SortStack #556 — 2027-12-17

By price · Order from cheapest to most expensive.

1. A Nintendo Switch Lite console $199

   Nintendo has a history of durable hardware: the original Game Boy survived a Gulf War bombing and still works, on display at Nintendo New York.

2. A whole wheel of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese $1.3K

   Italian banks accept Parmigiano wheels as loan collateral — one regional bank keeps hundreds of thousands of wheels aging in climate-controlled vaults.

3. The average used car in the United States $27.5K

   During the pandemic chip shortage, some lightly used cars briefly sold for more than their brand-new equivalents — dealers couldn't get new stock.

4. A Steinway Model D concert grand piano $200K

   Each Model D takes about a year to build and contains over 12,000 parts. Most major concert halls keep several, tuned before every performance.

5. A Boeing 737 MAX 8 airliner at list price $120M

   Airlines almost never pay list price — discounts of around half are standard, which is why Boeing eventually stopped publishing its price sheet entirely.

6. The Sochi Winter Olympics, the most expensive Games ever held $51B

   The 2014 Winter Games cost more than every previous Winter Olympics combined — a subtropical beach resort had to be re-engineered for snow sports.

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