The little things that cost too much

Mrs Garth Brooks

I was in a pub's bathroom and the tampon dispenser asked for 2 x 2 euro. Thats 4 euro for a box of 3 tampons. The robbing cnuts. Taking advantage of a lady thats obviously desperate to pay 4 euro. Cheaper to buy a box in any chemist.

Remmy

Soft drinks in restaurants. The markup on them is nearly always taking the piss .

AgentOraiste

HardLuckWoman wrote: »

I was in a pub's bathroom and the tampon dispenser asked for 2 x 2 euro. Thats 4 euro for a box of 3 tampons. The robbing cnuts. Taking advantage of a lady thats obviously desperate to pay 4 euro. Cheaper to buy a box in any chemist.

Awh, looks like you were out of luck!

Rantandrave

Duff wrote: »

Razor blades. Condoms.

Razor blades... Like why the hell are they so feckin expensive

randylonghorn

MaxSteele wrote: »

You're right they don't work for free.

That's what that tiny sum of 2,250 euro I paid is for. "Admin costs". The same sum which pays for the aul biddies wages whether they sit in the office or sit in in front of exam students.

No difference really, same job they do everyday.

No, it isn't, I'm afraid.

Invigilators are hired by the hour to cover exam periods, they're not the permanent staff who these days are chasing their tails due to cut-backs to cover the basics.

Don't get me wrong, I have every sympathy for someone who has to repeat despite genuinely working hard, and I know there are lots of students like that, most repeats aren't dossers in fairness, but repeats do throw up a fair few extra costs.

And the €2,250 is the Student Contribution Fee and it's literally that ... a student contribution. I don't know what course you're doing or in what college (any lab subject costs a fair bit more, for instance) but the minimum full economic fee for even a non-lab subject would be at least 5,500 in any college, the state pays the balance.

That's not counting the core grant paid by the state to each HEI which funds the basic costs not attributable to specific courses, which would work out at several thousand more per student if it was levied on them.

I know it's no fun trying to find that €2,250, let alone be hit for another repeat fee when you're already fed up with having to repeat in the first place, but that 2,250 doesn't go anywhere near actually paying for your education.

kraggy

Here in Korea there's a weird pricing structure.

For example, one large red apple is €2 while you can get a pint (500 ml) of Korean beer for €1.60. In a pub.

niallo27

JupiterKid wrote: »

I am staying in a lovely, modern four star hotel on the Dutch coast.

My room is huge, it has wi-fi (the reason I'm on here now), an indoor pool, a full bar and restaurant with a good selection of grub and a night's stay including breakfast is €75. Dinner in the restaurant is €20 for three courses and a glass of wine.

Now how much would I be paying for equivalent service in Ireland?

Let's face it - Ireland, despite 5 full years of a crippling recession, is still a total rip off.

I got a two night weekend stay in athlone for 89 euro with breakfast both mornings and dinner on the saturday night. Plenty of value to be had in this country too.

Cavehill Red

NegativeCreep wrote: »

Smokes!! 8.90 for my beloved superking blacks!
It's made me start rolling my own although I'd say they'll hike up the price of rolling tobacco soon too :rolleyes:

I switched to vaping. Cost 70 euro up front for two personal vaporisers and some nicotine juice. Made that back in the first week. Have since spent another 30 quid on juices. I now have enough stock to keep me going for six months. Estimated cost of my nicotine habit has come down from 70-80 euro per week to around 1.80. And that's without factoring in the health benefits.

maninasia

niallo27 wrote: »

I got a two night weekend stay in athlone for 89 euro with breakfast both mornings and dinner on the saturday night. Plenty of value to be had in this country too.

Do they still charge per person instead of per room there?

Run_to_da_hills

Button batteries in chemists, You can get a complete card full of them in the Euro shops with as many as 60 in them while a chemist or jeweller will charge as much as e6 each for them. I have never had a problem with using the cheaper ones.

gnfnrhead

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Button batteries in chemists, You can get a complete card full of them in the Euro shops with as many as 60 in them while a chemist or jeweller will charge as much as e6 each for them. I have never had a problem with using the cheaper ones.

Are those the one's you can use in gameboy colour games? I was looking for a few not long ago but couldnt find anything cheap enough to make it worthwhile. Didnt think it was worth paying nearly €20 for four batteries. They wouldnt be used that often.

If they are the same one's I'll have to pick up some of them next time I'm near a Euro shop.

Pippy1976

2 things:

entrance fee to local GAA matches (rip off)

and

Prescription medication. (in NZ it's about $4 to get a supply of antibiotics, here it's about e20 - or more probably)

0325422

Pippy1976 wrote: »

2 things:

entrance fee to local GAA matches (rip off)

and

Prescription medication. (in NZ it's about $4 to get a supply of antibiotics, here it's about e20 - or more probably)

16p for for a box of paracetamol up in the north

Pippy1976

0325422 wrote: »

16p for for a box of paracetamol up in the north

My goodness, that's mental... and sure it's only up the road. Always surprises me that we don't shop up there more often, it being only 2 hours away and all.

smash

Midget prostitutes.

gnfnrhead

Pippy1976 wrote: »

My goodness, that's mental... and sure it's only up the road. Always surprises me that we don't shop up there more often, it being only 2 hours away and all.

Petrol isnt cheap. Border county, fair enough. But if you're any further away it probably isnt worth it unless you are stocking up for a while.

emul8ter25

Weed

DebDynamite

Changing a name on an airline flight is a complete rip-off. Perhaps someone in the know could enlighten me, but is it not just a matter of overwriting the original name on a computer with the new name?

billybudd

Maybe posted before, but razor blades, good ones cost like 12 quid, wtf.

RATM

Definitely agree with razor blades, however it has been many years since I fell for Gilette's marketing spiel so I just tend to buy disposables these days, much cheaper especially from Aldi/Lidl

Otherwise chocolate- my local Topaz hiked it again last week and now every single bar on their shelves is €1.19 and some may be even more. No way am I paying €1.19 for something that is 70-80c in other EU countries. So I just buy a Chomp for 25c which does the trick for my sweet tooth as well as any other bar.

Somethings have come down in the recession in that there are a lot of good offers on hotels, restaurants, etc. But the price of drink in pubs hasn't really taken any hit, except for a minority of premises who put on happy hours, but these are often at unsuitable times and only of use to the lads who spend the whole day there.

Caveman1

Not sure if mentioned yet, 22c for plastic bags :mad: brekas my heart every time.

emul8ter25

Caveman1 wrote: »

Not sure if mentioned yet, 22c for plastic bags :mad: brekas my heart every time.

hey Caveman, not bashing you here....

I think the plastic bag charge is actually a very positive thing. Obviously people would rather get them for free, but I can tell you that I lived in America for many years and people there generate so much more waste with plastic bags than we do here.

Any policy that helps the environment and does not inconvenience people too much is a good thing in my opinion.

animaal

DebDynamite wrote: »

Changing a name on an airline flight is a complete rip-off. Perhaps someone in the know could enlighten me, but it not just a matter or overwriting the original name on a computer with the new name?

:rolleyes:

You have to take into account the price of the ink, the pain and suffering of the airline CEO, the electricity for those computer's CPU cycles, the tax on the electricity for those computer's CPU cycles, the heating and lighting for the guy the airline had to hire just to type in your name again. It goes on and on.

And it's not a rip-off unless you're forced to pay for it, and it's illegal, and the day is a Tuesday.

Dear God, won't anybody think of the poor airlines!

Ted_YNWA

animaal wrote: »

:rolleyes:

You have to take into account the price of the ink, the pain and suffering of the airline CEO, the electricity for those computer's CPU cycles, the tax on the electricity for those computer's CPU cycles, the heating and lighting for the guy the airline had to hire just to type in your name again. It goes on and on.

And it's not a rip-off unless you're forced to pay for it, and it's illegal, and the day is a Tuesday.

Dear God, won't anybody think of the poor airlines!

Dont forget the wear & tear endured on the keyboard for typing an additional name into system

niallo27

maninasia wrote: »

Do they still charge per person instead of per room there?

That was for the of us together, great value.

emul8ter25

emul8ter25 wrote: »

hey Caveman, not bashing you here....

I think the plastic bag charge is actually a very positive thing. Obviously people would rather get them for free, but I can tell you that I lived in America for many years and people there generate so much more waste with plastic bags than we do here.

Any policy that helps the environment and does not inconvenience people too much is a good thing in my opinion.

It helps the environment for sure but everything you put inside your reusable bag has plastic wrapping.. I don't think the overall of less plastic carrier bags is as great as people imagine.