Rip Offs in Mass Consuming

What is a Rip Off?

A rip off is a product with an elevated Mark-Up Price.  Many consumers do not like to purchase products at Mark-Up Prices.

Common Mark-Up Priced Items

Bottled Water

Bottled water is a major money maker in bars, theme parks, concerts, and sporting events.  Many places where bottled water is a rip off, outside food and drink is not permitted in the venue.

Bottled Water Prices

Base Prices

$1.25 - $1.50 for a 500 ml bottle

Elevated Prices

$2.00 - 2.50 at many pop machines in high traffic areas. 

Rip-off Prices

$3.00 or higher.  Many places like sporting events, movie theatres, high traffic bars and clubs may charge 3.00 or more.  Many people who patronize these places are willing to pay.

Why should I not purchase bottled water?

Many water botteling companies support the Junk Food Industry like Pepsi and Coca Cola.  If you purchase bottled water, do not forget to put the empty into the recycle bin.  There are toxins inside the plastic that will get into the contents of the bottle and you will get very sick.  Many people do not think and toss the plastic into the garbage and it fills up the land fill site and takes a long time to break down.

Food Rip-Offs

At many sporting events, theme parks, and music concerts, there are many food vendors that like to sell junk food like hot dogs, burgers, fries, and other greasy garbage.  These food vendors are the only source of food and drink in the venue and you are forced to shell out the money.

Pizza Pizza Rip Off

Pizza Pizza outlets at theme parks and sporting events like to charge more and give you a smaller slice of pizza.  Many consumers do not realize that the slice is a centemeter smaller than a slice you get at a Pizza Pizza store.  Many of these outlets may not sell you combos like at their stores.

Movie Theatre Rip offs

Many movie theatres like Cineplex or AMC theatres love to overcharge for popcorn and drinks.  If you  purchase a popcorn and a large drink, they could get away with charging you $10.00 -14.00.  The main rule about movie theatres is that outside food and drink is not permitted inside the theatre because the snack bar wants to make money.

Some theatres may have a fast food outlet and a yogurt stand too with high prices and small treats.  Don't Forget to play the Arcade with game that charge $1.00 to play Crusing World.  To get a free race in a racing game, you must come in 1st place.

Arcade Rip Offs

When the video games came out.  The classic video games like Pac Man, Mario Brothers, Chase HQ, etc all cost 25 cents to play one game.  As the games evolved from the 8 bit era to the 32 bit era, games like NBA Jam, Area 51, Maximum Force and many pinball machines charged 50 cents for a game.  Many of the newer games like racing, shooting, skiing, skateboarding, and virtual reality games may charge 1.00.  Some places the game price may increased to 2.00 per play in high traffic arcades.

Prize Redemption Games

There are prize games in arcades, truck stops, and shopping malls that have great prizes to attract a customer to play.  The flashing lights and sounds entice the player to drop a buck for one attempt to win an I-Pod or a Nintendo Wii.  There are many differnt style of prize rendeption games like the Claw Game and DVD Carasoul.  These games are rigged and they may not award a prize.

Stackers is the most common game that cheats.  This game is programed to cheat the player by skipping the winning column as the player hits the stop button.  The game is also programed to not award major prizes after every 800 - 1000 games.  Sometimes the owner of the game cabinet may get a chip that may reduce the odds of winning to 1000 - 2000 games played.  Don't forget the skill is needed to stack the blocks to the top two rows of the cabinet.