SortStack #500 — 2027-10-22

By price · Order from cheapest to most expensive.

1. A US Forever postage stamp $0.78

   Forever stamps never expire and stay valid even after rate hikes — buying sheets before an increase is one of America's tiniest investments.

2. A full tank of gas for a midsize car in the US $45

   About half the pump price of US gasoline is the crude oil itself — refining, distribution, and taxes split the rest.

3. A dozen red roses from a florist $55

   Most US roses are flown in from Colombia and Ecuador — around Valentine's Day, cargo jets full of nothing but flowers land in Miami daily.

4. A pair of Apple AirPods Pro $249

   AirPods alone generate more revenue than Spotify, Twitter, and Shopify each did when analysts ran the comparison — earbuds as a Fortune 500-scale business.

5. An Apple Vision Pro headset $3.5K

   Each Vision Pro contains more pixels in its two tiny displays than a 4K television — packed into screens roughly the size of postage stamps.

6. The James Webb Space Telescope $10B

   Webb's mirror is coated with about 48 grams of gold — roughly a golf ball's worth — spread across 18 hexagonal segments.

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