Everything is Shit: Tracking the Great Enshittening

[Covri 6249]

Have y’all seen the prices CVS charges for items in their stores? Buy one get one deals still more expensive then anywhere else. Plus they’re actively ruining healthcare through their monopolistic pharmacy and health care insurance (they own Aetna) plans. So I’m not saying people should steal deodorant from them…. but I understand.

[Bevo 13577]

7 minutes ago, Covri said:

Have y’all seen the prices CVS charges for items in their stores? Buy one get one deals still more expensive then anywhere else. Plus they’re actively ruining healthcare through their monopolistic pharmacy and health care insurance (they own Aetna) plans. So I’m not saying people should steal deodorant from them…. but I understand.

In general, I am very against stealing. However, if you don't have the money, deodorant is the one product that I condone. If I was mayor of New York or Paris, I would make the product mandatory for anyone using mass transit.

[flatdawgs 1278]

44 minutes ago, Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand said:

I blame AT&T.

How ya like me now?

https://www.msn.com/en-US/finance/-companies/consumers-are-increasingly-pushing-back-against-price-increases--and-winning/ar-BB1iQNyF?ocid=sapphireappshare

"Continue reading in the app." lol

Enshittification. 

[Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand 13585]

I enjoy stealing. 

[Captainant 27668]

1 hour ago, Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand said:

I blame AT&T.

How ya like me now?

https://www.msn.com/en-US/finance/-companies/consumers-are-increasingly-pushing-back-against-price-increases--and-winning/ar-BB1iQNyF?ocid=sapphireappshare

https://apnews.com/article/inflation-consumers-price-gouging-spending-economy-999e81e2f869a0151e2ee6bbb63370af

How's that?

[Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand 13585]

48 minutes ago, Captainant said:

https://apnews.com/article/inflation-consumers-price-gouging-spending-economy-999e81e2f869a0151e2ee6bbb63370af

How's that?

Goin' on feelin' strong

[52-80 19158]

11 hours ago, Covri said:

Have y’all seen the prices CVS charges for items in their stores? Buy one get one deals still more expensive then anywhere else  

Imagine all the money you could make undercutting CVS on the price of their deoderant.

It’s so dumb that Walmart, Target, Kroger, Albertsons, HEB, Costco, Gas stations, Walgreens, corner stores, and the trillion other shops selling deoderant arent taking advantage of this price distortion. 

With 3 cents of pre-tax profit they take in for every $1.00 dollar of sales, if only America allowed easy commerce, you could serve your community and still earn a literal penny out of it. 

[52-80 19158]

On 2/23/2024 at 11:28 PM, Chopper said:

You've enshittened the enshittification thread. Congrats. Now seek mental help.

You're so fucking out of touch with reality you can't even grasp the concept of WORKING AT versus VISITING. You're seriously suffering some form of cognitive impairment. The example I used about a store was one of many measures stores take to reduce inventory shrink - just like the burden of having to lift a piece of plexi.

What does your mental help say about denial of basic reality?

Is this report real? Was this a normal state of affair in your childhood to require a one-on-one shopper to buy a screwdriver? Or is this the mega-conglomerate “Fredricksen” faking theft for sympathy?

You’re so mentally compromised you can’t recognize what’s actually happening. Sad. 

[Homercles 10205]

JfC y’all take that shit somewhere else  already…or go get jobs with a San Francisco CVS and report back.  Shoplifting is a real thing, and so is corporate greed.  

[Captainant 27668]

42 minutes ago, 52-80 said:

What does your mental help say about denial of basic reality?

Is this report real? Was this a normal state of affair in your childhood to require a one-on-one shopper to buy a screwdriver? Or is this the mega-conglomerate “Fredricksen” faking theft for sympathy?

You’re so mentally compromised you can’t recognize what’s actually happening. Sad. 

You've got the vibes of a gated community Karen getting worked up over shit that doesn't affect them. You are so singularly focused on shoplifting as some sort of weird rhetorical "parry" to confronting the reality of enshittification, it's amazing. 

Reminds me of a few years ago when cops were opening fire on protesters and strangling people to death on video and you and yours were desperate to deflect the threads to property crime instead of police brutality, and simply retreated to that position as a matter of course.

It doesn't matter how much data is shown to you in this thread that shoplifting is vastly overstated, you'll just power through with anecdotes and culture warring. 

[Bevo 13577]

12 minutes ago, Homercles said:

JfC y’all take that shit somewhere else  already…or go get jobs with a San Francisco CVS and report back.  Shoplifting is a real thing, and so is corporate greed.  

Corporate greed is a funny phrase. If you purchased your home 5 years ago and the price has doubled, is selling it at market today greedy? Would anyone sell their house below market because of greed? People pay market prices. If the product can be made more cheaply, new competitors will come in and undercut the market leader. This is not to say that corporations can't price gouge when they have monopolies and the government (through lobbying ie bribing public servants) has certainly allowed plenty of monopolies. However, when auto-mechanics overcharge or plumbers, or builders overcharge, that isn't corporate greed. That is more of a new normal of everybody doing anything for a buck. It is a systemic illness in our society and in other societies where ethics have taken a backseat to survival and a quest for material goods.

Inflation has played a big part in this. Prices rose and costs to employers rose as lower level employees now make probably double what they were making before inflation. Employers have thus raised their prices to compensate. And the middle class has been squeezed as their pay hasn't gone up enough to pay the new normal prices.

[Captainant 27668]

14 minutes ago, Bevo said:

Inflation has played a big part in this. Prices rose and costs to employers rose as lower level employees now make probably double what they were making before inflation.

It should be remembered when talking about "doubling wages!!!" That you're talking about people going from $7.50/hr to $15/hr. $15/hr is fucking poverty wages these days - you're bringing home like $1200 after taxes every two weeks. If you're extremely lucky, rent is gonna be more than half your monthly income if not almost all of it - nevermind food or medical expenses or little indulgences like clothes and children. 

It is really remarkable how stagnant wages have historically been compared to overall economic growth and per capita economic contribution. Just look at dollar amount. Wage earning raises over the last decade didn't come close to touching executive compensation increases over the last couple years. 

Edited February 26 by Captainant

[Bevo 13577]

27 minutes ago, Captainant said:

It should be remembered when talking about "doubling wages!!!" That you're talking about people going from $7.50/hr to $15/hr. $15/hr is fucking poverty wages these days - you're bringing home like $1200 after taxes every two weeks. If you're extremely lucky, rent is gonna be more than half your monthly income if not almost all of it - nevermind food or medical expenses or little indulgences like clothes and children. 

It is really remarkable how stagnant wages have historically been compared to overall economic growth and per capita economic contribution. Just look at dollar amount. Wage earning raises over the last decade didn't come close to touching executive compensation increases over the last couple years. 

That doesn't change the fact that I have people coming into my office stating that their insurance says that a procedure costs $12. Well, when my employees make over $25/hr my only choice is to tell the patient to get bent and find a new provider. $12/5 employees doesn't cover much, probably not even supplies.  And for some reason putting a tip line to help pay for staff is frowned upon.

So what is the solution for us? Put in add on charges? Join groups to help combat insurance monopolies? Price gouge non-insurance patients? Which would you as a patient be happy about? What services would you expect at $12? After all, all your asking is for an increase in employee pay.

 

[Captainant 27668]

3 minutes ago, Bevo said:

That doesn't change the fact that I have people coming into my office stating that their insurance says that a procedure costs $12. Well, when my employees make over $25/hr my only choice is to tell the patient to get bent and find a new provider. $12/5 employees doesn't cover much, probably not even supplies.  And for some reason putting a tip line to help pay for staff is frowned upon.

So what is the solution for us? Put in add on charges? Join groups to help combat insurance monopolies? Price gouge non-insurance patients? Which would you as a patient be happy about? What services would you expect at $12? After all, all your asking is for an increase in employee pay.

Well, I would imagine that some of the thousands of insurance premiums and copays that my wife and I pay each year would help to cover those costs, but fuck me I guess. I'm sorry your industry has been enshittified by private equity so thoroughly. 

[Bevo 13577]

12 minutes ago, Captainant said:

Well, I would imagine that some of the thousands of insurance premiums and copays that my wife and I pay each year would help to cover those costs, but fuck me I guess. I'm sorry your industry has been enshittified by private equity so thoroughly. 

The funny thing about insurance premiums is that they go to insurance companies. Insurance companies have lobbyists and by design, they have power over individual providers. So insurance companies have been able to increase their rates to people such as yourself so that they can pay their employees and their stockholders, but providers have not seen any of that increase. In fact rates to doctors have been declining over the last few decades including through this rapid surge in inflation. So when a doctor only takes a minute to speak with a patient, it is by design of the system and not necessarily what the doctor or the patient would prefer.

[Captainant 27668]

Just now, Bevo said:

The funny thing about insurance premiums is that they go to insurance companies. Insurance companies have lobbyists and by design, they have power over individual providers. So insurance companies have been able to increase their rates to people such as yourself so that they can pay their employees and their stockholders, but providers have not seen any of that increase. In fact rates to doctors have been declining over the last few decades including through this rapid surge in inflation. So when a doctor only takes a minute to speak with a patient, it is by design of the system and not necessarily what the doctor or the patient would prefer.

It's just too bad that it costs orders of magnitude more to work directly with my medical provider and that I am forced to go through a private, for-profit death panel to dictate which treatment is profitable enough for them to approve. 

It's almost like some systems should not prioritize profitability, and blindly ignoring that to chase PE cash-outs has extremely deleterious effects on health outcomes. But hey man, they have a RIGHT to extract profits from any entity that they own! It's the American dream, social consequences be damned!

 

And this isn't directed at you - you're as much a victim of the healthcare industry as anyone else that owes a literal life debt of medical costs to them. But hey, those quarterly profits aren't going to grow themselves! 

[Bevo 13577]

6 minutes ago, Captainant said:

It's just too bad that it costs orders of magnitude more to work directly with my medical provider and that I am forced to go through a private, for-profit death panel to dictate which treatment is profitable enough for them to approve. 

It's almost like some systems should not prioritize profitability, and blindly ignoring that to chase PE cash-outs has extremely deleterious effects on health outcomes. But hey man, they have a RIGHT to extract profits from any entity that they own! It's the American dream, social consequences be damned!

 

And this isn't directed at you - you're as much a victim of the healthcare industry as anyone else that owes a literal life debt of medical costs to them. But hey, those quarterly profits aren't going to grow themselves! 

80% of healthcare costs are attributed to 20% of the populace: the chronically ill. Most of the biologics cost in excess of $100,000 per year. And biologics are used to treat autoimmune diseases and cancer. So expect psoriasis, RA, IBD, Lupus, etc. to cost $100,000 annually to treat. The point is that your money in premiums mainly go towards treating others. At least until age 55, where most other people's health begins to decline and they start using some of the healthcare dollars that they have been contributing into the system.

So yeah, insurance companies have been making great profits, but they have issues as well. As an aside, I've always found it interesting that the oncology drug market is $311 Billion today and was $3 Billion in the 1990s. That is a 9900% increase from when I entered the workforce to today.

[Brisketexan 105139]

1 hour ago, Bevo said:

The funny thing about insurance premiums is that they go to insurance companies. Insurance companies have lobbyists and by design, they have power over individual providers. So insurance companies have been able to increase their rates to people such as yourself so that they can pay their employees and their stockholders, but providers have not seen any of that increase. In fact rates to doctors have been declining over the last few decades including through this rapid surge in inflation. So when a doctor only takes a minute to speak with a patient, it is by design of the system and not necessarily what the doctor or the patient would prefer.

What you are describing is.....enshittification.  See below.

1 hour ago, Captainant said:

It's just too bad that it costs orders of magnitude more to work directly with my medical provider and that I am forced to go through a private, for-profit death panel to dictate which treatment is profitable enough for them to approve. 

It's almost like some systems should not prioritize profitability, and blindly ignoring that to chase PE cash-outs has extremely deleterious effects on health outcomes. But hey man, they have a RIGHT to extract profits from any entity that they own! It's the American dream, social consequences be damned!

And this isn't directed at you - you're as much a victim of the healthcare industry as anyone else that owes a literal life debt of medical costs to them. But hey, those quarterly profits aren't going to grow themselves! 

We have a poorly designed system that has created a massive profit-taker class (insurance companies) as the middle-man.  And that class is good at one thing, and one thing only: extracting dollars from the system.  I can't even blame them -- it's what they are, it's what they do, it would be foolish to expect anything else.  It's kinda like the reason I don't dislike sharks, ravenous eating machines that they are.  "Eating everything" is what sharks do, it's what they were designed for, how can I begrudge a shark when it spots my stringer of trout and nabs them?

The problem isn't the sharks.  The problem is that we the people put sharks in charge of healthcare, and then we get upset when they just consume and consume. Dude.  It's what sharks do, what did we expect?

Equilibrium with respect to many things (think "things that serve the public good") involves sufficient opportunity for profit to be an incentive to innovation and such, coupled with sufficient regulation and management to ensure that serving the public good also occupies a priority position in the hierarchy.  And no, nothing in history has ever hit the perfect bullseye on that, because humans and systems are complex.  One thing is too cumbersome because the regulation and bureaucracy are too stout; another thing doesn't prioritize the public good enough because it's too tilted towards profits.  But trying to strike the balance is what a healthy society should do.  Avoiding enshittification would be a good thing.  But we can't even agree on that.  So, fuck it.  We'll get the ongoing steaming piles of shit that we deserve.

[Bevo 13577]

5 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

What you are describing is.....enshittification.  See below.

We have a poorly designed system that has created a massive profit-taker class (insurance companies) as the middle-man.  And that class is good at one thing, and one thing only: extracting dollars from the system.  I can't even blame them -- it's what they are, it's what they do, it would be foolish to expect anything else.  It's kinda like the reason I don't dislike sharks, ravenous eating machines that they are.  "Eating everything" is what sharks do, it's what they were designed for, how can I begrudge a shark when it spots my stringer of trout and nabs them?

The problem isn't the sharks.  The problem is that we the people put sharks in charge of healthcare, and then we get upset when they just consume and consume. Dude.  It's what sharks do, what did we expect?

Equilibrium with respect to many things (think "things that serve the public good") involves sufficient opportunity for profit to be an incentive to innovation and such, coupled with sufficient regulation and management to ensure that serving the public good also occupies a priority position in the hierarchy.  And no, nothing in history has ever hit the perfect bullseye on that, because humans and systems are complex.  One thing is too cumbersome because the regulation and bureaucracy are too stout; another thing doesn't prioritize the public good enough because it's too tilted towards profits.  But trying to strike the balance is what a healthy society should do.  Avoiding enshittification would be a good thing.  But we can't even agree on that.  So, fuck it.  We'll get the ongoing steaming piles of shit that we deserve.

I'll just make one caveat - We all want to be sharks, but unfortunately some of us (most of us) are just live bait.

Edited February 26 by Bevo

[Chopper 17235]

Further caveats: Corporations, even insurers and hospitals, are buying up private med practices. Private equity is purchasing hospital chains.

edit: even Walgreens owns a large chain of private medical practices

Edited February 26 by Chopper

[Brisketexan 105139]

3 minutes ago, Bevo said:

I'll just make one caveat - We all want to be sharks, but unfortunately some of us (most of us) are just live bait.

Yep.  The bulk of our voting public is sardines, voting for sharks and a shark-friendly system because they think that they too can grow up and be sharks.  No, fuckers.  You're sardines.  Maybe start applying optimal sardine strategies, so you can survive like this:

...instead of being a fucking consumable commodity, like this:

[elfenix 34240]

i use cheap suave brand shower gel.  get the larger bottle with a pump on top.  they switched the pump to something that looks like it uses more plastic.  it leaks.  holding onto the last old pump i salvaged and hoping it doesn't break. 

 

sorry to break up your totes not CR party. 

[Bevo 13577]

 

FAFO

[Brisketexan 105139]

21 minutes ago, Bevo said:

 

FAFO

Now imagine a bunch of those sardines leaving their protective group and swimming up to the sharks, and saying "hey guys, we've totally gotta preserve the shark-friendly system.  Isn't it great that we're pals?  Someday, I'll be just like you!"....and the scene ends with that sardine being summarily bitten in half by a shark that barely had to make the effort to turn its head to do so.

[SimonBolivar 10958]

22 hours ago, Nicole44 said:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ar-BB1iQFrK

Massive Joro spiders are likely to continue their march across the United States thanks to their ability to adapt to human-dominated environments, a new analysis suggests. 

The spiders, which are native to East Asia, have large yellow-and-black bodies, long legs and an ability to spin orb-like webs. First confirmed in the United States in 2014, in northeast Georgia, they have since spread across the Southeast.
 

———————

In about two years man…these spiders 🕷️ will be everywhere. Probably eating the massive mosquito (even though not related to mosquitos) insects we see at end of winter/beginning of spring. 

They have no fear of noises or city environments. Can pretty much tolerate all out obnoxiousness. Cool cool cool. 

Seem cool enough to me

The adult female's body size is 17–25 millimetres (0.67–0.98 in) while the male's is 7–10 millimetres (0.28–0.39 in).

As of 2022, because of the relative lack of information about its ecology, their impact on their new ecosystem is unknown. They have been observed catching the brown marmorated stink bug (Halymorpha halys), an invasive species that native spiders have not been known to eat, and it has also been hoped that they may consume mosquitoes and flies. Some hope that the impact of the species will be positive due to their harmless nature and consumption of primarily invasive or nuisance insects.

 

 

[Nicole44 22060]

Some days feel like this honestly. 
 

 

Dayum….one day you are a hot shit apex predator and then…boom…

[Brisketexan 105139]

1 minute ago, Nicole44 said:

Some days feel like this honestly. 
 

 

Dayum….one day you are a hot shit apex predator and then…boom…

The problem is that 99% of the people who consider themselves predators....are really just prey.

Just because you own some shares of Amazon doesn't make you a predator.  It makes you a fish snacking on the scraps left as the predators gorge.  You're still just another piece of prey.  The pathetic thing is that you are so small and trivial that you're not even worth going after on your own.  You're only valuable as part of a massive class of other prey.  That is, Amazon doesn't make its enshittification money by fucking over you in particular.  It makes its enshittification money by fucking over EVERYONE except itself.

[Nicole44 22060]

27 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

The problem is that 99% of the people who consider themselves predators....are really just prey.

Just because you own some shares of Amazon doesn't make you a predator.  It makes you a fish snacking on the scraps left as the predators gorge.  You're still just another piece of prey.  The pathetic thing is that you are so small and trivial that you're not even worth going after on your own.  You're only valuable as part of a massive class of other prey.  That is, Amazon doesn't make its enshittification money by fucking over you in particular.  It makes its enshittification money by fucking over EVERYONE except itself.

One day you are the bald king of Amazon (not specifically addressing you—you claim to be Ted Cruz’s doppelgänger) and divorce your wife for high maintenance arm bling with a set of fun bags.

Then one day you wake up and realize (eventually) you are lying next to someone who looks more and more like this and the upkeep to stave off the fugly is too much of a hassle:

[Deej 76791]

He must have watched "Mob Wives"

[mdmost 43001]

The terrible trend in plastic surgery that gives women those horrible looking faces is definitely an enshitting. 

Edited February 26 by mdmost

[Deej 76791]

12 minutes ago, mdmost said:

The terrible trend in plastic surgery that gives women those horrible looking faces is definitely an enshitting. 

Makes it easier to spot the ones that are really mentally ill. 

[Nicole44 22060]

10 minutes ago, mdmost said:

The terrible trend in plastic surgery that gives women those horrible looking faces is definitely an enshitting. 

I agree. My mom watches all that Housewives crap on Bravo and they all look the same. Waxy faces, tiny noses, overblown lips. It’s creepy. We have 20 year old girls doing Botox. Courteney Cox will never fix what she did to her face. It’s an enshitting for sure. I get the industry they are in but ask someone who has had good work done like Demi Moore or JLO or Jennifer Garner. A lot of these women do not look good at all but you cannot convince them of that. 
 

Lauren Sanchez is only 54 and has already had a ton of work done and continues to do more. Bezos is no looker but one day he’s going to wake up next to her and freak out (this picture was two days ago):
 

 

[Deej 76791]

Or one day he'll wake up dead in Town Lake after an evening on Rainey. 

[SurlyGator 865]

We can only hope.

[Fudge Nuggets 19190]

If I had Bezos money, there’s no fucking way I’m involved with a 54 year old woman that looks like her.  Now a Salma Hayek, Halle Berry quality snatch?  Hell yeah.

[Incredulity 11671]

Bezos money has to go on the DiCaprio program, right?  Hottest supermodel in the world on a 3-5 year rotation.   Maybe even move the vintage up a decade every 25 years or so to avoid the pedo vibe.  

[Parliament 14260]

1 hour ago, Nicole44 said:

One day you are the bald king of Amazon (not specifically addressing you—you claim to be Ted Cruz’s doppelgänger) and divorce your wife for high maintenance arm bling with a set of fun bags.

Then one day you wake up and realize (eventually) you are lying next to someone who looks more and more like this and the upkeep to stave off the fugly is too much of a hassle:

And that’s when you trade her off on a younger model.

[Blotto 23509]

19 hours ago, Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand said:

I enjoy stealing. 

Its just as simple as that. 

[Chopper 17235]

20 hours ago, Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand said:

I enjoy stealing. 

Step up your game? Amazon dot com is there to help you fence the goods.

Thug face of urban crime. https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/bonsall-woman-suspected-ringleader-of-8m-retail-theft-ring-hitting-200-ulta-stores/3441772/

[Deej 76791]

Just trying to feed her family in these trying economic times. 

[Guest]

3 hours ago, Nicole44 said:

One day you are the bald king of Amazon (not specifically addressing you—you claim to be Ted Cruz’s doppelgänger) and divorce your wife for high maintenance arm bling with a set of fun bags.

Then one day you wake up and realize (eventually) you are lying next to someone who looks more and more like this and the upkeep to stave off the fugly is too much of a hassle:

Is this photo AI? What's with the hands? 

[Hagbard Celine 10864]

22 hours ago, Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand said:

I blame AT&T.

How ya like me now?

https://www.msn.com/en-US/finance/-companies/consumers-are-increasingly-pushing-back-against-price-increases--and-winning/ar-BB1iQNyF?ocid=sapphireappshare

i've read page one because i've been dealing the fucknig fully-non-operational deathstar since the day after new years when they declared war on uverse customers

@@ is ENSHITTIFIED and i'll get to the story at some point - getting a new gig off the runway

[JMFP 1120]

On 2/23/2024 at 7:17 AM, FirstTimeCaller said:

 

Also, I know you were being hyperbolic calling it a "$2 product" but is it really $7 for a stick of deodorant? 

When was the last time you bought deodorant?

[Hagbard Celine 10864]

1 hour ago, Chopper said:

look at her eyes

she has the cray

[Covri 6249]

Damn I didn’t realize she used to be married to Tony Gonzalez and they had a son together. She looks completely different now.

 

[Incredulity 11671]

7 minutes ago, Covri said:

Damn I didn’t realize she used to be married to Tony Gonzalez and they had a son together. She looks completely different now.

 

She looks like she cut off Tony's face and is wearing it as a Hannibal Lecter mask.

[Nicole44 22060]

9 minutes ago, Covri said:

Damn I didn’t realize she used to be married to Tony Gonzalez and they had a son together. She looks completely different now.

 

A lesson to all women: stop messing with your face. Stop it! Allow yourself to age gracefully (doesn’t mean let yourself fall apart.) it’s sad really. Had she left herself alone maybe she doesn’t attract Bozo but still. Now she looks like a caricature of herself. 

[Braff Zacklin 13573]

25 minutes ago, Nicole44 said:

Now she looks like a caricature of herself a man dressing up in drag and makeup trying to look like her. 

FIF accuracy.

[Surly Bevo 24908]

Neato.... $15 Frosties

https://gizmodo.com/wendys-wants-uber-surge-pricing-in-2025-1851288108?s=04&fbclid=IwAR1xqzZ0E8OWemhTiNWdAQCAmoA6m352N56hvS6SzkSRd90Xk3snC2EzmbA

[Brisketexan 105139]

1 minute ago, Surly Bevo said:

Neato.... $15 Frosties

https://gizmodo.com/wendys-wants-uber-surge-pricing-in-2025-1851288108?s=04&fbclid=IwAR1xqzZ0E8OWemhTiNWdAQCAmoA6m352N56hvS6SzkSRd90Xk3snC2EzmbA

I rarely eat fast food these days anyway.  But when I do, one of the reasons is basic, manageable pricing.  I know I can get a cheeseburger combo most places for $10-$12.  But if I show up and it's $18?  Fuck off.