Quote:
Originally Posted by FurnaceFace
And I wasn't surprised. The difference is in France, Dubai, Finland, Japan, etc I walked into a store and paid the advertised price the same as a local would. In contrast in Africa, one day we bought a coke and the guy told us 500 shilling and when we said "but that sign says 300" he came back with a "no no, this is the refridgerated price". We just paid the 500 because it wasn't worth arguing further as we were freaking hot and the difference was minor. The same thing doesn't happen here. Someone from Tanzania, or Brazil, or Hong Kong will pay the same 1.85 from Macs for a bottle of pop as you or I will.
|
I obviously don't know your whole story on this, but it's not uncommon for stores in North America to charge more for refrigerated drinks than those on the shelf, regardless of who's buying. I would expect that to be very common in a place where electricity is more of a luxury.
As for the other places where you paid the advertised price, that has more to do with the lack of a bartering economy than anything else. If you tried to pay less in a Helsinki department store they'd just stare at you, in Africa and elsewhere it's expected. I imagine if you knew how to barter effectively you'd pay the same price as anyone else, I've found that to be the case in Asia.