What is the deal with New Zealand?

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Forums › Politics › What is the deal with New Zealand?

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Awrrr
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#1945844 24-Jan-2018 09:23

How can that make such a big difference to a shop that imports shoes or other goods? I get that it costs extra to ship stuff here and more extra due to differences in taxes, turnover, etc., but the amount of difference seems hard to justify. It feels more like price gouging. Maybe it started because the gougers could get away with it due to our remoteness, and it goes on in the Internet age because consumers have become used to it.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

Geektastic

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#1945875 24-Jan-2018 09:58

Rikkitic:
How can that make such a big difference to a shop that imports shoes or other goods? I get that it costs extra to ship stuff here and more extra due to differences in taxes, turnover, etc., but the amount of difference seems hard to justify. It feels more like price gouging. Maybe it started because the gougers could get away with it due to our remoteness, and it goes on in the Internet age because consumers have become used to it.

And don't we hear the howls of protest when ungrateful consumers shop overseas to avoid it?

Last time I was in NYC I bought 3 pairs of Nikes for less than $150.....3 pairs of Levis for $40/pair....etc

Why we have an additional 10% Duty on clothes and shoes I simply cannot understand.

Geektastic

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#1945880 24-Jan-2018 10:02

Fred99:
SJB:

I wasn't suggesting I am a royalist. No real feelings one way or another really although the idea of electing a President is not particularly appealing.

The majority of Brits seem to think the stories I mentioned above are 'happy news' stories shall we say.

I'm actually not sure if the majority of brits are royalists. It might take some googling to confirm, but IIRC the royals are more popular with the colonials than they are at home. I'm sure that if they were cut off from state funding, they'd be able to make do quite well - if they showed some entrepreneurial flair, like say Kardashians or Trumps. I imagine they'd do rather better - selling handbags and commercialising stuff with their coat of arms etc.

Don't be put off by the idea of Presidents. Putin, Trump, Erdogan, Duterte etc - there have been worse, it's mere coincidence that four dirty thugs appeared at about the same time, riding 4 up on a horse with Vlad at the reins.

Everyone assumes the Royal family are state funded. However for the most part state funding only covers the costs of carrying out official duties. The Queen actually pays income tax on her private income.

Pumpedd

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#1945906 24-Jan-2018 10:39

TLD:

My wife goes crazy about NZ prices every time we come back from visiting family in the UK. It's not just food. I have a favourite pair of Merril trainers that I paid £20 for on my last trip to the UK. The same shoes would cost me NZ$180 here. I think that the minimum wage is similar in the UK and NZ. But even if food cost half as much again here, I'd still rather live here than in England. I hate having to visit, and won't be going back after my dear old mum passes.

Some of the UK saving might be down to economy of scale. Take broadband/fiber? The UK and NZ are roughly similar in size, so the cost of running fiber would be similar (total guess btw). But the UK gets a return from 60 million people, whereas NZ has just 4.7 million, and most of them are in the NI. Taking that a bit further, SI and England have a similar area, but whereas the SI has 1.1 million people, England has 55 million. That has to make a difference

I watch TVSN from time to time and that is a good comparison on certain things. Bose are 20% dearer here than Aussie as are some kitchen equipment brands. Some camera brands are 20% more expensive, others are the same. I only assume that Bose are price gouging in NZ due to us being a smaller market.

Not sure why we arent treated as one market with AUS.

bmt

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#1945912 24-Jan-2018 10:52

People just love to whinge and claim New Zealand is the worst about this that and the other.

Just look at when there's an article about bad driving here and all the regulars trot out the "we are the worst drivers in the world" claim - something you'll hear from citizens of probably every single country in the world. I mean have these people been to Asia at all?

Geektastic

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#1945935 24-Jan-2018 11:28

bmt:

People just love to whinge and claim New Zealand is the worst about this that and the other.

Just look at when there's an article about bad driving here and all the regulars trot out the "we are the worst drivers in the world" claim - something you'll hear from citizens of probably every single country in the world. I mean have these people been to Asia at all?

You believe we should compare ourselves to Vietnam rather than, say, Germany?

mrfte

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#1946092 24-Jan-2018 15:50

A 4 million population on an island far from EU/Americas is bound to have high cost of living. We need more highly skilled labour and foreign investment.

Sharesies

Trade NZ and US shares and funds with Sharesies (affiliate link).

Aredwood

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#1946107 24-Jan-2018 16:31

There will be some pricing difference due to CGA related costs. My understanding is that most other countries don't have an equivalent to the NZ CGA.

But in relation to food prices, blame previous governments that allowed progressive enterprises to buy Woolworths. And when The Warehouse tried to enter the supermarket business, the big 2 supermarket companies threatened their suppliers into not supplying the warehouse.

TLD

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#1946344 25-Jan-2018 00:07

Rikkitic:

How can that make such a big difference to a shop that imports shoes or other goods? I get that it costs extra to ship stuff here and more extra due to differences in taxes, turnover, etc., but the amount of difference seems hard to justify. It feels more like price gouging. Maybe it started because the gougers could get away with it due to our remoteness, and it goes on in the Internet age because consumers have become used to it.

Well we know that NZ and Oz have been targeted by major companies for price gouging. I get all my Adobe software for nothing nowadays, but it used to annoy the hell out of me that I was paying 50% more than Adobe's US customers. I mean this was entirely done by download, so where was the justification? Oz MP Ed Husic took Apple, Adobe, and Microsoft to task, and low and behold, when the CC subscription was introduced we were suddenly paying exactly the same as Americans. Way to go Ed Husic!

http://theconversation.com/when-the-price-is-not-right-technology-price-gouging-in-australia-10582

Trevor Dennis
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Geektastic

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#1946347 25-Jan-2018 00:11

Aredwood: There will be some pricing difference due to CGA related costs. My understanding is that most other countries don't have an equivalent to the NZ CGA.

But in relation to food prices, blame previous governments that allowed progressive enterprises to buy Woolworths. And when The Warehouse tried to enter the supermarket business, the big 2 supermarket companies threatened their suppliers into not supplying the warehouse.

That is true. However, there are plenty of companies that offer excellent warranties which far exceed normal requirements. Many American manufacturers offer lifetime, no questions asked full replacement warranties, for example.

The CGA is good but it's not the Holy Grail it is sometimes held out to be.

Geektastic

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#1946348 25-Jan-2018 00:13

TLD:

Rikkitic:

How can that make such a big difference to a shop that imports shoes or other goods? I get that it costs extra to ship stuff here and more extra due to differences in taxes, turnover, etc., but the amount of difference seems hard to justify. It feels more like price gouging. Maybe it started because the gougers could get away with it due to our remoteness, and it goes on in the Internet age because consumers have become used to it.

Well we know that NZ and Oz have been targeted by major companies for price gouging. I get all my Adobe software for nothing nowadays, but it used to annoy the hell out of me that I was paying 50% more than Adobe's US customers. I mean this was entirely done by download, so where was the justification? Oz MP Ed Husic took Apple, Adobe, and Microsoft to task, and low and behold, when the CC subscription was introduced we were suddenly paying exactly the same as Americans. Way to go Ed Husic!

http://theconversation.com/when-the-price-is-not-right-technology-price-gouging-in-australia-10582

On that basis, where is the reason to charge GST on software you downloaded from US servers? What service or good was sold in NZ?

TLD

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#1946349 25-Jan-2018 00:13

Aredwood: There will be some pricing difference due to CGA related costs. My understanding is that most other countries don't have an equivalent to the NZ CGA.

But in relation to food prices, blame previous governments that allowed progressive enterprises to buy Woolworths. And when The Warehouse tried to enter the supermarket business, the big 2 supermarket companies threatened their suppliers into not supplying the warehouse.

That is apparently just business. I've heard all sorts of stories about TESCOs in the UK for instance. You'd think it would be illegal or fall foul of something like the monopolies commission, because those sort of dirty tricks are not in the consumer's best interest.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2940649/Tesco-faces-investigation-Regulator-fine-supermarket-giant-millions-claims-badly-treated-suppliers.html

Trevor Dennis
Rapaura (near Blenheim)

MikeB4

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#1946399 25-Jan-2018 08:48

This desire to shop online and send our money to off shore Giants is going to have a huge impact on NZ and a very negative impact on our economy. In NZ over 260,000 are employed in retail, add to that all the support and associated businesses he risk of huge unemployment is very real and will impact all New Zealand. This maybe a case of be careful of what you wish for. The cost will greatly exceed the savings.

Pumpedd

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#1946407 25-Jan-2018 09:11

MikeB4: This desire to shop online and send our money to off shore Giants is going to have a huge impact on NZ and a very negative impact on our economy. In NZ over 260,000 are employed in retail, add to that all the support and associated businesses he risk of huge unemployment is very real and will impact all New Zealand. This maybe a case of be careful of what you wish for. The cost will greatly exceed the savings.

Lets close our borders NOW.

MikeB4

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#1946423 25-Jan-2018 09:23

Pumpedd:
MikeB4: This desire to shop online and send our money to off shore Giants is going to have a huge impact on NZ and a very negative impact on our economy. In NZ over 260,000 are employed in retail, add to that all the support and associated businesses he risk of huge unemployment is very real and will impact all New Zealand. This maybe a case of be careful of what you wish for. The cost will greatly exceed the savings.

Lets close our borders NOW.

That would be absurd.

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