Pricing madness

Sometimes the price of things just astounds me. I recently bought a Hewlett Packard multi-function printer, scanner and copier for $28.00.

Then today I went to a store to buy two plastic cutlery baskets for our dishwasher. I ended up walking out of the store as they were priced at $46.65 each+GST. These baskets seem to last only a few years and one would think that they could be knocked out in the People's Republic Plastic Factory #3500 for a few cents each. I had a close look at them and they don't seem to have any moving parts, electronic circuitry or flashing lights like the printer.

I have been thinking of getting our Sonata converted to gas and so today went to a workshop near us here to get the price. The Federal Government and the State Government both subsidise the conversion to the tune of $3,000 but that still leaves $1200 extra to find. Gas conversion results in less power and more consumption and I will have to do my sums to see if the whole idea is really good economy as the demand is high and the conversion could not be done until late September and the price of gas will probably leap along with petrol. Pessimist Kev!