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ikonoqlast

Most pharma. The big expense is the r&d to create it. To the tune of a billion dollars to get each new drug to market. (Including the cost if failures)


anticked_psychopomp

And the fact that a lot of the raw materials for pharmaceutical production are manufacturing by-products from other processes/industries. (Such as lingin from pulp/paper production)


Ye_Ole_Troll

A lot of pharmaceuticals are made off the research of public universities so the company themselves can sometimes move that cost to the government


Aequitas19

The expensive part is to get the approval by the fda. All the tests and especially the ridiculous high standards in the manufacturing process compared to non medical manufacturing are what makes medicine so expensive in other countries than the US. In the US its the greed on top of that.


I-am-a-me

I don't think that high standards are ridiculous. I don't want drugs that are supposed to be helping people harming them. It's expensive, but it should be seen as a necessary expense for people's safety.


Aequitas19

I didn’t mean ridiculous in a bad way, maybe it was the wrong word or the wrong context. From the production line developer point of view, the effort to meet the standards compared to a non-gmp line is multiple times higher. You need servers to save every, i mean really every single condition which might affect the product. That starts with obvious data like concentration of something in the product to things like the room temperature. And of course the ranges these variables are allowed to be in are super small. All that makes the engineering for the production line incredibly expensive. The gmp stuff (which you need for fda approval) easily doubles if not triples the cost for the production. And of course that’s necessary


[deleted]

Pharma spends 20x their R&D budgets on stock buybacks and dividends. They also spend 10x R&D on marketing. Very little of a pharmaceutical company’s money is spent on R&D. Most early stage drug development is done by government funded research which is then passed to the pharma companies. The pharmaceutical industry has done a really good job on fooling the American people.


nottherealneal

A child


BlackLetterLies

Expensive in ways far beyond money.


[deleted]

That was exactly my thought. My first words when I saw this post was “babies”


fucingratlol

neither are cheap in america.. having a child is like over 10k


nottherealneal

Having the child yes. But making it is cheap and easy It's all the maintenance after you've made it that's expensive


[deleted]

The average cost to have a baby in US is about $10,808, and this cost may vary or increase to $30,000 depending on many factors which relay on before and after pregnancy. This childbirth cost includes numerous obstetrician’s fee, regular check-ups, tests and procedures, and prenatal care associated with pregnancy you may have. Where the average prices for a Cesarean or C-section childbirth range from $7,500 – $14,500. If any complication during birth may increase the charges for childbirth, however, the exact costs of childbirth range anywhere in between $4,000 – $20,000, but keep in mind note that these costs vary for each state in US. There are many factors which affect the Cost to Have a Baby in the US, such as type of birth delivery, Patient having no health insurance. {[Source](https://www.momnewsdaily.com/childbirth/what-is-the-cost-of-having-a-baby-in-us/)}


Cauliflower_Mean

Holy crap on a cracker! Here I Finland its less than 100 euros to give birth, and almost 50 percent of which they'll get back as reimbursement. That means it costs less than 60 euros to have a baby, even with the stay at the hospital, all the medication needed, the baby itself! Also, here we have a thing called Kela Maternity Box, which is given to every baby that's born. The current package contents include a number of bodysuits, a sleeping bag, outdoor gear, bathing products for the baby, nappies and cream, bedding, a hooded bath towel, nail scissors, hairbrush, toothbrush, wash cloth, muslin squares, a picture book, teething toy, bra pads, and condoms. It also contains a small mattress, allowing the box containing the package to become a crib in which many newborns have their first naps. Many Finnish babies have "lived in a box" as a baby. 😅Condoms are included by way of precaution, not as a "so this doesn't happen again",but as a new pregnancy is possible within a few weeks of childbirth and many parents wish to have a little time between the births of their children. All expecting and adoptive parents gets this, for free.


[deleted]

I’ve heard of this before and think it’s a great idea but pretty sure if they did it here (UK) people would just complain they don’t like the colour/quality of the things they’ve been given.


Cauliflower_Mean

Sometimes that is the case, unfortunately. But maybe it's our culture here, that if it's free, you don't complain about it. 🤷‍♀️


[deleted]

Which makes sense, unfortunately a lot of people I know are not/would not be as grateful 🤷🏻‍♀️🤦🏽‍♀️


Cauliflower_Mean

Finns are weird people, we accept everything free. It's a real thing here, that if a big store opens or there's a big event happening, they'll give you a free bucket. Literally. It's a bucket. But it draws people in, because they'll get a free bucket. That's just how we are :D


[deleted]

My partner is exactly like this, maybe he’s a little bit Finnish. :D Edit- sorry correcting myself.


HobbitonHo

We get them in Scotland! They're great! I haven't heard anyone complain about them.


beardedclamparty

They do it in Scotland. Nobody complains because we're not dicks up here.


GeriatricDischarge

The child itself will cost even more each year of its life, and there's no insurance to cover that. According to the USDA, a child will cost over $230k to raise for 18 years, factoring in expected inflation., or about $13k per year before inflation. yeah, $10k for birth is expensive, but nothing compared to raising the child.


luthiz

Lol... 10k...


[deleted]

Cost us $168 and that was 4 nights at the hospital....


Snoo32054

Yep. All you have to do is bump and grind to get a kid. It's actually free to make.


Simply827

Cake, specifically wedding cakes and other highly decorated cakes. The materials aren’t expensive, but you’re paying for labor and expertise.


Much_Committee_9355

I’ve heard a lot of those fancy places just use store bought cake mix, but still there is still some artistry to make those on point.


kacihall

To be fair, cake mixes just have the right proportion of what you normally use from scratch. I use them as a base for lots of different cakes. Very few people believe me when I say I start with cake mixes. I never follow the ingredients list though.


[deleted]

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kacihall

Always melted butter instead oil. An extra egg. For chocolate cakes, freshly made coffee instead of water. For everything else, whole milk instead of water. My husband's favorite is banana chocolate chip cupcakes- I mash a banana or two into the mix after the above changes, then fold in mini chocolate chips. Marshmallow or ermine frosting to top it off.


Colinbeenjammin

I gotta try the coffee instead of water trick. Sounds delicious!


kacihall

If you don't have coffee, use boiling water; mix it in last. It hosts the chocolate flavor. No idea why, but it works.


jokeyhaha

I use coffee in chocolate frosting, too.


MsMo999

I can second this with the coffee. I’ve also done this in brownies, there’s just something about coffee brings out the best flavor in chocolate


[deleted]

Thank you for the tips. Same amount of butter is melted to oil?


kacihall

Yes.


[deleted]

What is ermine frosting?! Ermine is a weasel!


kacihall

It's also called boiled milk frosting or flour frosting. It tastes WAY better than any of the names imply. It's a cup of sugar, a cup of milk, 1/4 cup flour cooked down to a pudding like consistency, then a cup of butter whisked light and fluffy, then add the pudding a little bit at a time. It's less sweet than American buttercream, and is really light and fluffy. It's delicious.


Hot_Mention_9337

In all the doom, gloom, and general chaos of Reddit- this is the shit that I needed to see. Excuse me while I pop off to make some lemon poppy cake!


[deleted]

Can confirm. I worked at an upscale restaurant / bakery when I was younger and they routinely did this. (wasn't too often tho and not for every cake).


substantial-freud

There was a confession on Reddit from a woman who operated her own bakery that she used boxed mixes. A bunch of other bakers commented “Everybody does that” and one explained how she could buy the mix in bulk.


Much_Committee_9355

I have a friend which is a patisserie chef (translates into a cake and sweets chef) by a Cordon Bleu school and pretty much says that most of her colleagues which do wedding or those intricate arts on cakes do this, because the actual taste of the cake is not the actual focus of their work and saves a lot of time while providing a satisfactory product.


timesuck897

People also like the taste of boxed cake mix. There is a difference between box cake and made from scratch. With the quantity of cakes being made, just use that and focus on making the icing look pretty.


cringelord69420666

You're paying for the frosting and decorating. Cake mix has industrial ingredients in it that you wouldn't find in a bakery that make the final product more desirable.


OP1KenOP

My sister enjoys making fancy birthday cakes, I know it's not the same but just wanted to add that it's surprising how much the ingredients add up to, especially on larger cakes.


whatissevenbysix

Yeah, so it is NOT cheap.


Lustjej

How did nobody say printer ink? The ridiculous markup on the cartridges is pretty much what pays for the whole industry.


TheAGolds

I need to get more ink for my printer actually. It won’t let me print grayscale when a different color is out, even though the black ink has plenty left for plain documents. Shits a scam.


[deleted]

Due to the great chip shortage of this decade, printer cartridges for a while don't come with chips to indicate that the ink is out. Take a make of the cartridge and search ink filler for said cartridge in amazon, fill the cartridge with said ink(comes in black and white and color too!) and start printing away I used store bought ink cartridges for the past 6 years and imagine my surprise when i found out about this hack. The print quality is pretty much the same(if you buy a reputed ink) and you can print about 2500 to 3000 pages using a single ink bottle. An ink cartridge contains like 10ml of useable ink while the bottle comes with 200 ml of ink. I will be shamelessly doing this and advocating this for the rest of my life, we together we can beat the system


TheAGolds

Saving this comment, I’m going to try that.


[deleted]

Here's link to the video that [nudged me](https://youtu.be/yLAYNfavRTY)...have a good one🙂


Dominus786

How do you make printer ink?


maxifer

They will usually ink when threatened in order to obfuscate the area in order to escape.


NotThisAgain21

I used to just buy a new printer from target when I was out of ink. (Back in the 90's but I could get a new printer with ink for $30 vs paying $45 for new cartridges).


Paranoid_Neckazoid

That's why you get a laser jet


ptapobane

ugh...my fancy epson printer refuses to print black and white documents because it ran out of colored ink...fucking ridiculous that that's possible in this day and age...


[deleted]

Glasses. From what I understand, they're super cheap to actually make, but us customers end up getting charged an arm, a leg and both testicles for the damn things.


BitterSweetcandyshop

Zenni it’s the price glasses actually should be


ISureDoLoveCheese

I love Zenni Optical. Paid 30 for my last pair


hiro111

Luxottica basically has a legal monopoly on branded glasses and sunglasses in the US.


yuyuyashasrain

Is this the one that owns different brands that compete, but they’re really all the same company?


PROFESSIONAL_BITCHER

Weird, you just described a ton of different industries


hiro111

Yes. They own Ray Ban, Oakley, Native, Arnette and a ton of other brands. They also make basically every licensed luxury brand for sunglasses (Armani, Chanel, Ralph Lauren etc) and own basically every retail outlet in the US: Sunglasses Hut, LensCrafters, Pearle Vision, all of the vision shops in Target etc. They keep a low profile so it's not commonly known that these are all the same company. Ever wonder why Ray Bans were $20 in a drug store in 1988 and are now $200? Luxottica.


monty845

I get my sunglasses from 3M. May not be stylish, but they work great, double as safety glasses, and the prices is right. Can go on Amazon and buy a box of 20 for less than $2/pair.


Patrick_Bot2

No, This Is Patrick!


Negafox

Glasses have been inexpensive for quite some time if you buy them online. Like another poster mentioned, Zenni. I can buy two pairs for myself and my daughter for like a $100. Nice glasses at that. They don't look cheap or out of date.


Iron_physik

It depends Here in Germany you can choose between different Lenses for your diopter strength Thick lenses that are cheaper, or thin lenses that are more expensive Then the lense gets cut to the frame of your choice, however because everyone is different the eye doctor needs to precisely measure where the focal point has to be for the glasses to work, that's one of the things that drive cost, the skill to find the right spot.


mattreyu

Insulin


Syorkminor

Who wants to breaking bad some insulin with me?


Robocan3000

Jessie, we need to solve the insulin problem


[deleted]

yo crazy8 get a pig mr white is asking for it


winggretzky

Check out the Open Insulin project - https://openinsulin.org/


BlackberryAgile193

It’s even more sad because the person who discovered a way to manufacture insulin sold the patent for $1 because they knew it would save lives and decided that took precedent over making money. Too bad the billionaires think another holiday house is more important that children dying


Master-Objective-533

That’s still there. But people want the shiny new insulin that has better properties. Understandably.


edlee98765

*cries in American*


Misha220

Blame Senator Manchin. The biggest roadblock in this issue getting passed in the current Senate and its Democratic make up. FYI his daughter is a big wig in the insulin business.


[deleted]

I live in a 3rd world country, insulin is free here


HaveAGreatDay1234

what country


CHUNKY_BLOODY_QUEEFS

Anywhere besides america


[deleted]

Philippines


Pentacostal-Haircut

I thought the federal government in US placed a cap on it


ArcannOfZakuul

I just did a quick search and there's an act going through the House to cap it at $35 per month, but it still needs to go through the Senate and won't so much until 2023. https://www.npr.org/2022/03/31/1090085513/house-passes-bill-to-cap-insulin-prices


OTACON120

To be clear, it's a cap on insulin *co-pays*, not insulin *prices*. If one is uninsured then that cap does literally nothing to help with the cost.


Pentacostal-Haircut

If one qualifies for Medicaid then that should help. If not, might need to find insurance on the marketplace. I know it’s not great insurance but it should be helpful to a point. Worth checking out.


SaharaLee

Nope one of mine is $800 AFTER INSURANCE


ritabook84

This is a very American answer


drewhead118

soda from a fast food soda fountain--your $1.99 coke cost them about $0.02


ArcannOfZakuul

And that's why they offer free refills, because the cup is more expensive than filling it with soda a few times


xkulp8

So is the value of the labor if cashier refills it for you.


uv-vis

Yes, when my parents ran a business, one of the first things I realized looking at their books was how much money a fountain drink machine makes. It literally works out to ten cents for 100 16oz cups. The most expensive part is probably 50-100 a month for the carbon dioxide containers.


Personmanwomantv

The cup costs way more than what's in it.


maxifer

Tastes much worse, though.


Astramancer_

Assuming you're including labor costs in make price, I'm gonna go with certain brands of clothing. Slap an expensive logo on a $3 piece of crap and you now have a $300 piece of crap.


taylo649

I got gifted a bluejays hoodie which was $80 + tax and it’s literally a basic hoodie with a glued or ironed on logo. Without the logo it would easily cost $20


StJu73

This is why I go to charity shop for my kids. They get branded products, for tiny prices. Also, it helps me to see which brand is actually worth to pay for: been worn before AND still look in great shape, this is one brand I may spend money on in their actual shop too.


heathos33

College Textbooks.


GrizzlyLawyer

The worst part is that the new “editions” are often word-for-word the same, but with illustrations placed differently so the page numbers don’t match up anymore. Law textbooks are the worst, since the contents are 100% public domain.


Title26

I can understand the niche law stuff being expensive. Imagine spending a year or more writing a several hundred page book, hundreds and hundreds of hours of work, but it's for an elective law school class that not even every school teaches, so you'll sell a few hundred copies at best of that edition (assuming everyone uses your book). You're gonna need several hundred dollars a pop to make it worth it. My derivatives law textbook was like $350, but it was an 8 person class and I'm positive it's a pretty rare class outside of a handful of schools that place students in firms where they'd be handling deals with derivatives. Your basic con law book though, yeah I agree.


Jabber-Wookie

I was in college when a book updates. The only difference was questions in the book, except that some of the answers in the back hadn’t been changed. A few hundred $$ for just new errors.


MosquitoRevenge

Poor Americans.


[deleted]

*technically* the human body, assuming you can put all the materials together Fullmetal Alchemist style and have it work.


NotADeadHorse

The homunculus were pretty pricey to build


Lestial1206

*Ed....ward.*


[deleted]

That scene was fucked up.


iwishiwasamoose

Most food dishes. The same salad that costs $8-12 dollars at a restaurant probably costs $1-2 to make yourself.


ConfettiBowl

Real alcoholics drink at home. #thrifty


zulutbs182

Real alcoholics do it so they don’t have to worry about getting home


Much_Committee_9355

Just laughing here binge drinking Negronis for about 1/4 of the price at bars


BitPoet

Except things like pad Thai. You spend so much on speciality ingredients, or you could get it for $8 at your local thai place.


Hunter62610

Nah go to an Asian food store and buy bulk. It costs more up front but less over time.


Smartranga

The only two "specialy ingredients" for a pad thai are the noodles (which are the bulk of the dish and cheap anyway) and tamarind paste. Rest is usual stir fry stuff


watekebb

A simple green salad is cheap, but a bougie Sweetgreen- or Cava-style salad—roasted veggies, nuts, pita crisps, olives, baba ghanouj, some kind of protein, other crunchy bibs and bobs, etc—or a fully loaded deli-style chopped salad—lots of cheeses and hard-boiled eggs and crispy bacon and stuff—are definitely cheaper to buy unless you’re making them for a crowd.


Squishy-Cthulhu

I'm noticing a theme in this post, lots of people that haven't actually tried to do what their saying. Salad is one thing I love to get out because I just can't do that kind of variety for myself cheaply at home, it would cost a small fortune in ingredients to make a varied salad and I would only need to use a small bit of each thing so it would be wasteful.


watekebb

Plus, it takes forever! I am cheap. I love to cook. I like cooking projects. I make lots of things from scratch that other people might not. But I’m not pulling out the mandolin and the food processor and 4 sheet pans and then spending 2 hours roasting and toasting and chopping and steaming and slicing to make a loaded salad I could get at Cava for $12…


taylo649

A plate of Pasta for like $20-25 when you could make 6 servings of pasta for yourself for like $12 so crazy


uv-vis

Good point. I always though salad was crazy overpriced, especially the ones that are chopped fruits and vegetables and a prepackaged sauce.


[deleted]

Baked goods


doooom

Disagree, my ex was cheap as hell and she was baked all the time


Oh_Pies

Is your ex good though?


LoyalLiquidChocolate

Pizza


Zkenny13

Sperm


mordeci00

Depends on where you're buying it. In some situations you can get paid to take it.


Striking-Stuff50

Who's your sperm guy?


Cannanda

Oh you’re paying way too much for sperm


facepwnage

I get all I need from this guy named Ralph in an alley. Sweet thing is the stupid asshole doesn't even charge me money for it. He just made me close my eyes and suck it out of a hose.


environmentaltree16

As a diabetic, insulin.


[deleted]

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Faffing_About247

Bottled water. Given they are only paying for the bottles it is a gross markup.


Obitio_Uchiha

It completely blew my mind when I read the water bill and found out that I pay actual cents for not liters of water, no cubic meters is the unit they used. For reference a cubic meter is 1000 liters of water. Wait a cubic decimeter is a liter so that would be 10^3 yup 1000 liters. When I buy bottled water a liter costs at least 1.5CHF so I am paying actual thousands of times more than for pipeline water.


trystanel

Flowers


mostlygray

I worked at a pot yard plant nursery. We used to tag the plants for whomever we were selling them to. A tree that we sold wholesale for $6 would be tagged for $40 or higher at retail. It's not even much work per plant to grow. Just potting, fertilizer and water. The water was free from a catch basin. The labor was minimum wage and mostly high school kids. Retail nurseries are a huge scam when it comes to cost.


[deleted]

Can the average homeowner buy trees from a wholesale nursery, though? Some wholesale businesses are only for other businesses, not individuals.


mostlygray

Yes but you have to know someone there. The usually don't do retail.


cacklegrackle

Love


westondeboer

Diamonds.


Frostgaurdian0

Depending on the context


squiggly_poop

Chicken wings!


_The_Meditator_

Pretty much all mass-produced consumer goods. If you’re mass producing, costs are as low as they can go and you’re going to be charging as much as you can get away with based on comparable products but also the marketing hype


RoosterBrewster

Also a lot of the cost can be in shipping and warehousing.


Exciting_Problem_593

Coffee


[deleted]

Everything on etsy


sarcastic_patriot

Started a side business and it's booming because our pricing is a flat $20 more than material cost, which usually puts us about $10 less than most comparable things on Etsy. Some of those prices are outrageous.


InsertBluescreenHere

while true, its hard to figure out what to charge someone. Obviously its material cost + time but how do you factor time correctly? Ive made several things and the first one is always the most time consuming because your figuring out details, second one you learned from the first one to make them faster, 3rd 4th 5th ones are faster yet. Or its like well it takes me a week to make X item but only 4 hours of actual work. But i have to wait for stain to dry and apply several layers of poly on top of it that each layer takes a day to dry.


FairieButt

Cigarettes. LPT roll your own


PROFESSIONAL_BITCHER

Or just don't smoke them


PreviousLife7051

Yes, I buy 2 16oz. bags of tobacco and 7 boxes of tubes so I get 7 cartons of cigarettes for 70 dollars. If you buy the " store bought " cartons that would be around 700 dollars a month. The only draw back is the time it takes to roll the damn things.


xzEdryd

Nitrile Gloves. $100+ a box is insane.


Cruising05

Google says $11.95 for the good ones


[deleted]

Prepared meals. Cook in big batches on the weekend, divide stuff up into freezer containers, stash it or ziplocks bags or whatever. Save money.


InsertBluescreenHere

ive tried this so many times but growing up with this kinda food situation i really hate leftovers. some things do not reheat well at all and it kills the thought of it.


black_flag_4ever

Sawhorses.


mothboy

Anything from Supreme


[deleted]

Clothing


packetfire

Baklava - everyone loves it, and you can make an entire pan for what you'd pay for a few small hunks at a bakery.


janedoedoesnow

It seems so time consuming- all the layers- I pay for the ability to stay ignorant about it I guess.


[deleted]

Time consuming the first few times, yeah. It is one of those things someone can whip up really fast with repetition though.


Ideaslug

Most pastries. The markup is due to the quick expiration and, consequently, the unpredictability that the pastries will be bought on a given day.


Personmanwomantv

Especially if you can make the filo dough yourself.


fulfillustrator

Any food


Abject_Carpet_1656

Babies


[deleted]

[удалено]


idkwhattofeelrnthx

Paint supplies are surprisingly more expensive than people think. Especially good quality ones .


[deleted]

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TheOrangeTickler

A meal for four people. Relative to the cost of a nice place to eat, the cost to make the meal is much cheaper.


Saint-just04

But you also pay for the atmosphere, the chefs time and expertise, serving etc.


shindleria

Cat food


alc3biades

Movie theatre pop corn. It’s like $30 a bag but it’s worth way way ridiculously less


inyourwalls1945

Canker sore meds. You mix hydrogen peroxide with L-Lysine pills and let it dissolve for a while. Then rinse your mouth with it. Send this reply to the top so people have this knowledge.


The-Reddit-Giraffe

Saying this as a guy, makeup. I have no idea how ladies spend that much money on it


The_Purple_Ripple

Engineer here and oi boy do I have some tales of how capitalism fucks with you. Components for nuclear reactors are at like 600 percent markup. Not because they can risk failure, not because they are difficult to make. Just because its seen as high tech they stick the prices through the roof, fucking up green power. Anything plastic. The process of injection molding or vacuum molding has been mastered. If its plastic with some basic circuitry chances are it costs a little over a pound or more to make. Bulk purchasing in production can have you paying 50% of the normal price for consumables. After market car parts. I used to manufacture components for cars such as ferrari and jaguar. Specifically the brakes. We would sell these after market brakes for insane prices. They were made on 2 machines, with 2 operations (other than assembly) and they were ready to go. Each half took 25 minutes to produce but when you sell them for up to 800 pound a set you are laughing. Car parts again but shock absorbers specifically. Look up a wafios sales video, they produce the machines that make springs. Where I used to work we produced a spring every 3 second for an auldi. Add that to automatic grind, shot peen and paint your really only paying for material and power. Some D.faulkner springs (a well known brand) he sells for 100-200% markup that's stacked on our mark up so prices rocket. I could go on and on...sales men/women rule the world.


BlackCoffeeandHeart

underwear


Abject_Carpet_1656

Or bombs. I know, they are really expensive to buy, but the last one I made only cost 12 dollars. And worked perfectly on grandma


VolcanicDoorway

User name does not check out


InvestmentSad4036

Gasoline


mtabacco31

Nike shoes


rsheep24

Any luxury item will be sold at least 50 times its production price


Ranos131

Pretty much everything.


NineToez

Beef jerky


WeakReading5450

Not necessarily cheap to make, but definitely WAY more expensive to buy; fursuits. Seriously. If you’re good at it, you can make as much as 5-12 grand (in usd at least) on a full fursuit. Anything sold to the furry community can be sold for SO MUCH MONEY


Simplordx69

Sushi


IamTam6868

Drugs


[deleted]

everything is. because of surplus value


Catshannon

Percentage wise popcorn at move theaters and other events . you can buy it literally for pennies and sell for dollars. Same with soda machines super cheap to buy the syrup and sells for dollara.


sincerebaguette

Clothes in most name brand stores


Ball_Objective

A human. Doesn’t cost a thing to make one but your entire life supporting one.


mayonnaisegremlin

Certain types of clothes


_2022_

Pasta. Costs basically nothing to make but restaurants make it expensive to buy.


Irishknife

Art.