While people are free to charge what they like for runs (and while people continue to charge obscene amounts of money, I'm staying well away from the merc scene), it's all about supply and demand. The prices are only so high because people are willing to pay. Like everything, unless people vote with their wallets nothing is going to change.

I would buy the shit out of T9 runs for convenience sake if I didn't have to fork over a small house worth of gil every time.