Did I Seriously Just Pay $10 for a Bud Light?
We’ve all been there. You go to a concert, or sporting event, a movie, etc, etc, and you buy the concessions, knowing they’re going to be outrageously overpriced. At this point, most of us have just accepted this as a fact and we can only hope that the entertainment will make the expenditures seem worthwhile.
However, there are some times when you have to look and shake your head, and I think this is one of those times. Last week, my wife and I went to see Depeche Mode. It was a great show, but this post isn’t really about the show at all. Once we arrived, I thought I’d have a little pre-show beverage. The beer choices were, not surprisingly, slim. After deciding on a Bud Light, the not-so-kind girl behind the counter asks if I want a small or large. She was kind enough to notify me that a large was only $2 more, though she didn’t bother to say what it was $2 more than. Me, having long since accepted that fact that paying out the ass for concessions is just what you do at concerts, didn’t bother to ask what the basis of “$2 more” was. Before the cashier even finished ringing me up, I had a $20 bill on the counter. I see the total… $10. I took my beer, and was on my merry way…
A few seconds later, the magnitude of this purchase hit me. Did I seriously just pay $10 for Bud Light? For crappy, watery-ass, Bud Light? Just to put this in perspective, I checked the prices at a local liquor store, to see how far $10 would go towards purchasing Anheuser-Busch products, and here’s what I came up with (prices exclude tax):
- 1.75 Bud/Bud Light 12oz 6-packs @ $5.69/each (126oz total =~ 1 gallon)
- 1.43 Bud/Bud Light 16oz 6-packs @ $6.99/each (137oz total)
- 2.5 Bud Ice 12oz 6-packs @ $3.99/each (180 oz. total) (I didn’t know Bud Ice still existed!)
- 2.22 Busch 16oz 6-packs @ $4.49/each (213 oz. total)
When you look at the sheer quantity of Anheuser-Busch products that can be purchased for the same price (minus tax) as this solitary 24oz beer, it’s staggering. We’re not just talking a small difference here. We’re talking more than a gallon of beer in each case. In the case of Busch, it’s on the plus side of 1.5 gallons! I’m not saying I want to go drink a gallon of Busch, Bud Ice, or any beer for that matter, but it just goes to demonstrate the ass raping that myself and my fellow consumers were subjected to.
The moral of the story? If there is one at all, I guess it’s to get to the lot early and have a few drinks, be they alcoholic or otherwise, prior to the show, or sneak in a flask. I think we’ve gotten so used to paying outrageous prices for entertainment that we tend to overlook when we’re being completely bamboozled. Brothers and sisters, it’s time to take back the streets!
All prices courtesy of Smoke Rise Bottle Shoppe
P.S. <ResponsibleStatement>If you want to get completely shitfaced, please make sure you have a ride!</ResponsibleStatement>
