How much does this cost?
I’m up in New York for a few weeks for work and unfortunately my client’s office is not located in Manhattan, but rather their office is a short train ride away from the city on Long Island. I’ve always wanted to work in NYC for a few months so I figured for this client I would stay in Manhattan even though that requires me to have a decent commute out of the city to get to the office. Each morning in New York I start my commute out of Penn Station (about 10 blocks south of Times Square for those unfamiliar with NYC) and around forty minutes later I arrive in Great Neck, Long Island. The commute is longer than my normal commute in Chicago, but it doesn’t bother me much because it gives me a chance to enjoy a bagel for breakfast and read the complimentary Wall Street Journal provided to me by the Sheraton where I stay on 52nd & 7th (perhaps the rudest hotel staff I have ever encountered).
Those of you that have been through Penn Station are probably aware of the multitude of breakfast options presented to you as you race towards your train in the morning. You usually only have a few minutes to spare before boarding your train and you make a quick impulse decision to purchase breakfast at whatever catches your eye first. Your selection is based on a mixture of convenience and the outlets ability to market their offerings to you as you swiftly pass by.
This morning I had some extra time before my train and I decided to shop around to determine the most economical breakfast I would be happy with getting daily before work. Their is a great bagel shop that I’ve eaten at before (I have no clue what the name of it is, but it is just to the right of Cinnabon) that offers a toasted Blueberry bagel with Strawberry cream cheese for $2.50 – a price that I am ok with for a quality breakfast. However when I inquired about adding a bottled water to my order (it’s hard to take a cup on the train) they wanted an extra $2.00 – absolutely no way am I ok with paying that much for a bottle of water, especially since I am trying to establish a daily routine. I declined the water, took my bagel, and moved on.
With my fresh bagel in hand and ten minutes to spare before boarding my 7:01am train, I walked in and out of 15+ stores in search for the cheapest bottle of water in Penn Station. Call me a cheap ass for trying to save a few quarters, but why not? A bottle of water is a bottle of water, why would I pay someone more for the same bottle of water that a store 50 yards away sells for less.
My search uncovered that the same bottle of water is sold at a different price at nearly every store in the station – no surprise here – but what I found most aggravating was that nearly none of the stores actually had an advertised price for the drinks in their coolers. As I walked into each store along my search route, I had to remove the headphone out of my left ear (Kanye doesn’t like interruptions) and ask someone working the counter (who all must be former Sheraton employees) how much it cost to purchase the bottle of water in my hand.
The reaction from the workers when answering my question is one of confusion as to why I’d ask the question and I’d get an even better reaction when, after hearing the ridiculous amount of money they want me to spend on their commodity product, I proceed to place the water back in the cooler.
What is wrong with knowing the cost of something before making a decision to purchase it? Flip it around for a second – that is like me walking in the store, handing them $2.00 for a water, and then afterwards I tell them how many bottles I am going to take out of the cooler.
Unadvertised prices are not only a problem at Penn Station – they are everywhere! How many times have you been to a bar or restaurant that didn’t advertise the price of any of the drinks on the menu? How in the world can you make a decision as to what to order if you don’t know the relative prices of the drinks? I love Crown and Coke, but if that cost $8 and a bud light is $2 – guess what I’m drinking.
You further see this issue when asking for premium liquor in your drinks, say you want Goose instead of whatever is hanging on the rail. Sometimes this is a $1 upgrade, sometimes it is a $4 upgrade – but you will never see these prices advertised anywhere. Next time you are buying drinks, try to ask a bartender or waitress their pricing structure and see what kind of a look you get.
I’m truly annoyed by how often prices are not advertised and I’d love to hear more tales of unadvertised prices from our frugal readers, so be sure to leave a few in the comments. What can we do to fix this?
And for all of you who are traveling through Penn Station over the coming weeks, the cheapest water in the station can be found at Cinnabon for $1.25. Oddly enough it is a 700ml sports bottle that I would expect to cost more than the standard 500ml cap bottle sold at all of the other stores for $2+, but I guess that just reinforces the difficulty in making assumptions as to relative costs of goods when there are not advertised prices.
I completely agree. When I first started drinking out at bars, I was amazed to find that prices for alcoholic drinks are rarely published. Everyone else seemed to be ok with it, so I was almost shamed out of asking. I’m gradually getting more comfortable asking about happy hour specials, but I still have a difficult time asking for the price of a specific drink. I think bars in particular take advantage of this practice of not displaying prices – I’ve had so many cases where I was overcharged or not given the HH price when I’m still well within the HH time frame. And yet, I feel stingy even noticing the discrepancy on my tab!
I think your blog is a great way to get young people talking about money and noticing where their money goes. You don’t have to feel like a cheapskate for keeping track of your everyday purchases. I find that I have a huge amount of savings for a 24-year old, and I attribute that to the fact that I just pay attention to prices and consider things twice before I shell out the money, no matter how large or small the purchase. It’s a good habit, and I have never felt that it forces me to ‘do without.’