16 Things That Are Not Only Worse But More Expensive Than They Use to Be
Does the passage of time increase quality, or does it depreciate value along with quality while continuing to amp up prices? Does working a full-time job in this economy constitute enough money to keep up with inflation, or are we at a time when we notice a recess in quality and output of quantity? I believe the latter is coming to fruition. Here are 16 things that prove my point.
1. Streaming
Streaming used to be free. I remember the old Hulu days around 2009 when the website aired day-old episodes of glee for zero cost despite the ad revenue. The only price we paid was sitting through boring commercials, which aired at infrequent and irrelevant times. Today, we pay a premium just to watch programs that only air on selected networks. For example, if I want to watch Under the Bridge, I need to pick which Hulu subscription plan suits my needs and decide if I want to pay less for more ads or more for no ads.
2. Fast Food
Around the same time as I watched glee the day after it aired, I remember fighting with my cousin over the hottest, freshest McDonald’s fry. Whoever said “fry” won this imaginary contest – one of superiority based on complete randomness. Today, one bite of a McDonald’s fry makes me ill, and she no longer indulges in their salty grease, as her tastes grew refined over the years.
3. Rent
I don’t even need to dive into this one and break apart the multifaceted reasons why rent is worse and more expensive than it was years ago. So, I’ll just say that it is nearly impossible to live on a one-income salary and rent a nice apartment unless you are a part of that coveted one percent.
4. Housing
Buying a home, a feat not for the weak, picks out the elite members of society and waves away those struggling to live without fear of where their next meal comes from. A recent meme circulating the internet reads, “Boomers selling their homes for $2 million after buying them in 1969 for 7 raspberries.” These homes aren’t extravagant either. Yet, the marketplace allows for this ludicrosity due to demand. According to marketplace.org, home inflation has risen 423% in the past 40 years.
5. Coffee
My mother used to drink three cups of store-bought coffee each day. She’d dole out around $8 daily for a simple latte with skim milk. Now, she makes her own coffee, as three store-bought lattes average around $25 daily. The discrepancy between homemade coffee and a locally brewed one is comical. Becoming a self-taught barista saves you hundreds of dollars a year, maybe thousands, if you order fancy drinks layered with bee pollen and sea foam.
6. Movie Tickets
Five-dollar Tuesdays don’t even exist anymore. They’ve become $5.99 or $6.35 discount days. Nothing that treats the ears with that same ring as five-dollar Tuesdays. Last week, I purchased a movie ticket for $15, hearing the person in front of me pay $20.32 for an RPX presentation. Depending on the location, movie theaters charge anywhere from $11 to $30 (looking at you, New York City). Since movies only occupy 90 to 180 minutes, most people choose to save money and stay home, streaming instead.
7. Education
I attended a liberal arts college on the west coast of Florida. In other words, a money grab. The institution got away with overcharging students every year for mundane things like a technology fee, a parking fee, student activity fees, and all these baffling charges. On top of tuition, room and board equaled around $60,000 the first year, increasing in increments of $2,000 every consecutive year. Did the quality of education increase? No. Did the gap between scholarship kids and kids with affluent parents who paid upfront decrease? Yes.
8. Cable
Who subscribes to cable anymore? With the endless options for internet TV and subscription channels, why subscribe to regulated television? Well, for stability, a glimpse into the past, and never miss an episode of Saturday Night Live, duh. Like streaming subscriptions, television subscriptions bought into the idea of raising prices for little improvements. Many people pay around $200 a month for premium cable. The days of $35 a month cable are no more.
9. Flying
I harp about flying, and for good reason. Few airlines still exist with all-included service, meaning seat, baggage, food, drink, and comfort all bundled into one ticket price. Southwest is the exception. It permits passengers two pieces of luggage per trip, lets them pick their seats, and provides in-flight snacks and drinks, perhaps even in-flight entertainment, depending on the plane. Other airlines ask customers to pay their way to comfort. The less you pay, the more you pray to land.
10. Concerts
Picture the last time you purchased a concert ticket. Did you wake up hours before the online queue, hop on the computer, and wait for the queue to start to secure a spot in the virtual line to belonging? All for the ticket site to crash and donate your spot to some guy who logged on five minutes after the sale began? Buying concert tickets parallels The Hunger Games, especially when the performer promotes this level of intense obsession. Resale prices for concerts should not rival rent.
11. Homes
What happened to solid foundations with dependable appliances? They were replaced with budget-gated communities featuring regurgitations of the exact same layout minus the burly structure of a solid home. Prepare to phone the landlord or management company for consequential repairs every week or so.
12. Medicine
Medicine is a lifeline for select people with diseases, disorders, or other ailments. Once, in a pharmacy, I watched a woman phone her mother to tell her the doctors would not reduce the medicine price from $3,000 to anything lower so she could live in peace. Unfortunately, without strict rules capping medicine prices, those without insurance (and even those with) suffer.
13. Chips
Opened a bag of chips recently? Notice the blank space left between the amount of chips and the top of the bag? The amount of air between the opening of the bag and the first chip seems to have grown exponentially over the years.
14. Phones
Let’s speak on iPhones for a minute. Each year, iPhone releases one or two new versions of the iPhone. The pledge promises the newest iPhone delivers the best graphics, insane camera detail, impeccable service, and an unparalleled phone experience. As the newest phone comes out, the older phones begin to malfunction, forcing the owners to buy into the newest release, therefore giving additional money to the capitalist machine.
15. Girl Scout Cookies
As a former Girl Scout, I remember selling cookies for $2.50 a box. We had regulars coming to our stand at Publix, ordering an endless supply each year and praising the quality of cookies. Now, cookies cost $5 or $6 a box, contain fewer cookies, and taste shockingly like cardboard cutouts of the sweet treat they want to be.
16. Theme Parks
Imagine a setting where countless people cram into locations early in the morning, spend a day walking around a jam-packed park while strollers roll into the back of ankles, and patrons spend too much money on chalky food. Influencers meander the streets, portraying a falsified portrait of the genuine experience, temper-tantrum throwers earn rewards, and angry parents groan about their expensive outings. Theme parks continue expanding, and with that comes overpriced tickets and fewer restrictions on capacity.
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