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You wouldn't need an extravagant income to do something like that. I just did a quick check and it costs less than $150 to overnight an 8lb package from NY to S

You wouldn't need an extravagant income to do something like that. I just did a quick check and it costs less than $150 to overnight an 8lb package from NY to SF with 8am delivery. So the markup over just buying the meal at the restaurant is going to be less than $300 once you add refrigerated packaging and pay somebody to order it, pick it up, package it, and ship it. That's pricey if you're doing it every week, but for a special occasion that's not unimaginable for somebody even at the low end of middle class.

njharman 11y ago
I think most middle class people would think $300+ for a meal is wildly extravagant. And would think a $300 gift for "a friend" is on high end of gifts.
- joslin01 11y ago
  As a middle class person struggling to get day by day -- yes, yes it is.
  - themartorana 11y ago
    Semantics, but if you're struggling, you're not middle class. At least not in the classical sense. It's a shame the downward pressures that have made "struggling to get by" the middle class norm. The whole point of the thriving middle class (in the US at least) was that, with a willingness to work, you could live comfortably, with a house and two cars and 2 kids. This isn't meant to be insulting or directed at you - it's just a new definition of middle class, that the struggle builds character or your struggling is an indicator of your value or lack of hard work, that I find almost infuriating. End rant, I suppose.
    - joslin01 11y ago
      Well we all have our struggles I suppose. I hear what you're saying though. I think money has lost a lot of its value.
  - BookmarkSaver 11y ago
    Bullshit. I'm not "rich", but I'm a single guy making an great salary and my purchasing power is probably in the 95% of the the US. I don't even really think twice about purchases of anything that costs less than 3 digits if I have any desire for it. But $300 dollars for a meal as a gift to a friend? And not even that great of a meal? The fuck? That is absurd. I wouldn't even be above buying someone an xbox if I felt like it, but a $100/hr "convenience" charge is stupid money.
    - cthalupa 11y ago
      He used regular Magic, which is not Magic+. Magic is significantly cheaper. (Drop the plus from the URL). You submit a request, they give you the total, you confirm it, that's what you're charged. I wouldn't consider myself rich either, but I do fairly well for myself as an unmarried guy in his 20s, and there are some friends that in some situations I wouldn't hesitate at all to spend a few hundred dollars on them. Some of them have done the same for me. If you don't think twice about buying things under three digits, depending on frequency, just not doing that for frivolous things for a few weeks could afford you the ability to do something that might ultimately be a much more valuable memory. There's plenty of crap I've bought and barely used that would have been much better used taking a good friend out to an extravagant meal or event.
      - BookmarkSaver 11y ago
        Well for one thing I did point out that I'd be fine dropping an xbox on a friend if I felt like it, just not a moderately expensive meal with a $100+ dollar markup on it. Especially considering there are countless delivery services easily accessible that do that sort of thing already; 30 seconds of googling isn't worth dropping an extra $100-200 because I couldn't be bothered to find the name of a cheaper service. >If you don't think twice about buying things under three digits, depending on frequency, just not doing that for frivolous things for a few weeks could afford you the ability to do something that might ultimately be a much more valuable memory. There's plenty of crap I've bought and barely used that would have been much better used taking a good friend out to an extravagant meal or event. I mean, that's what I'm talking about. I've never felt like my ability to splurge massively (e.g. buying a ticket at an airport to go on a suddenly planned trip) was impaired by my frivolous $50 purchases whenever I felt like it. I may not buy moderately expensive stuff without even considering whether I actually will use it (so maybe I'm not as rich as I think) but I don't have to even consider stuff like expensive taxi rides or bullshit novelty experiences when I'm bored.
FireBeyond 11y ago
Less than $150 from whom? UPS and FedEx quoted me $275-300. I don't know many lower-middle class people who'd buy what will likely end up being just shy of a thousand dollar present for their friends.
- cthalupa 11y ago
  Do you do a lot of business shipping with them? Shipping rates are significantly reduced if you do high volume - if Magic does a lot of shipping (and it sounds like they would, with the services they offer), they could probably negotiate a far lower rate than you could.
justinpombrio 11y ago
Really - a $300 birthday gift to your friend? According to this website[1], the median American family has a combined income of 81k and spends about 1k of that on gifts. That's for the whole household, so more like $500/year for your friends. You're probably not going to blow half of that on one friend's birthday dinner. Of course there are plenty of people for who this is reasonable, but please don't be so ignorant of what "middle class" means. [1] http://visual.ly/how-average-american-family-spends-money http://visual.ly/how-average-american-family-spends-money
- Nadya 11y ago
  >According to this website[1], the median American family has a combined income of 81k and spends about 1k of that on gifts And some people are a bit more generous than that. Or only have 1-2 friends that they go "all out" for. Small $20-40 gifts for a few friends/coworkers and 1-2 $200-300 gifts for the close friends lines up with your estimate just fine. Especially since they said could afford to and not will do so. I'm middle class and spent three times the average you cited because I budgeted it accordingly for the last year. This year was atypical, but was very much possible. You don't need to be upper middle class to afford a one off large purchase. Maybe if you're struggling in the lower ends of the working class - it could be difficult. I don't see where you're finding fault with their statement... if anything you're supporting it.
  - jcrites 11y ago
    She's a very special friend, and I hadn't done much in the way of thoughtful gifts for her birthday in the last several years. She loves the restaurant and hadn't eaten there in about five years. The restaurant actually burned down shortly after we left the city to move to Seattle :-( We thought we'd never have it again. (I love the restaurant too, so it was kind of a gift for me as well.) When I learned that the original business had been rebuilt and re-established, I thought I'd put together an extra special surprise for her birthday this year. What was special about this birthday present was it seemed like an impossible feat, on first impression, and she had no idea how I did it. That's why what Magic did was so magical. Imagine having for your birthday dinner food from your favorite restaurant in the whole wide world, from a restaurant 2000 miles away, that you thought had burned down! Entirely unexpected and quite delicious!

njharman 11y ago

I think most middle class people would think $300+ for a meal is wildly extravagant. And would think a $300 gift for "a friend" is on high end of gifts.

joslin01 11y ago
As a middle class person struggling to get day by day -- yes, yes it is.
- themartorana 11y ago
  Semantics, but if you're struggling, you're not middle class. At least not in the classical sense. It's a shame the downward pressures that have made "struggling to get by" the middle class norm. The whole point of the thriving middle class (in the US at least) was that, with a willingness to work, you could live comfortably, with a house and two cars and 2 kids. This isn't meant to be insulting or directed at you - it's just a new definition of middle class, that the struggle builds character or your struggling is an indicator of your value or lack of hard work, that I find almost infuriating. End rant, I suppose.
  - joslin01 11y ago
    Well we all have our struggles I suppose. I hear what you're saying though. I think money has lost a lot of its value.
- BookmarkSaver 11y ago
  Bullshit. I'm not "rich", but I'm a single guy making an great salary and my purchasing power is probably in the 95% of the the US. I don't even really think twice about purchases of anything that costs less than 3 digits if I have any desire for it. But $300 dollars for a meal as a gift to a friend? And not even that great of a meal? The fuck? That is absurd. I wouldn't even be above buying someone an xbox if I felt like it, but a $100/hr "convenience" charge is stupid money.
  - cthalupa 11y ago
    He used regular Magic, which is not Magic+. Magic is significantly cheaper. (Drop the plus from the URL). You submit a request, they give you the total, you confirm it, that's what you're charged. I wouldn't consider myself rich either, but I do fairly well for myself as an unmarried guy in his 20s, and there are some friends that in some situations I wouldn't hesitate at all to spend a few hundred dollars on them. Some of them have done the same for me. If you don't think twice about buying things under three digits, depending on frequency, just not doing that for frivolous things for a few weeks could afford you the ability to do something that might ultimately be a much more valuable memory. There's plenty of crap I've bought and barely used that would have been much better used taking a good friend out to an extravagant meal or event.
    - BookmarkSaver 11y ago
      Well for one thing I did point out that I'd be fine dropping an xbox on a friend if I felt like it, just not a moderately expensive meal with a $100+ dollar markup on it. Especially considering there are countless delivery services easily accessible that do that sort of thing already; 30 seconds of googling isn't worth dropping an extra $100-200 because I couldn't be bothered to find the name of a cheaper service. >If you don't think twice about buying things under three digits, depending on frequency, just not doing that for frivolous things for a few weeks could afford you the ability to do something that might ultimately be a much more valuable memory. There's plenty of crap I've bought and barely used that would have been much better used taking a good friend out to an extravagant meal or event. I mean, that's what I'm talking about. I've never felt like my ability to splurge massively (e.g. buying a ticket at an airport to go on a suddenly planned trip) was impaired by my frivolous $50 purchases whenever I felt like it. I may not buy moderately expensive stuff without even considering whether I actually will use it (so maybe I'm not as rich as I think) but I don't have to even consider stuff like expensive taxi rides or bullshit novelty experiences when I'm bored.

FireBeyond 11y ago

Less than $150 from whom? UPS and FedEx quoted me $275-300. I don't know many lower-middle class people who'd buy what will likely end up being just shy of a thousand dollar present for their friends.

cthalupa 11y ago
Do you do a lot of business shipping with them? Shipping rates are significantly reduced if you do high volume - if Magic does a lot of shipping (and it sounds like they would, with the services they offer), they could probably negotiate a far lower rate than you could.

justinpombrio 11y ago

Really - a $300 birthday gift to your friend? According to this website[1], the median American family has a combined income of 81k and spends about 1k of that on gifts. That's for the whole household, so more like $500/year for your friends. You're probably not going to blow half of that on one friend's birthday dinner. Of course there are plenty of people for who this is reasonable, but please don't be so ignorant of what "middle class" means. [1] http://visual.ly/how-average-american-family-spends-money http://visual.ly/how-average-american-family-spends-money

Nadya 11y ago
>According to this website[1], the median American family has a combined income of 81k and spends about 1k of that on gifts And some people are a bit more generous than that. Or only have 1-2 friends that they go "all out" for. Small $20-40 gifts for a few friends/coworkers and 1-2 $200-300 gifts for the close friends lines up with your estimate just fine. Especially since they said could afford to and not will do so. I'm middle class and spent three times the average you cited because I budgeted it accordingly for the last year. This year was atypical, but was very much possible. You don't need to be upper middle class to afford a one off large purchase. Maybe if you're struggling in the lower ends of the working class - it could be difficult. I don't see where you're finding fault with their statement... if anything you're supporting it.
- jcrites 11y ago
  She's a very special friend, and I hadn't done much in the way of thoughtful gifts for her birthday in the last several years. She loves the restaurant and hadn't eaten there in about five years. The restaurant actually burned down shortly after we left the city to move to Seattle :-( We thought we'd never have it again. (I love the restaurant too, so it was kind of a gift for me as well.) When I learned that the original business had been rebuilt and re-established, I thought I'd put together an extra special surprise for her birthday this year. What was special about this birthday present was it seemed like an impossible feat, on first impression, and she had no idea how I did it. That's why what Magic did was so magical. Imagine having for your birthday dinner food from your favorite restaurant in the whole wide world, from a restaurant 2000 miles away, that you thought had burned down! Entirely unexpected and quite delicious!