Overcharging – it’s not just rugby shirts.
Filed under: Cost of living, Exchannge Rate & Currency Transfers, Life in New Zealand, Only in New Zealand
So Adidas hae been given one helluva kicking over here for charging about $220 for a new All Blacks jersey, when they charge less than half that overseas. The people of New Zealand have (rightly in my opinion) expressed utter disgust at being blatantly ripped off. The jerseys are manufactured like most things- in China – so the price paid at the till has nothing to do with the cost of making the product. But that aside – why do Kiwis have to pay twice as much here for their home shirt as someone in the UK?
It has been all over the news. Boycotts were planned. It became a PR disaster that just got worse as the big wigs tried hard to justify the price with the usual bull crap about currency fluctuations, local conditions oh – and they have paid hundreds of millions of dollars of sponsorship to New Zealand rugby – so the price of the jerseys has to be higher.
Now I personally don’t give a toss about rugby, and wouldn’t pay anything at all for a jersey. But without a doubt there is a captive market who want to buy the new strip to support their team in the world cup. Why should they be ripped off?
This has shown up how much people spend on Internet shopping here though. Even John Key talked on TV about the fact that its cheaper to by and import books from abroad. But many Kiwis actually cant access Internet shopping because they don’t have credit cards and eftpos cards cant be used to buy anything online. That will change as the NZ banks join the 20th century and bring out proper debit cards 0 but still it means that a large proportion of people have no choice but to pay too much.
My main issue is that this has focused on a Rugby Shirt.
What about books, dvds, CD’s. Medicines, clothes, shoes.All of these things cost way more than they should, and are cheaper to import individually from the UK or the US.
Food is also hideously overpriced, with the extra downside that you cannot exactly import fresh food, and even the stuff you can import yourself, you have to try and find a supplier who will ship it here.
Medicines are also a bit harder to import – the best way being to ask friends to buy for you and post them here. And you have the downside that some medicines you cannot import as they are restricted anyway. But WHY are we being asked to pay way over the odds for goods. We are not talking luxuries here – basics are overpriced as much as things that could be considered wants rather than needs.
I would really like to know where the money we pay for these things goes – because I actually doubt its going to the retailers to be honest. I know in the Adidas cock-up the issue was that Adidas set different wholesale prices depending on the country they were selling to. Is that what happens with books and the rest of it?
Comments
2 Comments on Overcharging – it’s not just rugby shirts.
-
Deborah on
Fri, 19th Aug 2011 10:31 am
-
Avalon on
Fri, 19th Aug 2011 3:11 pm
I think the people responsible for determining the price of the Adidas rugby shirt are also in charge of paint pricing.
LMAO! Quite – I should have added that to the list. But then as I think just about everything is overpriced it would be a very long list 
Tell me what you're thinking...
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!
Avalon’s Guide On Facebook
-
