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Things That Cost Way More Than They Should
A Data-Driven Rant With Sources
Insulin costs $2 to make and sells for $300. Printer ink costs more per ounce than human blood. Concert tickets have $65 in “service fees.” Here are 20 things with insane markups, explained with actual data, because getting angry is more productive when you have numbers.
I spent a decade analyzing companies as a hedge fund manager. The dirty secret of business analysis is that once you understand how margins work, you can never buy anything without calculating the markup in your head. It has ruined shopping for me. I'm sharing that curse with you now.— Glen Bradford, man who once calculated the margin on his own wedding flowers and briefly considered a career change
3,000%
Water Markup
Dasani vs. tap
2,700%
Popcorn Markup
$0.30 in kernels
$608
EpiPen Price
was $100 in 2007
$7.1B
Bag Fee Revenue
US airlines, 2023
The Full List
20 items ranked by markup, absurdity, and how angry they make me personally.
College Textbooks
$300 for information that's free on the internet
The average college student spends $1,200 per year on textbooks. Publishers release 'new editions' every 2-3 years with minor changes to kill the used market. McGraw-Hill, Pearson, and Cengage control 80% of the market. Meanwhile, MIT puts all their courseware online for free, and most of the information in a $300 textbook is available on Khan Academy, YouTube, or Wikipedia. The publisher's main innovation in the last decade: online access codes that expire, so you can't even resell the book.
You Pay
$300/book
Should Cost
$15-30 (printing cost)
Markup
1,000-2,000%
Insulin
$300/vial in the US, $30 in Canada. Same product.
Insulin was discovered in 1921. The patent was sold for $1 because the inventors believed it should be available to everyone. A century later, a vial of Humalog costs $274 in the US and $32 in Canada. Same molecule. Same manufacturer (Eli Lilly). Three companies — Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi — control 90% of the global insulin market and have raised prices in lockstep. Between 2002 and 2013, the price tripled. Americans have died rationing insulin because they couldn't afford it. This is the single most indefensible pricing in the country.
You Pay
$274-$300/vial
Should Cost
$2-5 (manufacturing cost)
Markup
1,000%+ vs. manufacturing cost
Concert Tickets
$100 face value + $65 in 'service fees'
A $100 concert ticket from Ticketmaster comes with a 'service fee' ($30-50), a 'facility fee' ($5-15), an 'order processing fee' ($5-10), and sometimes a 'delivery fee' for a digital ticket that is literally emailed to you. Total: $165 for a $100 ticket. Ticketmaster and Live Nation merged in 2010 to control venues, ticketing, AND artist management. The DOJ sued to break them up in 2024. Until then, you're paying 65% extra for the privilege of buying something through a monopoly.
You Pay
$165 (for a $100 ticket)
Should Cost
$100 + $5 actual processing
Markup
40-65% in fees alone
Disney Lightning Lane
FastPass used to be free. Now it's $35/person/ride.
Disney's FastPass system was free from 1999 to 2021. You got a ticket, you went to the park, you got FastPasses. Then Disney replaced it with 'Lightning Lane' — $15-35 per person per ride for popular attractions. A family of four at Disney World can spend $400+ per day just on queue-skipping, on top of the $120+ per person park admission. Disney's argument: it improves the guest experience. The guests who can't afford $35/ride have a different perspective on that claim.
You Pay
$35/person/ride
Should Cost
$0 (it was free for 22 years)
Markup
Infinite (was free)
Bottled Water
3,000% markup on what comes out of your tap
A bottle of Dasani costs $2. The water inside it is filtered municipal tap water. The tap water costs about $0.004 per gallon. A gallon of Dasani costs about $7.50. That's a 3,000% markup. And companies like Nestlé (now BlueTriton) extract millions of gallons from public springs for permit fees as low as $200 per year, bottle it, and sell it back to the communities they took it from. Americans spend $15 billion per year on bottled water. Your Brita filter just became the best investment you ever made.
You Pay
$2/bottle
Should Cost
$0.004/gallon from tap
Markup
3,000%
Wedding Flowers
$3,000 for things that die in 3 days
The average American wedding flower budget is $2,000-$3,000. For centerpieces, bouquets, and arrangements that will be dead by Tuesday. The markup from wholesale to wedding is typically 300-500% — florists call it the 'wedding tax.' Tell them the flowers are for a corporate event and the quote drops by half. The flowers don't know it's a wedding. The same roses that cost $12 a dozen at Trader Joe's cost $150 when someone says 'bridal.'
You Pay
$2,000-$3,000
Should Cost
$500-800 at wholesale
Markup
300-500%
Printer Ink
More expensive per ounce than human blood
HP printer ink costs approximately $9,600 per gallon. Human blood costs about $1,500 per gallon. Chanel No. 5 costs about $25,600 per gallon. So printer ink is cheaper than Chanel but more expensive than blood. Printer manufacturers sell the printer at a loss and make money on ink cartridges — the 'razor and blades' model. They also add chips to cartridges that prevent third-party refills and program them to 'expire' even when ink remains. HP's ink subscription service charges you $6/month for 100 pages. If you go over, you pay extra. For ink. That you already paid for.
You Pay
$30-60/cartridge
Should Cost
$3-5 (ink cost)
Markup
2,400% over production cost
Airport Food
$18 for a sandwich that would cost $7 anywhere else
Airport restaurants charge 30-100% more than their street-level counterparts. A sandwich that costs $8 at the mall location costs $16 at the airport. A bottle of water goes from $1.50 to $5. Why? Because airport concession leases require operators to pay 10-15% of revenue to the airport authority, and since you're trapped past security with no alternatives, they pass the cost to you — with markup. The TSA confiscated your water so you'd have to buy a $5 bottle inside. I'm not saying it's a conspiracy. I'm saying the incentives align perfectly.
You Pay
$16-18/sandwich
Should Cost
$7-9
Markup
75-150%
Greeting Cards
$8 for cardstock and a pun
Hallmark and American Greetings control about 80% of the greeting card market. An average card costs $5-8. The cardstock, printing, and envelope cost approximately $0.30-$0.50 to manufacture. That's a 1,500% markup. For a piece of paper with 'Happy Birthday, you old fart' written on it. The industry generates $7.5 billion per year in the US alone. You could write 'Happy Birthday' on a napkin and it would mean more, but social convention demands you spend $8 on mass-produced sentiment.
You Pay
$5-8/card
Should Cost
$0.30-$0.50 (materials)
Markup
1,500%
Cable TV
$150/month for 500 channels you don't watch
The average cable bill is $150/month — $1,800/year — for access to 500+ channels, of which the average household watches 17. You're paying for 483 channels you've never opened. Cable companies bundle channels specifically because if you could choose only the channels you want, most channels would have zero subscribers and the economics would collapse. ESPN alone costs cable providers about $9/subscriber/month, and it's included in your bill whether you watch sports or not. Cord-cutting is accelerating, but the average streaming stack now costs $87/month, so you haven't really escaped.
You Pay
$150/month
Should Cost
$30-50/month (a la carte)
Markup
Varies (bundling)
Health Insurance Deductibles
Pay $500/month, then pay $5,000 before it covers anything
The average American family pays $6,000/year ($500/month) in health insurance premiums. The average deductible is $1,735 for individuals, $3,467 for families. So you pay $6,000 per year for the right to then pay another $3,500 out of pocket before insurance covers anything beyond preventive care. Add copays, coinsurance, and out-of-network charges, and the average family's total healthcare spending is over $12,000/year. That's $1,000/month for insurance that often doesn't kick in until you're already in financial distress.
You Pay
$12,000+/year total
Should Cost
Less (the rest of the developed world manages it)
Markup
Not technically a markup, but feels like one
Mattresses
900% markup. The industry is built on confusion.
A mattress that retails for $3,000 typically costs $300-$500 to manufacture. The mattress industry deliberately makes comparison shopping impossible by giving every retailer an exclusive model name for the same mattress. The 'Sealy Posturepedic Ultra Premium' at Mattress Firm is the same mattress as the 'Sealy Posturepedic Select Plus' at Rooms To Go, but with a different name so you can't price-match. The 'sale' is perpetual — mattresses are always '60% off' because the MSRP is fiction. Direct-to-consumer brands like Casper disrupted the model, but even they sell a $95 mattress for $1,000.
You Pay
$1,500-$3,000
Should Cost
$300-$500 (manufacturing)
Markup
900%
Car Dealership Markups
'Market adjustment' of $5,000+ on top of MSRP
During the chip shortage of 2021-2023, car dealers added 'market adjustment' stickers of $2,000-$15,000 above MSRP on popular models. This is pure profit for the dealer. Manufacturers set the MSRP (Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price), but dealers can charge whatever they want because they're technically independent businesses. Tesla eliminated the middleman by selling directly, and the auto dealer lobby has spent millions on legislation in multiple states to prevent other manufacturers from doing the same. The dealership model exists to protect dealer profits, not consumer interests.
You Pay
MSRP + $5,000-$10,000
Should Cost
MSRP (it's in the name)
Markup
$2,000-$15,000 'adjustment'
Funeral Services
$9,000 average. Monopolized by one company you've never heard of.
The average funeral in America costs $7,000-$9,000. The casket alone averages $2,500, with markups of 300-500% over wholesale. Here's the part most people don't know: Service Corporation International (SCI) owns over 1,900 funeral homes and 500 cemeteries across North America, but they often keep the original family names on the buildings so you think you're dealing with a local business. They're the largest funeral company in the world, and most people have never heard of them. You're making purchasing decisions while grieving, with zero comparison shopping ability, from a monopoly wearing a family-business disguise.
You Pay
$7,000-$9,000
Should Cost
$2,000-$3,000 (direct cremation: $1,000)
Markup
300-500% (caskets)
EpiPens
From $100 to $600 for the same product. Because they could.
The EpiPen auto-injector delivers about $1 worth of epinephrine. Mylan acquired the product in 2007 when it cost $100 for a two-pack. By 2016, the price was $608 for the same two-pack. That's a 500% increase in nine years for a product that hadn't changed. The epinephrine itself costs pennies. The injector mechanism was invented in the 1970s. CEO Heather Bresch's total compensation increased from $2.5 million to $18.9 million during the same period. When asked about the price increases at a Congressional hearing, she called the pricing 'fair.' She is the daughter of Senator Joe Manchin.
You Pay
$608/two-pack
Should Cost
$20-50 (generic available now)
Markup
500% increase (2007-2016)
Movie Theater Popcorn
$9 for $0.30 worth of kernels
A large popcorn at AMC costs $8-$10. The kernels, oil, and bag cost the theater approximately $0.30. That's a 2,700% markup. But here's the thing — theaters actually need this markup to survive. Studios take 80% of opening-weekend ticket revenue, decreasing to about 50% in later weeks. Concessions are how theaters pay rent, staff, and electricity. So the $9 popcorn isn't a scam — it's a subsidy for the fact that studios take most of the ticket price. You're not buying popcorn. You're paying admission twice.
You Pay
$8-$10
Should Cost
$0.30 (ingredients)
Markup
2,700%
Designer Sunglasses
Luxottica owns everything. Your Ray-Bans and your Oakleys are siblings.
Luxottica (now EssilorLuxottica) manufactures Ray-Ban, Oakley, Persol, Oliver Peoples, Prada eyewear, Chanel eyewear, Versace eyewear, and dozens more — plus they own LensCrafters, Sunglass Hut, Pearle Vision, and Target Optical. One company controls most of what you see AND most of the stores where you buy it. A pair of Ray-Ban Wayfarers costs about $10-15 to manufacture and retails for $160. When Oakley once tried to compete on price, Luxottica dropped them from all stores. Oakley's stock tanked. Luxottica bought them.
You Pay
$150-$300
Should Cost
$10-$25 (manufacturing)
Markup
1,000%+
Razor Blade Cartridges
Gillette spent more on the handle than you'll ever spend on razors
Gillette ProGlide cartridges cost about $4-$6 per blade. The blade itself costs roughly $0.10-$0.25 to manufacture. The original razor-and-blades business model: sell the handle at a loss, charge 2,000% markup on the cartridges. Dollar Shave Club disrupted this in 2012, and Gillette's market share dropped from 70% to 50%. Harry's did the same thing. Both were acquired by larger companies. The blades are still overpriced, just slightly less so.
You Pay
$4-$6/cartridge
Should Cost
$0.10-$0.25
Markup
2,000%+
College Application Fees
$80-$100 per application to schools that reject 95% of applicants
The average college application fee is $45-$80. Elite schools charge $75-$100. Students routinely apply to 10-15 schools, spending $600-$1,500 just on applications. What does the fee cover? Processing an online form. Stanford charges $90 per application and receives over 55,000 applications — that's $4.95 million in application fee revenue alone, from a university with a $37 billion endowment. They accept 3.7% of applicants. The other 96.3% paid $90 for a rejection email.
You Pay
$80-$100/application
Should Cost
$0 (form processing is automated)
Markup
N/A (pure profit)
Checked Bag Fees
Airlines made $7B in bag fees in 2023. Your bag weighs the same either way.
US airlines collected $7.1 billion in checked bag fees in 2023. A first checked bag costs $30-45 each way on most carriers. Here's the economics: fuel costs are the same whether the bag is checked or carried on (it's on the same plane either way). The fee exists because airlines unbundled pricing to advertise lower fares, then repackaged the unbundled items as fees. You're paying $60 round-trip for the privilege of not cramming a bag into an overhead bin. Spirit Airlines pioneered this model, and now everyone does it. They made the experience worse and charged you for the alternative.
You Pay
$30-$45/bag each way
Should Cost
$0 (included in ticket)
Markup
Pure profit (same fuel cost)
Glen's Take
The through-line in this list isn't “companies are greedy” — that's too simple. The through-line is: when competition disappears, prices go up. Every single item on this list exists in a market with either a monopoly (Ticketmaster, Luxottica, SCI), a cartel (insulin manufacturers, textbook publishers), or an information asymmetry that prevents you from knowing the real cost (mattresses, weddings, funerals).
The fix is always the same: transparency and competition. Dollar Shave Club cut razor prices in half. Generic insulin is finally bringing costs down. Casper exposed mattress markups. Every time a consumer gets access to real pricing information, the incumbents lose their markup.
I built 33 free financial calculators on this site because information should be free. The same math that financial advisors charge $500/hour for is available to anyone who clicks the link. That's not charity — it's competition.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Why is everything so expensive?
Three main reasons: monopolies (when one company controls a market, they set prices — see Ticketmaster, Luxottica, funeral homes), regulatory capture (when the companies being regulated influence the regulators — see pharma, car dealerships), and information asymmetry (when you don't know the actual cost to produce something — see mattresses, weddings, funerals). Competition drives prices down. When competition is eliminated or customers can't comparison shop, prices go up.
What's the most overpriced thing on this list?
By markup percentage, printer ink (2,400%) and movie popcorn (2,700%) are the highest. But by human impact, insulin is the worst — people have died because they couldn't afford a product that costs $2-5 to manufacture and was intentionally made available to humanity by its inventors. The EpiPen situation is similar: a life-saving device with a 500% price increase over nine years for no reason other than market power.
Are markups always bad?
No. Businesses need margins to survive. The movie theater popcorn markup exists because studios take 80% of ticket revenue — without concession margins, theaters would close. The issue isn't markup itself, it's when markup comes from monopoly power (one company controls the market), deception (fake MSRPs, perpetual 'sales'), or exploitation (charging $300 for insulin during a medical emergency). Healthy markets have competition that keeps markups reasonable.
What can consumers actually do about overpriced products?
Buy generic when available (insulin, EpiPens), use direct-to-consumer alternatives (mattresses, razors), comparison shop aggressively (funerals, car dealers), and support policy changes (right-to-repair, antitrust enforcement, price transparency laws). For concert tickets, there's no good answer until the Ticketmaster monopoly is broken. For college textbooks, use LibGen, open-source textbooks, and previous editions.
Why is this page on Glen Bradford's website?
Because I'm a former hedge fund manager who has spent a decade analyzing how companies make money, and sometimes the answer is 'by exploiting information asymmetry and monopoly power to charge 10x what something costs to produce.' Also, I recently paid $165 for a concert ticket with a face value of $100 and needed somewhere to process that emotionally.
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