How to Get Ripped off On Vacation: Gift Shops
By: Keith
We’ve been to numerous national parks and other tourist attraction over the course of the past three weeks; Goblin Valley, Bryce Canyon, Zion, The Queen Mary and the Scorpion submarine, Malibu, Morro Bay, Hearst Castle, Santa Cruz Boardwalk and Mystery Spot and, finally, Alcatraz. We’re not even done yet. Entrance to a lot of these places is expensive. For instance, the ferry to Alcatraz was 26 dollars for adults and 16 for kids, The Hearst Castle was 24 dollars for adults and 12 for kids. The Queen Mary was 24.95 dollars for adults and 12.95 for children (but we had a buy-one-get-one free coupon). Bryce Canyon is 25 dollars per car and so is Zion. Goblin Valley was just 7 dollars per car. If all you plan on doing is visiting one or two tourist attractions then I suppose the price is bearable. To visit as many as we’ve seen this month is prohibitively expensive. And, thanks to supply and demand, only rich people can shop at the gift shops.
Pencils and Chocolate:
I took a picture of the pencils from the gift shop at the Hearst Castle and another from the Santa Cruz mystery spot. It’s is an example of how supply and demand works. At 50 cents, the Mystery Spot is still making a huge profit off of a single pencil. But, the Hearst Castle is in a different league altogether. Would you spend 1$ on a pencil? Obviously there are people who do or they wouldn’t sell them for that. How about 50 cents? It’s the same kind of pencil; the only difference is that one says Mystery spot and the other, Hearst Castle. By the way, a simple refrigerator magnet at the Hearst Castle was 10 dollars; the Mystery spot magnets were 4 dollars. I know, I took a picture of pencils — weird, right. You should have seen the people’s faces who were wondering why I was taking a picture of pencils.
Chocolate:
Maybe going to the source isn’t a fair comparison, but still. Would you pay a dollar for a Ghirardelli chocolate square? I eat those things by the handful. At a dollar each I’d go broke with my chocolate habit. How about a bag of 80 for 24.95 dollars? I cheated though because the second picture was taken at Ghirardelli Square here in San Francisco. Yes, it’s a tourist trap, and there’s lots of demand. That should make it expensive. However, there’s also an abundance of supply and competition. At Hearst Castle you’d have to drive 50 miles to get another chocolate (seriously, we almost ran out of gas before we hit the next station). The stupid things didn’t even have Hearst Castle printed on them.
Some Things are just Worth it:
Sometimes you just can’t help yourself and you absolutely must buy a trinket from a tourist trap. I bought replica dinner trays from Alcatraz yesterday. I thought they were the most awesome things ever and had to have them. They cost me 14 dollars each, but it was worth it in my mind because where else am I going to get a stamped metal dinner tray that says Alcatraz on it? I suppose some people feel that way about pencils too. Chocolates, though? You’d be a fool to spend a dollar on one square.
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We you able to take a picture of the candies and the pencils with your Kindle? Sorry, couldn’t resist.
The kids and I have been to several places over the years and I always steadfastly refuse to allow them to buy anything from the gift shops. You hit it on the head with whole thing being a rip off. Sadder still, nothing they sell is authentic. Most of it, if inspected closely, will say something like “make in Taiwan” or some other place. The toys are cheap and last about as long as a solar eclipse. Further, much of the stuff in these gift shops has little to do with the attraction other than a stamped or stickered name of said attraction.
Over the last couple of years, I’ve basically decided to avoid gift shops all together. They almost never have any real value.
.-= Tim Blake´s last blog ..There’s still more to do! =-.
Yeah, we think we’re going to spend only x-y-z amount of money during a vacation and in reality, we have learned to look at that figure and double it. And that’s when we DON’T spend ANY money at gift shops. If my bro.-in-law didn’t have a condo at the beach, I guess we’d never go. Hotel rooms during the summer are ridiculous and there are NO amenities, crappy pools and a continental breakfast that consists of a hard bagel and maybe some room temperature orange juice. Bleh. Unless you have someone to stay with, I don’t see how anyone can travel right now.
I’m going to new york for the first time in a few months.. I totally expect to get ripped off there..
.-= Eric´s last blog ..Getting Rich At Home =-.
Best to take pictures, which are free!
.-= Dennis Yu´s last blog ..3 Facebook ads on the homepage =-.
Dude, you should of bought some chocolate to eat off your new trays!
.-= Chris @ CleverFather´s last blog ..Step2 Buggies Recalled =-.
Ban the gift shops, it’s the only way to go!
.-= Tina´s last blog ..Step2 Recalls 2.5 Million Ride on Toys for a Design Flaw =-.