Ripoff NZ companies

Posted on February 5, 2015 by KG

LOCTITE 510 50ml HIGH TEMP GASKET MAKER
NZ $38.16
excl GST  (tax)  that’s around 50+c/gm
U.S.A.: A cartridge of the same brand high-temp silicone is $6.53!!
Less than 2c/gm
The drag on the traditional Kiwi strengths of innovation and inventiveness caused by this sort of thing must be enormous.

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23 Responses to Ripoff NZ companies

  1. Wombat says:
    February 5, 2015 at 22:28

    It’s incredible what some retailers will charge while keeping a straight face.

    I’ve got a guy for my tractor stuff and the prices are so low compared to everywhere else that every time he gives me the total I have to check to make sure he hasn’t missed anything.

    Some of these bricks-and-mortar stores have real gall to bitch about online retail killing them off. Overpriced merchandise. F-all selection. F-off customer service. Many of them seem to open a shop and sit smugly behind the counter expecting customers to throw money at them like rose petals before a pharaoh.

    • KG says:
      February 6, 2015 at 08:01

      I must get the name of your tractor guy, Wombat. We’re going out this morning to look at a very old Ferguson, with a view to fixing it up and using it as a farm/firewood hack for Gecko.

      • Wombat says:
        February 6, 2015 at 12:19

        That’s the great thing about this guy.

        I’ve recently bought an old Fergie (and I mean OLD). You ask this guy any question you like and he knows the answer straight off the bat. He’ll even steer you clear of needlessly expensive stuff like multi-purpose oils when the cheaper stuff will do the same job.

        Unfortunately unless you’re in northern Tasmania then the freight might become prohibitive.

  2. Darin says:
    February 6, 2015 at 02:30

    I pay $22 for the Loctite 510,but never use it because the Permatex equivalent is $10 and every bit as good.You guys are still getting screwed though.

    It could have something to do also with product compliance .Here the EPA has managed to label all sorts of things as “hazardous material”and that allows retailers and shipping companies to gouge for shipping and hazmat compliance.

    When we were working for a UK firm on some work we were doing under contract their engineers kept specifying Belzona epoxies (excellent stuff btw)for some of the assemblies were were setting.We kept asking for the US made equivalent as a substitute.One of the engineers finally asked why and we told him the reason was simple.Getting two .25l redhand kits shipped from the vendor cost $350. $150 of which was hazmat fees tacked on by UPS because the hardener is classed as a type 1 hazmat risk even though it looks like a dab of peanut butter about the size of a teaspoon and it’s sealed in a nearly bomb proof container.

  3. Ronbo says:
    February 6, 2015 at 02:31

    I agree with Wombat. I live in downtown Seattle where the retail prices (plus a 10% sales tax on top) are way too high EXCEPT at the Target superstore on Pike Street which includes groceries.

    Target combines the best in brick&mortar stores and the Internet – If what you’re looking for isn’t on the shelf then simply go over to the computer in each department and order there.

    Of course, you can order at home by way of the PC and when you go shopping your personalized Target order is ready at the front desk. There is no charge for shipping and handling.

    • Darin says:
      February 6, 2015 at 02:45

      That is partly because traditional stores get socked with all sorts of crazy taxes and fees and the closer to city center they are the higher they get.
      I know for example when Walmart moved in and built a huge new store the city and county gave them a 10 year exemption on property,store fixture and inventory tax.No such breaks were given to any of the mom and pop stores which promptly went out of business after a couple years.

      • Ronbo says:
        February 6, 2015 at 05:03

        Businessmen have a bad habit of sucking up to the government in order to put their competition out of business, and if the brakes aren’t put on by We The People, the nation ends up with a fascist state of a few big businesses and One Big Government.

        The classic example is the Tucker Automobile Company just after WW II that produced a car with power steering, automatic transmission and air conditioning as STANDARD equipment on a very reasonable priced auto many years before the “Big Three” American auto makers were able to make such an offer.

        What happened to Tucker :?: He was put out of business in 1946 by a cabal of government regulators, bureaucrats and politicians put on the trail by the “Big Three” who hated the idea of competition.

        Yes, Walmart and Target didn’t get big without a quid pro quo from government. :sad: MANY, MANY quid pro quos :!: :evil:

  4. Pascal says:
    February 6, 2015 at 07:54

    http://falfn.com/CrusaderRabbit/wp-content/plugins/wp-monalisa/icons/wpml_bye.gif
    Let me lend you my 2¢.

  5. Oswald Bastable says:
    February 6, 2015 at 08:23

    Outfit I worked for used to have hugely inflated list prices, so we could minimise tax liability on our profits in NZ. The books showed we used x dollars in parts, which made our end of year profits look small, and the money went straight to corporate , as parts were an expense.

    Example was a 2 meter power cord. List price was about $38. The actual price was a bit less than a dollar. $37 profit has just turned into an expense on paper…

      • Oswald Bastable says:
        February 6, 2015 at 08:45

        Yep, that’s how dealerships hide their profits.

        It was easier for us, as the customer never saw the item prices, as we has a service contract.

        • Darin says:
          February 6, 2015 at 09:17

          Warranty work is another one.My brother worked for IH back in the 80’s.The dealer he worked for was crooked,truck driver would come in for an oil and filter change,if the truck was still under warranty the owner would have one of the mechanics write up a work order saying the truck had a leaky hub seal.

          They would charge book rate shop time to the company and take a new seal off the shelf,cook it with a torch and turn it in for parts credit after never turning a bolt on the truck.

  6. Oswald Bastable says:
    February 6, 2015 at 08:58

    Household chemicals are another HUGE markup. In every case, the only significant cost to the manufacturer is the cost of the container.

    The other cost is distribution. Note how NOTHING has reduced in price with the fall in the cost of fuel.

    • Darin says:
      February 6, 2015 at 09:13

      My current employer used to own three movie theaters.They almost never made a profit or broke even on the movie.It was always the concessions.$.01 of ice.$.02 of soda and $.04 for a paper cup turned into $1.15 and so on.

  7. john says:
    February 6, 2015 at 11:24

    Speaking of fuel Os, I don’t know why anyone would buy diesel at Woodville. It was 122.9 when I passed through on Wednesday, in Palmy it was 101.9.

  8. Cadwallader says:
    February 6, 2015 at 11:37

    (Slightly O/T.) I think the biggest rip-offs in NZ aren’t effected by private businesses but by quasi government pricks. It is known world-wide that the city of Christchurch has been to hell and only now starting to make a comeback. Now, if you had only a few brain cells you’d think the Christchurch Council’s Nazis would have better things to do than close up who they say is operating an illegal boarding house. (Read about it at Stuff NZ.) This is about a guy who looks like a tough bastard ex-car wrecker who allows a few homeless to rent spaces in containers etc as they’ve nowhere else to sleep. The Council goon-squad has shut him down due to inadequate lavatories etc.. Again, wouldn’t you think the Council would reward ingenuity in tough times…f53k no! FFS! :evil:

    • The Gantt Guy says:
      February 6, 2015 at 12:16

      There’s no such thing as private business in NZ. No business that isn’t hampered, or helped, by government. Your business will either prosper or be destroyed – depending on where you stand with the bureaucracy.

      • Wombat says:
        February 6, 2015 at 12:46

        Amen to that.

        Of course, there is an exception. The Black market ranges from “entry level” to “got my own country”. It’s a consumer base that gets bigger as government oppression grows larger. The harder the oppression the bigger the profits.

        Consider, despite the danger of serious penalties people are still buying and selling things as simple (and once common) as raw milk.

        We’ve always looked with contempt at nations where people have to exist outside of the law in order to survive. Laughably we are heading in the same direction.

  9. Flashman says:
    February 7, 2015 at 07:20

    A NZ rip are those dodgy outfits doing domestic heatpump “annual inspections”. $135 for ten minutes of unnecessary nothing…a higher charge-out rate than a top Wellington tax accountant.

    Avoid like the plague.

  10. GW says:
    February 7, 2015 at 10:40

    If its access to cheap ammo that you want, KG, I hear that Obama is running a special on green cards this month. Just mexicanize your name before you apply and you should have no problems