I’m not disagreeing, but is being “overly expensive” really a grift, in and of itself?

It does honestly seem like so many products and services are grifts these days, though.

You go to buy a new bottle of ketchup from the store. The package is identical, same size, same label. But you get it home and just as you’re squeezing the last watery ooze from the old bottle, you notice that the new bottle is 38 oz instead of 40 oz, and then you notice that water is now the top ingredient in the new formula. To me, that’s a grift.

Or, you pay nearly $1,000 a month for “health insurance” and then when you go to use it, this is out of network so you are on the hook 100%, that’s not covered because [some shitty excuse in the fine print], this is covered but you’re still on the hook for 20% of the over inflated insurance price such that it’s basically the same cost they’d charge you if you paid cash and didn’t go through insurance, oh, and by the way you can cancel but you won’t be allowed to buy a different plan until the open enrollment period that’s months away. To me, that’s a grift.

Sign up for our service that offers you unlimited free deliveries to your home and all these other wonderful perks like these two amazing streaming services and more! Except they stop delivering to your address after a few months because you’re no longer considered in their coverage area, and the streaming services both have ads, and pretty much every other “perk” is riddled with similar fine print bullshit that basically negates the benefits of the perk. Now that’s a grift to me.

Okay, I’ll stop there, but you better damn well believe I could go on and on with my complaints about all the grifting going on.