Price shockers from across the pond

[The Porcupine]

Don't expect that pay though... I don't know where he works but that pay is above above average. And don't forget you'll get raped on taxes... *sigh*

I've completely given up on finding lights locally here in Sweden. There's really no point when you can import and get them for less (and that's even if you get caught in customs. I've been lucky about that thus far and had most packages slip through untouched.).

Indeed! I have no idea who buys Surefire's locally in Denmark, but I assume they haven't heard about the internet!
If I had to pay danish prices, I would have one G2!

 

[OldGreyGuy]

I've completely given up on finding lights locally here in Sweden. There's really no point when you can import and get them for less (and that's even if you get caught in customs. I've been lucky about that thus far and had most packages slip through untouched.).

At least here in Australia our Custom's rates for mail packages is reasonable. If the value of the goods (including the postage and packaging) is less than AU$1000 then the package attracts no tax. This includes Global Priority Mail.

Of course if the package comes in via a courier (UPS, FEDEX) then the limits are lower and in many cases (especially UPS) they will automatically lodge a claim charging their own fees as well as the Custom's handling fee plus the duty without even consulting you

 

[Ledacholic Anonymous]

Since the petrol and house prices have virtually double within the past 5-7 years, internet shopping is essential. It however, attracts risk and that risk I am willing to paid because of the saving that I made from it. I got burnt recently with my Spec Opt Gladius - believe me, don't shop at Botac or Botach.

 

[treasurydept]

Oldgreyguy, I think you'd better check your figures... I'm also from Brisbane, and as far as I know, anything over $200 AUD will attract Customs duties. I've been stung many times before, and been on the phone with Customs many times. My rule of thumb, so long as the declared value and postage is less than $140 USD, I'll be ok...

 

[havand]

Gee, I wonder why. Hey wait.....arn't elections coming up? Wait....What was the party that was in charge again? Oh, right. Don't they control the oil companies? They do? Hmm, thats a funny coincidence.

As Americans, we really can't complain because we've got it made compared to most of the rest of the world. I wouldn't trade living here for any other place on earth. Heck, even gasoline has gone down to $1.99 per gallon over here in my city.

 

[Slaro]

As Americans, we really can't complain because we've got it made compared to most of the rest of the world. I wouldn't trade living here for any other place on earth. Heck, even gasoline has gone down to $1.99 per gallon over here in my city.

 

[havand]

Slaro, you apparently made a post in the future! Weird.

Bitslammer: It is funny you should mention Mcdonald's as a 'standard'. I'm writing a paper on an article as we speak and one of the concepts mentioned in the article was the idea of the 'big mac index'. Being that the value of a country's curreny and it's standard of living could be compared at a standard level worldwide by, you guess it, the price of a Big Mac. A bit flawed, but interesting......And wasn't it Cincinnati that recently stopped bus service b/c the voters refused to increase school taxes, and bus service isn't technically ever guaranteed?


EDIT: I think a lot of my objections have to do with what i'm seeing change. There is no argument we have a crapload of disposable income compared to everyone else. But i've seen a lot of trends and manipulation at a corporate and governmental level that scare me a bit. What is that disposable income worth to you, because you might lose both.

Ok, i'm apparently making posts in the past... Quick, someone negatively accelerate me from 88mph!

 

[bitslammer]

Interesting thread. I'm lucky enough to live in the Midwest part of the USA (Ohio) and enjoy one of the best standards of living. We don't quite have all of the high art/culture/nightlife of say NYC, Chicago, or San Francisco, but neither are we a small rural foraming town.

Here in Cincinnati education os high, wages are decent, there's a decent supply of jobs, and cost of living is low. I considered a move to San Jose a few years back and decided that I'd need to get a 6x increase in salary to maintain my current standard of living. This was during the "dot-com" bubble however and realestate was ridiculous. Even if I got that raise I'd have to give up 200-500 square Ft. of space in a new house and have no lawn/property to speak of.

Others have poitned out that it's futile to try and compare prices givent the stark differences in income and costs of living. I've traveled quite a bit and one things I did observe while in Germany was that a good meal (not fast food) could be had for under 10DM or now 10EU, and beer was cheaper then Coke in some cases

Oddly the global presence of Mc Donalds gave me some measure as I could see what the cost of a cheesburger was in Germany, France, Brazil, Italy etc., and compare that by figuring out what else could be bought at the same price of that cheeseburger. Not scientific but it worked for me.

In any case this has made me feel pretty lucky to be where I am so I think I'll make the most of this and buy another flashlight.

 

[strat1080]

Ok...but aren't prices relative to wages? :thinking: $25 per hour in the US would be equal to $153.72 in Denmark Kroners (according to this conversion site). Yes? Perhaps I need educated...

It shouldn't matter, the product was still made in the U.S. and the retailer bought the product at the same price that U.S. retailers would have bought it for. I understand hiking the price up slightly to recover for extra shipping costs, but charging double or even triple the price that U.S. retailers is kind of ridiculous. It seems that the retailer is trying to take advantage of uninformed consumers. Why would wages in another country have a bearing on the pricing of a product made in the U.S? It wasn't made in Denmark it was made in the U.S. It doesn't matter how a U.S. dollar is converted to a nation's currency. You still should be able to get a dollars worth of product. That is the way the global economy works.

For example in Mexico the ratio is 10 pesos to 1 dollar. Its a little higher now but that is what generally is. A $100 dollar Surefire would be 1,000 pesos. I would expect to pay 1,000 pesos for a $100 Surefire. There might be some extra costs for importing the Surefire but in general you should pay a similar price to what you would in the U.S. The conversion doesn't work that way. You pay the dollars worth in the foreign currency. You don't pay $1,000 dollars but 1,000 pesos or the equivalent of $100 U.S. dollars.

 

[missionaryman]

Oldgreyguy, I think you'd better check your figures... I'm also from Brisbane, and as far as I know, anything over $200 AUD will attract Customs duties. I've been stung many times before, and been on the phone with Customs many times. My rule of thumb, so long as the declared value and postage is less than $140 USD, I'll be ok...

My bro is a customs officer I can assure you the new threshold is $1000 it was $200 about 10 months ago, if you yous an international courier you will attract duties at $200.
I can also assure you that calling customs or any other govt dept is a waste of time.

 

[treasurydept]

Thanks missionaryman!! Sorry oldgreyguy!! The items valued at over $200 I was taxed on was years ago; I wasn't aware of the amendment to the legislation. You are right, talking to customs was a complete waste of time. They couldn't even give me a straight answer.

 

[missionaryman]

we get heavily ripped off in Australia with things like quality torches.
I can buy a M@G from the US, get it shipped here, sell it on ebay for 15% less than the major retailers after delivery fees and still make a 20% GP

I can make $150 on an Inova T4 and still save the buyer $100 on the going $100 off the retail price sale at King of Knives (RRP $450)

Average wage in Aus is supposed to be AU$1050/week - I think a few top heavy salaries are tipping that a little too high, most people I know earn $700 - $900 /week. We then pay 25% tax off that as well as 10% goods & services tax when we shop. The average weekly rent is $250, the average weekly shopping bill is $150, the average weekly fuel bill is $60. The average purchase price of a falling apart shack in Sydney (western suburbs) is $450000 which is about $750/week over 30 years.

what's my point? by your torches from America or Hong Kong because at least when it comes to torches they don't have it good they've got it great.

 

[Twellmann]

An average Big Mac costs about 5-6$

An average can of Coke costs about 1-1,5$ (in a shop, not McD)

An average CD costs about 20-25$

An average Porsche 911 costs about 336.000$

and yes you can get an average Big Mac :laughing:

 

[Pax et Lux]

Excuse me for writing my autobiography here, but as someone who has immigrated from England to Canada I'd like to make a couple of observations.

First, on wages - it's almost impossible to compare. Before I came over here in 2001 I was making 20,000 UK pounds - which was not a bad wage at the time; ignore the "average" wage as all the yuppies skew the figures. It's taken me five years to even approach this figure, and I'm still not caught up. But what I've noticed is that your money buys a lot more here: food, gas, entertainment and (until recently) house prices are a lot less than in the UK. I understand the cost of living is even less in the US. Generally speaking, in North America, your cash is worth more, but this comes at a cost: I will never again have five weeks' holiday as standard with six months paid sick time. My two weeks' holiday and 10 days sick pay a year is quite standard across the continent.

I agree with the point that this isn't about wages, but shopkeepers charging inflated amounts for fancy foreign imports - or anything they can sell as that. I remember when the Mini Mag first reached England, sometime in the '90s (I believe). They were 20 UK pounds, which was more than $50 US at the then exchange rate.

Canadian stores can gouge, although perhaps less than in some parts of the world as there is more competition. You have to shop around. However, I've seen G2s on sale in the Vancouver area at $44.99 CAN (Dave's Surplus and Tactical, New Westminster - details here: http://www.davesarmysurplus.com/index.php?cPath=55_125&osCsid=4a2743e297e4595d3c02523b271ee4fa)

However, what bugs me (here comes the Canadian whinge) is that customs charges start at $20 CAN. What can you buy for less than $20? It's just protectionism.

 

[cy]

don't laugh... but the Big Mac index is a respected informal method of determining buying power of a known basket of goods across the world.

basically the premise is Mcdonalds are just about everywhere. adjusting for local flavors, a big mac is pretty the anywhere in the world.

so if you take cost of a big mac ... say in Tulsa, OK USA $1.98 (one of lowest cost of living in US) VS cost of a big mac ... say in London in US dollars using exachange rates. you can find out if that particular currency is under or over value according to a fixed basket of goods.

An average Big Mac costs about 5-6$

An average can of Coke costs about 1-1,5$ (in a shop, not McD)

An average CD costs about 20-25$

An average Porsche 911 costs about 336.000$

and yes you can get an average Big Mac :laughing:

 

[Pax et Lux]

I remember when cost of living indexes were drawn up using the price of a loaf of bread.

That was strangely accurate, too.

Has the clown taken over as the new yardstick for this kind of thing?

 

[cy]

here's a link about big mac index from the Economist, possibly the most respected publication of this type in the world.

http://www.economist.com/markets/bigmac/index.cfm

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

 

[zelda]

Prices from Switzerland:

Mag:
3D LED 95$
2AA 60$
3AA 68$

Surefire:
6P 120$
U2 360$ - 480$
M6 690$
KT1 171$

and at least:

SF123A 8.80$ equal with a energizer 123

zelda

 

[Pax et Lux]

Thanks. I've just learned the term "burgernomics."

So, how many burgers does a simple flashlight (say, Maglite) cost in various countries?

I don't have the time to figure it all out.

 

[cloud]

I remember when cost of living indexes were drawn up using the price of a loaf of bread.

That was strangely accurate, too.

Has the clown taken over as the new yardstick for this kind of thing?

A decent quality loaf of bread in the UK is nearing $2-

talk about rip-off UK & its taxes

a litre of diesel/petrol is around $2- also .....

& house prices well... you need to be the chairman of a mutli national company.. ave prices start around £90000.. thats for a cardboard Box

I need to emigrate...