A night on the town can be expensive — especially if it involves replacing a lost phone, hiring a locksmith or buying a new wallet the next day.
New Yorkers spend $214.29 per year replacing items left in bars, clubs, cabs and anywhere else a bender may lead, according to a study conducted by the Laguna Treatment Centers.
That’s less than the $241.94 in goods drunken Connecticut residents lose annually, but considerably higher than the $191.84 worth of stuff Massachusetts citizens misplace after a few drinks. The national average is $192.55.
The survey, which questioned 3,000 booze enthusiasts, found that hard-drinking folks in North Dakota were the biggest losers in the land, replacing $380 in missing merchandise annually. That state reportedly has the highest rate of binge drinking as well.
Cell phones are the big ticket items most commonly lost by women during drinking binges, according to the study’s findings. The published report, titled “The Cost of Intoxication,” suggests those missing iPhones and Androids could be due to drunken selfies.
Men are most likely to lose their keys during a night out, though misplaced cellphones were a close second. Of those asked, 8% claimed to have lost items of sentimental value while wasted.
It’s not all bad that hard-partying folks document their activities with handheld electronics. The survey said 7% of respondents use social media to remember what happened once they’ve sobered up. A quarter of those surveyed were ashamed of their behavior the next day.
While phones and umbrellas can be replaced, 14% of drinkers polled said they’d lost friendships over behavior fueled by alcohol use. Male respondents found that to be the case at three times the rate of women. While 47% of male respondents felt their drinking buddies should look after them where they’re blotto, only 33% or women asked said their boozy behavior should be their friends’ problem.
