We are still paying too much on most products even with OzBagain is in our souls

• 

  tonyjzx on 16/02/2013 - 01:07

  +3

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=78yig…

  australian cities are among the top 5 most expensive places to live

  australia is an expensive place to find accomodation and pay for utilites and wage growth isnt supporting the high living expenses

  knowing all that, is anyone surprised things cost so much?

  • 

    dealman on 05/03/2013 - 12:22

    -1

    You can say all that and more ,
    but of the 14 or so countries that I've visited,

    There is not a place that I'd rather call home.

    Love this place, and I wasn't even born here.

• 

  cloudy on 16/02/2013 - 08:35

  +7

  We also have one if the higher incomes of the developed world too, not saying we are the highest, but it's high. We also enjoy higher standards of living too, so I think we can't be too pessimistic, it is however disgusting that things on iTunes is so much different, given there is no electronic distribution costs by way of selling to us or a us citizen.

  • 

    arcticmonkey on 16/02/2013 - 09:28

    +4

    That's what people miss when they do price comparisons. If people want to pay less for things then expect your wage to go down to $3 an hour or even lower. That's what they're getting in many other countries.

    Having said that, I do think the multinationals should be able to make prices lower given this: http://www.theage.com.au/business/how-savvy-multinationals-c…

    • 

      tonyjzx on 16/02/2013 - 13:15

      +5

      also know this… when you get a bargain the reality is that SOMEONE is losing somewhere in the supply chain

      you buy $2 milk or $1 bread, someone is getting screwed and its not colesworth

      you buy a $15 router, someone done f*cked up and ordered too many (sure its nice screwing Harvey Norman for a change)

      when you get a screaming bargain, 9 times of out 10 someone is getting screwed

      of course i'm a mercenary soul and i care less

      eg. i hate car salesman with a passion but when you screw them down on a deal they have to make it up off some other poor sap and as long as its not me, i good with it

      • 

        nephilim on 17/02/2013 - 02:15

        Surely you just made that up about bread, a company I worked for bought loafs for 80cents from tiptop, and thats the 2.50 dollar kind. $1 bread is cheap and nasty and goes stale after 3-4 days at max… most likely costs sub 70cents.

    • 

      retiredfeline on 17/02/2013 - 10:32

      +1

      Plus abuse of workers. E.g. Amazon Germany accused of mistreating seasonal workers

  • 

    cameldownunder on 17/02/2013 - 21:39

    -1

    I dont know on what side of OZ you're living, and what city, but buying power in AU-Land is getting less and less. Of course if you buy all the cheap stuff from china (which eventually brakes within 2 month) yes, the purchase power might be higher.

    What was the price of the bananas 2 years ago? 20$ the Kilo.
    Have you compared the price of beer with other countries?
    Or price of decent cheese?
    And how much does one have to fork out for a packet of cigarettes? Oh thats because of health resons?
    Probably the same reason why you have high taxes on Alcohol.

    And what about the tax rates?
    I suppose you dont have to pay the 1.5% extra levy fee.
    And what about the solidarity flood levy?
    Has the Anset Australia Special airport tax finished?
    What about all the Road Taxes?

    Did you lately chech the difference between the National Bank Interest Rate and the one oofered by the banks? Only Australia has such a high difference.

    And I almost forgot the housing affordability. Australia ~ 8 times your yearly salary against 3-4 for the other countries?

    And I dont think car are cheap here.

    No Sir, salaries are getting lower because you have Indians, Chinese and others that are willing to take your place for much less then what you are getting.

    Ok enough ranting, as I might exceed my broadband quota, yes, Australia, the last country with download limits.

• 

  retiredfeline on 16/02/2013 - 08:49

  +6

  Yeah we can thank the Coolies duopoly for the high grocery prices. Supermarket goods were cheaper in Europe, traditionally regarded as an expensive destination.

  Coles: Your money going down down our greedy gullet.
  Woolies: The expensive food people.

  Support your local produce market and alternative supermarkets when you can.

  • 

    Hedgehog girl on 19/02/2013 - 10:16

    You mesn God blesses Aldi?;)

• 

  exc3113nce on 16/02/2013 - 09:57

  +4

  I think we are blessed to live in our Country. I would be happy to pay the extra for the life that I live here.

• 

  DEvok on 16/02/2013 - 10:19

  There's no better country than australia, I bet all ozbargained agree. Like where else would you go, your in australia and using ozbaragin, that's more than enough, highly doubt anyone overseas even uses ozbargain unless on holidays.

  • 

    May4th on 16/02/2013 - 11:57

    there's ukbargains.. groupon is in almost every country, and i'm sure most will have a bargain site by now too

    • 

      exc3113nce on 16/02/2013 - 12:23

      Plus to add to that slickdeals as well for amazon…

  • 

    scrimshaw on 16/02/2013 - 15:30

    +1

    There's no better country than australia,

    Actually, according to the economist Switzerland ranks as number 1 while Australia comes second.
    http://www.economist.com/news/21566430-where-be-born-2013-lo…

    • 

      voteoften on 16/02/2013 - 15:49

      +2

      The problem is that switzerland is full of swiss.

      • 

        tonyjzx on 16/02/2013 - 15:58

        the best place to live is monaco

        there's a problem with citizenship though

• 

  Maglia Nera on 16/02/2013 - 23:19

  +4

  even stuff made here is cheaper overseas ….

  http://smh.drive.com.au/motor-news/americans-to-pay-10000-le…

  • 

    OzBrogains on 17/02/2013 - 02:04

    Vegemite costs less in some overseas countries than it costs in Woolies/Coles :)

• 

  RefusdClassification on 17/02/2013 - 05:20

  +2

  If you are a true bargain hunter, you cannot help but be in love with the USA. Australian minimum wages are considerably higher than in the US, but the bulk of a poor man's income is spent on food and accomodation, and these are both much more expensive than in 'Ameritopia'. In Brisbane, housing, electricity and water prices over the past 10 years have all increased at a much rate than wages and social security have.

  The solution is socialism - an economy regulated by the government for the benefit of the citizenry rather than a small number of opulent oligarchs and multinational corporations.

  • 

    dealman on 17/02/2013 - 07:00

    +1

    The solution is socialism -

    How did that experiment go in the countries where it has been tried.

    Tell me one country that you might want to live out of this list, rather than Australia.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_socialist_countries

    an economy regulated by the government for the benefit of the citizenry

    Might happen in LA LA land but in reality , a government with far too much power only corrupts itself and lines it's own pockets. Just look at that happened in NSW with the Labour govt its inefficiencies and all the corruption scandals.

    Not to speak of taking away any individual incentive for progress.

    • 

      retiredfeline on 17/02/2013 - 09:40

      +5

      The word socialism has a broad spectrum of meaning. In the sense that the state redistributes income all countries do it to some extent even the one a recent failed presidential contender said had 47% freeloaders.

      That said I don't buy TS's simplistic solution. What we do have to be wary of are "free market" boosters who really want to loosen the rules so that they can @r$ef**k consumers and workers to line their pockets.

      I'm probably a bit grumpy at the moment after being slugged $8 for 20 minutes parking to see off a friend at the airport.

    • 

      sydneywest on 17/02/2013 - 09:49

      china?

      • 

        dealman on 18/02/2013 - 09:18

        Wow, You want to live in China, Go for it baby,

        Remember the "average" chinese still works in a factory with low safety regulations and does back breaking work for 12 + hours a day. 6 days a week. All this for a paltry income, oh and did I mention no social security.

      • 

        scrimshaw on 18/02/2013 - 17:08

        Not to mention that China is suffering from a food safety crisis.

        http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/5083-A-d…

  • 

    retiredfeline on 17/02/2013 - 10:30

    +2

    Remember the old one-liner: In capitalism, man exploits man. In communism it's the other way around.

    • 

      tonyjzx on 17/02/2013 - 14:03

      yeah thats fine but so far, it seems capitalism is leading to overall better prosperity than socialism/communism

      is it perfect? no?

      • 

        retiredfeline on 17/02/2013 - 14:18

        +1

        Sure, at least with capitalism you have more choice in how you are exploited. ;)

      • 

        dealman on 05/03/2013 - 12:20

        100 % better prosperity,

        there is just no comparison,
        Russia < USA
        INDIA + CHINA < AUSTRALIA (In terms of quality of life and prosperity)

    • 

      2ndeffort on 06/03/2013 - 11:08

      so what is the other way around of 'man exploits man'????

• 

  ubcool on 17/02/2013 - 18:41

  stuff is more here because we get paid more, our minimum wage is almost double USA, and most foods, electricals, do not cost double… besides we can import stuff with out tax, so we really shouldnt moan.

• 

  RockyRaccoon on 17/02/2013 - 22:21

  +1

  Going back to the original posters examples, these are just sensationalist crap.

  How well have these idiots researched their topics when they lead with Apple ripping people off when their prices on THEIR hardware and THEIR software isnt that high. After GST these prices are a few percent higher than US prices.

  Now many just think Apple prices are too high anyway, which isn't the debate here. Its the same around the world.

  In other countries there are tariffs etc which increase their prices, here in Oz we have a free trade agreement with the US.

  Now the prices that Apple charge for third party products delivered electronically are higher than in the US by the margins quoted, but the difference here is these prices are set by the THIRD party. Contrary to populist opinion about Apple its the third party who own the IP and rightly are free to set the set the prices.

  Now the very government that is investigating higher prices charged are the ones that stopped parallel importing of media/books. This was to protect jobs, but not the ones who worked at Borders and the other bankrupted retailers.

  So then Apple has to deal with the local distributor who sets the prices. And they set that based on what they are already charging in the market. A CD costs twice as much, and its not a high shipping cost item. CD's cost cents to produce, the high cost is the margin for the local distributor.

  So while I agree we are being ripped off, using headlines that are factually incorrect and do not really address the issue or the true offenders is going to mean nothing. When our Senators "discover" its their policies that created this mess, where will this enquiry quietly go. Yep nowhere. And we will be in the same boat as we always have been.

• 

  SkMed on 17/02/2013 - 22:48

  +1

  My favorite ultimate Australian tax rip off is the Adobe Suite. Even after the pricing inquiry the Adobe Master Collection is still astronomically expensive compared to the USA even for the digital download. Its outright criminal.

  It is cheaper to fly to LA Buy the Master Suite there and fly back and still have $500-$800 still in your pocket! There is no justification for this except for pure greed on Adobes part.

• 

  Typical16-bitEnjoyer on 17/02/2013 - 23:03

  +6

  I love Australia….but too many whingers. See above.

  I've lived in the UK previously and everything is quite expensive compared to income.
  Food, transport, accomodation is much higher. Only thing noticeably cheaper was a pint at a pub but that's because all the pubs are going broke…You can get a shitkicker job in a supermarket/shop/call centre in Melbourne and get $22-25/hour minimum. Good luck getting more than 6-8 pounds an hour in London if you don't have a degree or trade. Worst yet live in Spain and be under 25. Huge unemployment.

  Be grateful for the great country we live in, instead of whinging about the price of a luxury item at your local bricks and mortar.

  • 

    cloudy on 05/03/2013 - 16:44

    +1

    too right, i read nearly everyday someone whinge about how expensive electronics are at a australian owned bricks and mortar store, either that or how its too cheap to buy milk or bread from a bricks and mortar store.

    infact…i'd say ozbargain has more than its fair share of these people.

• 

  MrDixit on 18/02/2013 - 09:01

  +1

  The simple answer is - no competition in Australia. The consumer market in the US is weaker, but they have volume, so low margin is the best way to survive. Also factor in the Amazon style competition (and free domestic shipping) and there's no way you could run an Aust style store in the US. Yes we earn more, and yes food is generally extremely cheap (its only going up in price because "premium" versions of everything are increasing in popularity). Anyhow, best bloody country in the world hows the serenity blah blah blah jingo blah blah blah wghen was the last time you bought ozzie blah blah jingo blah.

  • 

    RefusdClassification on 09/03/2013 - 02:54

    +1

    You are right about the lower-profit margin, higher volume of sales model that dominates in the US. There are some computer stores, like UMart here in Brisbane, that operate a similar model. Customer service is almost non-existant; they just shove stock out the door, so to speak. But for computer staples like HDDs and CPUs, their prices are only slightly higher than one would pay in "Ameritopia", which is quite good considering there is a 10% GST + 5.5% Duty tax.

    Earlier in this thread, people asked which country one would choose to live in other than Australia. I would say USA with an Australian government pension or a middle-class job like an Accountant. As long as you are healthy and have vocational skills, America is the best place to live.

• 

  2ndeffort on 06/03/2013 - 11:05

  You cant have your cake and eat it to. You cant have the fairytale socialist eutopia where society looks after the weak and the sick, workers/tenants/customers/employees have a range of rights and entitlements BUT goods costs less. I run a small business and every one of the hidden costs either goes into my prices or it comes off my bottom line. I think it is a bit rich that the government is passing the blame on to evil faceless corporations when they are indirectly benefiting themselves from a range of taxes, tariffs and expensive regulatory red tape that they have setup for whatever political reason suits their ideology.

  That said, big corporations will charge whatever they think they can get away with to maximise profit. The best way to stop apple would be for everyone to buy Android and then tell the marketing types they switched because Apple was too expensive. Same deal for Adobe! People who whinge but continue to pay overs only feed the behaviour.