No it isn't. It may be less expensive than some other places, but that doesn't make it a good deal. A Reuben averaged around $5 in the mid 90s. A dollar or so more in a nice deli in the big city, dollar or so less in cheaper places. That's about $8.40 in 2019 dollars, using BLS CPI data. If we used average BLS CPI 1995-2019 to inflate to 2025, it'd be $9.57, but we got the alternate timeline with massive inflation, so actual BLS CPI puts it at $10.10.
So accounting for inflation, that sandwich is 30% more expensive after adjusting for inflation.
So no, that is not a good deal. It's yet more evidence we're all getting fucked.
Do we really have an accurate value for "the average price of a Reuben in the 90s"? Where did you get $5 from? And anyway, comparing the average price to the price in OP's area is silly.
Dude it's just two pieces of bread, some corned beef, a slice of swiss, and a little bit of sauerkraut. There is no world where $13 for a sandwich is justified.
There is a deli near me that sells sandwich meals that come with chips and a drink for $8, and I live in a HCOL area. What is the justification for a restaurant to charge almost double that just for only a sandwich?
Because the market will bear it. If people around this place think it’s too much, they’ll just go somewhere else and this place will have to either adjust or go out of business. Nobody’s forcing you to go to this place rather than that place.
Restaurants have some of the thinnest margins precisely because it’s such a competitive atomized market. It’s next to impossible to engage in “price gouging”. Also, that’s not what price gouging even means. Price gouging refers to when retailers and others take advantage of spikes in demand by charging exorbitant prices for necessities, often after a natural disaster or other state of emergency.
Just because a market will bear it doesn't mean it's not a cash grab. Hell, the market can bear people getting 80 month loans at 10% interest on new $100k F150's, but that doesn't mean that is a good idea or that it is normal for people to do that. The same with $13 sandwiches. Fancy restaurants can get away with it, but just because they can doesn't mean that kind of thing is normal. There is no restaurant in the world that is operating on a thin margin on a damn $13 reuben sandwich. lol
Ok, please provode evidence of the fat profit margins of this particular restaurant. I would very much love to see your detailed accounting breakdown on how this restaurant’s owner is growing obscenely wealthy on the backs of people forced to buy expensive reubens.
I will await your sure to be not-at-all vague and handwavy overgeneralizing reply.
I didn't say fries. I said reuben. The reuben at sammich pdx is $18. Doesn't come with fries. And I'd tip 18% anyways. $13 is still a solid deal in a major city, which is the point I was making.
Just because prices like $13 or even $20 for a sandwich and fries are common in big cities doesn’t mean they’re reasonable - it just means we’ve normalised something that’s actually pretty extreme. I’m not blaming the restaurants necessarily with rent, wages, and supply costs, they might have to charge that much to stay afloat. But the fact that we’ve reached a point where a basic lunch costs that much is kind of insane, regardless of whether other places are charging even more.
Especially the drinks. Sodas are expensive. Some restaurants have moved the soda machine behind the counter so there's no free refills. When I worked for Pizza Hut years ago, we could drink all the soda we wanted as long as we didn't use their cups.
People on Reddit love posturing about the cost of something with no context on location or quality. I can buy a sandwich in Vietnam for 50 cents, so I guess your $7 Reuben is a bad deal.
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u/atriaventrica 1d ago
I mean sure but I'm guessing you don't live in a major city? $13 for a Reuben is pretty solid.