SortStack #626 — 2028-02-25

By price · Order from cheapest to most expensive.

1. A single supermarket tea bag $0.05

   Tea bags were popularized by accident: a New York merchant shipped samples in silk pouches, and customers dunked the whole pouch.

2. 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.

3. A round-trip economy flight from New York to London $700

   In 1939, a one-way transatlantic ticket on Pan Am's flying boat cost $375 — several months of an average American salary at the time.

4. A brand-new Toyota Corolla $23K

   With over 50 million sold since 1966, the Corolla is the best-selling car nameplate in history — one has been sold roughly every 30 seconds for decades.

5. A new hot-air balloon with basket and burner $40K

   The envelope fabric slowly degrades with UV exposure — most balloons retire after a few hundred flight hours, making cost per flight surprisingly high.

6. A new Porsche 911 Carrera $120K

   The 911's silhouette has barely changed since 1963 — Porsche claims over 70% of all 911s ever built are still on the road.

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