The worst part about a popular consumer product that is clearly trying to pull a fast one on a customer that didn’t slow down to assess the absurdity of the product that they gleefully bought into, is that more people pile into buying the overpriced product because “everyone else is buying it.” We owe it to ourselves and to each other to steer clear of the well marketed, yet devilishly disguised ripoffs. We’ll take a quick look at some of the most inexcusable popular consumer product ripoffs that we’ve encountered.
1. Ticketmaster
Perhaps what’s craziest about the whole Ticketmaster debacle is that they are still somehow running folks up with their outlandish service fees to the tune of a whopping, downright devastating 15%. In this day and age we’re all trying to sometimes quite literally scrape by, and when you throw a 15% into the mix. Things can get dicey. Very quickly.
2. NFTs
If you’ve ever encountered someone who made a lifestyle out of acquiring NFTs, then you likely know that NFTs by their very nature are absolutely absurd. Absurd in that an NFT is a “non-fungible token that’s recorded on a blockchain, and then is used to certify ownership and authenticity.” So, yes. You can pay a large chunk of change for a picture of a picture.
3. Timeshares
Plenty of folks who hear “timeshares” get chills that race down their spines. It’s a bizarre and seemingly nonsensical “business landscape.” For a timeshare, you can implant yourself into a testy contract requiring you to pay exorbitant maintenance fees and the cost of just trying to keep your timeshare together. You’d be better off just crashing in a hotel room for weeks on end. The cost might work out to be alarmingly similar.
4. Starbucks
Oh, Starbucks. We didn’t necessarily want to plop them on this list, yet. Yet, here we are. If you’re at all trying to live your life within a mindful budget that doesn’t bust your bank account right open, then Starbucks is likely a coffeeshop that you can’t be bothered to visit. What’s even worse though is that the coffee itself isn’t anything to write home about. And they had that whole stint with the Oleato (olive oil coffee drinks)? There are far tastier ways to try to will potential customers into consuming your beverages.
5. Liquid Death
The canned water that is the “Liquid Death” is catchy in its own right. However, there’s always the tap. And then there’s always the thought that might race to the forefront of your awareness that in this exceedingly pricey day and age, you don’t want to drop bags of bucks on canned water. If you’re able to carve out a nice and warm and hospitable place within your budget to buy the canned water though, then all the power to you.
