E2NZ.org

Continuing in our series of blogs on what Kiwis say about New Zealand.

This blog is on a topic close to every New Zealander’s heart – money, specifically how expensive things are in New Zealand. It is taken from a recent thread on Trademe

• Why is everything so expensive here? Are retailers just greedy or is it the government making it that hard for the retailers to make a living that drives the extorsion they call retail pricing.
  I have been looking for a new pair of running shoes; i’ve shopped around & the ones I want are $279 here in NZ… yet I can buy them (& just have) from USA for $39.99 plus $22 freight.
  I also bought a new telescopic sight for my fathers rifle from the same store for $69.99 which has been put in the same box so no extra freight charge on that item. The exact same sight here is $498.
  C’mon NZ, stop ripping us all off!

• EVErything here is a rip off…and I don’t agree with the “oh we are a smaller country and can’t afford to compete with the big buying power of bigger courntries …b..sh…T!! More like the shops here really don’t have much competition and can charge/ do what they like…ie rip us off..Case example: I like to know what I am buying, I am not happy with just the wording “acrylic/wool mix” for a jumper for my 4yr old frm PPatch for the extortionate amount of $42.99, that will bobble and look like crap after one wash – I ‘d much rather know for the amount of NZ$16.99 that I am getting a 100 % cotton jumper from Next online with free postage…and so do just that! I know that this will last and not bobble.; it’s simply way cheaper and better quality. Shops here have it too cruisey, inferior made, especially the clothing, cheap poly mix rubbish, both adults and children, for horrendous prices. Get books from Book Deposittory, waaay cheaper, leather boots, again Next (NZ$178.00), kids clothes Next and would get all my home wares off line if they would freight here as well.

• No wonder so many people are leaving this stunning country – average wage is pathetic, just to have the half decent things in life,..(and I am not talking about Nike trainers, label clothin etc, more like a nice leg of lamb once in a blue moon)….barely unattainable for most…makes for a hard and miserable life sometimes..But on the up side, it’s a stunning day here!

• I agree completely, were ripped off, in more ways than 1.
  An example that I can give is that my wife’s business was importing home wares from Europe. If we got the factory in Europe to price the shipping of the container to our warehouse in NZ is was about US$ 3500 + BAF, we were approached by a NZ shipping company and and we agreed that they could give us a quote. They came round on the day and basically did a little presentation on how good they were etc…. and I kept asking for the price as that was all they we were interested in, after an hour we got their best and cheapest price…. Ex Hamburg to Auckland NZ$ 12,200 + BAF and we still had to get the container from the factory to Hamburg, and that was about US$450.
  So are we being ripped off yes, there are to many middle men with their fingers in the pie.
  They also talk about international prices, last year we were in Paris and we could buy NZ dairy products at about 60% the price in NZ, and some nice wine as well.

• Here’s the other problem. Most of the stuff people buy isn’t even made here. It’s imported anyway. So which jobs are being protected by purchasing from local retailers? Importers, resellers, and retailers. Outside of a few meager items like furniture, food and some clothing, and even some software products NZ doesn’t produce most of what people out there are buying. How many NZ-made cars are there? How about NZ-made Televisions and electronics? How about computers?
  Basically, this leaves one option…importing. And what happens when a product is imported…every person or company that is part of the process puts a mark-up on the item to cover their costs and factor in some profit so by the time it reaches the store shelves, it’s hopelessly overpriced. This model worked fine before the days of the internet, but it won’t work now. And the argument about buying local to protect NZ jobs won’t wash since most of the stuff people are buying from overseas isn’t made here anyway. Any jobs lost will primarily be in the retail sector.
  The reality is that we live in a global economy which means the old rules won’t work anymore and smaller countries are competing with larger ones for business even within their own borders. Sometimes, such as in the case of dairy, wool, software, and other exports – this works to NZ’s advantage. But, in most other cases, it doesn’t because of a flawed infrastructure and system that essentially forces local retailers to price their products high. And the mark-up at the retail level isn’t that high, except in some cases.
  What’s the solution? I’m not sure. The genie isn’t going back into the bottle so somehow the whole system needs to adapt. But, that’s the trouble. Most of the time, people don’t want to adapt.

Much more here