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32 biggest ripoffs in America
Bill Shrink, a Web site focused on saving money on everyday bills, has had a couple great posts of late noting what it considers to be the biggest ripoffs in America.
The site started with its top 12 biggest ripoffs, but readers added so many good ones that it added another 20 to the list.
Here are the ones they listed as the 32 biggest ripoffs in America. Visit the site for more explanation on each of these:
Movie theater popcorn
Text messages
College textbooks
Branded painkillers
“Free” credit reports
Wine service at restaurants
Hotel mini-bars
All-you-can-eat buffets
Premium gasoline
Actively managed investments
In-room movies
Health club memberships
Bottled water
Ink cartridges
Razor blades
Bail bond rates
Fountain soda
Electronics warranties
French fries at fast-food chains
Funerals
Oil changes
Cigarettes (depending on state)
Tipping in restaurants
Printer cables
Travel-size shampoos
Restaurant coffee
Brake jobs
Publicly financed stadiums and arenas
Lottery tickets
Alcohol
Weddings
Wireless cancellation fees
I also would add the more outrageously priced tickets to sports games and concerts, movie theater tickets (especially for 3-D), and glasses (which also was noted by a commenter on the Bill Shrink site).
What else did we miss?
Permalink | Comments (86) | Post your comment | Categories: Savings



Comments
By Mark
March 20, 2010 1:20 PM | Link to this
You missed Printer Ink.
By joann list
March 20, 2010 2:55 PM | Link to this
overdraft charges on debit cards, when there are no over drafts. and you still pay.
By joann list
March 20, 2010 2:56 PM | Link to this
overdraft charges on debit cards, when there are no over drafts. and you still pay.
By joann list
March 20, 2010 2:57 PM | Link to this
overdraft charges on debit cards, when there are no over drafts.
By joann list
March 20, 2010 2:58 PM | Link to this
bank charges
By ridiculous
March 20, 2010 8:21 PM | Link to this
How about the $39.00 late fees for credit cards?
By ridiculous
March 20, 2010 8:40 PM | Link to this
How about the new car extended warranties and the Scotch-Guard treatment, too.
By Paul
March 20, 2010 9:02 PM | Link to this
Taxes, Oil Companies, Red Light Cameras
By Paul
March 20, 2010 9:05 PM | Link to this
Taxes, Oil Companies, Red Light Cameras
By ridiculous
March 20, 2010 9:44 PM | Link to this
Time Warner Cable!!!
By James
March 21, 2010 3:25 AM | Link to this
Check #14, Mark.
By J.T.
March 21, 2010 9:14 AM | Link to this
No Brainer !. Our tax dollars being squandered by Barack Husseign Obama and his Demoncrat cronies.
By Bub
March 21, 2010 10:07 AM | Link to this
GW Bushes’ wars on terror/WMD’s that were not there. On the other side of the globe. No Bid contracts for Halliburton/Blackwater
By f c carrier
March 21, 2010 10:20 AM | Link to this
property taxes
By F C Carrier
March 21, 2010 10:37 AM | Link to this
people standing on corners asking for donations
By F C Carrier
March 21, 2010 9:03 PM | Link to this
how about attorney fees
By jay
March 22, 2010 10:12 AM | Link to this
goverment theft of money from social security. health care over price insurance, taxes, oil - gas, jail, cincinnati solid led water pipes, elec and nautual gas tax, car insurance. hosiptals over chargeing insurance, cincinnati roads, war on terror. dosent even touch the top
By jay
March 22, 2010 10:14 AM | Link to this
goverment theft of money from social security. health care over price insurance, taxes, oil - gas, jail, cincinnati solid led water pipes, elec and nautual gas tax, car insurance. hosiptals over chargeing insurance, cincinnati roads, war on terror. dosent even touch the top
By Homer Simpson
March 22, 2010 10:36 AM | Link to this
ALL YOU CAN EAT BUFFETS MADE THIS LIST?! No Way!!! Why, I know I eat more than 10 people when I go to a buffet! ‘Scuse me while I give myself some insulin…
By Rick
March 22, 2010 12:35 PM | Link to this
Jewelry.
By J
March 22, 2010 2:10 PM | Link to this
That’s what ink cartridges are Mark.
By null
March 22, 2010 2:29 PM | Link to this
New York City. They’re no London …
By BOOGIE
March 22, 2010 7:19 PM | Link to this
THE GOVERNMENT
By w
March 22, 2010 10:06 PM | Link to this
pelosi
By mike
March 22, 2010 10:37 PM | Link to this
Voting in Replublicans
By lauren
March 22, 2010 10:57 PM | Link to this
TIME WARNER CABLE BIGGEST RIP OFF IN AMERICA!!!
By patti
March 22, 2010 11:01 PM | Link to this
DMV Charges!!!
By Scott
March 22, 2010 11:22 PM | Link to this
The Dayton Daily News
By LISA
March 22, 2010 11:23 PM | Link to this
NOT EVEN CHARGE TAXES ON ALCOHOLIC DRINKS? WHAT WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?
By Jim Brown
March 23, 2010 7:34 AM | Link to this
having to pay to have bills sent to you,
By ummm...
March 23, 2010 8:30 AM | Link to this
The American Education System…obviously we all have trouble spelling and clicking the “Post comment” button only once….
By lol
March 23, 2010 8:38 AM | Link to this
well said “ummm”! I was just dancing that exact same thought in my mind as well.
By guitarsteve
March 23, 2010 9:04 AM | Link to this
Insurance, Prescription drugs, hospital bills and other medical-industry items. Yea health care reform.
By Bill
March 23, 2010 9:10 AM | Link to this
The price of WEED
By Bill
March 23, 2010 9:12 AM | Link to this
The price of WEED
By tallsandi
March 23, 2010 9:24 AM | Link to this
Hey NYC, you might want to actually know something about history before you spout off. The blacks that were enslaved in Africa and sold were captured,enslaved, and sold by other black men.
By broke tax payer
March 23, 2010 9:37 AM | Link to this
ObamaCare
By Bev
March 23, 2010 10:25 AM | Link to this
Leave poor Mark alone. Haven’t you ever made an oversight!
By intellectuallyindependent
March 23, 2010 11:06 AM | Link to this
Ohio strip club laws
By intellectuallyindependent
March 23, 2010 11:26 AM | Link to this
not all the slaves that were brought over from africa were sold by fellow africans. the conquering, enslavement, colonizing, and destruction of native and african peoples were perpetuated by whites. but thats neither here or there
By null
March 23, 2010 11:45 AM | Link to this
Voting in Democrats and the Government
By shakever
March 23, 2010 12:53 PM | Link to this
Time Warner Cable, Democrats, side items on restaraunt menus, vending items, gasoline,property taxes, Duke Energy, Shipping and handling charges……………………
By shakever
March 23, 2010 12:54 PM | Link to this
Time Warner Cable, Democrats, side items on restaraunt menus, vending items, gasoline,property taxes, Duke Energy, Shipping and handling charges
By null
March 23, 2010 2:05 PM | Link to this
lol - your punctuation should be inside your quotation.
By me
March 23, 2010 3:37 PM | Link to this
A coke, coffee or iced tea with your meal plus $1.75 and up. Rediculous. Drink water people, it is better for you and your pocketbook.
By cabby
March 23, 2010 5:18 PM | Link to this
bounced check fees and ATM fees
By cabby
March 23, 2010 5:23 PM | Link to this
yes.. It needed to be stated twice!! lol
By nra4ever
March 23, 2010 5:28 PM | Link to this
Obama healthcare bill
By Paul B
March 24, 2010 2:45 AM | Link to this
Newspaper subscriptions!
By THINK!
March 24, 2010 6:40 AM | Link to this
There are 13,000,000,000,000 things on the list that are ahead of these 32 thanks to Obama.
By don
March 24, 2010 9:04 AM | Link to this
hoW about sport shirts at golf courses. $40 to $50 a shirt? get real.
By What???
March 24, 2010 10:31 AM | Link to this
Tipping in restaurants?? OMG! Servers make $3.50/hr! Pay for your damn service because people have families to feed!!! If you don’t want to tip, eat fast food or fix your own dinner.
By What???
March 24, 2010 10:32 AM | Link to this
Tipping in restaurants?? OMG! Servers make $3.50/hr! Pay for your damn service because people have families to feed!!! If you don’t want to tip, eat fast food or fix your own dinner.
By Hornet87 Main Street Monroe
March 24, 2010 11:37 AM | Link to this
Mark, they did not miss printer ink, they listed ink cartridges and they do have ink in them…
By Miami University, Oh
March 24, 2010 12:14 PM | Link to this
Paying the professors $300K and then you can not understand them.
By Voice of Reason
March 24, 2010 1:22 PM | Link to this
ALCOHOL?!!!! Lady you must be drunk…
By Silverlady
March 24, 2010 1:52 PM | Link to this
No pay increase in Social Security. People finding fault in others.
By American Made
March 24, 2010 4:00 PM | Link to this
When the bank has a “pending” transaction on your ATM/Debit card that THEY allowed to go thru, rather than delcine and the bank charges a $33.00 Overdraft on a PENDING transaction that won’t clear for 2-3 days.
By havinglived
March 24, 2010 8:24 PM | Link to this
The four biggest rackets in the world. Grass-like your lawn Ice-retail bagged Gasoline. Funerals- Don’t know what order but they are huge ripoffs!!!!!
By Incisor
March 25, 2010 11:14 AM | Link to this
To the cheapskates who begrudge restaurant tips: there’s a very good reason restaurants pay servers low wages and expect your tips to make up the difference, it’s called INCENTIVE. Go sit in a restaurant (like most in Europe) where the server makes the same amount of money no matter how lousy the service is and see how you like it. What a stupid topic. There’s no such thing as a “rip off” unless someone is holding a gun to your head to get your money. Otherwise it’s your choice to pay it or not.
By Mr. Cita
March 25, 2010 11:48 AM | Link to this
What about City workers wasting tax citizen money while 10 workers walking talking around job site while 1 person working I see all the time Ha!!!!
By Whodeydiva
March 25, 2010 12:13 PM | Link to this
Would tipping in restaurants be on the list if the person who put the list together was a server?
By A Conservative Voice
March 25, 2010 12:39 PM | Link to this
In addition to TAXES the FEDERAL SERVICE CHARGE on everybodys’ phone bills. This is a ripoff of the first order. This is a political payoff to create jobs for campaign operatives from the 1990s.
By irate
March 25, 2010 12:59 PM | Link to this
I have a son in college. He and his 8 housemates live in a dilapidated house and are charged $61,000 a YEAR in rent. So, college student housing.
By hello pot it's me the kettle
March 25, 2010 1:01 PM | Link to this
Republicans placing blame on Obama for everything…priceless
By Bowzer
March 25, 2010 9:28 PM | Link to this
RE: Bank overdraft fees-I’m pretty sure that if you can’t keep track of what you have in your account, the fees are no one’s fault but your own. Here’s a tip: don’t spend more than you have in your account. Problem solved.
By drnbry
March 25, 2010 10:00 PM | Link to this
how about the us government? the people who it was ok for the usa to bail out gm while eliminating all of the plants that the uaw didn’t like?
By null
March 26, 2010 6:09 AM | Link to this
The government by far. Look at the IRS you pay so much and get so little.
By null
March 26, 2010 6:10 AM | Link to this
The government by far. Look at the IRS you pay so much and get so little.
By Old schooler
March 26, 2010 6:59 AM | Link to this
Insurance companies, doctors, Pharmaceutical companies, Obama’s bill, anybody having anything to do with the Congress, Senate, etc.. Oil companies. Unions where they are not needed. Stupid newspaper articles.
By Techie
March 26, 2010 10:21 AM | Link to this
You missed HDMI cables, bottled water, parking at athletic events, not to mention ticket prices. High school students having to pay $6 and up to watch their own team.
By Trevor
March 26, 2010 10:24 AM | Link to this
You missed HDMI cables, bottled water, parking at athletic events, not to mention ticket prices. High school students having to pay $6 and up to watch their own team. Insurance companies, banks, and taxes are a whole other department of not getting what you pay for, and being screwed by corporate greed.
By null
March 26, 2010 10:37 AM | Link to this
People who listen to Beck, Limbaugh,and Hannity while they should be working!
By If you were sorry you would not have said in the 1st place!
March 26, 2010 10:38 AM | Link to this
Digital TV
By ale
March 26, 2010 10:44 AM | Link to this
the price of college tuition and text books.
By ale
March 26, 2010 10:45 AM | Link to this
the price of college tuition and text books.
By Ale
March 26, 2010 10:46 AM | Link to this
the price of college tuition and text books
By null
March 26, 2010 11:17 AM | Link to this
Cigarette taxes.
By grandma4
March 26, 2010 12:20 PM | Link to this
How about Lakota taxes unemployment, At Will state, gas prices, Cincinnati Bell charges, insurance, funeral homes, interest charges, no interest on bank accounts, school administration! Shall I go on??
By grandma4
March 26, 2010 12:28 PM | Link to this
Obama not producing a birth certificate, government lying crooks, nancy pelosi,democratic congress (not for long) movie theaters, interest cahrges, Wal Mart, ripping off social security! The rich getting richer!
By Hello
March 26, 2010 1:17 PM | Link to this
Duh…Organized Religion.
By Dave
March 26, 2010 4:44 PM | Link to this
I thought there were more than 32 Senators & Congressmen? Thats the biggest rip-offs in America !
By Money
March 26, 2010 4:53 PM | Link to this
You don’t get hit with overdraft fees if your not spending more then you have in your account!
By sweetblueyedarling
March 29, 2010 12:18 AM | Link to this
I’ll tell ya what a rip off is. Property taxes. Why should I pay property taxes to support the school system for peoples kids that are sitting on their a*s on welfare…which is another rip off for working Americans. I dont have a problem helping people that are down…but to just LAY DOWN and expect it is wrong on many levels. And property taxes are crazy…some are over ten thousand a year in Texas. If I buy the property, it should be mine…and not taxed forever. Its never yours, no matter if you have paid the price. If you get down and cant pay the taxes…they will take your property that you have worked and paid for…that is unconstitutional.
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April 16, 2010 11:25 AM | Link to this
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May 2, 2010 1:25 AM | Link to this
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