Wednesday 02/03/10

 Recently, the finance gurus over at CNN put their heads together and compiled a list of the nine biggest RIP-OFFS in America.  Check it out:

  #1.)  Text messages:  They're basically free to send and receive.  Meaning it doesn't cost the phone company anything to handle them.  But on pay-per-text plans, phone companies will charge as much as 20 cents apiece.  That's a 6,500% markup.

  #2.)  Hotel mini-bars:  At an average hotel, mini-bar items typically cost three to four times the retail price.  And at "fancy" hotels, it's not uncommon to markup mini-bar items by as much as 1,300%.

 #3.)  Movie theater popcorn:  A medium bag of popcorn costs about 60 cents to make, and it sells for about $6.  That's a 900% markup.

 #4.)  Wine at restaurants:  Most restaurants double the price of their more expensive bottles, and triple the price of their cheaper ones.   And if you just buy a glass instead of a bottle, you're going to pay a 500% markup.

 #5.)  Hotel in-room movies:  A movie rental at Blockbuster will run you about $5.  But in a hotel, you'll pay anywhere from $10 to $15.  That's a 200% markup.

  #6.)  Name-brand painkillers:  A bottle of Advil costs $8.49, while a bottle of the generic stuff goes for $5.29.  That's a 60% markup, even though the no-name stuff works just as well.

 #7.)  Super gasoline:  Typically, you're going to pay about 20 cents to 40 cents more for premium gas than the regular stuff.  At $2.72 a gallon for regular gas, that translates to a markup of 15%.

 #8.)  College textbooks:  Since 1986, the cost of textbooks has increased at double the rate of inflation.  Now, an average college student will shell out around $900 a year for textbooks.

 #9.)  "Free" credit reports:  We've all seen those god-awful ads from FreeCreditReport.com.  The only problem is their service isn't actually free.  It costs $14.99 a month, or $179 a year. 

(CNN Money)