If you’re feeling like you get less for your money these days, you’re very much not alone. Recently, people on Reddit called out things that used to be “worth it” that have gotten worse and worse over time so that now they’re total rip-offs, and I agreed with so many of them. Here are some of the top comments:
1.“Fast food. It’s only marginally cheaper than going to a restaurant.”
Newsaetiew / Getty Images
“Fast food used to be a cheap option when you didn’t feel like cooking.
Adult lives have gotten so much busier that cooking at home has become a luxury for many because of the time required.
Fast food chains have caught on to this, and you now pay for a convenience meal, instead of a cheap meal.”
2.“Netflix.”
“The irony is that Netflix was close to killing piracy for good. Why pirate when you could watch whatever you want for $8/month? Then, every content creator wanted their own piece of the pie, and Netflix got greedy. Now we’re back to where we started.”
3.“A trip to Vegas used to be great value for money. Everything was cheap. Rooms were dirt cheap, and buffets were like $7.99 a person. And cocktails were free if you were gambling. And resort fees didn’t exist. Now, Vegas is just a giant rip-off. Nothing there is cheap anymore. What a shame.”
4.“Going to the movie theater. You can easily have a huge flat-screen TV and surround sound system at home for less than $500, and most movies are available on streaming within a month of release. I took my daughter to watch Lilo and Stitch in the theater last month, and two tickets plus refreshments were about $60! And three weeks later, that movie is already on Disney+.”
Antonio_diaz / Getty Images
5.“TicketMaster. When it started, it was cool; for a small fee, you could buy concert tickets from outlets instead of at the box office. Then suddenly, you had to pay the fee even when you went to the box office! Now it’s just a fee (not small) that you have to pay regardless, and for that fee you get… nothing.”
6.“Pharmaceutical companies that advertise on TV, like you can just ask doctors for a prescription, when in fact, insurance companies have to approve it, especially when one dose can cost tens of thousands of dollars.”
7.“Any home appliance: vacuums, fridges, blenders, etc. Everything is made to break now, so you have to repurchase and spend more money.”
Westend61 / Getty Images
8.“The inflated cost of online courses without real content. It used to be a new way of learning, now it is often a marketing scam.”
9.“Airbnb. It’s now getting more expensive than booking a hotel room with breakfast.”
“Not only that, but you’re expected to do their chores for them. I used to LOVE Airbnb. It was a great way to get a cheap stay if you were willing to sacrifice a bit of luxury. Now it’s worse accommodations for more work, fewer features, and a higher price.”
10.“Diamonds. It used to be relatively hard to find them, but now we can just make them. Totally worthless.”
Ozgurcankaya / Getty Images
11.“Bitcoin.”
“Especially with the addition of stupid meme coins and all the scammy pump and dump rug pulls. It’s so full of scammers, it’s not worth messing with.”
12.“Food trucks. It used to be great food at (relatively) cheap prices, but it has completely flipped on its head. It is now mediocre food at exorbitant prices.”
“I went to one outside of a sporting event (so not surprised at slight markup), thinking it would save me some money, and it was $20 for a small bowl of food. Might as well have paid the stadium prices inside.”
13.“Hot Cheetos and other chips. Used to be able to get a large bag for $2.29. Now they are around 6-7 bucks for a smaller bag and fewer chips.”
Diy13 / Getty Images
14.“Health insurance. It was really beneficial for the insurer, but now it’s nothing but a scam. Just giving you a false sense of security.”
“Their end goal is to collect premiums and deductibles, and automatically deny all your claims. It’s getting worse, too, with AI now denying claims, and the insurance companies don’t give a flying fuck how sick you are. They want you alive enough to pay, but sick enough to not require paying for your treatment.”
15.“VIP tickets at music festivals. You used to get an open bar, food, and the best view. I just went to a festival on an ‘Ultra VIP’ ticket, which was extra expensive. No free drinks, no food, and the viewing platform was overcrowded. It‘s like that with everything. As soon as a big corporation has a hand in it, everything turns to shit. Things not only get more expensive, but the service/products become shittier by the day.”
16.“Dating sites. Man, do they suck.”
Oscar Wong / Getty Images
17.“Selling on eBay. The fees are nuts versus 10 years ago.”
18.“Doing rideshare gigs.”
“I used to drive for Uber when it first started where I live. It was okay money for the amount of effort/skill level involved.
But during the year I drove, Uber gradually decreased fares and increased their cut. I went from taking home $8.5 of a $10 fare to less than $5 and quit. A teenager stocking shelves at a grocery store literally made more money.”
“In 2014, I would drive Lyft on the weekends and make bank ($500 a night) in Chicago working 11 p.m. to 3 a.m.
I asked my last driver how much he makes in a night, and he makes $250 working 8 hours.
It’s hard out here.”
19.“Airline tickets. You used to get meals, checked bags, decent legroom, and actual service. Now you pay double for half of that, and they’ll still try to upsell you on a window seat. Feels like getting scammed at 35,000 feet.”
Urbazon / Getty Images
20.“Store memberships. You get an insignificant discount for trading your information and habits to brokers. Your privacy is worth more than a few dollars.”
21.And finally, “The school photo industry. Back before digital cameras, when it took effort to take amazing photos and then get them developed, it might make sense to splash out on a nice photo of your student once a year or at graduation. Now? Incredibly expensive prices for a printout or digital copy of a photo, often no better than can be taken on your phone. Sure, the school photo is nice, but $80 for a copy? Hard pass.”
Is there anything you would add? Tell me all about it in the comments or via the anonymous form below:
