MONSTROUSLY MARKED-UP PRODUCTS
• Razor blades: They cost as little as 25 cents to make but consumers are charged up to $4 a piece.
• Bottled water: For the price of a single bottle of Evian bottled water, you could pay for 1,000 gallons of municipal tap water.
• Wine in restaurants: The average retail markup on a bottle of wine in a restaurant is 300 percent.
• Diamonds: Retailers mark up diamonds between 50 and 200 percent.
• Wedding dresses: They retail for at least 100 percent more than the wholesale price.
• Popcorn: When a consumer has no other option, he’ll pay the 1300% markup on a large tub of theater popcorn.
• Designer handbags: High-end designer handbags can have markups of up to 1,000 percent over production costs.
THINGS SIGNIFIGANT OTHERS HAVE ARGUED ABOUT :
• The way one should cut a Kiwi Fruit in half — along its length or across the middle.
• Leaving the kitchen door open.
• The best way to hang up laundry.
• Those little toothpaste speckles you make when you brush your teeth in front of the mirror.
• The amount of time I spend on the computer.
• Which type of iron to buy.
• Where to sit in the movie theater. On those occasions when we A) manage to agree to go to the theater together and, B) go to see the same film once we’re there.
MOST OF US KNOW VERY LITTLE ABOUT OUR CARS _ According to an online survey…
• 68 percent of cars currently have at least one thing wrong with them.
• 36 percent don’t know the first thing about fixing a flat tire.
• A third aren’t confident they could jump-start a car should the situation arise.
• One in five says using an air pressure gauge to check tire pressure is confusing.
• Over half (54 percent) feel intimidated when dealing with a car mechanic
