Re: These prices are killing me - 2

[JG]

Not a week goes by that I dont think how high the prices are getting here. Maybe not everyone is thinking that. I bought Clarin and thought that it must be more expensive than the local papers back home, so I checked.
The Washington Post, a major national paper, is 35 cents and the Baltimore Sun is 50 cents. Clarin costs 2 pesos (at the moment, stay tuned!), or about 80 cents US.


In Arg., skin lotion runs about 7 dollars, about what it costs in USA for a quality brand.

A small bottle of listerine costs from 5 to 6 dollars, higher than home.

 

[rmartinbuenosaires]

JG and Ernie-For whatever its worth, I agree with most of your comments, particularly regarding Grenadaiscool. He seems to have something to say on EVERY topic and usually its completely left field.Anyhow....as far as prices go....part of the problem is that unions (i.e., the Portero Union) demand pay raises and no one ever disputes their requests. For example, my doorman's basic salary has tripled in three years not counting additional benefits. My monthly building expenses have therefore tripled for a doorman who does clean the building well, but never stands at the door during the duration of his scheduled day. Now how can no one like the administration offices dispute some of these raises? Where on earth besides Argentina can someone demand a payraise of 50% and get it?!! Call me stupid but the cost of electricity for common areas is the same and the cost of a bottle of CIF is not much higher than before so the exorbitant increases are just greed and don't think about getting rid of the Doormen. That takes an act of God and a severance pay...

 

[Granadaiscool]

JG and Ernie-
For whatever its worth, I agree with most of your comments, particularly regarding Grenadaiscool. He seems to have something to say on EVERY topic and usually its completely left field.
Anyhow....as far as prices go....part of the problem is that unions (i.e., the Portero Union) demand pay raises and no one ever disputes their requests. For example, my doorman's basic salary has tripled in three years not counting additional benefits. My monthly building expenses have therefore tripled for a doorman who does clean the building well, but never stands at the door during the duration of his scheduled day. Now how can no one like the administration offices dispute some of these raises? Where on earth besides Argentina can someone demand a payraise of 50% and get it?!! Call me stupid but the cost of electricity for common areas is the same and the cost of a bottle of CIF is not much higher than before so the exorbitant increases are just greed and don't think about getting rid of the Doormen. That takes an act of God and a severance pay...

I am a Left winger?
The unions are great, that is if you belong to one.
Must be great to be ignorant, uneducated and getting paid 2400 peso a month for 6 hours if educated lawyers, bookkeepers, architects and doctors getting 1200 peso a month

 

[JG]

Is your wallet feeling the pinch these days? prices are soaring. im spending more and more on food and denying myself more and more items. back in the usa a month ago, i seemed to eat so well, buying crab, jumbo shrimp, imported chocolate, all on sale. in fact, i found sales everywhere.
now im buying things for my apt. and im flying through money and the quality is often very low. I just glanced through this Target ad back home. go to this site, and click on "next" to advance to the next page.

Check out the deals on page 24 and 25. Wow, i wish i could get 2 dollar towels or 450 thread count sheets for 25 dollars. i just paid that here for see through flimsy sheets.

 

[donquixote]

No isults this time. I read in Satrudays Clarin that the cost of living is double in Santa Fe. I cannot vouch for my Spanish and may have misread "costó de viví es doble en Santa Fe". Any comments?
DQ

 

[tangobob]

Will,
I agree with your point. For example buying a coke in a Puerto Madero kiosko is much more expensive than if you bought it in Mataderos.
This is not the first time -surely it won' t be the last - that somebody either does not understand the point someone is trying to make or directly decides to ignore for the sole purpose of defending a position on a specific issue.
I am still waiting for Grazie to address some of my questions in previous posts. All I see is people continuing to attack me (TangoBob, Mike BA, Ernie, Sergio etc.) without reffering to some of the points I made.
Tatan

Sorry I seem to have missed a large chunk of something!!
Exactly when did I attack anyone, (Tatan), my aims have always been to temper the debate and show how despite our differences the gaps between us are not that great.
I have trawled through all my postings and can find nowhere I have attacked you, this bothers me, please point me in the right direction and I will try to make ammends.

 

[masalsur]

One thing that irks me is that it has hard to know when you are being ripped off because you have an accent when there are no prices marked on so many goods in so many stores. My first experience of this was in two men's clothing stores in the
Abasto. Recently I had to have a lock changed on my door and had no way to know if the high price was what anyone would pay, or if it was a special ripoff for foreigners. This is something that I've never had to confront in Toronto, where nobody "looks" Canadian and so it would be very difficult to know which customer is going to drag you ass into court for some sort of discrimination case!
masalsur

 

[sergio]

Charging more for foreigners is a theme that has been talked about here. It happens all the time. It may happen in other places but it has happened to me here a lot more than the other places I have lived in. I had to repair a broken lock and called a locksmith. I paid him and passed the bill onto the owner of the flat. She was furious that the cost was so high - she insisted that I had paid way too much. Keeping prices off of items and then assessing the customer's socisl status/wealth is a common means of pricing here. It can happen to Portenos too but it seems much more common for foreigners. One way around this is to get an Argentine friend to make the inquiry about price and, if possible, supervise the work. The end result though is that the expat feels like a child, dependent on others all the time.

 

[tangobob]

It must be just the Americans that are charged more: I bought a hat and my wife says I look like a yanque. Now suddenly all the prices have gone up.
Anybody want to buy a hat?

 

[nikad]

One thing that irks me is that it has hard to know when you are being ripped off because you have an accent when there are no prices marked on so many goods in so many stores. My first experience of this was in two men's clothing stores in the

Abasto. Recently I had to have a lock changed on my door and had no way to know if the high price was what anyone would pay, or if it was a special ripoff for foreigners. This is something that I've never had to confront in Toronto, where nobody "looks" Canadian and so it would be very difficult to know which customer is going to drag you ass into court for some sort of discrimination case!

masalsur

Not displaying price tags is illegal and you should report it to Defensa del Consumidor