Why the medium popcorn always wins
Small popcorn, $5. Medium, $8. Large, $8.50.
Almost nobody buys the medium. That is not a pricing mistake. The medium is not there to be bought. It is there to make the large look sensible.
Put the small next to the large on its own and $8.50 feels like a lot for popcorn. Put the medium between them and the large is suddenly only fifty cents more than something. The comparison has changed, and the comparison is what you actually use to decide. We are terrible at judging value in isolation and very good at judging it relative to whatever is sitting nearby.
This is called the decoy effect, and once you know the name you will see it every week. The subscription tier that makes no sense except as a reference point. The “most popular” plan sitting between a stripped-down one and a premium one. The house the agent shows you first, which is not for sale to you so much as for calibration.
It works on smart people because it does not ask you to believe anything false. Every number is real. It just controls what you compare against.
The defence is boring and effective. Before you look at the options, decide what you want and roughly what it should cost. Then look. The decoy only works if it gets to set the frame before you do.