I Have Officially Been Priced Out of New York City
I went to a Subway near my office in Midtown for lunch today, as I do every month or two when I’m feeling lazy and uninspired or am absolutely swamped at work. I got my usual: a footlong turkey sub on wheat, with chips and a drink. The prices crept up once earlier this year, from a little over $8 to just under $9. But today, when I got my usual, I had sticker shock… at Subway.
$11.03 for a turkey sandwich! This has to be a mistake, I thought. So I asked the cashier if the price was right before I handed him my card.
“No, that’s right. Our prices went up,” he told me.
Just as I suspected for years, New York is now reserved for the super-rich. And little did I know, even the super-rich eat at Subway.
Coming soon: the $10 McDonald’s Extra Value Meal and the Wendy’s $2.99 Super Value Menu.
This entry was posted on Friday, December 7th, 2007 at 1:36 pm and is filed under Life in NYC. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
December 7th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
keith says:street-corner halal carts are the last affordable nourishment we working poor have (the one at 11th/1st is particularly good. and only $3 for a gyro with french fries!).
December 7th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
keith says:that doesn’t include a drink, of course, you have your choice of mountain dew or crab juice.
December 7th, 2007 at 2:34 pm
Chris says:keith: UGGGGH! AGGGGH! UUUUUGH! EWWWW! I’ll take the crab juice!
December 7th, 2007 at 2:50 pm
Ben K. says:If you’re paying $11 for a Subway sandwich, time to go to Pax. At least there, $11 gets you a good sandwich. Zing!
December 7th, 2007 at 3:01 pm
BrianVan says:I like how your overpriced corn syrup drink cost you $1.492, when Columbus sailed the ocean blue. I can see them taking a chef’s knife to a penny just to get their .6 cents worth.
December 7th, 2007 at 3:19 pm
Adam says:Actually, I think the 2 goes into the “memo” column. If you notice, the .006 does not round up in the subtotal, that’s why I think it’s not part of the price.
December 7th, 2007 at 4:25 pm
JDizzle says:You should NEVER have to pay over $10 for a sandwich! Crazy!
I’m enjoying your blog. Good times.
December 7th, 2007 at 4:52 pm
Tyler says:I live in Columbus Ohio. I think that same meal would have been about $6 or $7 at the subway next to my office. I usually only get the 6″, and those are $2.99 for the sandwich by itself.
December 7th, 2007 at 5:01 pm
Rick says:Funny you write about this because my 8+ dollar Quiznos sandwich with no chips or drink caught my attention today.
December 7th, 2007 at 7:35 pm
Ed says:This only says that there’s enough stupid people in NYC to actually keep Subway in business. Just about every corner deli in NYC makes sandwiches that are better and cheaper than Subway; there’s really no excuse to go to one. At least in my neighborhood, it seems that the only people who go there (along with Domino’s) are NYU students who recognize the one sandwich store from home….
December 7th, 2007 at 7:51 pm
rottweilertom.blogspot.com says:Didn’t you ask for the “combo”?
December 7th, 2007 at 10:32 pm
Cody says:What are you doing eating “hips” anyways? That’s probably why the bill was so much.
Sicko.
December 8th, 2007 at 7:16 am
ray says:well, the 12 inch sub is really for two people if u ask me, its pretty big, besides, they usually have daily specials each for day for different sandwiches and you ordered a la carte too
December 8th, 2007 at 8:31 am
Masher says:If you don’t like the prices….don’t go there. Nothing will teach a business a lesson more than having no customers. Besides, isn’t NYC full of great delis where you can get a “real” sandwich?
December 8th, 2007 at 9:44 am
NICK says:12 inch sub + chips + soda = you’re fat
I went and bought a vietnamese sandwich in chinatown for $3.50 that was way better than your shit sandwich.
also midtown is worthless so this is a non-issue.
December 8th, 2007 at 2:22 pm
SAJH says:Subway was too pricey for a ‘lunch’ or whatever anyway. I could never justify a lunch over $5-6 anyway. McDonalds has a nice value menu as does Burger King and Wendys. A slice is pizza is still not crazy. And, get this, you could, i dunno pack lunch that you made at home and it will cost alot less. You officially havent been priced out of the city, you’re just a drone of a corporate enterprise that is unwilling to adjust your lifestyle or eating habits. I have never found lunch ‘cheap’ in midtown. I make a decent salary and I stand on the principal of the matters. I would have told them to keep the order and not have paid for it. But that’s me. Sounds like you need to adapt to living in the city still….
December 8th, 2007 at 4:39 pm
Chris says:Jesus Christ, you’d think I’m just a fat Midwestern prick who’s a part of the big corporate machine judging by these comments.
I don’t normally go to Subway, people. It had probably been a month or two since I had last been, hence my shock at the prices. Also, I was having a really busy day at work, and that Subway is literally the closest place to my office. I usually do go to a locally-owned deli a couple blocks away where a turkey sandwich would run me about $6.50, but the closest “locally-owned delis” to my office are the Carnegie and the Stage - $11 for a Subway sandwich combo is bad enough, but I’m not about to spend $15 for a massive, gut-busting pile of pastrami between two thin slices of bread.
NICK: I must be fat, because I had a sandwich with less fat than a bag of chips? That’s news to me. It’s turkey, not a fucking Philly Cheesesteak. Also, just because Midtown is worthless doesn’t mean people don’t work there. If Chinatown wasn’t a 25-minute subway ride away, I would gladly have a $3.50 Vietnamese sandwich every day for lunch.
December 8th, 2007 at 11:19 pm
Mike says:You should do a post on the “dollar” menu at any of the BK’s, McD’s or Wendy’s in the City… I challenge anyone to find something on there that’s actually a buck…
December 9th, 2007 at 3:20 am
L'Emmerdeur says:(not aimed at you, but at those people who patronize such places regularly, as well as those who visit New York and eat at places like this instead of a decent New York deli)
Moving to New York and eating at a Subway is just plain wrong, regardless of price. The ingredients are laughably low quality and the decor is hospital cafeteria. I once purchased a sub there and tossed it, it was that bad. I’m sure sometime in the next 10 years I will forget how bad it was and go through this learning process again.
People used to move to New York to get away from that sort of thing: the suburban lifestyle, the lack of culture, the generic food and shopping, and for some, the bigotry (ask the gays).
Why live in a tiny apartment and pay through the nose for something that is de rigeur in 95% of the country? Why does the homogenizing instinct force these people to want to cleanse one of the only places in the U.S. that has not been overrun by chains and big-box stores of the grit and replace it with the same pastel-colored buildings, stores and food?
Then again, we’ve always ridiculed American tourists for going overseas and eating at McDonald’s. Why should these folks be any different here?
December 9th, 2007 at 2:35 pm
Mac says:Live with it or brown bag it. It’s only going to get worse.
December 9th, 2007 at 6:18 pm
mike ward says:If you go to Subway, do you also go to Dominoe’s instead of a local pizza joint? Hell, even the street Halal Chicken vendors are cheaper and beter than Subway. Even the MTA Subway is better…
December 10th, 2007 at 12:46 am
Andy says:“$11.03 for a turkey sandwich! This has to be a mistake, I thought.”
It is a mistake. The sandwich is only $7.81 plus tax.
To everyone criticizing the author for choosing to eat at Subway: Grow up. He chooses to eat there and he is honest about it. Why does everyone seem to think they need to tell him where he should eat?
December 10th, 2007 at 1:53 am
Sub Ripped says:You got a foot long sandwich in Manhattan for $7 and change? Is this supposed to be a lot of money? I’m confused. I pay $8+ for a tasty 8 inch Italian sub in Seattle at The Other Coast Cafe.
December 10th, 2007 at 9:23 am
hi says:why didn’t you get the combo? $1.50 for the drink & chips… that’s why it was $11.03!
December 10th, 2007 at 9:51 am
Chris says:hi: I specifically asked for the combo. They apparently also got rid of the combo discount, along with making my sandwich alone cost nearly $8.
December 10th, 2007 at 12:31 pm
fbl says:If you don’t loyally read this blog and get to know it’s writer, don’t bother commenting. You mostly sound like a bunch of ignorant fools.
December 10th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
willamina c. says:Heh, Subripped, I was just thinking the same thing. Or Grinders in Shoreline on Aurora: http://www.grindershotsands.com
And slag Midtown all you want, folks, the jobs are still there. I know that you can heap abuse on one eating at a chain in Manhattan, but given many, many years of New York experience I can tell you we all do it now and again. Especially, alas, in Midtown.
December 10th, 2007 at 4:29 pm
Frank says:$3.50 for a Vietnamese sandwich is crazy expensive.
Those things are like $2 around here.
And it would probably take 2 to equal a subway footlong.
March 26th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
Natalie says:Hi I am a manager at a subway in texas. It is bull shit that they charged you that much but your ticket shows you got double meat and made it a meal. they just rang up the meal wrong. So you didn’t get riped off but for a few cents. Your just cheep!!!
December 25th, 2009 at 11:47 am
Romesburg says:Why Obama lies about educational reforms??
You can still buy your college papers here. Low Prices, Custom written for you. Custom Writing Service
April 6th, 2010 at 10:06 pm
chinese detox foot pads says:Good day
August 25th, 2010 at 10:47 am
Tia says:cool post, y eah things are creeping up in NY period, but we Nyers will continue to pay to live here it seems! . on my end i am noticing it more as a single person in the 30,000s range looking for a decent place to live. p.s don’t forget to vote or sign a petition against the fare hike in October