The Cost of Really Living
You may recall that Nick and Coral Reef band got to perform at a Miami Dolphins game earlier this season.
I desperately wanted to go to the game to see him perform… I got scared, though, when I started looking at the prices.
Sure, they have those $300 – $800 Super Deluxe seats, I thought, but I’m okay with the “nosebleed” section.
On TicketMaster, the cheapest tickets are $41!
They have a “ticket swap” set up, where you can buy tickets from season ticket holders who won’t be using them… But the cheapest thing there was $53!
So back to TicketMaster…
Three seats – yes, I have to buy one for Jewel – at $41, is $123.
Of course there’s a “convenience charge” of $10. PER TICKET! $30 brings us to $153.
You can buy your parking fee in advance, too… Guess how much? $25! Twenty-five bucks. To PARK!
So that’s now $178.
Naturally, I don’t want to pay fees to have them express delivery the tickets to me. But it costs an additional $2.50 for the privledge of printing them myself!
$180.50
Wait! There are no $41 tickets available – the cheapest is $52. But, inexplicably, the convenience charge on these drops to $7.50 each, so it “only” adds $25.50.
Hmmm. Can’t print out the parking pass. So I guess we either pay that at the gate, or go with another delivery method. Standard Mail is (*gasp*) no charge… So we save $2.50, and hope they arrive in time.
Wait! I’m on the checkout page now (just because I can’t resist knowing, not becase I can afford to purchase them)… and there’s a $4.00 “Order Processing Fee” added on to the very end.
They want to bill my credit card for $206.75.
I hate to think what they charge for Hot Dogs… But I digress.
We did get to go, as Mom graciously sponsored the event as an early Christmas present. And the stadium was FULL. Sold out, packed, full.
The economy is horrible. People are out of work, losing their homes, and unable to make ends meet…
So how do all those people find the hundreds of dollars it takes to attend a football game?
And why is it that important to them?
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(fried hot dogs! Mmmm)
December 21st, 2009 at 5:27 pm
“The economy is horrible. People are out of work, losing their homes, and unable to make ends meet…
So how do all those people find the hundreds of dollars it takes to attend a football game?
And why is it that important to them?”
Because your feeding into the media hype. Sure, many people are struggling, but many people are doing better than ever too. The headline reads 10% unemployment, the reality is 90% are still working. Roughly 1/3 of all homeowners own their home free and clear. Zero mortgage. They work, they save, they invest. While some sit complaining of what they lack, others are taking a 2nd job or finding some way to be innovative.
I’m not her to trumpet a particular opinion, I’m just answering your question.
Common people all around you are buying (for all cash) those homes that got over sold and people lied to get their loans. Smart banks that were prudent, bought the assets of irresponsible banks and are hauling in large profits. Science, technology and other industries continue to innovate to create “must have” products and rewarding their employees to do so.
So who buys those tickets? The prudent, the investor, the saver, the innovator and the guy willing to work harder than the next guy so he can indulge in the vice of his choice.
December 21st, 2009 at 11:01 pm
Well, Michael, on the one hand, I do understand your point…
It is not true, however, that 90% of people are working – not even 90% of those who wish to be, and never mind those who are partially employed or underemployed.
I am not buying into a hype… I am stating the view from our life, and the lives of those around us.
[Besides, isn't the adminstration's "hype" saying that everything is better now? But I digress...]
Taking a second job? I don’t know what hype this is drawn from, but certainly not the one where there are so many applicants for any job that opens up that HR people are overwhelmed and close listings early, raise qualifications arbitrarily, and drop pay and benefits because they CAN.
That’s not hype, that’s our life of the past 2.5 years.
January 26th, 2010 at 10:56 pm
We were just talking about this recently. Our family lives in a city with a lot of sports and my kids have never been to a football, hockey or baseball game here. It’s ok, it isn’t what we really value, but I am still amazed by what the stadiums think of as “bargain pricing”. Over 200 dollars for a family to go to a football game is outrageous.
I’m not willing to leave my kids in afterschool care and get a job away from the home so that we can have luxuries like going to football games.