SortStack #899 — 2028-11-24

By price · Order from cheapest to most expensive.

1. An average US movie theater ticket $11

   Theaters keep little of this — studios take most of the box office, which is why a bucket of popcorn can cost nearly as much as the seat.

2. An Xbox Series S console $349

   Microsoft has long sold consoles near or below manufacturing cost, betting on game sales and subscriptions to make the profit.

3. The average new car in the United States $48K

   The average new-car price has nearly doubled since 2010, driven by buyers abandoning sedans for loaded SUVs and trucks.

4. The annual permit for the hot dog cart spot outside the Met museum in New York $289K

   Prime NYC park vending spots are auctioned by the city — the pitch outside the Metropolitan Museum has commanded more per year than most American homes cost.

5. Paul Newman's own Rolex Daytona, sold at auction $17.8M

   The watch was a gift from his wife, engraved 'Drive Carefully Me.' Its 2017 sale made it the most expensive wristwatch ever auctioned at the time.

6. Building the Large Hadron Collider at CERN $4.8B

   The LHC's 27 km ring is colder than outer space — its magnets sit at 1.9 kelvin — and it briefly held a section of the emptiest vacuum in the solar system.

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