Where Apple's pricing is way off

Now that I'll be reviving my early 2008 MacBook Pro, I remembered that the small detachable plug  of the power supply broke a few weeks before I stopped using the machine. I didn't really matter so I didn't replace it. Now that I'll be using the machine again—I actually believe that it's going to become my main machine again while writing my thesis—having a small plug and thus a compact power supply seems useful.

I called-up the local Apple Premium reseller to enquire about that availability of this small piece of plastic and metal and was told that they have them in stock. When I asked about the price my jaw dropped: € 19,–
A second call to another reseller yielded the same result. I kid you not, this small thing costs exactly as much as a brand new 12 W iPad power supply.

You see, I have nothing against premium pricing, but this just seems stupid, not greedy but stupid. Putting a prohibitive price on a spare part for something that can break so easily (mind you, in the European version, the contacts aren't retractable) simply makes no sense to me.

What am I going to do? Simple, I'll get the 12 W power supply and use the 10 W one as a spare. Faster charging times for my iPad 2 and iPhone 4S and a new plug are a much better deal than the alternative.

Alex Hoffmann @mangochutney