Oh Argentina. The art of the rip-off

[MizzMarr]

And wait, there'e even more fees to the business. Just to have the postnet device costs $138,00 per month, bank account maintenance fees for a commercial checking account are around $130,00 per month (which you MUST have if you are getting money from credit card payments).

And then the bank charges you additional commissions for each card about $20,00 per month per card, so $20,00 for AMEX, $20,00 for VISA, $20,00 for Argencard, $20,00 for Mastercard. $20,00 for Tarjeta Shopping, $20,00 for CABAL so even if you have 0 transactions from any one of these cards in a month they STILL charge you the fees, it's incredible what it costs here to conduct business, and how predatory the banks are in charging fees. It's endless.

Wow. That's really a shame, and definitely a deterrent to people who want to come set up shop here! Makes me glad to not have to deal with that end of business here. So David, you want to open another business!? You're a brave soul

 

[niceguypaddy]

Typical argie behaviour, really pays to shop around, that's why I use mercadolibe as much as I can

 

[clooz]

It is so helpful to have real anecdotes on pricing differences, and the reminder to be diligent and patient to obtain a better price.

Frames and lenses for eye-glasses always seem overpriced to me relative to manufacturing cost. I worry when I order prescription lenses that the store will order the lenses from a lab that does low quality grinding/coating work or has poor quality management or uses low quality blanks. Since the quality of camera lenses varies so much between a high-end source and a low-end source, I don't understand why eye-prescription lenses prices should not vary a lot based on the quality of the lab.

I've found reading micro-economics stuff like "The Undercover Economist" to be an eye-opener on current retail pricing practices and how pricing varies by location and other factors. Enough people do not shop for primarily price to make it quite easy for retailers to benefit by offering a wide range of price alternatives for similar items and at slightly different locations. Retailers also offer unusual price variations when they making pricing mistakes, and when they experimentally test what people will pay. The quality of eye-glass frames and lenses varies so much and is a big deal so the uncertainty and lack of transparency about this quality makes it possible to pay more thinking you're getting significantly better quality.

 

[estebandepraga]

Sad to say, most Argentinians, NOT THIS ONE!, are so tired when they got home from the day of stress at one or 2 jobs, terrible travel conditions and perhaps that they just buy without lcomparing the prices amongst many markets. Comparing aand then actually going to another shop takes time and energy but it can save tons. Have you ever noticed how here often the smaller sizes of drink, food etc cost less per kilo or liter than larger sizes? T ake a calculator! I also recently bought cooked chiken breasts at 23.99 kilo compared to ones not cooked at 34.99. there is nothing more to say! Except compare and look around!

 

[Davidglen77]

Wow. That's really a shame, and definitely a deterrent to people who want to come set up shop here! Makes me glad to not have to deal with that end of business here. So David, you want to open another business!? You're a brave soul

Fortunately for 2 years now, my business has done well enough to cover these costs. I've learned a lot of lessons though, including shopping around at wholesale suppliers for the best prices, and giving people volume discounts. While I don't profess to have the best prices on every single item, I think for the most part they are very reasonable and you get discounts for buying a full box, plus I accept checks, credit / debit cards, and can give you factura 'A' if requested, (that has helped me get a few corporate customers), gift wrapping, everybody gets greeted when they come in, for frequent customers I sometimes throw in a few free items, I really try to do business the North American way as opposed to whats standard here (poor customer service, being ignored in stores, charging extra for everything, etc) I also try to keep the product mix interesting, have some imported items, use facebook to make friends out of customers.

However I don't plan to continue keeping this store past next year since my business partner has decided to move in a different direction and manage a family business of his and I want to work less hours and have weekends free. So I am going to open another store, smaller, in the center of town in a different format. I already have the location, however it's going to take a while to get it renovated and up and running. I think I will do as well with the new place, but on a smaller more manageable scale.

 

[Ashley]

I second that you should give OSDE a ring. As far as I know, their discounts are standardised depending on the plan you have. I also know that a lot of plans (including mine, though I don't have OSDE) include one free pair of glasses (inc frames) per year. Might be worth checking out...

 

[Tangerine]

I also recently bought cooked chiken breasts at 23.99 kilo compared to ones not cooked at 34.99. there is nothing more to say! Except compare and look around!

They cooked it when it started turning gray and got rid of it.

 

[dutara]

cooked chiken breasts at 23.99 kilo compared to ones not cooked at 34.99

I have noticed that the chickens sold in the supermarkets, especially the big chain stores (Coto, Disco, Carrefoure, et al) are in various stages of being thawed/frozen. The cheapest ones will be obviously thawed (look for red water in the plastic packaging) and probably will be inedible if not cooked within 24 hours or so, hence those are the ones that get dispatched to the spiedo.
I eat a lot of chicken, and have stopped buying them at supermarkets, I now seek out granjas. Look around and you can get whole chickens that have never been frozen for app. 10 pesos/kilo. The supermarkets will have better-looking chickens and will be pretty expensive, but seeing the sorry condition of the cheaper chickens has to make you wonder about the food handling at these places overall.
Of course, buyer beware wherever you shop. Food poisoning is not fun.

 

[va2ba]

Depending on what the frames were, you were still ripped off big time.

My wife's uncle makes glasses and she tells me that he could have made those glasses for 200 or 300 pesos (depending on the lenses).

But porteños would sell my soul to the devil and the soul of my unborn child to make an extra 5 or 10 pesos.