SortStack #1977 — 2031-11-07

By price · Order from cheapest to most expensive.

1. A plain slice of pizza in New York City $3.00

   The 'Pizza Principle' holds that a NYC slice and a subway ride have cost roughly the same for decades — when one rises, the other tends to follow.

2. One month of Netflix's standard ad-free plan $18

   Netflix began in 1998 mailing DVDs in red envelopes — it shipped its final disc in 2023 after posting over five billion of them.

3. 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.

4. A bespoke suit from Savile Row in London $5.5K

   A true bespoke suit takes around 50 hours of handwork and multiple fittings. The word 'bespoke' itself comes from Savile Row — cloth 'spoken for' by a customer.

5. One year of renting a giant panda from China $1M

   China owns nearly every panda on Earth and leases them to foreign zoos — cubs born abroad are also Chinese property and must eventually be flown 'home.'

6. 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.

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