MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Walking through the mean streets of Cirencester at lunchtime, I happened to glance into the window of the Aga shop. They had on display a Yorkshire pudding tray you know, for which they only wanted the measly sum of, wait for it, fifty quid! Fifty quid!
You should take a look at how much the aga’s are..
Suspension forks.
There was a girl on the train yesterday who looked like she admired the Kardashians. Fake tan, fake lips, lots of make-up and leopard print clothes. My daughter pointed out that her cheap looking trainers cost over £600!
(Balenciaga Triple S Trainers if you are interested)
You should take a look at how much the T5 Campers are..
FTFY
Bike tires.
Yeah, I get the AGA/forks/T5 thing, but at least you're paying a bit for something vaguely clever and engineered. A Yorkshire pudding tray is, well, not exactly at the bleeding edge of functional engineering design.
Bike tyres! they are stupidly expensive
A new electric motor for the septic tank. £250 🙁
A Vauxhall Insignia.
A Yorkshire pudding tray is, well, not exactly at the bleeding edge of functional engineering design.
You can buy them for £2 I'm sure, but cost is not just about design, there's quality, durabilty (and marketing/profit!)
I'd bet a £2 steel Yorkshire pudding tray is more durable than a £50 porcelain one (it was porcelain, by the way).
Ti hardtails.
Cherished plates.
You can buy them for £2 I’m sure, but cost is not just about design, there’s quality, durabilty (and marketing/profit!)
Yeah I'm sure there's £40 worth of it's valve was added when they stamped AGA into it..
There's loads of stuff that takes the Mick in the IT world (as I'm sure 95% of STWers will know). Hard Drives for example. You can buy a top quality Seagate HDD for about £80, or you can buy the same Seagate HDD (not similar, the same) for £280, the only difference is that there's a little HP sticker on it with a hologram. They don't even hide it, there's a great big Seagate sticker and a tiny little HP one, same model number with a different model number on the HP sticker.
Tubeless valves.
Contact lens cleaning fluid
I spent £50 on a camera tripod 🙁
Those trainers are terrible looking!
Me.
Mattresses
I’d bet a £2 steel Yorkshire pudding tray is more durable than a £50 porcelain one (it was porcelain, by the way).
Hold on a bit though. I'm not endorsing £50 Yorkshire pudding trays but I can see the advantage of ceramic. To make good Yorkshires you need to have the tray piping hot so that the batter starts to bubble and cook as you put it in. Having a ceramic one would mean much greater heat capacity and more crispy light Yorkshires, I reckon. But your point still stands about the cost.
Other things that are expensive and mundane:
Fence post, £15 for a piece of wood to make the fence exactly as it was before. Likewise car exhausts - £250 and no upgrade, no better anything. Just the same as it was. That's the nature of repairs I suppose, but's a little irritating not to be able to upgrade to anything at the same time.
Paperclips
My daughter pointed out that her cheap looking trainers cost over £600!
I bet they'd look better with the matching £575 nylon bumbag.
Anchor spreadable butter. £6 for 500g in Tesco.
Don't think you can judge a £50 yorkie tray until you have tasted the yorkies that it produces. Who knows they could be the best ones you`ve had in your life, in which case any serious chef (pro) would be more than willing to pay for it and consider it good value for money.
Petrol - I buy it and just burn it!
Saffron.
Vanilla.
Apple products 🤣🤪🤩🤩🤩
Before everyone else dives in on that one..
Printer ink and toner
Vanilla is a good one - a byword for plain and everyday, yet is very expensive. Interesting.
Anyway further to my original post - cars in general. A cheap bog standard car still costs TEN THOUSAND QUID which is a shitload of money when you think about it. When we were in our early 20s, carefree and mobile, a mate made £15k in shares (it was the dotcom era). That would have been enough for a few years travelling on the cheap and having incredible experiences. Instead he bought a Ford Focus 1.6. Once the new car smell wore off he had basically nothing of note for his windfall.
Likewise car exhausts – £250 and no upgrade, no better anything. Just the same as it was. That’s the nature of repairs I suppose, but’s a little irritating not to be able to upgrade to anything at the same time.
Well if you like annoying your neighbours you could put a huge stainless one on it.
Vanilla is a good one – a byword for plain and everyday, yet is very expensive.
But a limited supply, hence the price. Same for saffron.
postage from wahoo
wanted a new heart rate strap. Strap was £17; bit steep, but acceptable.
item weighs 28g (well within the 'letter' weight from the post office, so 67p first class)
they wanted £9.60. Blimey.
I can buy a knock off copy on amazon for a fiver, delivered.
Well if you like annoying your neighbours you could put a huge stainless one on it.
It's the Prius, currently in Kwik Fit having driven around a couple of days with a straight pipe after the old one broke off. Because it doesn't really idle, instead it runs to charge the battery at about 1.3krpm, it sounds like some kind of tuned up boy racer mobile 🙂
A quick Google suggest the ceramic stuff Aga sell is made by Portmerion who make about 50% of their products in the UK. £50 doesn't sound so stupid if it was made in the UK after all it is not a simple non stick thing that you would get from Ikea.
A quick Google suggest the ceramic stuff Aga sell is made by Portmerion who make about 50% of their products in the UK.
What would be more interesting would be to compare the cost at the Portmeirion shop versus the Aga shop. I'm pretty sure it is a simple thing, if not non-stick.
Neighbour has just bought a Tesla Model X P100D, over £130K for a car that his young children will doubtless be sick all over!!
"But I don't have to pay for petrol anymore"
Your wandering the wrong streets. Pop over to Stroud & one of our many charity shops will provide you with one for the small sum of £1. You can then donate your saved £49 to one of our many needy persons, who will be conveniently located in the door way.
I’m pretty sure it is a simple thing, if not non-stick.
But if it is made in UK and takes a person a few hours then £50 sounds reasonable doesn't it (and guessing a ceramic would be fairly labour intensive compared to a machine popping out non-stick Ikea trays)
Cars in general. Especially 4x4s which have a big mark up compared to often the same base chassis /engine /etc car model.
That’s ridiculous,a ceramic Yorkshire pudding tray! It has to be tin, so it doesn’t break when you slam it on the worktop when removing it from the Aga with a thin tea towel!
This moisturiser is nearly £3500/litre.
https://www.marksandspencer.com/regenerating-eye-cream-15ml/p/p22360595
Antimatter
$62.5 trillion per gram
postage from wahoo
wanted a new heart rate strap. Strap was £17; bit steep, but acceptable.
item weighs 28g (well within the ‘letter’ weight from the post office, so 67p first class)
they wanted £9.60. Blimey.
I can buy a knock off copy on amazon for a fiver, delivered.
Actually, pretty good point in general. It's not just Wahoo but there seem to be countless 'quality' products where postage charged on a tiny replacement part is more than a whole 'knock off' or compatible item delivered.
My wife bought one of those Yorkshire Pudding trays.
AND HAS NEVER ****ING USED IT!
But if it is made in UK and takes a person a few hours then £50 sounds reasonable doesn’t it
I guess my point is less about whether £50 is reasonable for that particular Yorkshire pudding tray, given how and where it's manufactured, and more about the fact that there are people who will pay £50 for a Yorkshire pudding tray.
the fact that there are people who will pay £50 for a Yorkshire pudding tray.
Pity me, I know one.
and more about the fact that there are people who will pay £50 for a Yorkshire pudding tray.
You have only just realised there are millions of people in this country with too much money?
Dysons Duralit toasters, Smeg anything, the list is endless. I guess there is an argument that they are better but I'm sure a lot is about the perceived brand image and the ultimate extension of this vanity is personal (vanity plates in USA) number plates. Not for me thank you but I am not going to knock people who choose to spend their money that way.
Replacement exposure helmet mount... 25 quid plus postage!!! ☹️
Vanilla is a good one – a byword for plain and everyday, yet is very expensive. Interesting.
most of what you get thats plain and everyday isn't vanilla - its vanillin . Real vanilla is orchid seeds and its definitely delicious. Most of the the stuff that we buy that is 'vanilla flavoured' is flavoured with vanillin which is extracted from wood pulp.
Freezer trays. Plastic cuboid tray to go in a freezer. Cheaper to buy a new freezer than replace the trays...
those little chrome wire soap and shower gel holder things for your shower that screw into the wall, 55 bruce in my local bathroom shop.
shimano Electric bicycle controller mount - £75!!! Good Gaffer Tape - £6.50 a roll 75m robust Optical fibre. £000's
Jeans, those 'designer' ones.
Antimatter
$62.5 trillion per gram
Yeah but no but yeah but.....
Who needs it?
Chelsea Tractors that never venture so much as up a kerb. (Loads in Harrogate)
Flat whites at the artisan coffee bars now knocking on for £3, takeaway same price as sit down, a good 1/4 kilo bag o beans can be had freshly roasted for £6
Hah I was going to say anchor spreadable butter too! Total con but the wife likes it unfortunately..
A Vauxhall Insignia.
What, compared to a BMW or a Merc? I’ve had one as a hire car recently, done nearly 900 miles in it. I can honestly say I’d rather have the Insignia over any BMW I’ve ever driven, and I’ve driven quite a few.
Now they’re an incredibly expensive, incredibly mundane item.
Antimatter
$62.5 trillion per gram
How are you going to weigh the antimatter to make sure you're getting a full gram, you might be getting ripped off with a point eight? 🙂
Quite like that hammer. It holds your nail look....
It holds your nail look….
I hope it holds it firmly - wouldn't what to drop it as its the only nail you can afford once you've paid for the hammer
Not exactly every day items - aging industrial control systems. We've spent in the last few years;
1x £350k
1x £250k
2x £125k
to update to current supported equipment. The machines themselves don't operate any differently-exactly the same as before. And we'll have to do it all again in 10 years time when this stuff becomes obsolete!
Antimatter's hardly mundane either. Yes, yes, I know it's everywhere but....
Not tried the Yorkie tray but the Aga saucepans are really, really good (not mine though)
Bit of glass for an oven door? Broke ours, £150 for a replacement! Got a whole s/h oven for £60. Also, marmite is quite pricey, but worth it.
Mach 3 razor blades. Was enough to send me down the DE route.
Anyone had to buy anything from Smiggle?
postage from wahoo
wanted a new heart rate strap. Strap was £17; bit steep, but acceptable.
item weighs 28g (well within the ‘letter’ weight from the post office, so 67p first class)
they wanted £9.60. Blimey.
I can buy a knock off copy on amazon for a fiver, delivered.
I'll see your £9 pound and raise you 300 for Superstar to send a hub adapter to NZ. When I queried them on it they suggested I get some mates together who also wanted stuff and share the shipping....
I got it send to my Mum's in the UK and she stuck in an envelope for a fiver.
Methylated spirits. It’s derived from a byproduct in a manufacturing process.
edit; upset Trangia user here ...
spent £50 on a camera tripod
Shouldn't be in this thread, a completely justified purpose.
My last tripod for our film cameras (business) was £4k. It's holding up my 15kg money maker. Only had to buy it once. However it does make me wince.
Methylated spirits. It’s derived from a byproduct in a manufacturing process.
edit; upset Trangia user here …
And rubbish in a trangia too - the 'methylated' bit stinks and blackens everything. When you're abroad and can get the spirit without the the methylatedness (alcohol a bruler for instance in France) trangias are an absolute pleasure to cook with
Printer ink. What's it made from, unicorn tears?
Bottled water. We whine about petrol prices and then cheerfully pay three times that for something we have piped into our homes for free.
Car door mirrors - £350 to replace mine recently.
Houses.
When you’re abroad and can get the spirit without the the methylatedness (alcohol a bruler for instance in France) trangias are an absolute pleasure to cook with
And in this country you can get (other brands are available):
Vanilla pods contain vanillin.... it's the primary component. The natural pod will contain other chemical compounds that might help it taste better, and the vanillin from the chemical/industrial synthesis will only contain vanillin (probably).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanillin
Apples
Why is an apple 3x more expensive than a banana?
Apples
Why is an apple 3x more expensive than a banana?
Because they just work.
*doffs cap*
aren't you just comparing apples to bananas
passenger side wing mirror for a Mk 7 golf just cost me the princely sum of 500 quid to replace. All because it folds and lights up and all that.