It’s a free market…
I was surprised to read Jason Calacanis' comments about "abusive pricing":
One thing I hate is abusive pricing. Movie theaters charging $4.75 for .15 worth of Diet Coke, New York restaurants that charge $4 for an iced tea without free refills, hotels charging $8 for a tiny pot of coffee and charging you $7 to bring it to your room--you get the idea.
This tweaked me because I don't think what he describes is abusive pricing. Businesses will take advantage of particular situations to make good profits, which might be annoying to you as a consumer, but thems the breaks when you live in a free market economy...Things are worth what someone will pay for them.
At the end of the day it isn't about cost it is about value. If you don't think something isn't worth what someone is charging then don't buy it. Simple supply/demand economics, if enough people agree with you then the business will soon go out of business or they'll adjust their pricing.
Sometimes the supply/demand economics of a certain situation might be unusually balanced in the suppliers favor (eg. the restaurant on the ski field or the hotel coffee shop), but you can't have it both ways as it suits you.
I couldn’t agree more, wherever a business has a circumstantial advantage (i.e. cafe on the mountain), it will make the most of it and price accordingly.
If you want a very readable summary of this and other such fundamental economic principles, take a look at ‘The Undercover Economist’ by Tim Harford.
I had the exact same thoughts, Charles.
Everyone knows Jason can be an arrogant prick, but this really took the cake =)