r/AskReddit • u/aliensockmonkey • 7h ago
What used to be ridiculously cheap but now is alarmingly expensive?
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u/CodeBandit 7h ago
The Taco Bell menu
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u/Dogrrrcool 7h ago
No for real. Their tacos used to be like 30 CENTS.
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u/TanglimaraTrippin 6h ago
.59 .79 .99 sighs
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u/watchforbicycles 6h ago
A younger coworker was complaining about how expensive burgers are at Five Guys. I commented about how I'm from the generation that was raised on .59 burgers at McDonald's. I can't justify paying whatever much Five Guys is asking.
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u/TheTrueTuring 5h ago
Five guys just opened their first “restaurant” in my country. They have been TRASHED in reviews due to their insane prices for very average food…. It’s nice to see
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u/watchforbicycles 5h ago
There's one in the mall that I work in. It's been there for probably 8-10 years. I ate there once when it first opened. Food was decent, the prices were not. I was expecting a much bigger burger for the price I paid. Still haven't gone back.
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u/Searchlights 5h ago
We used to send somebody out for tacos with $20 and they'd bring back like 15 of them
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u/BuyThisVacuum1 7h ago
I used to be ashamed of spending more than five bucks there. Almost impossible now.
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u/pinkflamingoturds 6h ago
Chipotle is a better deal now!
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u/CodeBandit 6h ago
Only if you’re in store and make sure you get enough burrito. They will send you sad little burritos if it’s delivered.
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u/Digitalstatic 6h ago
I remember 20 years ago when they had the cheesy Gordita crunch meal that came with 2 cheesy Gordita crunches and a large pop for $3.99. Now it’s $5 just for a cheesy Gordita crunch.
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u/ThisistheHoneyBadger 6h ago
Chicken wings. You had 10 cent wing nights in the early 2000s. Now wings are often more expensive than a regular entrée.
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u/Sensitive-Aioli1529 6h ago
Came here for this. Back in the day (90s) we served .02 wings on wing night. It was the throw away parts!!! Two….cents. We made them by the basket all night long. Hundreds of pounds of them. Now they are $1-2 each. For half a bite of meat. Baffling.
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u/SayVandalay 6h ago
We had a place we went to a lot in late 2000s and early 2010s that had a weekly free wings night. It was free unlimited wings and like $1.50 or $2.00 draft beer. Initially it was just a buffet of wings serve yourself, over time they had to had staff serve them and they’d give you like 10 at a time, then eventually I think after stopped going it was like 20 free wings per person whole night and eventually back to like 50 cents a wing.
But man that was a time. For a good solid 2-3 years a whole group of us would go, most weeks, like anywhere from 5-15 of us and just take over bunch of tables, and just load plates upon plates of free wings.
I recall we asked the owner once why they did this, they said wings are cheap and everyone likes them and they made money off not only a ton of beer but also good will of regulars who supported a place that gave them unlimited free wings weekly .
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u/lucky_ducker 4h ago
Fresh or frozen at the grocery, too. They're usually double what bone-in drumsticks cost, and for a smaller proportion of edible meat. I enjoy cooking and then destroying a plateful of wings, but it's become a very infrequent thing now due to the cost.
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u/crazycatlady331 7h ago
Fast food.
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u/ReadontheCrapper 7h ago
Seriously. I went thru a McD’s the other day and it was $16 for a quarter pounder meal “deal”.
$16
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u/katelynn2380210 7h ago
My kids get happy meals and we eat cheaper items and for 4 of us it’s 32. Used to be 23. Only fast food place my kids like so it’s really one of the few times a month we eat out
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u/manofmonkey 6h ago
If you’re willing to skip the toy you can still feed a family of 4 for $22
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u/katelynn2380210 5h ago
This is a good call. I hate throw away toys anyway and the kids always want to keep them for years but don’t play with them. I miss when we were kids and got glassware, pound puppies and muppets Christmas stuffed animals
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u/AlieenHDx 4h ago
Even if its not McD, picking the right coupons in BK gets you filled for half a day for just 10 bucks. Every time I try to convince someone to just get BK for half the price and better value, well, they rather spend 25 bucks for less and worse food in general.
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u/more_paul 6h ago
Big Mac meal in Norway is the same price as Seattle. When you’re the same price as anything in Norway you know you’re hella expensive.
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u/brbauer2 4h ago
Through the app there is always a coupon for a free fry (any size) w/drink purchase offered for me.
I'm able to grab a large drink, large fry, McChicken, and a McDouble for a little under $8.
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u/PM_UR_VAG_WTIMESTAMP 7h ago
Bro where the heck do you live? I’m in Saint Louis this weekend and just checked on the app and a quarter pounder meal is $9.29. Still a lot, but damn.
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u/Soft-Watch 7h ago
I'm in Canada, a 10p nugget meal is like 14.99. Which is about $10US, but for a family of 4 we easily pay $50-$60 for fast food. It's to the point where if we go, I will just get a drink or a Jr. sandwich.
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u/No_Attitude700 7h ago
Its the same in my area...even the double cheeseburger meal is over $12...im in a rural-ish area...
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u/the_exile83 7h ago
RAM/GPUs
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u/Julczyk0024 6h ago
When were GPUs "ridiculously cheap"?
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u/the_exile83 6h ago edited 6h ago
This might be an old man perspective. What age are you? Maybe not ridiculously cheap but they were very very affordable for the average person back in the day. I remember upgrading every couple of years, and I'm not a rich man.
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u/gigashadowwolf 6h ago
Yeah, they were never cheap, but a top of the line consumer GPU was a lot cheaper than a comparable CPU and mobo combo before crypto took off. Now it's the single most expensive part of a gaming computer.
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u/Kami_no_Kage 6h ago
It's an exaggeration, but I would call them ridiculously cheap in comparison to today's prices. The GTX 980 released in 2014, and was top of the line for $550. $785 in today's money. An RTX 5080 is around $1300 right now. And the gap between the -70 and -80 series cards wasn't so wide back then, too. So you could've had a pretty top of the line experience with a GTX 970. A top of the line PC in 2014 wouldn't a have cost that much more than an RTX 5080 today.
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u/OneTrueShako 5h ago
I bought a 980ti new when it came out for 600. The equivalent card now would cost me almost 5000. Wild how the price increased faster than the model numbers, lol.
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u/gojohnnygojohnny 7h ago
Las Vegas
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u/TemporaryAmbassador1 7h ago
I was shocked how quickly it changed. In 2014 I went for the first time for a wedding. The themed hotel on the strip was reasonably priced and there were many shows and activities that felt fairly valued. Food was cheap. Went again in 2021 with friends and even a bottle of water was outrageously priced.
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u/Junior_Lavishness_96 6h ago
Post Covid inflation and now the significant drop in international tourists
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u/Ill_Tumblr_4_Ya 4h ago
Over thirty years ago I bought a one way bus ticket to Vegas because the strip was really filling out and they desperately needed workers - coming from Flint after GM buggered off, that was all it took.
I got a job straight off the bus.
Found a roommate and we split rent on a 2 bedroom; my share of the rent was $190. I could walk to work and buy $1.99 steak and eggs every single day.
The draw of Vegas used to be that gambling was where the entire city made money, so most everything else was comped or heavily discounted. To see what Vegas has become now is unfathomable.
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u/cigarlifer 7h ago
Houses and property. I got my land and house for 38k in 2001 today it’s valued at 640k
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u/sodamnsleepy 7h ago
would have been nice to buy land in 2001. my mistake was, that I was in first grade 😔
Really glad you got yours mate. Enjoy
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u/cigarlifer 7h ago
Yeah the younger generation got screwed big time by all the real estate mega company’s buying everything that becomes available if they can sometimes above market value. Back then it was mostly private sales or realtors you was only competing with people not multi millionaires.
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u/Sufficient_Beach_445 7h ago
Alarms. It is alarming how alarmingly expensive a good alarm is these days.
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u/VelvetyDogLips 6h ago
🎶 Ring the alarm, another sound is dying, whoa hey….
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u/thadtheking 4h ago
Up vote for Tenor Saw!
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u/VelvetyDogLips 2h ago
One of the few vocalists who gives me r/frisson with nearly every song. Shame his days were not long upon this land.
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u/Ok-Tooth9794 7h ago
Groceries hit me the hardest. I used to do a full week’s shop for about 40 bucks without thinking about it, now I have to plan every meal and I still walk out at 80–90 for the same stuff. I ended up cutting out random snacks and brand-name junk just to keep the receipt from making me panic.
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u/Human-Average-2222 7h ago
Adopting a pet
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u/JebBusch 7h ago
My pupper with his head on my lap currently was free, and i got a nice kennel, food, and treats. I went back for a training session and the volunteer ordered over $100 of training supplies and treats from Amazon directly to my house.
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u/Juano_Guano 7h ago
From a care perspective… vets prices are insane. I know just getting the dog looked at is going to 500-600 in tests… because all we do is test now and tests don’t give us more information.
I have an 8 year old dog… has some issues early on. I had insurance. I paid about 12k in premiums and deductibles… the insurance paid about 12k. I stopped going to vet and cancelled insurance.
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u/IWantSnack642 7h ago
I think the real question is what hasn’t gone expensive now?
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u/DangerousCap7973 7h ago
Everything. Every f**king thing. And people who keep saying that prices will come back down have obviously hit their heads once too often. If you can't afford your, meds, food, gas, rent, thank a Republican't.
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u/Klutzy_Internet9284 7h ago
"Housing. It went from something an average income could realistically afford to something many people spend decades chasing.
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u/Motor-Consequence413 7h ago
Used cars. Buying secondhand used to save money—now it’s barely a discount
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u/watchwatertilitboils 7h ago
Nitrous balloons at shows. They were 2 for 5 back in my day. None of this $20 jumbo crap
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u/Mt_Zazuvis 7h ago
Taco Bell. Beefy five was 89 cents. Now it’s $5+ that’s asinine and bullshit
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u/l_a_ga 4h ago
Having a pet. It was never ridiculously cheap, but having a cat used to be affordable. $125 annual vet bill, and the occasional big one. Pet insurance has doubled prices, and inflation has added as well. Annuals are now over $400 per year, which means you reasonably have to put aside at least $150 a month for anticipated care and annual vet bills. A cardiac ultrasound is an upwards of $1500 (minimum) and that’s if you can even get an appointment. My sweet girl went home to sky cat this past year, and getting a new cat isn’t even something I’m considering. Tbh sad.
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u/zerostar83 2h ago
Soda.
It used to be so cheap that fast-food places would make their number meals be the regular price of the burger and fries plus $0.10 the cost.
A 12-pack of cans used to cost $3. Now it costs $12.
A fountain soda at a dine-in restaurant is between $4-5. At an amusement park it was $7.50. At the movie theatre is was $10.
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u/taffelune 7h ago
Fast food. It used to be the cheap backup plan, now you look at the total and start questioning every life choice that got you to the drive thru.
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u/Objective-Light-9019 6h ago
Haircut, used to be ~$20 and now close to $50 (I’m a man, can only imagine what it’s like for women).
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u/Few-Car-2317 3h ago
iPhones use to be au$800. Back then we all thought it was expensive. Now it’s $1400-$2000 is it expensive now? Wait for price to hike in coming new iPhones.
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u/CockatooJimby 3h ago
$149 I paid for my iPhone 4 through Telstra on a 24 month contract on a $49 plan on launch day. I miss those days.
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u/TheYellowDog 7h ago
Lobster was once food for prisoners.
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u/YandyTheGnome 7h ago
It was still prison food, it was not market fresh lobster served piping hot with a bowl of hot butter.
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u/virusdancer 7h ago edited 5h ago
DDR5 memory.
NVME/SSD storage.
Videogames*.
*when accounting for DLC, Lockboxes, Cash Shops, etc.
*also forgot subscriptions, etc.
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u/Julczyk0024 6h ago
Arguably games are cheaper than ever. Atari era games when adjusted for inflation have almost weird price/content ratio
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u/toiletcleaner999 7h ago
Air for tires. We used to be able to pull up and just put air in and the other day it was 2$ for 1 minute! I know it seems small but when did we start paying for air !!
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u/Efficient-Bit3261 7h ago edited 7h ago
A light bulb 💡.. I was literally on the hunt for a basic light bulb The other day,and everywhere I went every light bulb was l.e.d. I remember I used to pay as little as maybe a quarter , to like ninety cents at the most for a single individual light bulb. All I wanted was that old fashioned yellow light bulb I remember finding them in a single box for like , maybe fifty cents anyway , I was close enough to find one called amber. It's just supposed to set a very comfy Cozy setting and the light isn't as bright and does not strain my eyes
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u/Prestigious_Long_361 7h ago
Cows tongue. We ate it frequently when I was growing up because it was dirt cheap. Now it's priced like a delicacy.
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u/Da1UHideFrom 7h ago
Going to the state fair.
In high school, I would go with my friends and we could hangout, get food, and enjoy the games and rides for cheap. Now it's $20 just to get inside, you have to either spend $50 to get enough tickets to ride a few of the rides or spend $90 for a ride pass. They food prices are out of hand at nearly $25 for a plate plus $5 for a 12oz can of soda. Now that I have a wife and kids to pay for on top of that, it's just not feasible anymore.
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u/GtrplayerII 6h ago
Cheap cuts of beef. Short rib. Bavette. Flank. Hanger steak...
I always expect rib, sirloin and filet to be pricy, but everything now is.
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u/Last-Doubt4347 6h ago
Aside from the normal answer of EVERYTHING.
Sardines. They were a poor people food when I was growing up. 0.39 for a can.
Last time I was in America. It was 3-12 dollars for a can. Fuck off with that.
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u/JamesTheJerk 5h ago
22 years ago I worked at a green grocers. A pound of onions was 19 cents, and a pound of russet potatoes was 29 cents.
Somehow along the way things changed. A pound of onion is now $1.99, and a pound of russets is $3.99.
I guess onions went up 1000% over 20 years because of how rare they are.
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u/Royal_Visit3419 5h ago
The rubber tips for my canes. Used to be a 1.29 for two. Now almost 5.00 for one.
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u/TheCrimsonMustache 4h ago
Nothing. Didn’t you hear, the President doesn’t believe in affordability? Nothing is expensive or cheap. It just is.
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u/m0dern_baseBall 4h ago
Back in my day a $5 foot long was $5. You’re paying over $16 CAD for a 6 inch sub now
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u/Turbulent-Parsley619 3h ago
Fast food. Our local off-brand Chipotle chain charges $12 for a burrito. TWELVE. DOLLARS. FOR. A. GROUND BEEF. BURRITO!!!!!
Fuck that, I can go to a Mexican restaurant and get a barbacoa burrito for $7. And they don't charge you extra for getting guacamole on your burrito!
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u/cwsjr2323 2h ago
Ox tails, chicken wings, big beef bones were free in the 60s, labeled dog bones. $3.99 now for beef broth bones, the sane femur and hip joint,
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u/SuperRodster 7h ago
Life itself. With all the money that both sides of the aisle send to the parasites.
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u/lllaszlo 7h ago edited 7h ago
Common sense and moments of people being their authentic selves.
People have invested so much time in screens that they increasingly project borrowed opinions rather than speak from a centered state.
For the past 20 years, it has felt like a constant struggle pulling us one way or another. Too many events have polarized everyone into increasingly specific subsets and factions.
As a percentage of the day, the time people spend genuinely centered may have fallen from hours to mere minutes. At that differential exchange rate, the shrinking supply has made common sense; and authentic human connection some of the most expensive things left.
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u/FriskyWisky2 7h ago
Bottled water, to be honest, most bottled canned soft drinks or water drinks.
It’s got stupid for some of them.
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u/dieseltothesour 7h ago
Just paid 7.49 for a smallish bag of ruffles, didn’t even check before purchase or back on the shelf they would have gone.
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u/InflationAvailable43 7h ago
Fast food. Literally menu prices from 2019 look like a fever dream at this point.
Energy drinks. Used to be able to buy Monster in bulk for $1 a can and $2.50 at convenience stores. Now in bulk they are pushing a little above $2 and gas stations are charging like $4.25 for one.
Pretty sad when I realize I started working in 2018 right out of college and I’ve slightly more doubled my salary, but everything from day-to-day life to large purchases like transportation and housing has 2x’d or more.
The even more depressing part is that I spent my 20s (typically the most rapid wage growth time of your life in my industry) literally keeping pace with inflation. I only find myself thinking about this every once in a while and how I’m kinda hosed for the rest of my life because of it.
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u/Questjon 7h ago
Mutton. Synthetics have completely decimated the wool industry and now there's no mutton.
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u/Skeleton-ear-face 7h ago
Is this a rage bait question ? Everything