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Price tags · Puzzle #8 · Wednesday, October 7

Price tags: the answers

Four questions, each with one true number. Here they are with their answers, how to reason each one out, and where the number comes from. Play today's Price tags.

  1. 1. Hot dogs and sausages: How much did Americans spend on hot dogs and sausages in US supermarkets in 2024?

    Photo: Paul Lowry, CC BY 4.0
    Top hot dog city
    Los Angeles

    The answer: about $8.5 billion. Los Angeles led the country as the top hot dog and sausage city.

    Napkin math
    1. 130Mhouseholds in the US
    2. ×$60each a year on hot dogs, brats and sausages

    ≈$7.8B

    Source: National Hot Dog and Sausage Council, City of Angels … and Hot Dogs: LA Enters MLB Season as Top Hot Dog Consuming City

  2. 2. One Costco warehouse: How much did the average Costco warehouse sell in Costco's 2025 fiscal year?

    Photo: Nesnad, CC BY 4.0
    Warehouses
    914 worldwide, 285 of them outside the US
    Counts
    All net sales, gas and online orders included

    The answer: about $295 million. Costco opened 27 new warehouses in fiscal 2025, and its net sales grew 8%.

    Napkin math
    1. 3,000shoppers a day
    2. ×$150a cart
    3. ×365days a year

    ≈$164M

    Source: Costco Wholesale Corporation (SEC Form 10-K), Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2025

  3. 3. Stan the T. rex: What did Stan, a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton, sell for at Christie's in New York in October 2020?

    Photo: Momotarou2012, CC BY-SA 3.0
    What
    A near-complete T. rex skeleton about 67 million years old
    Found
    South Dakota, 1987
    Sold
    Christie's, New York, October 2020

    The answer: $31.8 million. At the time it was the most expensive fossil ever bought at auction.

    Napkin math: A near-complete T. rex is the most famous fossil you can own; with museums and billionaires bidding, think tens of millions.

    Source: Smithsonian Magazine, Stan the T. Rex Will Be the Star of a New Museum in Abu Dhabi

  4. 4. A year of school lunches: What did the US National School Lunch Program cost in total in fiscal year 2024?

    Lunches served
    more than 4.8 billion
    Free or reduced price
    about 72% of them

    The answer: about $17.7 billion. USDA says the program served more than 4.8 billion lunches that year, in nearly every public school.

    Napkin math
    1. 4.8Blunches served
    2. ×$3.5a school lunch

    ≈$16.8B

    Source: USDA Economic Research Service, National School Lunch Program

All of puzzle #8 · The archive