6 markups you'd never guess you were paying

6:01 AM, Jul 20, 2012   |    comments
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When you are shopping you may wonder if you are really getting your money's worth.

Reader's Digest put out a list of Outrageous markups that you need to know about.

1.Text messages. It's a 6,000 percent markup! Phone users commonly pay 10-cents per text message, but sending the message only costs the carrier a sixth of a cent.

2. Movie theater popcorn. It's marked up 1300 percent! A bag of popcorn that costs 37-cents to make can easily sell for 6-dollars.

3. Brand-name drugs. They're marked up 200 to 3,000 percent! A bottle of Advil may run for 10-dollars, compared to just 2-dollars for generic painkillers that are just as effective.

4. Coffee on the go. How does a 300-percent markup sound? A 2-dollar cup made by a barista would cost just 50-cents to brew at home.

5. Bottled water. It packs a 4-thousand percent markup. A 2-dollar water bottle costs the manufacturer only about 5-cents to make.

 

 

6. Wine at a restaurant. They mark it up 300-percent. Restaurants routinely charge as much as 30-dollars for bottles of wine that retail online for 7-bucks. If saving money is important to you, you're better off with a non-alcoholic drink.