How Is Everyone Doing? Is The Economic Pressure Affecting You?

moo on 07/04/2019 - 18:17

Keen to start a bit of a conversation to ascertain how fellow OzBargainers are doing in the current economic climate. Personally I’ve noticed that the cost of daily essentials and groceries have gone up a lot on price although albeit covertly (e.g. same price but less quantity/quality). Also noticed that a lot of things which were made locally, is now being manufactured in Asia, for example Huggies nappies which is now either made in a China or Singapore. If the supply chain of businesses are being leaned and optimised (well more than usual anyways), is this a sign that we may we moving to tougher times?

I can’t imagine what it would be like for smaller retailers and restaurant owners, it must be pretty tough? I also can’t help but wonder the impact (and influence) OzBargain has on the sustainability of smaller businesses… are we actually doing them a disservice in the long run? Plus OzBargain also tends to also drive consumers to purchase things which they typically wouldn’t have…

So yea.. just a bit of a reflection post. Keen to hear your thoughts, retailers and consumers alike.

General Discussion

Comments

        • Baghern on 09/04/2019 - 09:21
          +1

          every year… during peak season…. surprising right…

          Except when there are things like environmental issues, like with Queenslands floods this year…

          edit: all fruit and vege prices have gone up this year due to environmental reasons

          • Baghern on 11/04/2019 - 20:47

            @Baghern: wow, just bought some bananas at a Sydney Fruit market 70c a kilo

            Woolies still $2 a kilo

        • geoffs87 on 10/04/2019 - 10:04

          I remember a few years ago in NZ, was when we had that bad weather up north and bananas were up around $15/kg… NZ were selling "Australian Bananas" for $0.99/kg… made me sad :(

      • SupeNintendoChalmers on 10/04/2019 - 14:03

        Thats hard though, if you eat out you have no idea where your food comes from. For example, I bet your bottom dollar the prawns you get on your pizza or the local Chinese place are most likely sourced from the putrid waters of Vietnam or China.

  • [Deactivated] on 07/04/2019 - 19:43

    I'm wondering who to vote for on May 18th

    • moo on 07/04/2019 - 19:46
      +5

      It will be a tough one. Here in Aus, voters tend to switch sides at every election ‘hoping for things to be different’. It really depends on their demographics and how certain policies impacts/affects them.

      • [Deactivated] on 07/04/2019 - 19:47

        I'm contemplating going greens this time. I just need someone to convince me.

        • [Deactivated] on 07/04/2019 - 20:50
          -5

          I usually just make an invalid vote.

          Someone I know managed to get themselves removed from the roll by "returning to sender, person doesn't reside here" on one of those fliers from their local Liberal Candidate… If I recall the process was that he shone a light through the envelope to figure out what the contents were, then subsequently returned to sender.

          No idea if that really works anymore.

          To be honest, I'm not really sure what the point of voting is if the policies are basically the same; the country is still moving in the wrong direction regardless of who is in power.

          • mskeggs on 08/04/2019 - 06:34
            +22

            @[Deactivated]: I don't understand this attitude, though I have seen it elsewhere.
            Do you sit at home in the dark complaining the light bulb has blown too?
            IS there truly nobody on the metre wide senate ballot you think could improve things? Are you bereft of your own ideas to make the place better?

            • [Deactivated] on 08/04/2019 - 08:21

              @mskeggs: The composition of the Senate is mostly dictated by preference deals. I view those minor parties that get in as an extension of the policies of the Labor/Liberal.

              I don't know if we actually get to choose the minor party that gets put into power, the major parties seem to have much more influence on who will win power. It's just a numbers game. That's why in the media you always start to get information about the next upcoming minor party which everyone already knows even before the election has started…

              In my opinion it is already set in stone who wins.

              • wryun on 09/04/2019 - 08:16
                +1

                @[Deactivated]: Even when parties could allocate preferences (newsflash: no longer true), the senate composition was 100% dictated by who people chose to vote for. Do you think that if no one voted for Labor they would get in via some 'preference deal'?

            • daewoo on 09/04/2019 - 13:25

              @mskeggs: I'd vote for you, your comments have a "Latham" authenticity +100 IQ points, without the "tool" factor.

        • moar bargains on 08/04/2019 - 15:36
          +2

          I'm contemplating going greens this time. I just need someone to convince me.

          Wait for it, Diji will be here any minute!

        • orangetrain on 09/04/2019 - 08:44
          +1

          Out of Labor, Liberal and Greens, I like Greens as their efforts show long term potential. But why listen to me when there's a lot of choices depending on where you live:

          https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_parties_in…

          You need to do some research. Some facts to help you not waste your vote:

          • Your primary vote is not wasted if you don't vote for one of two most popular candidates.

            It "flows" down your preferences. Ie put in order: Greens, Liberal and Labor last. Labor in the safe seat could still get elected unless enough people preference Liberals above Labor.

          • Your primary vote is worth about $2 to the party you vote for.

            You know your candidate is only getting 5% of the primary votes (a seat tends to have 100k voters), that's at least $10,000 to them despite losing, not bad! That's at least two smashed avo!

          Please vote for what you want. It's important to me as I like to know what the country wants even if I disagree with their choices.

          • Baghern on 09/04/2019 - 09:36
            +6

            @orangetrain: I like Labour polities… they're just incompetent at pulling things.

            Liberals have no long term plan, people forget the Coalition is two minor parties representing 2 minor areas…. businessmen/rich and farmers.

            If Liberals could, they would get rid of Medicare, Superannuation, put in place a Flat tax system… something they've never tried to hide, get rid of NDIS.

            People try to use the Pink Batts as a disaster, the policy wans't the disaster it was the execeution. Same with the School Building thingy

            I have no doubt the NBN under Labour would have doubled in price.. but in the end we would have a future proof NBN

            Liberal NBN isnt much cheaper, but extreemely poor. They claimed to execute faster… but here I am in Sydney Metro with 3kbps ADSL still

            • WinstonWithAY on 10/04/2019 - 22:08

              @Baghern: Thing with the NBN is that even if it is expensive, it's infrastructure. It'll make it's money back in the long run, plus it'll make the economy more efficient in the current digital age we live in.

            • serpserpserp on 10/04/2019 - 22:43
              +2

              @Baghern:

              but here I am in Sydney Metro with 3kbps ADSL still

              Mate you are using a 33.6k modem still with that speed.

            • [Deactivated] on 11/04/2019 - 13:40
              +1

              @Baghern:

              People try to use the Pink Batts as a disaster, the policy wans't the disaster it was the execeution.

              The disastrous execution (poor choice of words) was totally the fault of the policy makers.

              The number of deaths wasn't too abnormal for that industry. The news focused on the deaths because "if it bleeds" is still a thing. I always saw the deaths as a political football and irrelevant.

              Because the actual disastrous crime was how many installations were badly done, or not done at all, or excessively overcharged, or damages done by inexperienced and incompetent installers.

              That disaster is entirely the fault of the policy makers. They flooded the market with money without first having regulations that would prevent dodgy operators. Every man and his dog suddenly became a batt installer to get their hands on that money.

              It was well-intentioned but ultimately incompetent policy by Rep. Garrett. And again, I don't think the deaths are on him, and I hate the Liberals for using those deaths for political points. But I'm more furious that an opportunity to insulate homes was squandered because of his inexcusable naivety. He thought he could throw that much money into the ring and not attract scam artists? What an idiot.

          • Chandler on 09/04/2019 - 13:41
            +1

            @orangetrain:

            Your primary vote is not wasted if you don't vote for one of two most popular candidates.

            It "flows" down your preferences. Ie put in order: Greens, Liberal and Labor last. Labor in the safe seat could still get elected unless enough people preference Liberals above Labor.

            Really annoys me how few people know how the preferential voting system works.

            Your vote literally counts towards your highest preference until such time as they have the least number of votes, upon which time your ballot goes to your next preference.

          • MessyG on 09/04/2019 - 21:00
            +2

            @orangetrain: The Greens are a crazy mess right now, and lets face it, there's only been a few moments in their history when they've had their shit together. Every now and again they have some overwhelmingly sensible ideas, run with it, collect support, then just descend into a rabid mess of competing interests, to say nothing of their internal cultural problems right now.

            • orangetrain on 10/04/2019 - 07:54
              +1

              @MessyG: That's if given 3 party choices. I encourage people to check out other parties.

              • MementoMori on 12/04/2019 - 16:17

                @orangetrain: Yes - agreed - throughout history the only time there has been any benefit to the actual everyday person was the traditional two party system looked at risk.

                Checkout all the smaller parties to actually make a difference.

        • MementoMori on 12/04/2019 - 16:16

          I'd ask what are you thoughts on the population growth/level and what are Lib/Lab/Greens going to do to that? (make it better or worse)

      • orangetrain on 09/04/2019 - 08:26
        +1

        Not this time. NSW election saw swings against major parties in primary vote. The mainstrean media of course still won't discuss minor party policies despite their rise.

        • Chandler on 09/04/2019 - 13:39
          +1

          Almost two-thirds of Australia's media is owned in some way by Murdoch / News Corp1, who love the Liberals. Of course you won't see them giving time to minor parties.

          1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_of_Australia#Media_ownership ↩

          • orangetrain on 09/04/2019 - 14:39
            +1

            @Chandler: It's up to us to educate people about non Liberal choices. The fifth estate 2.0.

            We will know it's working when there's hitpieces. Ie Shooters party, One Nation, etc.

    • SupeNintendoChalmers on 10/04/2019 - 14:08

      for those who aren't attuned to politics here are our 2 contenders

    • drfuzzy on 11/04/2019 - 16:35
      +1

      I sometimes vote Labor and sometimes Liberal. I am definitely voting Liberal until the Labor party finds a more sustainable way of balancing the budget than raising taxes. Short term higher taxation is fine, but medium to longer term it damages Australia.

    • MementoMori on 12/04/2019 - 16:14
      +1

      I would have a good think about which issue(s) are most important to you, then vote for party that has the best policy for that issue.

      It's clear in the comments, walking around the CBD and what you hear people mumble under their breath - the issue that shall not be mentioned.

      I'm voting based on that. Only a few parties even have policies on it.

  • JIMB0 on 07/04/2019 - 20:15
    +22

    The price of fine wine and caviar these days is ridiculous.

    • kahn on 08/04/2019 - 07:15
      +26

      You made by butler laugh.

  • Meho2026 on 07/04/2019 - 20:28

    Everything consumable I use is the same or cheaper.
    No pay rise.
    Rent gone up 10% a year last two years, cant appeal it cos its still below market rent but its killing my skinflint budget.

  • sahh on 07/04/2019 - 21:13
    +2

    I feel like there’s different things to spend money on these days which is thinning out the budget compared to 10-15 years ago. Stuff like Netflix/Spotify subscriptions, mobile phones that cost well over $1,000 shift in food culture to eating out more.

    • digitalbargain on 09/04/2019 - 11:35
      +2

      They're all discretionary spending items

  • PAOK11 on 07/04/2019 - 23:40

    The economic climate is killing me. I genuinely cannot afford clothes,eating out, going out a new car or house. I have a 50% share in a house (for sale atm) but I only managed to save the money because I lived with my parents for far longer than I wanted to. The banks won't lend me money to buy my own place, the most I can afford is a tiny apartment. This is partly due to my desire to live near the city but having grown up near the city I couldn't possibly consider living in Geelong or in the south east. What I mean by the economic climate is killing me is I don't make enough money. I have some money in the bank but can hardly save any money on my salary which has forced me to go back to school to try to earn more.

    • ufoninja on 08/04/2019 - 07:11
      +6

      That just sounds like life. Everyone goes through this unless born into wealth. Best of luck.

    • moar bargains on 08/04/2019 - 15:39

      What I mean by the economic climate is killing me is I don't make enough money

      No, what you mean is that you are spending too much, and refuse to make changes.

      • PAOK11 on 08/04/2019 - 15:52
        +1

        Did you even read what I wrote ? I said I can't afford to do any of those things, so I don't !. I'm not sure what your getting at.

        • moar bargains on 08/04/2019 - 16:14
          +4

          I apologise - I didn't mean to come across so harshly, and I did read what you wrote. What I was getting at was that you have said you couldn't possibly consider living anywhere other that the city. That is clearly a lifestyle choice, not a lifestyle requirement. I totally get it - I would much rather live 5 minutes from work, friends etc, but that is not realistic based on my salary and work location combination. So I'm taking the opposite approach and advocating that my work move closer to me ;)

          And believe it or not, I do understand about buying new clothes, eating out, etc. It's because of a decision that I/we have made though, so the natural consequence is that we forego some of these other things.

          • PAOK11 on 08/04/2019 - 17:10

            @moar bargains: Yes, I think your right. Im going to have to move out to the burbs whether I like it or not. The crazy thing is its not the burbs anymore its almost like I have to move to the countryside. I guess this the economic climate stuff im referring too.

            • moar bargains on 08/04/2019 - 18:45
              +6

              @PAOK11: Yep. I bought my first house ~12 months ago. I moved from a suburb 10km from the CBD to a country town, literally with cows visible from my back yard. Fortunately for me it's close to where I grew up, so lots of friends/family, and it's the same travel time to work, but lots of people who don't come off that well from a similar position…

              I really think they should encourage the decentralisation of cities. Why is it that everything has to be in the city centre?! But thats another issue for another day.

              • AncientWisdom on 09/04/2019 - 04:32
                +1

                @moar bargains: Now, if we just had a modern ultra fast network infrastructure that could support such an idea…

                • khomeini on 09/04/2019 - 07:13
                  +1

                  @AncientWisdom: Stop corrupting the youth with you new fangled ideas. We'll be just fine doing things the way they're always done.

                • moar bargains on 09/04/2019 - 08:44
                  +1

                  @AncientWisdom: Ha! Wouldn't that be nice! Oh well, I guess we could move to Madagascar if we really wanted fast internet…

            • cloudy on 09/04/2019 - 11:53

              @PAOK11: To be fair, back long ago, Maryribroung (hope I spelt that right, I Cbb goggling) was the sticks, so much so they built Melbourne’s first incinerator there, coz they believed no one would ever live in the swamps.

              Now there is highpoint, heaps of expensive houses, etc.

              The economic climate that creates this is population, demand of housing, this can’t be stopped, it can be controlled a little, but a bigger country in my opinion is inevitable.

              Every generation needs to buy a place where they view it as the sticks, burbs, countryside, call it whatever you want. But the truth is, it’s coz there are more people, who need living, and drive sup demand for housing.

              • PAOK11 on 09/04/2019 - 12:04
                +1

                @cloudy: Yeh because immigration levels have not been managed effectively and all the reforms to property/lending came far too late when the damage had already been done.

            • idonotknowwhy on 09/04/2019 - 13:49

              @PAOK11: Sounds like a case of: "you can have anything you want, but not everything you want".

              If you want to live near the city, why not just keep renting, and invest your leftover money in the share market (or real-estate ETFs)?

              You don't have to buy a house.

              • PAOK11 on 09/04/2019 - 14:55

                @idonotknowwhy: i don't have enough money to play the stock market. Also too many options wouldn't know where to start

                • idonotknowwhy on 09/04/2019 - 15:46
                  +1

                  @PAOK11: You don't need a lot of money and you don't need to "play the markets" or pick stocks. Concensus is, we can't beat the market, so don't try to.

                  Pick a diversified exchange traded index fund (ETF) and a cheap broker, then just keep topping it up each time you have $1,000 saved up.

                  I recommend VDHG and selfwealth

                  If you go with Selfwealth, they charge $9.50 per trade*. So each time you save up $1000, you can buy $1000 worth of VDHG, and only pay 1% in brokerage fees.

                  Much like buying a house, you don't try to time the market. If there's a downturn, simply hold through (and keep buying every time you get $1,000 saved up) and you'll end up ahead eventually.

                  *Use the ozbargain referral links and get 5 free trades.

                  • PAOK11 on 09/04/2019 - 16:46

                    @idonotknowwhy: can you tell me more about the role of a broker ?

                    • idonotknowwhy on 10/04/2019 - 07:44
                      +2

                      @PAOK11: Sure. For the explanation below, I'll assume you're only trading Australian shares and/or ETF's on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX)

                      The broker (sometimes incorrectly referred to as an "exchange", particularly among ex-cryptocurrency traders moving into equities) facilitates the buying and selling of equities. These are not registered with the broker though, they're associated with your HIN (see my last paragraph).
                      The broker earns money each time you buy or sell, and a lot of them also sell anonymized data about your trades to institutional investors.
                      As such, the platforms make it very easy to buy and sell, but the idea here is to buy and hold. Hold through any corrections or crashes, and don't try to time the market. If you're not tempted to buy and sell frequently, you'll benefit from the very low fees of these index funds. More on the topic of fees and concerns about trading frequently is addressed in the book I'm about to link to.

                      Regarding the investment strategy,if you're interested, it's worth doing your own reading. I recommend The Little Book of Common Sense Investing. I just suggested VDHG because it's the conclusion a lot of people in the financial independence communities come to, as a very easy way to have a diversified portfolio. I'm a little more risk-taking and have put more money in Emerging Markets because I believe there's more room for growth in those economies and am willing to take the risk.

                      I've tried a few brokers and ended up on selfwealth because:
                      1. $9.50 flat fee per trade.
                      2. I'm only interested in ASX listed funds.
                      3. The web interface and android app are the best I've seen, and generally useful for looking up companies.

                      When you first sign up to a broker (Selfwealth, Commsec, Nabtrade), etc, you are given a HIN. This identifier is what your assets are registered against. If your broker goes out of business, your shares are safe, and you can use your HIN (and identity information) to transfer to another broker and resume trading.

                  • Harold Halfprice on 09/04/2019 - 22:35
                    +1

                    @idonotknowwhy: also want to know more..

    • drfuzzy on 11/04/2019 - 17:04

      I have a friend who is upset that he can't afford to buy a freestanding home on a large block in inner-ring Melbourne as a single person on a middle income who likes spend money travelling. You remind me a bit of him.

      • PAOK11 on 11/04/2019 - 17:21

        lol… I'm upset that I can't buy a house at all

  • mini2 on 08/04/2019 - 12:42
    -1

    I'm sure a lot of people are under the pump right now but how many of those sources of pressure came about due to a life decision/choices they've made earlier on?

    • OzzyOzbourne on 11/04/2019 - 15:44

      Yep.. I chose not to successfully rob a bank in my early life so…

  • MessyG on 08/04/2019 - 19:52
    +1

    I think the pressure is affecting us in the sense that we are okay as long as we keep swimming but if illness or injury take us out we're a bit f*****d. Nothing has been done by the incumbent government about the flat wage growth, I don't know what they've been doing all these years other than having leadership spills and insulting just about every single voting group they can' think of, including their own.

    • ihbh on 09/04/2019 - 08:16

      Nothing has been done by the incumbent government about the flat wage growth

      Do you want them to wave a magic wand to fix it?

      Isn't it driven by market forces? E.g. If the price of many goods are going down, then it's hard to provide a wage increase in these areas? Also, if you work in sectors where there is a lot of competition, how do you expect wages to increase? Finally, as the world globalises, there are countries earning far less than us, as their wages increase and close the gap, how do we compete in the same areas with wage growth?

  • knoxy1001 on 08/04/2019 - 20:38
    +1

    Hasn't effected me as of yet, but I've noticed in my area a few builders have started to slowdown etc. a few more subbies than usual looking for some gigs etc.
    Only been buying my own groceries for 5 or so. years, haven't really found any price increase etc, although I've been trying to buy meat from the butcher etc which has increased my grocery bill.
    I work in construction, if you hadn't guessed.

  • AlienC on 08/04/2019 - 20:48

    local fish and chip shops have raised local burger prices but other than that prices have actually been getting better imho.. i dunno it fluctuates

  • OzzyOzbourne on 08/04/2019 - 21:22
    +4

    Yeah, I can't afford fuel for the Veyron

    • JIMB0 on 09/04/2019 - 06:51
      +1

      I feel for you. I can't afford to fuel up the private jet and have been forced to use the yacht for overseas trips.

  • Wallyt99 on 08/04/2019 - 21:25
    +4

    Wage growth has been poor - but our expenses keep creeping up. It’s gotten to the point where we are no longer able to save and are just paying our expenses.

    We are a decent earning couple with two kids.

    E.g petrol today $1.77 a litre. Yet wage growth has stagnated.

    • moo on 09/04/2019 - 01:56
      +1

      I find that for wages to grow, the only way is to jump jobs. However it is not an ideal situation for many.

      • mini2 on 09/04/2019 - 08:41
        +1

        Grass isn't always greener elsewhere too.

  • Mrgreenz on 09/04/2019 - 08:26
    +11

    Imagine how bad it would be without Aldi

    • desert eagle on 09/04/2019 - 09:07

      Have been thinking the same while reading through this thread. I can’t handle shopping at colesworth unless I absolutely have to.

    • WinstonWithAY on 10/04/2019 - 22:12

      I for one welcome our new German overlords

      Wait a second…

      • railspider on 11/04/2019 - 14:44

        LIDL coming soon too. The more budget German supermarkets, the merrier

    • freakatronic on 11/04/2019 - 12:30

      Your comment makes me think I should give them a shot.

    • mavis30551 on 11/04/2019 - 15:06

      Me and my partner noticed Aldi are not as cheap as they use to be.

      They put a lot of prices up by 50c (more or less) and we found our usual shop at aldi, about $80 was up to about 110-120.

      And we always went to coles or wooleis after anyway. So now we just do the one shop and skip Aldi.

  • sauce2k on 09/04/2019 - 08:55

    wage growth is pathetic….I work in the financial services sector, so yeh Post RC world..

  • [Deactivated] on 09/04/2019 - 09:00
    +2

    Everybody I know has the same problem. No real wage growth, increase in workload, reduction of hours and technological redundancy (employer adopting new technology and laying off workers transitioning the workforce into fixed term and casual contracts instead of permanent and then transitioning into a new era).

  • arkie0 on 09/04/2019 - 09:07
    +1

    http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/[email protected]/mf/6401.0?opendocume…

    Slowly being pushed into poverty, pack of winnies blues and cartoon of VB has gone up 6.8%.

    Not to mention the next biggest increase, cough medicine has also gone up 3.3%.

    • LaProblematique on 09/04/2019 - 09:14
      +4

      Vices of the poor to keep them poor. Good riddance.

      Cigarettes could triple in price for all I care.

      • Bid Sniper on 09/04/2019 - 15:23

        Cant believe how expensive that $#!t is, big poor tax.

    • Cluster on 09/04/2019 - 14:28

      Good thing is no one needs cigarettes (as opposed to wants). Beer too expensive? Brew your own. It's pretty easy and can be a fun hobby.

    • luffyex2010 on 11/04/2019 - 10:00

      Cough medicine gone up…. Heard a couple of uni students talking about how to get high on cough syrup in chemist warehouse eastwood… Not sure if that's the cause of high demand. Lol

  • Baghern on 09/04/2019 - 09:16

    I also can’t help but wonder the impact (and influence) OzBargain has on the sustainability of smaller businesses

    We're the maggots of the animal kingdom, we clean up the leftovers

    • Roman Sandstorm on 09/04/2019 - 16:56

      I would have thought that maggots were the maggots of the animal kingdom.

  • boostpak on 09/04/2019 - 11:05
    +5

    I'm doing it tough, I've ditched the smashed avo on toast and single origin coffee for only white rice and a bag of frozen veggies for the next month

  • IMadeYouReadThis on 09/04/2019 - 12:15
    +3

    I am more concerned about the car manufacturing which moved overseas as oppose to nappies production…

    • moo on 09/04/2019 - 13:14

      Interesting, care to elaborate more? From an macro-economic perspective, I'm keen to ascertain the economic breakdown by industry in terms of contribution. Will see if I can dig something up.

      • idonotknowwhy on 09/04/2019 - 13:51

        Will see if I can dig something up.

        Post your findings here, I'm actually kind of curious myself but too lazy to research.

    • mini2 on 09/04/2019 - 16:49

      I think the horse has bolted long ago for that one. If they're able to salvage the nappies production then fair game.

  • Jamie007 on 09/04/2019 - 13:59
    +2

    I feel I'm just treading water and it's getting harder even though my annual pay increase is a higher rate than the national average. In the past year I've rented a cheaper house, saving $50 a week and being much closer to work I'm saving another $50 a week in petrol and my wages go up roughly $40 a year. So Im $140 a week better off than a year ago, yet am still only making ends meet. My disposable income certainly isn't what it was 5 years ago with the same job.

    • DemocracyManifest on 10/04/2019 - 07:14
      +1

      I know what you mean, I've ditched my internet connection for the first time despite earning the most money I have had in a while, have a backlog of repairs and need new clothes etc

  • adgnetworks on 09/04/2019 - 14:45
    +2

    I'm not struggling but definitely feel pressure since nothing is getting cheaper.

    If I made the average of 300k OzB salary I feel it would be pretty easy going.

  • Bid Sniper on 09/04/2019 - 15:22
    +3

    Wages stagnated, cost of living up, lot of monopolies you have to deal with Australia who like nothing better to increase pricing for no reason other than shareholders (Banks, toll roads, phone companies, insurance, Petrol, power, gas, internet, rent etc…). You pay for them directly and pay again indirect because cost of business is higher too (eg price of food), vicious cycle.

    Financial tide of the housing ponzi scheme going out so the infestment firms needs find something else to exploit, monopolies (or price fixing) is the best way to do it.

    Id leave Sydney if it wasnt the case world wide.

  • pformag on 09/04/2019 - 15:44
    +2

    I'm upset the Aldi dropped the Columbian beans. That is about it really.

    • gimme on 09/04/2019 - 16:01
      +1

      didn't like those. Aldi lazio dark roast still my favourite by a long shot. I've tried all sorts of wanky hipster cafes in Melbourne and none of them as good as the Aldi one I have out of my machine every morning.
      As for the economy. Been in Aus for over 2 decades through a number of booms, busts and everything in between. Didn't notice the difference. As a pro Ozber I auto-adjust input/output based on the situation. And yeah no kids to drain my bank account or mental limits lol.

      • serpserpserp on 10/04/2019 - 22:57

        I've tried all sorts of wanky hipster cafes in Melbourne and none of them as good as the Aldi one I have out of my machine every morning.

        You have probably ruined your taste for other coffees by stick to one type. I did that when I drank coffee from the same place for 9 months, went back to one of my previous favourites and thought it tasted bad, then stop drinking at the first place and then after time my palette came back around to other tastes!

        But FYI the ALDI beans are just not my jam.

        Been in Aus for over 2 decades through a number of booms, busts and everything in between.

        Well technically even if you had been in Australia for 25 years you would have experienced one "real" bust. The rest of the time has been mostly boom.

        • gimme on 11/04/2019 - 06:16

          Depends on which state you live in. Also there is no bust now. Just speaking within the context of economic cycles.

    • railspider on 11/04/2019 - 14:46

      Have you tried the new Peru beans yet? Are they comparable?

      Still rationing the remains of my final Columbian bag.

      • pformag on 12/04/2019 - 10:21

        Not yet, still on my last Columbian, this weekend will try the Peru

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