Yesterday, I wrote about how while I was in Las Vegas, I scored a great hotel room for not all that much money. This kind of thing is fast becoming an exception there — a too rare exception. I've been going to that city since the mid-eighties and watched the cost of everything rising faster than mere inflation can explain.
The most likely explanation is this: Those who sold goods and services to tourists there discovered that they could raise prices without losing customers. A guy who sold hamburgers for $5.00 found that when he raised their price to six bucks, he sold no fewer burgers…or if he did, he didn't lose enough that his profits did not go up. And the same thing happened when the hot dogs became seven bucks or eight. There was a point when increases became cost-ineffective but there was much more room to hike them than you would have thought.
This has proven true of shows. It's proven true of souvenirs. I don't know if it's proven true of hookers — remind me to tell you of my brush with one — but it wouldn't surprise me. It's certainly proven true of basic food items.
As readers of this blog know, I have a festering obsession with the price of Crystal Geyser bottled spring water. The CG Roxane company bottles it at seven different locations across the United States — Tennessee, New York, New Hampshire, Arkansas, South Carolina and two in California. I haven't sampled every version but my favorite H2O in Los Angeles comes from their bottling plant on Mt. Shasta in Olancha, CA.
In most areas, they offer the basic Crystal Geyser label and also the Roxane label but in some areas, the 365 water sold at Whole Foods is CG Roxane water. I've also seen their water sold as the house brands at Trader Joe's, Sprouts Farmers Markets, Walgreens and others. Same water, same bottle, different label. Some chains make deals with different water suppliers. I haven't checked lately but a few years ago, the gallons sold at Trader Joe's locally were from CG Roxane, whereas the smaller bottles were from a different bottling firm.
In L.A., the price of a gallon ranges from 99 cents to about $1.49. As I noted here, Whole Foods was selling Crystal Geyser gallons for $1.99 side-by-side with their house brand label of THE SAME WATER for 99 cents. Lately, the Whole Foods I patronize has only the latter. I'd like to believe that because I exposed the practice on this blog, they gave it up.
A few blocks away, a 99-Cent Store has Crystal Geyser gallons for 99 cents, making Crystal Geyser water the only item which costs the same at Whole Foods as it does at the 99-Cent Store, albeit with a different label. And it's more expensive at the CVS Pharmacy which is next to the Whole Foods. It's $1.29 there.
Okay, so let's get back to Vegas. When I checked in Sunday night, I went out for a late night meal at a White Castle — remind me to tell you about that, too — then went next door to a Walgreens to get a gallon of water for my room. They had CG Roxane water there with the Roxane label…for $2.69 a bottle. Later, I went to a CVS there and saw it with the Crystal Geyser label, also for $2.69 and the next day, went into a little convenience store where it was — wouldn't you know it? — $2.69.
You think Russian collusion is bad? How about that, huh?
Of course, I paid it. What am I going to do? Hail a cab and have him take me off the strip to a super market where, I imagine, I could save $1.70? All of Vegas has become like that now. It's like, "You're our prisoner while you're here and no matter where you turn, no matter where you go, a slice of pizza is seven dollars."
But I still like the place. In the next part, I'll tell you a few of the reasons why.