‘What is a complete rip off the rich happily pay for?’ – 21 cautionary tales from people with the inside scoop on premium prices

When you don’t have much money you worry about how you spend it, wanting good value and good quality wherever possible. However, if you’ve got money to splash on a luxury lifestyle, you probably presume that you’re getting the very best. But are you?

Perhaps not, as they’ve been discovering on the AskReddit page after ArtThreadNomad posed this question:

People who work in ‘luxury’ industries (5-star hotels, fine dining, high-end brands), what is a complete rip-off that rich people happily pay for?

And lots of people chimed in with the ways in which those with loadsa money are being fleeced, like these…

1.

‘If you make your product rare. We are very small olive oil producers, we have all the machines to completely produce the oils ourselves. We work very clean and organic in a way that goes beyond any certificates, so we won’t fool anyone on this side. BUT there are certain special oils, ie. the very early harvest, or oil from wild olive trees.

We have some wealthy customers, if we tell them we only have 10L of wild olive oil left, they want to buy it all… only to know that they have it and no one else. So we found ourselves lying sometimes about the amount of oil left, it makes certain rich people buy everything available just to have it.’
–habilishn

2.

‘Honestly the markup on wine at fine dining restaurants is insane. I worked as a hostess and watched people drop $300 on bottles we got wholesale for like $40 without even blinking.’
–Nathandg27

3.

‘I work for a high-end plumbing company. We do some truly enormous new residential builds.

The difference between regular and high end plumbing is purely aesthetic. All our pipes are meticulously organised and ran with non-flexible materials. We essentially do satisfying cable management but for pipes. It looks nice and wealthy customers like nice looking things.’
–Wild-Vast-2559

4.

‘Caskets and urns, I work in a fancier funeral home as support staff (not a director). We literally sell $80 urns imported from India for $600+. A $2000 casket goes for $8000.

Remember that you are allowed under federal law to bring your own urn or casket. Sometimes I feel like there is more financial flexing at funerals than at weddings.’
–onyxS4int

5.

‘One of the more interesting ones is having expensive replicas made of priceless jewellery in case of theft. My surrogate dad in Nassau county, Long Island knows of people who spent thousands and thousands of dollars on ‘costume’ dupes of their best jewellery so they can wear that out and leave the real stuff at home under lock and key.

Imagine a set of costume jewellery worth more than your vehicle. That sort of thing.’
–transemacabre

6.

‘The ‘VIP Lounge access’ in night clubs, it’s basically milking a person with low self esteem.’
–triple_hoop

7.

‘Hotels. The difference between a $75 room and $150-200 room is usually massive. The difference between a $200 room and a $800+ room is a lot of small things that most people like, but wouldn’t spent $600+ on.’
–TJayClark

8.

‘Room service. You’d be surprised with how many people accept paying fees on top of poor quality food and smaller proportions just so they don’t have to walk down and pick it up.’
–shaneyshane26

9.

‘Private nurse to very wealthy people. Sounds like a necessity (medical support) but most of the clients aren’t sick. Just rich and able to do it. They like the attention. I’ve seen so much. Private jets, chauffeurs who sit outside in cars for days on end going nowhere. I watched a 90 year old woman slather LaMer on her arms last week. It broke me. The amount of waste is staggering.’
–Mundane_Balance2556

10.

‘Clothing. The average rich person is not buying bespoke clothes. They are paying $300 for a hoodie that costs $7 to produce. Often in the same factory that produces clothing for mass market retailers.

I know someone who owns (family) a small factory who has had a Canada Goose contract for well over a decade. Even an extremely complex and complicated jacket like those from Canada Goose, which are some of the most complicated garments produced on a large scale. Costs around $95 each, even accounting for Canadian wages.’
–Scrimps

11.

‘I do high end cocktail bartending. One of the rules I live by is that the difference in a $11 and a $30 drink is purely presentation. The glass needs to be immaculately polished, the ice needs to be in good condition, and the garnish needs to be skillfully prepared. Additionally, you need the right space to sell $30 drinks, you need clean surfaces and enough hands to ensure a consistently pre-bussed bar-top.

All of that has zilch to do with how good the drink actually tastes. It’s the real problem with most bartenders, I find. Making delicious drinks is important, but presentability is what sets the price tag and perceived value.’
–HemlockHex