Things That Cost $30: Some Hardbacks, Couple of DVDs, A Hot Dog In NYC...

cornflake

practical experience, FTW
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Well, only if you seem to be a tourist and are buying one from a vendor near ground zero.

A hot dog cart guy was rumoured to be gouging tourists, and New Yorkers he thought were tourists, by upping the prices of a hot dog from $3 to $30 and a pretzel and can of soda from about the same to $15. Prices, by law, are supposed to be posted; his aren't.

A local news station went down with a hidden camera and a guy with a French accent, and voila. They also talked to a local h.s. kid who looks perhaps southeast asian who said the same vendor has tried to charge him similar prices, and a guy who said the vendor handed him a hot dog and asked for $30. When the guy balked, he said the vendor immediately started bargaining - $20? $15? $10, but he put the hot dog down and walked away.

When confronted with the camera in the open, the vendor denied all. Then the cops came. Citations abound.