SortStack #87 — 2026-09-04
By price · Order from cheapest to most expensive.
- A plain slice of pizza in New York City $3.00
The 'Pizza Principle' holds that a NYC slice and a subway ride have cost roughly the same for decades — when one rises, the other tends to follow.
- A pack of cigarettes in the US, on average $8.00
Prices vary wildly by state taxes: a pack runs around six dollars in Missouri but can top twelve in New York.
- A bespoke suit from Savile Row in London $5.5K
A true bespoke suit takes around 50 hours of handwork and multiple fittings. The word 'bespoke' itself comes from Savile Row — cloth 'spoken for' by a customer.
- A new Rolex Submariner at retail $10.8K
For years the waiting lists were so long that used Submariners sold above new ones — an inversion almost unheard of in luxury goods.
- One year at Harvard, including tuition, room, and board $82K
Harvard's endowment is so large that the university could theoretically let every undergraduate attend free and barely notice — financial aid means many already pay little.
- New Kim, the world's most expensive racing pigeon $1.9M
A Chinese buyer won the 2020 auction for the Belgian hen. Pigeon racing's huge prize purses in China have turned top breeding birds into seven-figure assets.