According to CNNmoney.com Americans are way overpaying for items and services that you use almost everyday. Here are 6 things that you can't help but pay to much for...
1) Text messaging: If you have a plan that is pay per text your paying aprox $0.10 - $0.25 each. Even plans that are unlimited for a flat rate you're still way overpaying! why??? because texts are such a small amount of data that it costs the carrier less than a penny each to transmit. What does that mean??? You are paying a markup of up to 6,500 %, that's pure profit for the carriers. Phone companies say they use that money to invest in new technology.
2) Movie theatre popcorn: One of the cheapest snacks known to man (so cheap that even bars give it away for free) is popcorn. On average a medium bag of popcorn only costs $0.60 to make and retails for about $6.00, that is a markup of 900%. So why so expensive? Theatres don't make much profit off of movie tickets so they make it up with the snack stand. Popcorn profits are what pays the payroll and maintenance costs.
3) "Free" credit reports: Some websites offer a print out of your credit report... what they don't tell you up front is that it is only free if you sign up (and pay for) their credit services. Which can cost anywhere from $14.95 a month to about $200 a year. That is a lot to pay for a "free" credit check. Instead you can go to AnnualCreditReport.com which is run by the Federal Trade Commission and you can get one truly free credit check a year.
Check back tomorrow for more items/services that are overpriced and why they are that way.
