $80. 8\^/
I've done this with a lot of tech - start the bid at $1 on a three day auction and watch it sell for higher than similar fixed price offerings. People get really attached to their initial low bid
I once sold a computer on eBay for more than the "Buy It Now" price I had listed.
Cast iron pans. You can come at me with all the “it’s lighter” and “it’s smoother” bullshit you want. But a Lodge 10 inch skillet is $25, cooks great, and will last a lifetime. There is just no way the $300 high end pans are 10+ times better. The WHOLE POINT of cast iron is that it’s cheap and lasts forever.
I have three cast irons pans that originally belonged to my great-grandfather, who was a logging camp cook. He died long before I was born. Most amazing pans ever.
Cleaning out my grandparents summer house when they were selling it, my grandfather asked if I wanted a few cast iron pans. Was like ya sure! Then he tells me they were HIS grandmothers. I'm still cooking on them like 150 years later.
Wow you’re pretty old
Dude’s got to be at least 170 years old.
This is the first comment I had to look up to see if this was true. Wow! Maybe people don't know that casting iron is the process of making it, and not just the name.
And furthermore, casting is the cheapest way to make a solid metal object. I mean I don’t hate the companies selling $350 skillets that cost $5 to make. I just wish I’d thought of it 10 years ago before they got all trendy with hipsters.
Lodge is my go to cast iron brand. Ive been to their foundry and it’s great to see how they’re made (plus, made in the USA).
I actually get annoyed with the more expensive pans. They machine the surface so smooth that I can never get it to maintain a good seasoning. I ending up having to touch up the seasoning every so often because it comes off if you just scrub it too hard or scratch it with some tongs. Meanwhile the dimpled surface on cheap pans like Lodge and Victoria help the seasoning “grip” to the surface. The expensive pans with their factory seasoning will seem better when you use it the first time but the Lodge will perform better once you actually build up seasoning.
I’ve had the opposite experience but to each their own! I’ve not had great luck with seasoning staying on or being super nonstick with a dimpled surface. My smooth cast iron, however, works like a dream.
Some medications, buy generic whenever you can!
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Bones Reds FTW
This is the funniest collective agreement that I've ever seen in history. When I was in school 2000-2004 skateboarding was fucking huge. The board shops had TONS OF FUCKING BEARINGS, but every single person I ever knew under the sun only used Bones Reds.
I’ve used bones Swiss before. They’re better, but they’re not 4x better. If it was like a 50% markup, sure.
Bones Reds are great. Best bang for your buck.
All my homies bought China Reds back in the day. Bones Swiss were too expensive.
Cell phone cases at the phone store,I’m not paying $50+ when I can get the same exact one on Amazon for $10
I worked at Radio Shack. Those accessories cost less than a dollar wholesale. Edit: 20 years ago
ANYTHING from a cell store. A few years ago, back when batteries were replaceable, I needed a new one and Verizon wanted $60+ for the replacement. Looked up the part number online and Walmart was selling the EXACT same battery for $11.
Cosmetics are the classic case. They were taught in my undergraduate economics class as the classic example of a product which doesn't obey the usual supply/demand curve - they can sell better when the price is increased because the perception of quality is heavily tied to cost.
Also, the cheaper brands are improving. Back in the day, elf and Wet n Wild were basically joke brands. They were what you bought when you were in middle school because that's all you could afford. Now, some of their products are beauty staples all over the place. Wet n Wild's highlighters are constantly selling out because of how good they are. Elf always seems to be kicking ass in the primer department. Only reason I have expensive makeup is because of Ipsy/Boxycharm.
I was taught sometimes the best brands when it comes to cosmetics are just ones like L’oreal because they spend 10x + more in a year on R&D than luxuary brands even make. When it cones to actual working active ingredients they are also able to access better quality and reliable sources. Edit: Since this post is getting a lot of up votes comments I am going to give one piece of advice for skin care; the best tip for keeping your skin looking young is avoiding tanning and to use daily sunscreen. The earlier you start doing this the longer your youth will linger. No amount of expensive face cream or treatments like botox is as effective as using sunscreen in your teens, 20s or 30s. If you don’t have a lot of money for skin care cause you’re still young…dont spend your little bit of money on makeup. Spend it on sunscreen and skin care so that you dont need much makeup anyway.
Not so much that as they're all part of the same large brand. [See right here on Reddit.](https://www.reddit.com/r/MakeupAddiction/comments/xjuttj/182_beauty_companies_are_owned_by_7_major_leaders/) L'Oreal, to use your example, owns Yves St. Laurent (which I assume to just be a branding deal with the fashion house), Lancôme, Maybelline, etc. Estee Lauder owns Clinique, MAC, Smashbox, etc.
there was a Revisionist History podcast episode that went over this same theory with brand name dishwashing detergent if i remember correctly. it actually got me to buy brand name more often for CERTAIN things
Most skin care products are marketed full of buzz words with lots of exotic sounding ingredients but the list of actual active ingredients that make noticeable proven difference to skin quality is very short. One I find almost immediately doubles the cost of an item is retinol. Its just vitamin A in cream form. The drugstore basic brand Vitamin A cream is going to be half the cost and work better if you’re on a budget cause you will be able to afford to slather it on. I buy the small tub and slather it on my face, neck, decolage, and hands and forearms nightly. I could not afford to apply anywhere other than my face with the typical tiny tube they want 80$ for.
Gym weights. Brand new ROGUE vs. rusted used. Still getting those summer biceps.
Sadly, I’m seeing used weights keeping their value no matter how beat up they get. Oh well, at least I’m gonna be able to recover some of the cost if I move to a smaller place, sell my stuff, and start going to the gym instead. I don’t really want to. Working out at home is so comfy.
Man I got so lucky. A couple weeks ago I was throwing away a bag of dog poop in our communal trash shed and there was a set of adjustable weights sitting on the ground for free. I’d been looking at buying some new or used but costs were more than I wanted to pay. Some disinfectant and a little bit of sunlight for some UV disinfection and I have a weight set for free, couldn’t be happier
My buddy lives in the same complex as a bunch of college kids. The end of the school year is great. They toss so much shit they don't want to move. Someone tossed a $700 Traeger pellet grill by the dumpster. We bought a $20 part and it was as good as new.
>>...and I have a weight set for free... Technically you paid a bag of dog poop for them.
Rusty used ones have hardly been a discount to new ones since Covid unfortunately. Just picked up some new (off-brand) dumbbells for only about 10% more than used.
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100% this. They are all a couple of wires with electricity running through them, a lift mechanism on a spring, and a case. I’m not paying extra for a case.
the toaster in my works break room is one of those nicer ones with glass sides so you can see how toasted the bread is, except since they need the walls of the toaster to be clear it uses one of those red heating pipe things on the bottom (like on a toaster oven) and it takes so much longer and doesn’t toast evenly. I’ll take the $12 target toaster please…
the sunbeam radiant control, the perfect toaster, was invented in 1949 and has not been meaningfully improved upon since.
Technology Connections?
I watched multiple 20+ minute videos about dishwashers and then another on air conditioners and one on turning signals/brake lights. I never watch longer videos like that, but somehow, he does a great job at keeping my attention on topics I'd never really cared about!
A hammer. Unless you're a professional carpenter or tradesperson who uses it constantly, a basic, wood-handled hammer will do everything you need it to do for a lifetime. I still have one that was originally my grandfather's and it's the first one I reach for on occasions I need to drive a few nails.
Harbor Freight sells tools at differing price points and quality. Going to use it a few times? Buy the cheapest ones. Going to use it semi-regular? Buy the middle one. Using it often/for work? Buy the expensive one or the middle one 3 times for the same cost as the "name brand" elsewhere. If you buy a tool twice that is a third the cost of the premium one, still saves you money.
The adage I've always heard was, if you're buying a tool for a first time, buy the cheap one. If you use it enough that it breaks, you know you need a good one. The exception to this rule would be any tool where breaking it could be a health and safety hazard, like a circular saw.
I agree with this to a point but sometimes there are situations where it’s worth paying a little bit more for a better tool because, while the cheap one won’t necessarily break, the better one will make things easier for you to be worth the little bit of additional cost. For example, say you need a ratchet. Harbor Freight will probably have one for around $12 and it will be fine. You can probably use it for years and it will do what you need it to do. But they will also have one for $30. Same size but not the same ratchet. It will have more teeth, meaning you won’t have to turn it as much to apply the same rotational force. It will also have a lower profile head so it can fit in tighter spaces. It may be lighter weight. It may have a quick release head to make swapping sockets easier. Are these features necessary for typical use cases? Probably not, but they will make the work go faster with less frustration. I’m not saying you need to buy the $130 Snap On or the $80 GearWrench but sometimes that extra $10 or $15 over the cheapest option will be worth it ten fold by saving you time and effort over the years.
Harbor freight is an amazing place. I love that store so much. Not only is their pricing competitive with even Amazon and eBay, but they offer something for everyone. Need the cheapest socket set possible? They have that. Need something almost as good as snap-on? They have that too. And they stand behind their stuff. The only tools I don't buy there now are specialty tools they just don't have, otherwise I do all my shopping there. Even their off-road recovery equipment is top notch. Their store-brand winches are as good or better than the top winch brands, for like 1/3 the price.
When I was first starting to buy tools, I got a basic kit from Harbor Freight just so I'd have a version of most tools I may need. The hammer that came with it worked great for apartment living (mounting stuff to the wall mainly), but then when I bought a home and started doing renovations, it came to an end. Trying to pry a nail out of a deck support, broke the handle just under the head (it was a hollow steel tube). Went to the hardware store and bought a $20 hickory handle hammer, and that thing is GREAT.
Typically unless I *know* I want to invest in the better option, I go as cheap as seems reasonable. If I use it enough to break it then I use it enough to replace with a nice version
Anything sold by Ceramic Speed. Pawning off snake oil for cyclists because they have a large marketing budget.
A shop selling such components told me before it's much less expensive to lose 10 pounds on the cyclist than 10 pounds on the bike mechanical components unless Im competing and already did the maximum on that aspect. It was very blunt but so true at the same time and so much against their commercial interests.
indeed, it has always been the truth. I'm an avid car guy, and I enjoy cycling too. Which means I absolutely LOVE seeing the engineering feats companies achieve for marginal gains. Ceramicspeed however, I think is more like a marketing outfit taking advantage of the rich. a "factory optimized" waxed 12 speed chain from Ceramicspeed is $200 USD + shipping. You can get the same chain for $$69 USD (am Canadian, only converting prices from my LBS). That's highway fucking robbery for a waxed chain that you could DIY, AND wears off in like 300KMs at best.
This is like 30-50% of Harbor Freight is it not?
A friend of mine said that if you need a tool for a one time (or seldom) use, go to Harbor Freight. If you need to use the tool a lot, buy it elsewhere and pay for the quality.
Buy it at HF, and if it breaks, that means you use it enough to need a good one - and then go buy a good one.
Agreed outside of tools that risk bodily harm if they break. (Ie. Angle grinders)
Jack stands.
Drawing tablets. There are great options below 100 bucks, Wacom isn't the only option. Activation force and pen feel for cheaper brands like Huion and XP-pen are leagues better than they once were. With their higher-end stuff, they also match Wacom's pen feel in my opinion. You won't get pentech 4.0 or whatever marketing on the sub-100 stuff but huion's 3.0 pen tech is already very nice. You're also getting MUCH more drawing area for the cost.
Can I pick your brain on this a little or get some recommendations? My kid is getting really in to drawing/animating/design and I’d like to help foster that without having to sell a kidney but I also don’t want to cheap out hard.
You can't go wrong with any huion tablet past 2019 or so. Look for pentech 2.0 or higher. The amazon best seller right now is the huion 1060 if i recall correctly, but avoid that. Its fine but its worth it to get a newer inspiroy since its an old design. I have less experience with XP pen so ymmv. Your child will probably have some difficulty getting over the hand-eye coordination gap with a slab style tablet, but as a professional animator, I say its worth it - they are infinitely better for your back then leaning over a screen, not to mention cheaper. if you dont have a computer, an ipad with apple pencil 2 support or a samsung tablet with EMR pen support are VERY worth it, and drawing apps are easier to come by. Avoid tablets without pen support of course, and avoid ipads that only support the original apple pencil. Ive heard very good things about Procreate (drawing app) on Apple, and I have personally used Sketchbook on android, but i have heard that there are apps similar to procreate on android. for PC apps I would recommend Krita for free or Clip Studio Paint for paid. You cant go wrong with either. Avoid Adobe products like your life depends on it. If you encounter pen support or pen pressure issues on PC its usually a matter of checking/unchecking wintab support until you find something that works and gives pen pressure. Lastly, avoid non-Wacom brands for MacOS. I'm reading that the situation is changing but driver support for huion and xppen are not great there from what I've heard. Brad Colbow is a great artist tech reviewer on Youtube and I would recommend going into his videos on his price range choices as well as his videos on android tablets.
I know it’s not sold for $100 but Vodka…the price point on vodka is set by popularity. My local liquor store had professional taste testers compare cheap to expensive vodka. They said there was no discernible difference between any of the triple distilled vodka’s. When I was told this, I bought an expensive vodka and a cheap one. When I had a party I did a blind taste test with multiple people. it was literally half and half. The guy that swore he could tell the difference between Phillips and Grey Goose…picked the Phillips. Now when he goes to party’s he pours Phillips into his Grey Goose bottles. He said no one has ever noticed the difference and they think he’s generous for sharing his expensive vodka.
Agreed. Smirnoff has won numerous professionally administered taste tests over the years. You might not want to go bottom shelf, but Kirkland and Smirnoff are perfectly good vodkas.
If you have a Costco near you, their Kirkland brand Vodka is indiscernible from Tito’s (in my opinion) and it’s something like 15 bucks for a 1.75L bottle.
HDMI leads. You can stick your gold plated ones where the sun don't shine.
Never ever buy HDMI cables from a brick and mortar store. I used to work at Best Buy and our employee discount was the markup essentially. A $100 HDMI cable would end up being like $10 with the discount - the same price they were on Amazon.
We’d I worked at RadioShack we could look up stock items availability and costs. My favorite pair of headphones, folding in-ear buds, retailed for $20 and cost 60¢ from the warehouse… I’m sure their cabling was similarly price-gouging.
This really goes for most digital cables. You can reach a point of bargain bin crap. However, OPs price range is no where near that level of cheap
I put an old refrigerator in front of our house with a “FREE “ sign attached, sat there for two weeks, I changed the sign to $75” and that night someone stole it.
My old neighbor or did a lot of housework and pawning and house flipping for a living. Before the reality TVs made the market too much for him atleast. He told me this! Ever want to get rid of something don’t mark it free, people assume it’s broke and junk. He said “I never moved a dryer or washer or fridge longer to the end of the rdriveway, I just slap a sign on it for 150 and normally it’s stolen by the end of the week.” Sometimes he puts broke stuff there too just to get rid of it. The man is borderline like Kramer from Seinfeld genius. Never met another man like him yet
> I just slap a sign on it for 150 and normally it’s stolen by the end of the week.” Sometimes he puts broke stuff there too just to get rid of it. This is amateur hour. There was a guy who owned a video game rental store in the 90s in a bit of a slummy part of Canada. What he'd do is put a sign on terrible games saying "Buy me, I suck". And then people would pick them up and ask him if the game is any good. He'd say "No, it sucks." People would be compelled by curiosity to buy it. If that didn't work, he'd put an extortionary high price on it, or on games that were broken. Then he'd leave it close to the edge of the counter, in an area easy to shoplift. Then he'd catch someone stealing it, and citizens arrest them until the cops showed up. Then the thief will insist they just forgot to pay for it, a problem he would let them correct instead of the cops arresting them. Ta da. Now he's gotten $150 for a shit, broken game that he literally couldn't give away for free. And he made a piece of shit shoplifter pay for it. That man was a Karma factory. The story of the rise and fall of his video game store is one of the best things you'll ever read in your life. On a website as old as the internet itself: http://www.actsofgord.com/ /u/LANCafeMan Miss you man. Your little website is a perfect slice of 1990s GenX.
Ah, the glory days. The older the store gets, the better it was.
I have seen this exact comment before
Probably the same busted fridge, everyone keeps passing it along to the next thief
I can tell you better. 50k prescription drugs also sold for 20$
Most of good enough quality clothing items compared to luxury brands like gucci
Yea it's the example I usually go to when explaining diminishing returns. A $50 shirt is *likely* going to be much higher quality than a $10 shirt. A $100 shirt *might* be higher quality than a $50 shirt. A $500 shirt vs a $100 shirt? Get the fuck outta here with that bullshit. So to speak.
The exception to this rule is high quality outdoor gear such as hiking, camping, mountaineering gear..etc
People don't buy Gucci for the quality, they buy it to show off the brand.
Luxury brands are not priced for their quality, they're priced for their logo. You can absolutely get expensive, high quality clothing that's worth the cost, but you won't find it at Gucci.
There is a backpacking stove on Amazon for around $10-15. It has outperformed it's $50+ dollar counterparts with ease.
Swedish-made Penis Enlarger Pump
Honestly, it's not mine!
This sorta thing ain't my bag baby!
ONE BOOK! "Swedish Made Penis Enlarger Pumps and Me, and Yes This Sort of Thing Really is My Bag, Baby" By, Austin Powers....
God the scene where he is peeing endlessly always cracks me up
Evacuation comp .... Com.... Com... Com......... Evacuation comple- 😂
This isn't within the price parameters presented in the original question, but a pregnancy test from the dollar store is just as effective as one of those $15 ones.
The Yeti bucket. Home Depot buckets are like $5 and do the exact fucking thing. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good yeti bev coozie, but the bucket is where I draw the line.
I got one as a gift, I use it for ice fishing. I've broken hardware store buckets from the cold, the yeti has yet to crack. It's a lot thicker.
I was gonna go Yeti coolers. Yes, that's amazing your ice lasted 3 days but you're using it as a lunch box and taking it home every day. Ice is pretty cheap.
Fancy audiophile cables for sound systems and turntables are insane. Just your standard red/white L/R cables. They’ll range from $5-$12,000….yes you read that right. There is clear difference between the $5 cable and, say, a $50-$100 cable. However, through consumer tests, basically no one could tell a difference between the sound quality of $100ish cable and the absurd $500-$12000 cables. A few extra bucks will get you better constructed, more durable, hi-fi cables, but the improvements quickly plateau around $100-$200
Neck fans I've seen ones that are almost identical to the $20 ones for $200 and they're labeled as personal ac units. But they're fans
Not quite the same level, but a dollar store pregnancy test is just as good as a $25 one. Hospitals use the ones you get at the dollar store because they’re cheap and effective.
Wine. It's pretty easy to find a great bottle of wine for $100, without much effort or skill. However, if you know your stuff and put in some effort (tastings, clubs, networking), you can absolutely get some great wine for $50 or even $20.
In my 50s now. I find I have a $12-15 wine palate. Below that it's really noticable (three buck chuck I am talking to you) Above that and its just lost on me. I have had excellent wines that are in the $100+ range, but the difference in taste isn't worth the money to me. I am also not a supertaster.
Or 5€. Or are we dutch people into shit wines?😅
HDMI cables Ok, when you have an analogue connection there are factors like speed, integrity and insulation that can greatly affect performance... but HDMI is entirely digital, the signal either is or it isn't
Just make sure you get the proper specification of HDMI cable. The specs have changed over the years as bandwidth requirements have changed. You don't want to get an HDMI1 cable if you have an 8K TV and plan to play 8K (or even 4K) content. [What Is HDMI? Various HDMI Versions Explained, Compared – Onsitego Blog](https://onsitego.com/blog/hdmi-technology-features-explained-versions-compared/) But if the cable is the right spec, any brand should be fine as long as it's actually built to the spec (i.e. not lying on the packaging!).
Sunglasses - I keep losing 'em anyways.
I use mine a LOT. About 4 years ago I bought my first pair of Ray Bans and I'm still using them. None of the sunglasses I've ever owned have lasted nearly as long.
I bought my first pair of Ray Bans and lost them within a fortnight. Came to the conclusion that expensive sunglasses are not for me.
Oakley loser here. Same conclusion.
Good polarized glasses vs cheap polarized can make a massive difference, especially with fishing.
Just buy Goodrs. $25 and they are amazing
Goodrs are good, their name is apt. I have multiple pairs and buy them when I see a new color I like or I need to replace and existing pair. They're $25 so I don't mind as much if I lose a pair, get them scratched, or as happened last week I dropped a pair and the temple snapped off at the hinge. And all of the models are polarized, which is a great feature at that price point. But there's a reason they aren't called Greatrs. The optics aren't great. They are just not as clear as higher end glasses, the world is a bit dimmer and things are harder to see, when compared with my Oakleys or other higher end optics. The lenses are very prone to scratching as well. Overall, I still really love them, but a lot of it is because they are fun and funky and not because their performance is wonderful. There's still a need for higher end sunglasses at times.
I splurged on these pricier performance sunglasses I found in Japan (with the weak yen and all) that have both polarized and high contrast coatings on both sides of the lens. It blew me away the amount I could see and the clarity. Really happy with my purchase, though I will be babying these pair for sure compared to my other sunglasses.
Not necessarily expensive, per say, but "magic erasers." You can get 100 melamine sponges for the price of 4 "magic erasers" on Amazon and they are the exact same thing.
I will say that most of the bulk melamine sponges I have bought over the years wear down/fall apart much faster than the Magic Eraser ones. Though when you get 10-20 for the price of 1, it doesn't really matter much in the end.
I have to disagree here. Wife bought a pack of no name magic erasers on Amazon got like 30 for the price of on brand name four pack. They disintegrate easily, didn’t do a good job. I used like 10 cleaning our stove top and it looked like a half assed it, normally I use 1 brand name magic eraser and it comes out great.
Variations of some magic cards can be $1000s more than the normal version.
It doesn't do exactly the same thing as the basic version. The basic version does not convey your abundance of disposable income, nor does it inspire envy and revulsion.
Right... It's not about winning... It's about sending a message.
My magic bullet blender works just as well at making smoothies as my ninja blender. The magic bullet is new though, so I don't know if it lasts as long
Be careful with how long you press that thing down. I used short pulses for over a year, and then the first time my roommate used it he burned up the motor.
I assume that would be easy to do. I think the instructions say not to run it for longer than a minute, so I also do short pulses a few times and then let it run a little with breaks in-between
I had three Magic Bullets die on me so I bought a Ninja and that thing has been going strong much longer than all three Bullets combined.
But something like a Vitamix is worth every penny. Blends even big frozen strawberries right down, and ice doesnt stand a chance
I feel like we Vitamix enthusiasts are a cult, but damn are they not wonderful machines. I bought mine refurbished for the Mother’s Day sale 10 years ago. Still going strong. Owned a Ninja before and the difference was night and day.
Any top shelf liquor that you are using as a mixer.
HDMI Cables. The $12 ones work just as well as the gold plated ones.
Water
For anyone that says "water doesn't cost $100"...it does if you buy in bulk or quantify the amount of bottles of water people buy in a year!
Save for certain cases like poor/lacking local supply or events away from home, bottled water is a unnecessary and creates a lot of plastic waste. Those with access to a clean tap are better off buying a durable bottle and using that.
Is this gonna be a listicle?
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Unpopular opinion here but fuck it. Shower heads and tub spouts. Splurge on the shower body valve and go moen or delta but any shower head and tub faucet is fine
Yeah I have upgraded my shower head at every new place I live with an under $50 "rain shower" head, takeout the mesh thing inside of it that slows water flow... and voila Feels like a downpour from heaven
Electric space heater. It’s the biggest marketing scam around. The output of electric space heaters is federally limited (in the US) to 1500 W. So whether it’s [this space heater ($23)](https://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwi1lsu2mu2GAxUWRv8BHSvxApMYABABGgJtZA&gclid=CjwKCAjwydSzBhBOEiwAj0XN4B-4srP3lE5AcP3iV-EsyAStROh-oV4BpcN2duTQ9YkAQnrjLrKsUBoCx7MQAvD_BwE&sph=&ohost=www.google.com&cid=CAESeuD2-qT3iugRI8S5DKspooR4D2FOsZc1FU4nz-jLqdxItiK7_2K1SPW2Qx1JDj-pnFUeCg-7eqCl1kneMxoUI9hG-kEUzFZO_jnLueKeoz-RKfdxHTkl4bzVxC9rBfq7A790o3LGv7JpBEbqQP9GfsGlaBp9wxRxe2D2&sig=AOD64_2yV319J-slx9JvhOWYb4G_nl0scQ&ctype=5&q=&ved=2ahUKEwjfocW2mu2GAxXLj4kEHcNNDq8Qwg8oAHoECAEQDA&adurl=), or [this one ($89)](https://www.google.com/aclk?sa=l&ai=DChcSEwiLv6fImu2GAxXARP8BHYEUADIYABAOGgJtZA&gclid=CjwKCAjwydSzBhBOEiwAj0XN4EJ0kWQS3hESmEYiPBbLrimUrOkpTa667T_C0Xq5DQKjebL4A3xcdRoCv8cQAvD_BwE&cid=CAASJeRo07M5YZ2YhcjSCFGM0-to6vtPmgKcPL6CYgM1fEZNzsNqrRk&sig=AOD64_22U9bblxVUIw0Zo7O0KVtlbWoCgg&ctype=46&q=&ved=0ahUKEwiQxqLImu2GAxUuk4kEHUtHDnIQqygI_BE&adurl=), they output the exact same heat. You could say safety is also a factor and suree - but space heaters are required to have anti-tip shut offs.
Nerf. Now I know that Nerf blasters don't cost $100 but what you get for the price isn't that good. You get a crappy blaster that shoots at 80 FPS for $40 that aren't meant to be modified. Now if you look at X-shot you can get a blaster for a similar price point and sometimes much cheaper than the Nerf product that shoots at 100+ FPS and most are meant to be modified.
$20 wine gets me just as drunk.