Australians being ripped off?

[mellie]

Just take a look at the prices of things at Target in America.


http://www.target.com/#?lnk=crtr_t_spc_1_0


Can someone explain why, when most of it comes from China, and Australia is closer to China than America is.




Also...the current exchange rate is
1 Australian Dollar = 1.05 US Dollar

Why are we playing exuberant prices for things Americans are paying one fifth of the price for?

[IQS.RLOW]

Economy of scale.

[mantra]

We should be importing goods very cheaply with our high Australian dollar - but I've seen no sign of it for the last couple of years. Retailers and supermarkets continually increase their prices even though they're paying only two thirds of the wholesale prices they used to pay - probably less since the GFC.

[mellie]

Economy of scale.

You think?


Read this and tell me if you still think economy of scale is the only reason why price-gouging Australia has become rather unlivable compared to other countries such as America.

http://www.smh.com.au/travel/blogs/trav ... 1fztb.html

[IQS.RLOW]

I've seen plenty of stuff come down in price except for groceries eg brown and white goods.

I agree we are still ripped off, but only because of high wages for low skilled work, local real estate costs, and the 'authorised' avenues pay for the priveledge of being 'authorized'

I have a HK trading company, pay 17% tax and export to Australia. I can ship quicker and cheaper to Australia from there than I can send a package to the next suburb in Australia. No massive overheads, no stupid Labor govt industrial laws and consumers get a cheaper product.

Thanks Labor

[mellie]

And...



Aussie consumers ripped off, overcharged: report



http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-14/a ... rt/3730444

Sorry IQ's but scale of economy is just a lazy way of rationalising Australias outrageous prices.

[mellie]

I've seen plenty of stuff come down in price except for groceries eg brown and white goods.

I agree we are still ripped off, but only because of high wages for low skilled work, local real estate costs, and the 'authorised' avenues pay for the priveledge of being 'authorized'

I have a HK trading company, pay 17% tax and export to Australia. I can ship quicker and cheaper to Australia from there than I can send a package to the next suburb in Australia. No massive overheads, no stupid Labor govt industrial laws and consumers get a cheaper product.

Thanks Labor

Our postal service stinks.

[mellie]

Australia has become one of the most expensive countries in the world and consumers largely have the Government to thank, new research suggests.

Dr Oliver Marc Hartwich from the Centre for Independent Studies today released a report titled Price Drivers: Five Case Studies in How Government is Making Australia Unaffordable.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-14/a ... rt/3730444


Heres a link to his report.

http://www.cis.org.au/images/stories/po ... pm-125.pdf

Contents:



Executive Summary..........................................................................................................vi
Introduction..................................................................................................................... 1
Going bananas over fruit prices....................................................................................... 2
No country for bookworms.............................................................................................. 4
Driving Australians crazy.................................................................................................. 6
Why are cars so expensive in Australia? And what would make them cheaper? .............. 6
Luxury car tax ..........................................................................................................8
Impossible imports...................................................................................................9
Making housing less affordable, the Australian way..............................................10
Land supply ...........................................................................................................12
Negative gearing ...................................................................................................14
First home owner grants........................................................................................15
Stamp duties..........................................................................................................16
Infrastructure levies ...............................................................................................17
Shop till you drop: The great retail rip-off ...................................................................... 17
Retail rents.............................................................................................................19
Wages ..................................................................................................................20
Conclusions ................................................................................................................... 22
Endnotes....................................................................................................................... 22

[mellie]

Lest we forget the outrageous costs of education, childcare, private health insurance, electricity, housing prices....all of which is outrageous.

It seems, we Aussies are just too laid back to even bother asking why.


More fool us!

[IQS.RLOW]

Economy of scale is but just one factor but the authorized distribution channels have a lot to answer for.

These are bought like a franchise and then able to sell into major retailers- so you have markup upon markup and the rights to authorized supply are expensive. It's no wonder grey market US or others are able to piggy back AU sales onto their existing business because a single US retailer has better buying power than a whole of AU franchise because of economy of scale, not to mention that he can ship via FedEx, UPS or USPS quicker and cheaper than using Australia post