Rip-off New Zealand:

21 Responses to Rip-off New Zealand:

1. Alan says:

   June 27, 2017 at 19:10

   Yeah, just looked today at local supermarket, price of 500g of budget honey, jumped from $7.49 to $10.49 so price manipulation is real.
   • KG says:

     June 27, 2017 at 20:13

     It sure is, Alan. And I’m bloody tired of all the bullshit excuses we’re being given for these prices.
     We’re being turned into low-wage serfs just as Argentina was, by the same methods, and thanks to the media people are unaware of what’s happening.
2. KG says:

   June 27, 2017 at 20:31

   https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/94152907/new-zealanders-in-australia-say-kiwis-pay-too-much-for-food
   Perhaps the truth is beginning to dawn, even though an economist trots out the usual “economies of scale” and “food distribution costs” nonsense.
3. Michael in Nelson says:

   June 27, 2017 at 21:06

   Tomatoes are $9.99/kg in Countdown today. I’m terrified of retiring!
   • Ronbo says:

     June 28, 2017 at 00:11

     ….and here I thought the prices in Hawaii were terrible when I visited there last year, but I think New Zealand has them beat! A gallon of milk in Honolulu sold for $10 to n$12 – and the Washington state price for milk at not more than $4 a gallon even in pricey Seattle. The price of milk is out of the reach for many struggling Hawaiian mothers, so its beast milk for the babes.

     Of course, you do expect a price bump upwards because island living means many items must imported by ship or plane over long distances – instead of the cheaper means of trucks and railroads.

     Speaking of Hawaii – the island “paradise” the state government is as socialist as the national government of New Zealand – and does discriminate in favor of those with full or part Hawaiian native blood. These people get a free ride that includes free land if you are 100% native – and, of course, free other people’s stuff if you even have a drop of native Hawaiian blood that shows up in a DNA test.

     Did I mention Hawaiian welfare benefits? Pretty generous. Free housing if you are homeless – it’s a civil right! Free food. Free education, etc. – Socialism comes with a high price tag.

     Meanwhile, the people in Hawaii who make the state work and the buses run on time live in tiny houses without air conditioning in back alleys where a family of six somehow lives happily in a small three room house.

     This is the real working class Hawaii tourists never see – the Hawaii where in the big meal of the day is rice, spam and whatever fish a family member was able to catch after working a 12 hour shift at the Hilton.
     • Darin says:

       June 28, 2017 at 00:57

       Almost anywhere you look wherever socialists are in control,the costs of food and housing are through the roof.
       Just look what they have done to wages-
       http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/06/26/seattle-s-minimum-wage-hike-hurting-low-level-workers-study-says.html
       • Ronbo says:

         June 28, 2017 at 03:13

         ….and don’t forget the high price of housing.!

         My cab driver – a white man in his 40s – told me his rent was $2,000 a month (electric/water not included) for a tiny apartment in Honolulu – without air conditioning and with a tiny room size fridge good for cooling a six pack of beer and some hot dogs.

         Fortunately, he spent 16 hours a day – six days a week -in the cab he owned hauling tourists all over Oahu.

         He reported he made lots of money; however, every state/city/county official on the island had his/her hand out for a piece of his action – so taxes, fees, “buying a curb” at the airport ate up 60% of his hard earned living.

         OH!

         The apartment my cab driver rented for a king’s ransom was on the edge of Honolulu and up a hill facing a street full of potholes – but he always got a good night sleep without the AC because he passed out from exhaustion after the 16 hour work day.

         …but what’s a white man in Hawaii to do? A middle aged Navy veteran owing child support for a couple of young kids living with mom in California and for bills this former wife ran up before the divorce left him no choice.

         It’s the white man’s burden in the Pacific, heh?

         Maybe the white man’s burden everywhere in the West.

         What to do?

         Like Ayn Rand told Atlas, “Shrug!” – and let the world roll off the shoulders.
       • Ronbo says:

         June 28, 2017 at 03:17

         Tell me about it! I live in the People’s Republic of Seattle where admitted socialists are on the city council and 94% of the vote in 2016 went for the Hildabeast.
4. Darin says:

   June 28, 2017 at 00:34

   I wonder how much trouble one would get in if someone were to start smuggling in container loads of groceries from Australia? Open up a speak easy for beans and rice?
   • Ronbo says:

     June 28, 2017 at 03:30

     Speaking of the high price of everything in the Pacific Islands, I understand the military families/ active duty personnel on Oahu bases (of which the U.S. military has dozens) do a healthy black market for their civilian friends off base.

     You see on military bases active duty military personnel and their families can buy groceries/electronic/gasoline/etc. at the restricted to military personnel stores at mainland stateside prices with no taxes. So I understand many a rent bill is settled in goods from the Base by a low ranking Navy family living off base….and many a sailor has settled his bar bill by supplying booze at stateside prices to his favorite dive in Honolulu.

     Of course, highly illegal and subject courts martial, but the commanders turn a blind eye because the military pay for lower ranks is not very high.
   • Gregoryno6 says:

     June 28, 2017 at 12:41

     Actually, Darin, the ciggie smugglers here are doing import rather than export.
     http://www.smh.com.au/comment/smoking-taxes-make-cigarette-smuggling-an-increasingly-attractive-option-20150515-gh31ch.html
     • Darin says:

       June 28, 2017 at 13:09

       Yup,same here until the Mexican border got violent.That was the thing to do,drive across in your truck or RV and load up on $.40/pack smokes,drive them across the border and sell them for $1.00/pack,it was a slap on the wrist if you got caught by a border cop that didn’t smoke
5. Cadwallader says:

   June 28, 2017 at 08:11

   I don’t agree with the thrust of the article. The issue here is comparing supermarket prices between OZ and NZ rather than all food prices. Food in NZ is significantly cheaper than in Australia. (I refer to Western Australia where I spend between 1/3 and 1/2 of each year.) NZ supermarkets (one chain of which is OZ owned) are dearer than in OZ but NZ’ers have ease of access to purchasing foods at markets, wharves, and roadsides. I have put the purchasing of fish to the test in ports such as Napier, Timaru and Nelson on many occasions. Fremantle is often 20x more expensive. As usual the NZ Herald has not bothered to undertake expansive thought and research but rather taken snapshots from supermarkets. I suspect NZ supermarkets are dearer than OZ ones due to the numbers of staff employed, the upfront costs of building the outlets etc NB Countdown have only now after 5 years and needless trips to the Environment Court obtained a consent to open a new store in Pioneer Hwy, Palmerston North. The costs to navigate around the local council are circa $2,000,000!!! There’s your price of cabbages etc..
   • mawm says:

     June 28, 2017 at 09:40

     We are charged far more for our mobile “packages” than Oz – significantly more! and that doesn’t require a “shipping” to the islands surcharge.

     OTOH we pay less for our beer!
     • Ronbo says:

       June 28, 2017 at 10:57

       I’ll drink to that!
       • KG says:

         June 28, 2017 at 16:18

         Cadwallader, our experience with Oz/Kiwi prices is the opposite of what you’re saying, and that’s across four states and the Territory over a number of years.
         “NZ’ers have ease of access to purchasing foods at markets, wharves, and roadsides.”
         Not all NZ’ers. The nearest wharf to here where one can buy fish would cost more in fuel than we could possibly save.
         Veges at the roadside are often just as expensive (sometimes more so) than in supermarkets. A lot of the roadside stalls are scams that suck in tourists and trendies looking for “fresh” veges.
         I sure as hell haven’t noticed that Coles in Palmy employs more staff than Coles in Townsville.
         Hardware prices are outrageous. As are car parts and accessories. “Supercheap Auto” for example charges double for car batteries when compared to some Queensland country prices! Same brand, same capacity.
         And let’s not mention the price of petrol and diesel, eh?
         Our experience here in NZ is that if a ripoff is possible, it will be carried out, almost across the board. No wonder effing Kiwi retailers are agitating for an internet purchase tax.
         Oh, and two years ago we tried to buy a candlewick bedspread here in NZ. Queen-size. They were between $300 and $450. We got the same thing from the U.S. for
         $150, delivered in nine days. So the talk of “economies of scale” and shipping costs is largely bullshit, since any Kiwi retailer could import them even cheaper, especially if buying in quantity. (A friend of ours bought 4 pairs of noise cancelling ear protectors for the price of just one pair of the same brand in NZ, including delivery charges.)
6. Tom says:

   June 29, 2017 at 08:34

   Went to buy some chillies at pack n save, they were $6 per 50 grams =$i20 per kilo!!!
   Thought we were buying bloody crayfish.
   • Ronbo says:

     June 29, 2017 at 09:59

     Like Woody Allen famously said, “This may or may not be the best of all possible worlds, but it most certainly is the most expensive of all possible worlds.”

     Americans sayings, “In God we trust, all others pay cash.” – and “In America the only thing free is the freedom.”
7. Darin says:

   June 29, 2017 at 10:36

   For all the consumer stuff and even some tools-

   https://www.banggood.com/

   Mostly Chinese stuff,but these days what isn’t?So far everything I have bought has worked fine and cost a fair sight less than what we pay in the States/

   Bought a few pair of these wire strippers.Locally they are $18 usd.$8.88/pair including shipping
   https://www.banggood.com/RDEER-RT-6065-2-in-1-Cable-Cutting-Wire-Strippers-Electrical-Tools-for-Electricians-Cable-Shear-p-1056237.html?rmmds=search
   • KG says:

     June 29, 2017 at 17:17

     Cool! Thanks for the links.
8. KG says:

   June 30, 2017 at 19:51

   ‘It’s been revealed that a typical grocery shop in Auckland is twice as expensive right now than it is in London.’
   http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11884369