Show Me The Value!?

Checkmate3023 on 04/10/2025 - 22:37
Last edited 05/10/2025 - 19:55

This is going to sound like a bit of a moan but WTF is going on with good value?

Game Pass Ultimate going to $36 a month! (i legit paid like $90 for 3 years at one stage)

Accor Plus membership being straight up pointless when you consider the sticker price!

Every streaming service raising prices i mean HBO max has been here 5mins and is increasing prices!?

the loopholes in using VPNs are also closing/closed in most case…. (i miss the Turkish Lira days)

Mcdonalds rewards getting incrementally more shit i mean it used to be 2500pts for a LARGE coffee!

Insurance premiums for almost everything have almost doubled in 3 years!

Melbourne Show is a scam!

More restaurants are pushing for "tips" when the food is already over priced in Melbourne! (Yes i still get No tip but I have noticed it everywhere )

the last good value thing i had was my Derrimut 24/7 Gym membership being sub $400 pa when jumping and stacking deals and that looks like it might be over if the ATO close'em down!

I got plenty of other examples

What is still cheap? or great value these days? bar the odd 10 tenders for $10 bucks at KFC promos which i steer clear of because i dont want to have a Coronary heart attack what it is good value?

Honestly speaking what do you find is still good value? it feels like it is getting harder and harder to find good bargains and deals!

comment below and let me know!!!

General Discussion HBO Microsoft PC Game Subscription Video on Demand Xbox One Game Xbox Series Game

Comments

  • askbargain on 04/10/2025 - 22:43
    +12

    Good deals don’t stay good if half the population know about it.

  • Hybroid on 04/10/2025 - 22:50
    +37

    We live in an ever-increasingly consumerist society. They raise prices because either A) people will pay it, or B) they're testing the waters to see if people will pay it.

    More often than not, people still pay it.

    • Subscriptions work (Disney+ has something like 120,000,000 subscribers!)
    • In-game skin purchases & paid content works.
    • Gambling & loot boxes work.
    • Pay2win/gacha games work.
    • Increasing prices everywhere works.
    • Reducing product sizes (shrinkflation) works.
    • Adding service charges works.
    • Rip-off showbags work.
    • Social media ads work.
    • Massively marked up clothing due to labels work.
    • Internet influencers work.
    • YouTube/Twitch streamer money grabbing works.

    People throw money at anything and everything nowdays.

    Why wouldn't greedy businesses do so?

    • MS Paint on 04/10/2025 - 22:56
      +9

      Social media ads work.

      Only for donkeys, muppets and the occasional peanut.

    • apsilon on 05/10/2025 - 09:31
      +2

      Yep, most people will never cancel a service or change providers once they start. They'll whine about the service and price increases but they won't actually take any action and business know this and are taking advantage of it.

  • localhost on 04/10/2025 - 22:51
    +4

    Game Pass - pass
    McDonald's - pass
    Accor Plus - pass
    HBO max - 1y subs, after that pass
    other subs go to high seas.

    Tips - depends, but no thanks.

    • Checkmate3023 on 05/10/2025 - 19:57

      In regards to Mcdonalds they used to have $1 coffees almost daily on my app

      In fairness i had about 10 accounts to ensure i got a cheap coffee daily but still…. thoss days are long gone

  • sharkyoz on 04/10/2025 - 23:04
    +11

    my pot dealer still charges me the same as 10yrs ago…..sweeeeet

    • AustriaBargain on 04/10/2025 - 23:10
      +1

      Actually I find weed goes for well under inflation, probably because more sophisticated methods of growing up have been used over time. Yeah it goes up, but the people growing and selling and reselling it were just making up prices at the end of the day. Now that it's basically legal you can find prices listed clearly online.

      • tenpercent on 05/10/2025 - 10:32

        Now that it's basically legal

        Is it? In Australia?

        • AustriaBargain on 05/10/2025 - 15:21

          Medicinal. It's the same path many U.S. states took before general legalisation.

        • Nalar on 05/10/2025 - 21:13

          You can walk into a major shopping center walk out with weed in 45 mins, so yeah pretty close to legal now. Recreational use is a few years away but in all effect it's legal now.

          • tenpercent on 05/10/2025 - 21:41

            @Nalar:

            in all effect it's legal now.

            Only where a doctor genuinely believes it's clinically appropriate.

            Next you'll be telling me there are doctors who are basically part-time pot dealers and they're undercutting old-fashioned pot dealers and taking a small backhander in return for a script for high quality medicinal cannabis.

            • BuzzBuzzBuzz on 06/10/2025 - 01:29

              @tenpercent: Mate you have no idea. Medical marijuana is so easily accessible - it's the best Trojan horse for legalisation ever. And it's so much cheaper than street pot. Plus, yk, legal.

              • tenpercent on 07/10/2025 - 18:26

                @BuzzBuzzBuzz:

                And it's so much cheaper than street pot

                That's generally how "undercutting" works.

            • wetsandwich on 07/10/2025 - 17:35

              @tenpercent: @tenpercent

              There are plenty of online dispensaries who only exist to write scripts and then sell you the product. As long as you know what to say for their questioning, you can have a 10min chat with a 'nurse' who guides you into the correct lines. There is no legitimate clinical examination.

              If you have any chronic condition (they don't check) where you were ever prescribed any medication at all (they don't check) but you didn't find the prescribed thing worked or you even chose not to take it (they don't check) then they will prescribe weed because that's their only product/service. Then you can pick it up from chemist warehouse. At no point are you actually examined in any way or asked to show evidence of anything you have claimed.

    • Ocker on 05/10/2025 - 08:32
      -1

      I remember many moons ago when I could buy a joint for US$1.00 from one of the many dealers hawking their wares on a vacant block on Wall St. NYC

    • Checkmate3023 on 05/10/2025 - 19:57
      +1

      Your Pot dealer sounds like a top bloke

    • Alley Cat on 06/10/2025 - 06:05
      -1

      That's because the solar fit is going negative lol Expect normal solar households to start their own greenhouses soon. Either for plants or coins.

  • AustriaBargain on 04/10/2025 - 23:16
    -1

    I guess the value is being able to play all those games day one and all of them whenever you want. $50 a month, $600 a year. What's that, six Microsoft owned AAA games on day one per year? Gamepass Ultimate gives you that and more. There's value in installing them and trying them out for 30 minutes and then deleting them. And knowing they will be there indefinitely, the Microsoft owned ones anyway.

    I think it's too much though, when terrible houses go for over a million dollars, who can justify $50 a month every month just on Microsoft games and some genuinely good third party games sometimes.

  • Far Cough on 04/10/2025 - 23:17

    welcome to the world

  • spackbace on 04/10/2025 - 23:31
    +2

    Gamepass Ultimate is going to $35.99, not $50

    But it is US$30 in America, so in contrast ours is a bit of a bargain strangely

  • n3ck3ntry8bort0rgasm on 04/10/2025 - 23:40
    +1

    What is still cheap? or great value these days?

    after covid not much. I guess it was increased further from staying home convenience and anxiety shopping.

    but consumer electronics has a high refresh cycle, so new models endlessly come out every year. making the old models cheaper. just have to wait a bit to find a good price. there is a reason I post mostly consumer electronics. nothing else much is ever low priced enough to think of as a deal.

    you forgot these in your post. shrinkflation and enshittification.

    ever wonder how you jump through hoops, buy during bonus points when it's on catalogue sale use that minimum spend % discount just to pay as much as yesterday, and you still end up with less product in the bag.

    also mom got a new laundry machine. same brand same tier model because the last one lasted a very long time. I checked it out the other day the buttons are now touch only, the door is now plastic.
    also have a long list of stuff that has easily broken on me. my $200 headphones snapped in under a year (I fixed it though), adhesives don't seem to stick anymore, I got a powerbank that doesn't charge anymore if I don't sync to the app. paywalls, random other stuff that breaks or small electronic stuff that just dies out of nowhere. I have just accepted this is what quality is like these days. lucky I don't need to think about buying a car these days. saw a youtube video so many parts are now made of plastic, designed to fail.

    • tenpercent on 05/10/2025 - 10:39

      Who is "mom"?

      saw a youtube video so many parts are now made of plastic, designed to fail.

      It's called planned obsolescence. They get teams of engineers to design small but critical components out of just the right kind of plastic so that very few fail before the warranty period expires but the majority will fail shortly after the warranty period. And then the CEOs of those corporations fly around the world in their private jets and ramble on to a room full of similar hypocrites about how useless ordinary people are and how they're destroying the planet with their wasteful consumerism.

      • dtc on 05/10/2025 - 10:42
        +1

        Or it’s because people look at quality made items that cost $150 more than a cheaply made item and 9/10 times buy the cheaper version. So the quality version doesn’t sell. The only way to be competitive is to make things out of cheaper parts

        • tenpercent on 05/10/2025 - 10:53

          It's a bit of both, and it's a chicken-egg snowball kind of situation.

          When they only offer eg a 2 year warranty, and the consumer has experienced 25 years of continual enshitification and quality/reliability reduction of even higher-end brands, then of course the consumer is going to, on average, tend towards the cheaper options which offer the same warranty period. No point paying more and not getting more. So then it's a race to the bottom (bottom of reliablity, constrained only by the warranty period).

  • 7ekn00 on 05/10/2025 - 00:40

    Big corporations do what big corporations do - make money and lower wages :/

    They continue to push prices, because they can ;)

    Plenty of ways around it all with a little effort :P

    • Checkmate3023 on 05/10/2025 - 10:29
      -8

      Blame people for supporting high migration for lower wages mate

      Easy to pay shit when there is loads of workers its basic supply and demand

      The current 'working mans party's totally shafted workers

      • 7ekn00 on 05/10/2025 - 11:14
        +4

        Yeah, but the sheep will follow - both parties in Australia have the same agenda (just slightly different ways getting there)!

        Until people realize the new preference system (implemented circa 2023) would actually allow a third party enough control to reverse course, all Australians are screwed (it's one of the reasons I have a greencard) …

          • mjuice7 on 05/10/2025 - 14:07
            +1

            @Checkmate3023: yeah, nah, i can't see the far right wing nutjobs ever gaining any real power. they may have the loudest voices, (we hear them bleating all the time), they don't have the numbers. the silent majority far outweigh the right wing moaners.

            • Clickbait on 05/10/2025 - 16:01
              +2

              @mjuice7: I realise no one her has any knowledge of history, but Australian politics is littered with election failures.
              Whitlam changed Australia, but got rolled by Fraser,
              Howard rolled Keating because Labour had been in power fro 13 years
              Rudd rolled Howard after 11 years
              Rudd than made a pizza of his leadership.
              Parties don't win elections, they lose them.
              Talking about never gaining real power, is just a juvenile wish

          • cashless on 05/10/2025 - 14:16
            +8

            @Checkmate3023:

            We need a Nigel farage style leader/revolution in our political system to get Australia back on track

            I think that is the single-most dumb comment I’ve ever read on OzBargain.
            And there have been some shockers

            • Checkmate3023 on 05/10/2025 - 14:20
              -2

              @cashless: Imagine thinking someone having an opinion different to yours makes them dumb …

              It is that kind of close minded low IQ mentality as to why the country is going down the toilet

              For the record you dont have to agree with me but simply not agreeing without understanding why is a sure sign of unintelligent thinking

              Reminds me of those people who locked up the bloke who suggest the earth was round now flat - straight up brainless left wingers

              Too many hard ALP shill on here for the record the LNP is shit too but the ALP shillsare ever present

              Migration is f—king Australia more then any other policy ignore it all you want it will shape the next few major elections in Western nations

              I actually think One nation will over take the ALP Liberals nationals or Greens in primary votes if things keep going

              • cashless on 05/10/2025 - 15:08
                +3

                @Checkmate3023: And that’s probably a close runner up

              • Clickbait on 05/10/2025 - 16:08
                +1

                @Checkmate3023: My take is that most Ozbargain commenters are actually higher than average intelligence.
                The problem is that these people know so much, and subconsciously reinforce their knowledge every minute of the day.
                Virtually none of them have ever experinced critical thinking, that requires them to challence and understand their beliefs.
                That's why most of their comments are just unsupportable attacks on individuals. So just encourage them. They do have the capacity to learn

                • Checkmate3023 on 05/10/2025 - 17:13

                  @Clickbait: the internet is rife with morons in their echo chamber who cant think critically Ozbargin is really no different but places like the Australia reddit page are just cancer.

                  Ozbargain used to be a solid community but as it has grown you have attracted loads of idiots who are just plain stupid cough the OPs downvoting facts or the other bum posting above

                  It used to be a great place to find solid deals and even get well rounded advice but it has become a bit of target for paid chinese pinkies and other bums who are hard left agenda politically motivated.

                  There are still some great OPs on here posting good stuff whos opinions i value but their is a lot of rubbish these days i cant deny that

                  • us3rnam3tak3n on 08/10/2025 - 15:04

                    @Checkmate3023:

                    There are paid ALP shills… the internet is rife with morons in their echo chamber who cant think critically

                    It seems like you're very familiar with said echo chambers.

                    I do agree with the gist of your post though - corporations are far better at extracting our hard-earned and decent bargains are harder to find.

                • Ughhh on 05/10/2025 - 18:08
                  +1

                  @Clickbait: You're right. Have you ever questioned the idea of 1+1=2? Anyone who doesnt question it doesnt have any critical thinking skills and is a sheepie.

              • Ughhh on 05/10/2025 - 18:05

                @Checkmate3023:

                who locked up the bloke who suggest the earth was round now flat

                Which person was locked up because of flat Earth ideas, and definitely not because of insufficient ID or hanging around children playgrounds and disturbing kids?

                • tenpercent on 05/10/2025 - 20:42
                  +1

                  @Ughhh: I thought he was referring to Galileo. Although the idea that he was locked up for proving the Earth was round is a misconception. He was actually locked up for proposing the Earth revolved around the Sun as opposed to the other way round (heresy!).

                  • Ughhh on 06/10/2025 - 09:12
                    +3

                    @tenpercent:

                    I thought he was referring to Galileo.

                    I don't think he actually knows, didnt even want to clarify. He was having another episode, making shit up to support his claims.

              • sharkyoz on 05/10/2025 - 20:43

                @Checkmate3023: What?! The earth isn't flat?!

          • Brianqpr on 06/10/2025 - 11:45
            -2

            @Checkmate3023: Farage FFS 🤡

            What has he ever done? Championed Brexit which has sent the UK backwards. He's a racist nothing more.

            I half hope he wins over there because only then will people see how little he offers. But we don't need that kind of tripe here.

            Immigration is largely aimed at preventing us from having too many people over age 65 and not enough tax payers to fund the pensions they'll all expect to receive. It would have been unsustainable.

        • tenpercent on 05/10/2025 - 17:36
          +2

          The primary vote is currently split almost evenly three ways: ALP, LNP, Others
          While the primary vote for Others keeps growing every election cycle for a while now, the ALP+LNP primary vote keeps dropping.

          Unfortunately with only single member electorates in the House of Representatives it will take either a much greater shift in primary votes (maybe another 6 or more election cycles at this rate) before we even see that primary vote reflected in the parliament (beyond the Senate).

          I don't recall any changes to the preference system in 2023 apart from WA local government elections moving to optional preferential voting. What change are you referring to?

          • 7ekn00 on 05/10/2025 - 18:04

            @tenpercent: Full preferential system, implemented 2022 (sorry, was lazy in first post, didn't actually check the date):
            https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_depart…

            Was mentioned in this video explaining how the "full preferential" system is better than the old partial system:
            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8Fp1oiQFy8

          • Checkmate3023 on 05/10/2025 - 18:12
            +3

            @tenpercent:

            While the primary vote for Others keeps growing every election cycle for a while now, the ALP+LNP primary vote keeps dropping.

            One Nation has gone from sub 3% to close to 10% in a decade polls have them as a bigger party then the Greens via primary voting at the moment……

            The liberals, Greens and ALP are junk these days im not saying 'one nation' is the answer mind you but it shows how politics is shifting the Greens had the worse result in a decade last election as did the Liberal Party. Ill note the Nationals are 'largely' unchaged.

            Time are changing that is for sure

            • tenpercent on 05/10/2025 - 19:19
              +4

              @Checkmate3023: It will take a lot more primary votes to get a 'One Nation' or similar candidate elected to the single member electorates lower house. Greens (although decimated at this last election) has been able to get up a not insignifcant number of lower house members because their support base is more concentrated in just a handful of mostly inner city east coast electorates. Whereas One Nation's support is much broader, but more diluted, spread out all across the country and includes disaffected former ALP voters and disaffected former LNP voters).

              Unless we reform the system to improve represenation in the lower house (ie. introduce multi-member electorates) then One Nation's only path to getting up lower house members is to agressively target specific LNP seats (and maybe even a couple of ALP seats) and steal them, similar to the Teals highly targetted campaigning that saw them get elected by appealing to both female LNP voters (and their pushover husbands) + historically Greens voters + a small segment of Labor voters who are more hardcore about climate change. They'll need to appeal to a broader base (already happening) but also start early with focussed campaigning in a select few seats.

              I think their focus on the Senate is the right approach (for them) for now and it shows in both the first preferences AND the final results (thanks to multi-member electorates and optional preferential voting).

              Note I'm also not saying One Nation is the answer; I personally have my skepticism about them, but they appear to be a better choice than the uniparty.

  • joka on 05/10/2025 - 09:57
    +3

    What about Coles tissues which were 90 cents only a few years ago. Now they’re $1.80.

    • tenpercent on 05/10/2025 - 17:27
      +4

      You'll have to ration your tears or use an old sock.

    • Leeroy Jenkins on 06/10/2025 - 14:35

      They are no longer 90c? What?

    • n3ck3ntry8bort0rgasm on 07/10/2025 - 17:26

      you would think that would only happen to individual boxes, but no WW brand 3 pack I usually used to get which were $2.80/$3 are now $5.00 (and I remember as high as $5.80).

  • BigBirdy on 05/10/2025 - 09:58
    +1

    Holiday accomodation … pricing has gone bonkers post covid. We usually travel off-season to get cheap and quiet. Now it’s just quiet, more quiet.

    • Checkmate3023 on 05/10/2025 - 10:32
      +2

      Schools holidays prices has hit a point where it is legit cheaper/better value to go to another country then Go to QLD

      • BigBirdy on 05/10/2025 - 12:07
        +1

        I’ve just been looking at hotel prices in Phuket, places we stayed at 5 years ago are now double to triple that price

        • penting on 06/10/2025 - 16:49

          5 years ago everyone were in locked down so probably not the best comparison.

  • saltypete on 05/10/2025 - 10:19
    +1

    The ability to extract the maximum dollar for the minimum value has been carefully honed for some time. Aided immeasurably by our reliance on easy web based commerce.
    BUT
    There will always be bargains. Going to places where things are for sale, estalishing connection, personal negotiation will almost always yield better value where this is possible….

  • Shame on 05/10/2025 - 11:34

    Everyone loved free money during Covid, why are you upset now the bill has come due?

    • brendanm on 05/10/2025 - 12:44
      +2

      I hated the free money.

    • Checkmate3023 on 05/10/2025 - 15:53
      -2

      I hated the Free money the government should not be allowed to take on debt

  • Seaword on 05/10/2025 - 14:44
    +4

    COVID showed that corporations can do whatever they want.

    • Checkmate3023 on 05/10/2025 - 15:57
      +2

      Governments too….Dan Andrews lock downs

      • Muppet Detector on 08/10/2025 - 01:58
        +1

        Covid. An introvert's wet dream.

  • BobsYourAunty on 05/10/2025 - 14:46
    -2

    Stop complaining and try to earn more money.

    • 7ekn00 on 05/10/2025 - 21:24
      +1

      Don't need more money, just need investments to outstrip the real inflation rate ;)

  • theHMASfriendship on 05/10/2025 - 14:53
    +6

    The real value is the friendships you make along the way

    • Mark1159 on 05/10/2025 - 22:23

      Friendships and family

  • zombrex on 05/10/2025 - 15:00
    +1

    The trick is not to buy any these useless subscriptions and services and then you win while everyone else is losing.
    if anything thank god they are charging more, otehrwise people would have much more expendable income and house and car prices would go up even more.

    • AustriaBargain on 05/10/2025 - 15:22
      +1

      If you want to try most of the AAA games day one on Gamepass, isn't it cheaper than actually buying copies of all those games? And 12 months later are you really going to want to play many of them again anyway?

    • whyisave on 06/10/2025 - 11:19

      The problem is these big modern private equity firms are parasites, who destroy stable businesses for a quick buck.

      Step 1: Buy the company with a leveraged buyout.
      The 'black magic' behind a leveraged buyout is that you the buyer are not liable for the debt, the business you bought is liable for it.

      Step 2: Sell off essential assets to a third company (often one you own) then lease those assets back to the company you bought.
      This juices the stock price by creating a sudden influx of cash into the company from all those asset sales.

      Step 3: Make some changes to the company to drive down costs (usually reducing staff & quality)

      Step 4: Pay yourself a hefty consulting fee from the company you bought.

      Step 5: Sell it on to some sucker before it all goes to sh!t.

  • gromit on 05/10/2025 - 15:27

    game pass ultimate going to 35.95 not 50.
    HBO Max, probably desperate for money, with lack of content the only way to get money is prey on those that are too dumb to cancel.
    for the other now overpriced services, cancel. the problem is so many people don't so they get away with every increasing prices despite reducing content.
    I happily don't tip unless the service is exceptional regardless of "suggested" tip.
    Melbourne/Sydney Shows have been scams for decades.
    obviously Derrimut Gym was a good deal as they were under charging/avoiding pay their bills. badly run business.

    • Checkmate3023 on 05/10/2025 - 19:55

      I dont know where i got $50 from i read it somewhere must of been wrong

  • serpserpserp on 05/10/2025 - 22:52

    Well, gamepass has a lot more content on it these days

  • OzzyOzbourne on 06/10/2025 - 10:16
    +1

    Shrinkflation, enshitification and post covid price. Enough people are happy to pay anything for anything

  • whyisave on 06/10/2025 - 10:21
    +1

    What is good value?

    OzBargain Premium membership.

  • jundullah on 06/10/2025 - 13:59

    second hand goods on marketplace

  • vetopower on 06/10/2025 - 18:43
    -3

    Whinge posts are certainly increasing well above the rate of inflation.

  • H3R34TH4C0MM3NTS on 06/10/2025 - 18:56
    +1

    $36 is only a good deal if you subscribe on an adhoc basis for a bit of casual gaming with friends around in couch co-op, otherwise a persistent subscription is very poor value, you are better off just buying the games outright that you like on sale or on discount

  • pogichinoy on 06/10/2025 - 19:27
    +1

    7-11 fuel hack restricted to up to 25c per L.

  • dazza826 on 06/10/2025 - 20:39
    +1

    Amazon no longer delivering a large number of items to anyone outside a metro area despite everyone paying the same for prime.

    YouTube premium family membership definition is now being rewritten by Google to mean family that live in the same household.

    Too bad if your family group is only family members (mine actually is) as they don't live in the same house everyone needs to buy their own.

  • jay2datee on 06/10/2025 - 22:53

    Definitely agree with the Accor Plus membership.

    They've changed where you can actually use your free night's accommodation (Stay Free Plus). It's gone from almost all of the hotels in the Accor family (we used to be able to use it at Sofitel), to just the bargain basement ones out in the sticks, and you HAVE to book a minimum of 2 nights in order to get a free night. Also, you used to get 50% off dining at all Accor restaurants, but they've only just reduced that to 30% discount.

    It's got to the point where I am questioning if I should bother renewing my Accor Explorer membership next year if I'm not getting the benefits that I used to.

  • duluxe2000 on 07/10/2025 - 01:14
    +1

    To me McSmart (7$) is still a good value. This is my go-to lunch if I'm hungry and don't want anything in particular.

  • kaleidoscope on 07/10/2025 - 09:05

    legit paid like $90 for 3 years at one stage

    Please tell me you didn’t think Microsoft was giving it out through the goodness in their corporate hearts eh! They were simply trying to get people to use the service at a crazy value deal while they pave their way towards a profitable product.

    I’m 500% sure most of the data they were after were to analyse how often people use it, what games people use it for etc etc.

    Honestly speaking what do you find is still good value?

    Just pay for what you use and don’t get caught in subscription madness. Enough people do it, the big corpos will go back to providing that. If subscription isn’t profitable they won’t do it. Simples

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