Are We Being Completely Ripped Off? (On Paracetamol, Kaffir Leaves, Baked Beans, Bike Accessories and Other Items)

LWizMuncher on 15/01/2021 - 11:14
Last edited 15/01/2021 - 12:58 by 1 other user

A couple of years ago, I was working in Laos and this cafe I used to like to go for breakfast had these interesting chairs. They were these thick cardboard barrels with Azithromycin written on the side, 60kg. I realised I was sitting on an empty container of paracetamol (or panadol). I should explain a bit further - over there you can walk into a pharmacy and buy one pill (which most people do), but I didn't realise the scale of it. For instance one 500mg paracetemol might cost 80 Kip, which is less than a cent.

Curious I started digging around using the package number and was astounded to learn you could buy one of the barrels from India for about $100. That's for 60kg!!! Think about that the next time you pick up 24 tablets of panadol for $5 - the exact same chemical. In fact I found out the home brand sold by supermarkets here is made in the same factory.

If a recipe calls for kaffir lime leaves you can buy about six of them for 4 bucks at the supermarket. Have you ever seen a kaffir lime tree? - there's a reason it's called a tree, at that going rate a kaffir lime tree is worth say $50k !!! Wtf? If you need kaffir lime leaves it's better to go down to the nursery and buy one tree for $10.

And the list goes on and on. $2.50 for a can of baked beans? When I was in England 15 years ago you could buy a tin for a few pence, now they're like a pound each. If you have ever cooked beans yourself a handful of them will make about 4 to 5 tins.

Not to mention that it is incredibly suspicious that these supermarkets are routinely having half price sales. In order to do that, what sort of price gouging are they doing at the normal price? I've never worked it out, except to notice that one week it's Coles, the next week Woolworths, then IGA get their turn. Without fail.

And the final insult - a struggling bicycle shop a minutes walk from my house. I needed an adaptor for a pump to inflate a tire. They pull out this box with hundreds of little steel adaptors and ask for 10 bucks for one adaptor. I mean I want to support local business but not outright thievery. I looked online and you could buy the exact same box for about $3 (250 adaptors). The shop shut down not long after.

Anyhow please share your stories of what you perceive as blatant ripoffs.

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  R4 on 19/01/2021 - 01:46

  The economic and socio economic ignorance on this thread is astounding.

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    khomeini on 23/01/2021 - 23:40

    Tell us what we should be aware of our thinking about?

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  misu p on 19/01/2021 - 08:57

  To bring up baked beans in England means you do not know your history.

  http://www.factfiend.com/time-store-paid-people-take-stuff/

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    WizMuncher on 20/01/2021 - 06:57

    Not really, that was exactly what I was referring to.

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      Speckled Jim on 20/01/2021 - 08:56

      Apples, oranges and plums again.

      You do realise the context in which that price war was conducted, yes? It was literally a race to the bottom to get people into the stores.
      There wasn't the virtual duopoly we have. There's a few more brands of beans there, too, with some locally made.
      It was a publicity stunt.

      Cherry-picking such disparate examples of "good deals" as you saw them is admittedly a fun activity. We all remember the great deals!

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  Pelicannn on 22/01/2021 - 20:00

  I travel a lot for work, and it really opens your eyes to the prices in Australia. In Italy, a decent expresso from a cafe will cost you about 50 euro cents. Cuppacino (not that its common there) or latte can be had for 70-80 euro cents.

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    khomeini on 23/01/2021 - 23:40

    Is that relative to wages there though? Curious…. Google tools me Italian median wage is AU47.5k, so the cappuccino is a bargain.

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      Pelicannn on 23/01/2021 - 23:45

      Their wages are certainly lower, and they have an ageing population, but I too have googled their wages and compared the value of a coffee there vs here. Even if our average wage is double the italians, there is no way im going to find a decent one for 1 euro equivalent here unless i stick to the 7/11 special.

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  tonyjzx on 07/02/2021 - 15:31

  Markets will charge what the customer will bear.

  Australia is a high wage nation but also a high cost of living country.

  I always notice this because when you buy fresh fruit and vegetables its extortionate at the Colesworths.

  But you go to the locally run family fruit stores in the more low economic strata suburbs OR the paddys lidcombe then you see the difference.

  FURTHER I used to work at an IGA type store and I supplemented my meagre wages with the overfill overstock overripe fruit vegetables (with the blessing of the store manager) and the cost price of this stuff is very low.

  It shouldnt surprise you that COles might pay $250 for a tonne of potatoes and then sell it off to you for $4 a kg.

  PROFIT (but then think of the huge costs of running a supermarket and the supply chain at bella vista etc.

  Also the Aust. consumer is largely pretty unsophisticated and prices and post sales support are a result of that.

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