SortStack #696 — 2028-05-05
By price · Order from cheapest to most expensive.
- A grande latte at Starbucks $4.50
The coffee beans in a latte cost the chain well under fifty cents — milk, labor, and rent make up most of what you pay.
- An Instant Pot pressure cooker $90
The Instant Pot was invented by a laid-off Canadian telecom engineer — it became so beloved that owners formed recipe communities millions strong.
- LEGO's giant Ultimate Collector Series Millennium Falcon set $850
At over 7,500 pieces it is one of the largest LEGO sets ever sold — sealed originals of the 2007 version have resold for several times the new price.
- A Hermes Birkin handbag at retail, entry size $12K
The bag was born on a flight when actress Jane Birkin's basket spilled — the Hermes CEO sitting beside her sketched a better bag on an airsickness bag.
- The Pink Star diamond, sold at auction in Hong Kong $71.2M
A previous buyer defaulted after bidding $83 million, forcing a re-auction — the 59.6 carat stone took two years just to cut and polish.
- The USS Gerald R. Ford, the US Navy's newest aircraft carrier $13B
It launches jets with electromagnetic catapults instead of steam, and its two reactors are designed to run 25 years without refueling.