Cheap Date Not So Cheap

By Meaghan O'Connell May 13, 2014

Deutsche Bank has created a Cheap Date Index (okay sure, rolling with it), wherein they measure the cost of burgers and a movie in different cities across the world. Included in the cost are cab rides, McDonald’s burgers (the great international unifier, apparently), soft drinks, two movie tickets, and ‘a couple of beers.’ NBC News is on it:

London is by far the most expensive place for a simple night on the town, while Mumbai is the cheapest.

In London, this basket of items would cost $121, compared with just $23 in Mumbai.

U.S. cities don’t even break the top 10. The closest is New York, which comes in at No. 11 at $93, just under Auckland’s $96.

Ninety-three dollars! Listen I live in New York and that is not what I would call a cheap date. Granted, this is all very subjective, but when I hear “cheap” I think, “Okay, $20 or less.” Anything above $20 is no longer cheap to me. It has now registered as a significant expense. An acceptable one! But significant.

I think the biggest red flag here is the idea that a cheap date involves a cab ride. Cab rides are for people who work in advertising. Or people with a company card, going to a meeting. Or people who are out too late and are wishing to be teleported home and willing to pay any price not to sit on the subway platform for three hours, waiting for a train. “Cab” and “cheap” do not belong in the same Date Index. And actually, neither do movies! A movie is a NIGHT ON THE TOWN. You buy two tickets to a movie and sigh a little when you swipe your card.

A cheap date is falafel or pizza, ice cream from the corner store, watching something on Netflix, and maybe having sex before you fall asleep.

Metro card: $2.50
Pizza for two: $10, tops
Ice cream, let’s say you get the absurdly expensive kind: $7
Netflix: stolen from family member

Boom, $20.

Photo: via Wikimedia Commons

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