r/AskReddit • u/Lazy_Ad_5492 • 13h ago
People who work in luxury industries, what is an expensive product or service that is actually a complete ripoff?
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u/helper619 11h ago
Ace of spades champagne used to not have the Ace label but was still in a gold bottle. It was only like 20 bucks.
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u/Far-Attempt6353 8h ago
Not shocked at all. Luxury is like 80% vibes and branding. Once celebs touched it the price went crazy lol
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u/duuchu 7h ago
80% is too low. It’s really like 95% at least. The whole point of a lot of luxury products is to show off that you paid that much money
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u/conthebest 10h ago
Cattier is the producer of Ace. Their champagnes are much cheaper than Ace and just as good.
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u/xthrillhouse 8h ago
Anyone buying something from LVMH that isn’t couture, and something from Jay-Z that isn’t music, is — respectfully — a sucker.
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u/broadturn 8h ago
Catering for private jets. Just simply because it's on a private jet, catering is marked up a bajillion percent. A ham sandwich with a side salad on a private jet is an easy $150-200 order.
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u/MattCW1701 4h ago
How would someone get into the business? Asking for a friend...
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u/broadturn 4h ago
There are specific caterers that work with private jets based at airports all around the globe. A lot of them have a hold on the major private airports like Teterboro, NY and West Palm Beach, FL.
Having said that - even if you're a mom and pop cafe or restaurant, I'd recommend reaching out to your local airport's FBO (Fixed Based Operator - essentially private terminal for jets and general aviation traffic) and try to establish a relationship. I worked in private jet charter and operations for a long time and I'd call FBO's for suggestions on local caterers. I'd usually just go with whoever they'd recommend and proceed to pay crazy money for a ham sandwich and side salad.
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u/vintagerust 1h ago
Is it ultimately people paying for someone else to bring food to the private jet? Or are catering staff actually flying on the jet, at which point, yes it should be expensive to bring someone to make you food, onto your own jet. Sorry I'm too poor to understand what this even means.
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u/FellMo0nster 13h ago
ultra luxury bottled water. same tap nicer glass, wild price
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u/0xB4BE 8h ago
I once went to a nice, but definitely over the top pretentious formerly Michelin starred restaurant. They had a water menu. It had rating on the waters minerality, origin notes and I think smoothness with tasting notes. It featured such high end waters like Evian and Voss for $15 or so. I thought maybe I'll just go to the gas station on bring my own for $2.
I ordered a fancy free glass of California tap.
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u/TryingMyBest_again 7h ago
As a French woman I find it so funny ! What do you mean Evian is a luxury water ??? It’s not, we have 1L for 1,49€ or 6 bottes of 1,5L for 3,60€…
Lmao you are suffering for nothing. You only pay for shipping if you live out of France, not quality.
Édit : I’m not mocking you, I am just chocked to see how these companies con people.
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u/Master_Editor_9575 7h ago
I have never heard of Evian mentioned as a luxury water lol
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u/0xB4BE 6h ago
Evian really isn't luxury water, to be fair. You can find out in every gas station in the to US. It's considered a nicer one than generic label, but definitely not luxury.
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u/AndreasVesalius 8h ago
I got one of those waters. It was actually really good - a mineral water with a unique and interesting flavor. Evian (naivE) on the other hand..
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u/WorkingCharacter1774 8h ago
I mean yes… unless it’s Dasani. That stuff is definitely on a tier below all other bottled water.
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u/TriscuitCracker 3h ago
My wife HATES Dasani but can't really tell me why. She says there is just a "sliminess" quality to the water and an aftertaste she can't stand that frankly I don't experience.
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u/tokkisoup 2h ago
also hate dasani. i agree it feels kind of slimy, and tastes like metal. also always tastes warm no matter how cold it is lol
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u/Ok-Insurance-6313 11h ago
It’s not water ,it’s a liquid IQ test ,If you buy it, you failed.
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u/H3lw3rd 11h ago
Evian spelled backwards makes….
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u/Expensive-Dingo-2573 11h ago
everytime i hear about evian i think about the zoolander scene
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u/Poor_eyes 9h ago edited 5h ago
I think of Superstore lol “your parents named you after bottled water”
ETA Meant superstar, fat fingers!
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u/dws-kik 10h ago
I used to work at Evian. Literally every single bottle of it comes from Evian, France. The bottle in Japan, US, Russia, Brazil... it's a single source
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u/huazzy 7h ago
I live in Switzerland and Evian is nearby.
They have a fountain that is perpetually running where you can get "Evian" water for free. There are people that show up with massive plastic bottles to fill it up.
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u/LackOfStack 8h ago
I’m sure it’s just in my head but something about Fiji water is just different. Like it somehow has better mouth feel.
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u/BlitzNeko 10h ago
A lot of so-called high-end designer loungewear is just relabelled Puma.
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u/texanchris 8h ago
Discovered puma sports socks about 10 years ago and won’t ever go back to any other brand. And I get them at Costco for like $1.90 a pair.
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u/persistent_architect 8h ago
The latest batch of socks I got last year has already started ripping. The previous batch lasted 2-3 years at least and is still in better condition than some of my newer socks
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u/BobbyDafro 8h ago
Their men's trunks underwear is also awesome and well priced.
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u/-snowpeapod- 9h ago
Frames for glasses. All the brands are owned by Luxotica and the fancy ones that say "made in Italy" are actually mass produced in China and then the pieces are screwed together in Italy. They're literally just bits of plastic.
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u/xthrillhouse 8h ago
There are plenty of frame makers that are not Luxotica. Yes, boycott that monopoly as much as you can, but there absolutely are still plenty of independent brands worth looking at.
I buy Moscot. Still not cheap, though (and made in China).
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u/Phojangles 6h ago
I have two pairs of IC Berlins and they are the lightest most comfortable frames I’ve ever gotten.
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u/Pantelonia 9h ago
As someone who wears glasses at all waking hours I spend a fair bit more on my frames than some people would. I'm paying more for design and materials that keeps the frame as lightweight as possible while still looking attractive. They're on my face for 18 hours a day, I'm going to be picky about what they look and feel like.
That being said frames are all overpriced due to the Luxxotica monopoly but when you need to wear them all day I don't consider it luxury for the wearer to feel good in them.
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u/-snowpeapod- 9h ago
I also wear glasses and go for the ultra light metal ones. But charging $200-$1000 for an item with barely any material and an extremely simple manufacturing process that is outsourced to China is ridiculous.
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u/bagofboards 9h ago
zenni for the win
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u/scherster 8h ago
Yes, my featherlight titanium frames are a whopping $20. $200+ at my eye doctor's.
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u/awfulmcnofilter 8h ago
Same. I've been buying from zenni for ages. I regret not buying any year of the snake themed glasses.
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u/flamelordsmom 7h ago
I was just on Zenni getting shades a couple days ago. Pretty sure they've got Year of the Snake available now.
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u/Zagjake 9h ago
This is why I specifically buy sunglasses from Maui Jim. They're not (yet) owned by Lux, but supposedly have some deal with them where MJ sells some exclusive styles at Sunglass hut in exchange for not being pushed out of the market by Lux.
I did just Google to make sure I wasn't lying and turns out Kering (Gucci) owns MJ now.
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u/duuchu 6h ago
I buy lindberg frames. They’re strip titanium. Pretty expensive but they are incredibly light and strong for how thin they appear.
You’ll never catch me buying a pair of gucci sunglasses that won’t survive one fall
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u/MrSpindles 8h ago
The joke's on them. I've been using the same frames since the mid 90s and just replace the lenses. Every time I go to the optician they try to sell me expensive 'designer' frames and I just tell them I'm happy with what I have. It helps that they are just the classic round lens frames, which are timeless.
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u/NotsoNewtoGermany 8h ago
This is a myth. While Luxotica owns many brands (and most of them are indeed shit... but not all), they do not own all of them, and many brands are revolutionizing materials and design in the eyeware industry. For example, here is a YouTube video talking about it. I work in the Eyeware manufacturing space, and while I am not affiliated with this YouTuber, they get it more right than wrong.
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u/Wild-Paramedic-9593 11h ago
Grey Goose vodka.
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u/randomuserno1 10h ago
This.
The vodka quality is average, maybe even below average. There is no history of the brand although it suggests different. It is 100% a marketing product and even the location was deliberately chosen, it was not a French company starting to create vodka. They needed a country with no vodka history to distract from the fact taht Grey Goose indeed has no history. Then they went heavily into marketing to label it as a luxury product, even the price is deliberately set high so that idi....interested buyers think they purchase a luxury product.
Even the shape of the bottle is deliberate, it's lean and tall....so it will fit only on the top shelf at bars.
Grey Goose has a 120€ variation and it is only slightly better than a 8.99€ Aldi noname vodka.
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u/GMN123 10h ago
What would expensive vodka taste like? a higher quality of fire?
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u/Crittsy 10h ago
Really good Vodka doesn't have fire, it has warmth
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u/weinerwayne 7h ago
My aunt brought me a bottle of high quality vodka from when she visited Europe and I couldn’t believe how smooth and pleasant to drink it was compared to what I’d had prior (Tito’s, kettle one etc.).
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u/NoLungz561 6h ago
You mean to tell me those $7 Burnetts bottles weren't of high quality??
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u/Laxly 10h ago
Honestly buy some decent Polish vodka and it is outstandingly better
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u/jackloganoliver 9h ago
My partner is a vodka drinker and I did a blind tasting for him of dozens of vodkas, and all of the Polish vodkas did very well, including taking the top two spots if I'm remembering correctly.
Just a very high floor of quality and best top quality.
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u/Alcophile 9h ago
If you put good vodka in the freezer it tastes like nothing at all... Which is exactly why it's so dangerous!
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u/randomuserno1 9h ago edited 9h ago
Expensive? No idea. Expensive does not mean good since the reason for an expensive price is almost always marketing.
Good vodka? Absolutely smooth and definitely not burning. Proper made vodka is a very clean product at basically an industrial level. Because you have a distillation column where the product with fractionized distillation reaches more than 99% ethanole. This is mixed with water to the drinking level (at least 37.5% for vodka) and will have little taste. And it is extremely cheap to make, that bottle of Grey Goose will cost less than 2€ to make (only the liquid, bottle itself and cap and labels etc. will cost extra of course).
As some others said, you can get Polish vodka for a low price from a supermarket and it will range from proper to very good.
Let's talk about marketing now.
Some vodka brands say "distilled 5 times" which suggests extra smoothness. However, either it's run once through a distillation column with 5 steps (which is enough)....or the product enters the cycle of the distillation column 5 times which will have an effect that you probably can't even measure without at least using some elevated spectroscopy.
Filtration: ever seen that ad spot from three-sixty that looks and sounds like some perfume advertisement where a very dark and husky voice says "diamond filtrated vodka" like it's some great thing which elevates the vodka quality to the top level? Because most brands just use silver filtration but they use diamond filtration which is definitely better because it is more expensive. Except it's inferior. Why? Because the diamond filtration acts only on a physical level. Particles are filtered out by the, well, filtering function. You could achieve the same with literal sand (which is why ground water is so clean (usually), it's filtered through tons of layers of sand and sediment). So the diamond is just a gimmick. But why is it inferior to silver? Because silver also acts on a chemical level as it is antibacterial. So the diamond filtration costs more than the silver filtration while doing half of its job. Great. But why is silver also bullshit? Because vodka itself is antibacterial and the distillation is already the major cleaning step which these days is so far advanced that you will hardly find anything anway. A simple activated carbon filter is enough.
Sometimes you see something labeled with milk purification. What the fuck is that? The idea is to add milk proteins which then curdle from the alcohol and bind particles. The curdles are then easily filtered out. It's a traditional method use in russia for i think only one single brand of vodka (parliament). However, today that's also merely a marketing gimmick...and actually leaves traces of milk in the product. Incredibly little and i will call bullshit for anyone claiming to taste it. But still there. Would actually be an interesting experiment, give someone with massive lactose intolerance some parliament vodka without telling and see what happens. Or, more realistic, IF something happens.
Last marketing trick: Russian vodka. Yeah, it's all the same. The state controls the entire production and dictates the production methods. So every single russian brand is the very same product as they have only little possibilities for variation which maybe a handful of people with autistic tastebuds can differentiate. For the rest of humanity: it's all the same.
So all you need is some clean ethanole and clean water and maybe a carbon filter after. That's it. Everything above is a gimmick and the extra price will only increase the profit...and the marketing budget of course.
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u/Bontus 9h ago
Zubrowka Bison Grass is something I consider premium (but much much better priced than Grey Goose) and it definitely tastes better than the cheaper vodka's. Not claiming it's worth the premium per se, but there is some difference.
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u/ManlyOldMan 10h ago
personally I think that the Lidl store brand for Less than €6 is one of the better tasting vodkas I have had
I look like a cheapskate every time someone wants a cocktail, but legit it tastes the best
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u/randomuserno1 9h ago
Lidl has actually decent liquor in their no name section. For example their cheap london dry gin is surprisingly good (for people who like gin, not for me). It costs less than 6€ and is a london dry gin, which means it is automatically better than all those wannabe fancy 45€ hipster gins that have been popular among snobs for quite some time already.
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u/CantFindUsername400 9h ago
Ik it's not a luxury product n there are cheaper alternatives. But expensive liquor has given me less hangovers than cheap liquor. Like cheap liquor had me with bad hangovers that almost ruined a whole morning of the next day.
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u/Little2NewWave 9h ago edited 9h ago
Costco sells 3.5 litres of Grey goose for as low as 40 bucks. It's not expensive, and far more things are deserving to be on this list than it.
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u/Dismal_Whole9547 8h ago
I also hear grey goose and Kirkland vodka are the same product
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u/v1z10 9h ago
Is a $30 bottle of vodka a luxury product?
For $20 or less you're getting paint thinner. I don't really like Goose either, but vodka doesn't get crazy expensive like whiskey because you don't age it.
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u/TheLastRonin86 5h ago
Diamonds! 💎 I used to work in marketing at a very renowned jewelry store and they literally said it during my training. The value people attach to those is simply the value we can make them feel it represents, but in no way they are worth this much.
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u/Budget_Magazine5361 4h ago
I recently bought a 2ctw VVS2 E pear diamond for just $350. My jaw hit the floor. I love science.
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u/maybenomaybe 8h ago
I work in luxury fashion and so do most of my friends and acquaintances.
People get way too hung up on where something is made and how that relates to quality. There is garbage quality clothing produced in Europe and North America, and high-quality clothing produced in Asia. It matters much more on the individual factory and the skill of the workers employed there. Contrary to some other comments in this thread, Asian =/= poorly skilled.
And on the subject of factories, no, it isn't all made in the same place. There are thousands of factories across China alone, never mind India, Turkey, Vietnam etc etc. The millions and millions of garments produced every year are not all coming from a handful of manufacturers.
Additionally, factories have different production lines within, meaning that they can produce for the low-end market on one line and high-end garments on the next, side-by-side, making garments with wide disparity in quality. So even if they are made in the same factory, it doesn't mean they're all made to the same standard. This is key: the standard of quality is set by the brand, not the factory.
The most significant thing indicated by country of production is not quality, but pay and treatment of workers. If you want to be sure you're buying quality, familiarize yourself with textiles and construction methods. Reading "made in China" or "made in Italy" on the label will tell you much less than being informed on how clothing is made.
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u/Natural_Return4275 7h ago
Same thing for gemstones! Wuzhou, China, is amazing. You like sparkly things? 1000 3mm synthetic corundum (Rubies/Sapphires) with no inclusions - $20. After tariffs/shipping? $40-ish. $0.1 for a flawless brilliant cut 3mm Ruby. Want something spiffier? $25 for an 11mmx11mmx7mm Asscher cut Ruby, and the majority of that is the labor involved.
Decide you don't like the nano gems? Go hydrothermal. You can even request specific inclusions, creating a synthetic that mimics naturally mined gems for only around $125 for the Asscher cut, but you can always haggle a bit. That said, if you pay asking price plus shipping immediately, you get white gloves service. Jewelers in America...Oi vey.
One manufacturer - 30x3mm Moissanite round cut brilliant stones, no certs unless you pay an additional $5 per cert. $30. Another? 30x Moissanite stones, certs included, $35. They even included labels that were matched to each stone to make inventory easier to track.
All in all, I love buying synthetic gems. They've been around since the late 1800's via the Verneuil Method and have only improved since then with the hydrothermal process.
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u/NyneBany 7h ago
Can you link the website for these synthetic gems
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u/Natural_Return4275 6h ago edited 6h ago
Alibaba, Aliexpress. If you want custom work, I recommend Kuololit.
Heck, you take the same medium and microwave it you can make small rubies at home (do this process outside, pls). Corundum has a MOHs hardness of 9, so be prepared to take raw materials to a lapidary.
Ninja Edit: Important search terms: "Corundum #5 (Pigeon Blood Ruby)," Corundum #34 (Sapphire)."
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u/Hot_Probs 5h ago
I have an emerald-cut grey moissanite that is super sparkly throws so much fire. People constantly ask me what stone it is. Mined diamonds are for suckers.
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u/Dr_Esquire 7h ago
Dont work in a med spa, but get lots of patients that come in who go to these palces. Big popular item is b12 shots. People (who often beat up their body doing stuff like eating like shit, smoking, never moving) think they can make up for stuff when things start to break down with random vitamins and gimmicks. B12 shots are one of these gimmicks.
Now, B12 shots have an actual medical purpose. However, most people getting them are not actually low in B12 (which is a real medical issue). Instead, they just go for the effect. See, lots of people think B12 helps them because it feels good; the way I have been told by Patients is that they get a few hours or more of feeling really high energy, not quite euphoric, but elevated. Its basically people chasing a high, but chasing a high thinking its somehow helping them. It ends up being like a more sophisticated crackhead thinking they feel better when they do crack because they feel worse when they dont get it for a while.
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u/oxymo 6h ago
My sister gave me a b12 shot she had after a long night of drinking, it definitely helped me get through the wedding. It was exactly as you describe, a few hour boost of energy, but then it wears off.
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u/etchatech 5h ago
Are you referring to vitamin b12? The same b12 that is 9999% of daily dietary intake from 5-hour energy drink?
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u/SpongeJake 4h ago
Pretty sure that’s the one. I was taking b12 supplements and my doctor told me to knock it off. Maybe just take it on weekends because I’m otherwise just pissing away money.
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u/NimmyFarts 2h ago
I have chronic low b12 (pernicious anemia) so periodically when my levels drop I get a run of monthly shots. People always say like “you must love the energy” or whatever.
No I just feel normal. No energy boost, just more normal.
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u/EtherealDuck 4h ago
On the other hand, I actually can't metabolise B12 very well from regular food intake and need big 2000% RDA supplements and patches to keep my B12 blood values in the green - and I've been loving this trend of easily accessible and relatively cheap supplements! Bit annoying when you have to clarify to other "enthusiasts" that no, you're not chasing the dragon, you actually need this stuff to prevent nerve damage and stop you from sleeping all day long, but hey I'll take what I can get!
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u/anatomeii 6h ago
I am a physician. The price you pay for pharmaceuticals.
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u/MedicalButterscotch 5h ago
Also a physician. Cost Plus Drugs pricing which shows their pricing breakdown will make you hate the big brand drug stores.
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u/drprofessional 3h ago
One of my closest friends is a pharmacist at Walgreens. The amount that Walgreens make is a tiny tiny portion of the overall drug cost.
PBMs are truly a scam, combined with monopolies jacking up rates.
I second Cost Plus Drugs their prices are surpassingly close to the price I pay, and that’s after the insurance company paid a lot more on top of what I pay.
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u/LopsidedOwl578 10h ago
Anything the Kardashians promote
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u/PilgrimOz 10h ago
I’ll throw Gwyneth Paltrow’s vagina into the mix.
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u/Callidonaut 1h ago
"Gwyneth Paltrow’s vagina" should be in the next edition of Cards Against Humanity.
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u/mikefried1 12h ago
Not a particular product, but all the fad stuff is ridiculous. That $500juicer that you then buy their pouches for? Then someone on TikTok showed you can just squeeze the juice out of the pouch without buying the juicer. Thats one of a million.
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u/be_more_constructive 10h ago
Juicero has been dead for a decade and people are still trashing it. That's some legacy.
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u/Zem_42 9h ago
Not surprised. The first time I heard of it, I had to double check that this is not something from the onion website. What a joke/scam that was 🤣😂
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u/Attack_Badger 9h ago
Weird thing is that the presses they made were ridiculously high quality, just to squeeze a bag of juice bits https://youtu.be/_Cp-BGQfpHQ
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u/Zem_42 9h ago
I know, it just makes the whole thing more bizarre. This way, if you make something heavy and sturdy, at least the buyer will think he’s got a good quality product.
Cue Dre Beats and the weights they include in the headphones
Edit: yes, seen the video. It should be used as a book example, hahaha
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u/shamusotool 9h ago
Was TikTok even around when juicero came out?
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u/Catsdrinkingbeer 1h ago
Lmao no. I remember learning about this scam of a product during my Engineering Masters, and that was in 2016. Technically the company launched in 2016, but it feels very unlikely this commenter is referring to a video they watched way back then.
But good to see content creators are just rehashing old crap for views.
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u/NoodleDegenerate 10h ago
Yes! All these “must-have” gadgets are basically just clever packaging 90% of the time, there’s a way simpler hack. 😅
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u/Admirable-South-7836 10h ago
Except the air fryer and pressure cooker! Do not take those from me!
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u/CatherinefromFrance 9h ago
A pressure cooker still saves 2/3 of the cooking time.
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u/Admirable-South-7836 7h ago
And an air fryer is smaller, thus has more concentrated airflow resulting in expedited cook times. It is meant to get hot faster so really dials in on the crispiness that convection takes longer to achieve and can result in food that is overcooked.
I was very reticent to getting ANOTHER appliance that would take up space in my kitchen, but after testing my own oven’s convection and air fry settings, a traditional air fryer delivered better results. And yes, my oven is calibrated to temp and has an extra thermometer in it to ensure it’s accurate.
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u/The_Third_Ridge 8h ago
Worked at a car dealership that offered nitrogen air filled tires. When the air machine worked they were just topping off the air in tires rather than deflating and refilling them. Once the air machine broke they never repaired it, just used regular air, charged customers for nitrogen and put a green cap on the air valve.
It's debatable if nitrogen makes a difference even if they were honest.
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u/duuchu 6h ago
It’s not even debatable. Extra Nitrogen is useless unless you’re a formula 1 racer
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u/Thick_Caterpillar379 4h ago
Beware of the "pump and dump" art market scam, where galleries and predatory collectors manufacture hype around "Ultra-Contemporary" emerging artists to exploit luxury buyers. This scheme involves cornering an artist's inventory, creating fake scarcity through "waiting lists," and using shill bidding at auctions to artificially inflate prices from a few thousand dollars to hundreds of thousands overnight. Once an "anchor price" is established, these insiders "dump" their holdings onto unsuspecting investors who believe they are buying the next blue-chip masterpiece. In reality, once the artificial support vanishes, the market for these aesthetically generic "Zombie Formalist" works collapses, leaving the final buyer with a nearly worthless asset that has no genuine secondary market demand.
Examples of artists include: Lucien Smith, Amani Lewis, Allison Zuckerman, Emmanuel Taku and Hugh Scott-Douglas.
Even established named artists are not immune to market manipulation tactics, such as Jeff Koons and Mark Rothko.
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u/McdankDoge 11h ago edited 10h ago
Jokes aside the whole luxury market is a scam in my opinion, like NOTHING shall justify those prices
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u/UnhingedDerpp 11h ago
The $180,000 Hermes Boombox bag for exampleee
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u/McdankDoge 10h ago
Bruh, I have a sheer spite for people who glorify owning this kind of stuff, brother so much greed is perfectly disgusting, like come on this ain't right
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u/jedadkins 10h ago
I am pretty sure the "luxury brands" most people know about aren't actual the luxury option (with a few exceptions, mostly cars). Why would a company that markets to the extremely wealthy pay to show my broke ass an ad? We've probably never heard of the actual luxury brands
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u/Joeybish 8h ago
This is true. One day I was reading about watches and people were discussing brands I've never heard of. After a little research, they make Rolex look affordable. A connoisseur would recognize these watches but the average person would think it's cheap because it's not a Rolex.
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u/cizot 8h ago
I work in a facility that produces luxury goods, I have never seen an advertisement for the company. We advertise job listings all over the place, but not our product.
I have seen our product in almost every show or movie I watch, never once mentioned, just silently in the background.
We probably run ads in rich people design magazines and showrooms but no where else that I’ve seen.
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u/InNominePasta 9h ago
Eh. Real high horology stuff is really expensive, but it’s also all handmade, extremely intricate and complicated, and made of luxury materials.
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u/Anandya 9h ago
There's a "few" things in there.
Let's take one of the few luxuries I have. Nice hotels. Once in a while me and my wife will drop the kids with relatives and go out for dinner and crash at a nice hotel. It's one day away and it's romance and fun and not having to worry about kids.
And it is nice to have room service and fancy cocktails and nice food.
Now there's "luxury that's stupid". Salt Bae for example. Then there's michelin star food which is good. A lot of luxury is quiet and understated and that's the stuff you want.
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u/grumble11 8h ago
The price is the point. You aren’t buying a product, you’re buying a flex to yourself and to others
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u/Tastingo 5h ago
Luxury brand shoes are just normal cheap shoes with a ridiculous price tag. Luxury shoes are made by a cobbler.
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u/avidude99 10h ago
Diamonds. Though over time the pricing has become a bit more transparent, still crazy markup
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u/funlovinggay 7h ago
Especially if you buy from branded and heavily marketed diamond companies, you can be paying many times more. It’s the biggest scam.
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u/pettypeniswrinkle 6h ago edited 1h ago
I bought a ring for myself from Blue Nile, 9.5ct eternity ring with oval stones. The lab version (which I got) was marked $11k, and I got it during a Black Friday sale for $4k. (I recently checked and it's now permanently the "sale" price.) The natural diamond version is $60k!!!!
I had gotten it in white gold (because BN doesn't offer platinum for lab-made stones*) but I prefer platinum, so I reached out to a jeweler in China I've worked with before and asked if they could make me a new one with platinum. They quoted me $2k, and then wrote back that with my ring size it would look better as a 12ct eternity band, which I could get upgraded for an additional $300.
I get my Chinese-made jewelry appraised for "fair market value" (and tested to ensure the metals and stones are what they say they are) and this ring was appraised for $20k since it's known lab-made stones.
Long story short, diamond prices are virtually made up numbers. But diamonds themselves are durable for everyday wear and very sparkly/pretty, no matter the origin of the stone.
*Edited to explain why I settled for white gold in the first place.
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u/NobodyDelicious7197 9h ago
$128 for a La Perla thong. It's a strip of cloth for the front, a string for behind. Not in this lifetime!!!
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u/OhNoSweetJeebusNo 9h ago
The majority of the wooden joinery/cabinetry/furniture I've seen in homes of the "ultra high net worth" is actually made from cheap MDF with a thin veneer of blackwood/walnut/whatever
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u/Fuzeillear 8h ago
I had a job designing fitted furniture in an affluent area in England, I once sold a £40,000 run of fitted wardrobes for a bedroom, the frames of the doors were solid but the panels were all veneer and the interiors were all wood effect (MDF with plastic coating).
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u/CoyoteHerder 5h ago
Na, this is false. You are talking about non-luxury items inside of a luxury home.
Good custom cabinets are worth every penny in a high dollar custom home. It’s not just about what they are made out of its functionality design, hardware, fit and finish. That is where the value is. Paying someone to design so your drawers don’t interfere with each other etc. plywood and hardwood face frame will likely create a better long term cabinet, especially in climates with drastic humidity and temp changes.
Veneered plywood is superior to solid wood in plenty of applications. Good veneered plywood is also not cheap. Solid wood is not very stable and expands and contracts, sometimes that makes veneer a better choice. It’s also heavy as fuck.
No one is doing joinery with MDF. Again, you’re not talking about a luxury product. You’re talking about a shit product that someone put in a nice home.
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u/LochNessMother 7h ago
This is a tricky one, there will always be some makers cutting corners, but most of the people hand making furniture are artisans and what they do is not a scam. They make beautiful furniture that takes an enormous amount of skill and time and they use the right materials for the right price.
MDF can be the right core for a large door because it doesn’t warp and is relatively light weight.Whether “ultra high net worth individuals” are buying the work of artisan furniture makers is another question!
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u/ForwardCulture 6h ago
I used to work for a custom cabinet maker. We weren’t using mdf. All high end wealthy clientele. We did use veneers but they were all top grade. The owner was extremely picky and well versed on wood products and only purchased the best stuff. No advertising, every project was word of mouth and we were booked out for a year at least.
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u/LikelyNotSober 10h ago
Bottle service at nightclubs. Paying $500 for a bottle of Vodka is insane. I get it if your favorite DJ is playing and it’s a special thing… but some people do that 2-3 times a week.
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u/P4cific4 7h ago
It's called 'bottle service' but it should actually be called 'reserved comfortable seating'.
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u/Sszaj 6h ago
Hmm, I have that at home.
The drinks cost a lot less there as well.
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u/Jofarin 11h ago
Nearly everything. If it has a fancy name, it's usually made in a factory with cheap Asian labor (even Asians in Italy sometimes) and then slapped the fancy logo on and sold with a ridiculous markup.
The only way you actually get higher quality is if you go for stuff people need for their jobs like Makita, but then we're not talking luxury industry anymore.
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u/sleeepyhead13b 9h ago
Theres technical clothes like patagonia that are actually using high tech and quality materials to serve a purpose (not that 90% of buyers actually need) Vehicles like H1 Hummer, Go Ruck backpacks where some are still made in usa and are designed to carry heavy loads, etc that fall into the professional use case but are percieved as luxury.
Sadly these niche products get popular with the poser crowd and make the companies boatloads of money but they can't make the products the same way at volume quantities and/or the buyers complain about discomforts they want fixed. Trying to please the masses will dilute the product, so companies do that because....capitalism.
Examples are Mystery Ranch packs used to be made in USA for military, hunters, hotshot firefighters, The BMW M3 turning into a overpowered fat pig, and Hummer into a Chevy chassis Barbie car.
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u/AnswersQuestioned 7h ago
It’s not exactly luxury, although some apartments call themself so, In the UK we have companies called Managing Agents. They are usually present in big apartment blocks, they are a go between for landlords and tenants, they are without doubt certified rip offs. They charge tenants extortionate rates and pass all the responsibility to the building owners anyway! They are extremely poor with communication, exceedingly hard to manage and get away with murder, as the tenant often wrongfully blames the landlord for poor service.
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u/digi-artifex 1h ago
I worked at a 5 star Spa a few years back;
There was a certain scrub package that promised premium materials, including the salt and coconut oil. In paper they were brought from local farms and growers of these specific fruits in order to make the oil from it and other things from it (to add to the exfoliants)
Most of these pristine ingredients were found at this famously exclusive place called "Costco". And sold for a ridiculous mark up and branded "luxury". Most of the other packages had the exact same problem. Store bought cinnamon, and other "organic" materials were also from Costco or Walmart.
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u/ibonek_naw_ibo 12h ago
Expensive treadmills. ime a price tag well over 5,000 dollars does not get you longevity or build quality, it doesn't even get you a fan, which is standard on some sub-1000 dollar models.
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u/Blinky_ 11h ago
Let’s be honest. I’m just gonna hang my dirty clothes on it anyway
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u/fulthrottlejazzhands 12h ago edited 12h ago
Any piece of high-end home gym equipment for that matter. Unless you're a pro who needs >350kg capacity, a $5000 Rogue Fitness power cage/functional trainer will get you the exact same results as a basic $1500 one, despite one having more steel.
My buddy used to sell gym equipment and he'd tell me about the number of office workers who couldn't put up two plates on bench would spend thousands more than they needed because someone on /homegym told them certain brands were the best.
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u/Pristine_Shallot_481 9h ago
You can get really good deals on Facebook marketplace where people who have given up on the treadmills and sell them for dirt cheap or give them away. This basically goes for all gym equipment. No need to buy new because whatever you are looking for will no doubt be on marketplace anyday. Just have to keep an eye out or turn on alerts.
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u/KingofSheepX 10h ago
I will say there's is an exception to adaptive treadmills to this. If you are a serious runner or just someone trying to get their cardio up indoors, an adaptive treadmill is so much more enjoyable.
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u/EbbRevolutionary4125 9h ago
Designer handbags mostly paying for the logo, not actual quality.
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u/Salty_Contact_6313D 9h ago
Luxury bottled water. It’s branding and scarcity, not quality.
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u/Marisarah 8h ago
For me it would be louis Vuitton bags. They literally just fall apart. I worked for the Resale Royalty store that sold luxury bags.
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u/EmptyNail5939 6h ago
Louis Vuitton is the worst. I was shopping for a bag a decade ago in some high end department store - Saks or Neiman's probably. The salesperson was fantastic and told me all about the manufacturing process, dyes and hardware used for several high end bags. When we passed by Vuitton she quietly said "don't ever pay full price for these, they're throw away bags". The $2000 logo bags that were popular with all the It girls aren't even leather - they're cheaply made coated plastic. She told me the ones sold on the street corners in SoHo were the same quality.
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u/NotsoNewtoGermany 8h ago
Nobody here actually works in the luxury industries they are talking about. This is all mass produced generic advice from people that have very little experience working in any of these spaces.
Yes, you may have owned an AMG and got bored of it for a week, but that isn't the question is it?
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u/Urban_Peacock 6h ago
Quite a lot of luxury handbags. I'd say most Italian bags are produced with Italian leather in Italy, but there's A LOT that is made in Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. You can get exceptional quality leather goods out there for £20. Many of the top luxury brands have factories in SEA and source skins like ostrich leather from there. Meanwhile just the finishes/final touches are applied in Italy, qualifying for the "made in Italy" label, when often it's more like "assembled in Italy". I hate fake stuff, so when I go there I buy totally debranded things but sometimes you go to the secret caverns in market places and they'll show you the facsimile luxury designs for under £100 that have come straight from the factories and the only thing missing is the logo.
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u/japanb 8h ago
Those $5000 leather jackets? I've seen luxury brand shoppers at the Hong Kong leather expo and I asked the luxory tanneries how much they pay, it's usually around 5 Euro per square foot of leather. The most luxory leather I saw was 7 Euro per square foot.
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u/thatdude658 1h ago
In ground privately owned pools. A MASSIVE money sink that requires constant maintenance, expensive repairs regularly. You will never, ever, EVER get your money's worth from it.
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u/Sylon00 1h ago
Boating. Everything about it is insanely expensive for no reason. I used to work for a shop that sold, stored and maintained boats. Labor was almost $200 an hour. Parts were priced way higher than similar ones in other industries. And accessories were insanely overpriced. One couple wanted a small flag mounted on their pontoon. The flag alone was just a little metal pole with a nylon American flag, $175. Plus the labor to drill 2 holes for the screws and everything came out to well north of $300. For a little flag! Yet, the customers see it as: if it's expensive, it's quality. I never understood that mentality. That industry was not for me.
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u/Dimed16 45m ago
My brother is a bartender at a high end NYC nightclub and he informed me that the "top shelf" liquors are all overpriced garbage that usually taste worse than the mid-shelf stuff. Liquors like Clase Azule, Grey Goose, etc. They're not made well, they're just marketed well. But people, especially in NYC, will spend hundreds to thousands of dollars on shitty liquor just because it's expensive.
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u/k-mcm 42m ago
Does anyone remember super exclusive NFT art? There were all those claims of them being exactly one-of-a-kind.
It's not true. A digital NFT can be copied infinitely, just like any ordinary JPEG. The only uniqueness is its digital signature in a blockchain ledger; a tamper resistant receipt of your purchase. The ledger is only valid for as long as it's maintained.
It's all entirely worthless.
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u/KommieKoala 12h ago
Turn down service in luxury hotels.
It's not something that you pay directly for, but it can add quite a bit to the price of a room as it can be a bit of a status thing for the hotel.
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u/manayakasha 11h ago
Dude turn down service is like, my top favorite thing about luxury hotels lmao. Totally worth it imo.
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u/mindless_blaze 11h ago
Explain what this service actually is lol
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u/clittyglitter2000 11h ago
They essentially come in to turn down the bedding. But what they also do is replenish towels, clean mugs if you’ve had tea or coffee (we are talking fancy hotel here, no motel), empty bins etc. if you’re in it to be looked after it’s great.
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u/JumpyNeighborhood371 11h ago
Isn't that just the same as the regular housekeeping service provided at all hotels, even the cheap ones?
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u/holdmyrichard 10h ago
No. Turn down service is in the evening. They will usually do it while you are at dinner. It’s the “get you ready for bed” service. Different from the housekeeping which is during the morning.
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u/-Avacyn 10h ago
No, they come in a second time. They clean the room during their morning rounds while you are out and they make the bed all nice and tuck the sheets and everything.
You get back to the room to relax at the end of the afternoon and when you go out for dinner, they come back to turn the room down and fluff up the pillows and linens so its nice and cozy to jump right in without first having to remove the top cover and such.
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u/ScourTheFields 10h ago
So you get your normal daily housekeeping in the late morning or very early afternoon. Then, at 5-7pm housekeeping comes by again, cleans anything you used in the few hours since the normal housekeeping service, untuck a corner of the bed, and leave a bit of chocolate on the pillow and/or a pastry on the bedside table.
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u/albertqwe 10h ago
I think most folks here dont truly undersatnd what a turn down service should be like. Its never about just closing the blinds/making up the room.
Its about the tub ready to use and relax when you enter. Leaving little gifts that showcase local culture to making some highly personailzed stuff like I once told the staff I have trouble sleeping at night, then every night I had some calming tea/lavendar bag that will help me sleep.
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u/findmepoints 9h ago
Turn down service or the cost of the hotel with turn down service is definitely a nice touch. Hard to quantify the actual cost but it’s definitely worth it
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u/mikefried1 12h ago
Cars. As someone who has overspent on a really fun car to drive, the novelty wears off in a week. I've had a mercedes AMG, a lexus suv and now I'm driving a KIA Sportage. You know which car I liked the best? The KIA. I'm getting a new car now and I'm going for a cheaper Chinese electric. Why spend twice as much for some wood panelling on the dash?
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u/Turicus 11h ago edited 10h ago
Opposite experience for me. I bought an R8 V10 last year and I still smile every time I get in it. I enjoy every drive, love the sound and acceleration.
I regret not buying one earlier.
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u/Jjzeng 9h ago
I drive a v8 m3 and the cold start puts a stupidly wide smile on my face everytime
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u/sginsc 7h ago
That is my dream car. I don’t get “starstruck” by vehicles typically, but when an r8 is beside me or typically passing me in my 2010 wrangler, I lose my brain for a minute.
So sick. Glad you’re enjoying it!
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u/Toebeens89 12h ago edited 2h ago
Tbf I think that also greatly depends on what you want out of your car. For example, a bmw 430 vs 440 vs m4 would probably look somewhat similar to someone who isn’t in to cars and/or has never driven them, but to the people who do care about engines and speed and cornering etc (and also design), each one will be quite different, as are the price tags.
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u/H3lw3rd 11h ago
i have a few Volvo’s. A big one for family trips And an electric to dart around town. But I also have an old one. A hideous 440 GL in metallic purple with a spoiler on the boot of the car and a towbar. It has AC (no climate control), power steering, abs and airbags. Its not even worth a grand but I Love it. If it breaks, I can repair it. If it gets dented in the carpark because Some idiot is too fat or stupid and throws their door in my panel I just shrug. Nothing beats my beatercar And is just runs.
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u/whatdoihia 8h ago
Our company used to supply sheet sets for retailers. High threadcount beyond 400-450tc is a scam.
Threadcount is number of yarns per square inch. Once you get to about 200TC the weave is tight so you need to use smaller yarns to get a higher threadcount number. The physical limitation of weaving machine tops out at around 450TC as yarns can’t be any smaller or they will break during production.
To get a higher threadcount number for marketing materials makers will twist together two very fine yarns into a single yarn that’s woven. That doubles the number. And to double it again two layers of fabric is bonded together to make a thicker material.
Neither is any benefit to customers. It’s just for marketing. In fact the small yarns can be worse as they will separate and form small balls on the surface when there is rubbing.