Australia: Where the good life comes at a price

[Stark]

I'm not sure if the ignorance or the racism comes first, so I'll go with 'I think you missed the point'.

I'm confused about NZ comments however; I was in dunners a few months ago and it seemed a very expensive town. Certainly no cheaper than Brisbane and in some ways more expensive.

[weemadando]

http://helping-australia-grow.coles.com ... sfrom.aspx

According to that, all Limes are 100% Australian in our major supermarket chain.

[Sathanas]

A lot of it as well seems to come down to the fact that until recently, Australians were more or less ignorant of prices outside of Australia. Its only been recently that things such as buying overseas have come to light enough that the Government wants to slap more taxes on it.

There is also somewhat of an "Australia" tax on a lot of goods...cars and software in particular. For cars you could argue economies of scale, as well as the fact we drive on the left..and that the Government places ridiculous taxes on cars. The Luxury Car Tax for example places a 33% tax on every dollar over $59,133 that a new car costs.

Software has no excuse. iTunes, Microsoft and Adobe are big offenders of this, and to a lesser extent Steam is. For a digital method of distribution, so no transport cost, the prices skyrocket as soon as you use an Australian IP. For example Adobe CS5 costs $599 in the US, and $1519 in Australia, despite our dollar being stronger.

[tim31]

A lot of it as well seems to come down to the fact that until recently, Australians were more or less ignorant of prices outside of Australia. Its only been recently that things such as buying overseas have come to light enough that the Government wants to slap more taxes on it.

Don't get Gerry Harvey started on this

[Alkaloid]

Wait clarify something for me Australians, what's the real cost of your limes minus the fact your live in Australia the ass end of nowhere. Shit goes from the Guam to Germany faster than Guam to Australia. How much of that 2.30$ is pure transport costs from living in the one place on the planet no one bothered creating an empire of any sort in. How much of Aus cost is down to the fact you have issues growing things locally because your nation is filled with deadly predators, and the things that are not deadly are poisonous. And the things that are not deadly or poisonous are invasive species who are murder fucking the hell out of your ecosystem of deadly poisonous wildlife.

Just curious because even if we find two trillion barrels of oil under Perth, its still in Australia. All that wealth does not change the fact that unless your Limes are locally grown they had to be transported from the nearest good lime going region. And if they are grown locally and still cost 2.30$ each I can only assume those are magic limes.

Well there isn't much that won't grow somewhere on the continent, most fresh fruit or vegetable pricing is going to fluctuate with what is seasonable anyway, ridiculous as that is with the amount of time stuff spends in cold storage, so it's not always the best example. More telling is something like this, which spells out how it is literally cheaper for an Australian to fly to LA, buy a copy of Adobe Creative Suite 6 on disc and fly back to Australia than it is to buy the digital copy here. Or this, which talks about how a car being built in Australia and exported to the States is expected to cost $10,00 less in the US. In US dollars compared to Australian, so more than that really. I don't know what 1.3 million would get you house wise in most countries, but this is what it will get you in Victoria at the moment. It's a nice house, sure, but not what I see whenever someone talks about some a million dollar property on a US TV show.

[Starglider]

Software has no excuse. iTunes, Microsoft and Adobe are big offenders of this, and to a lesser extent Steam is. For a digital method of distribution, so no transport cost, the prices skyrocket as soon as you use an Australian IP. For example Adobe CS5 costs $599 in the US, and $1519 in Australia, despite our dollar being stronger.

Companies charge what the market will bear. It seems that Australia is a 'cashed up' country willing to pay these prices.

[weemadando]

Software has no excuse. iTunes, Microsoft and Adobe are big offenders of this, and to a lesser extent Steam is. For a digital method of distribution, so no transport cost, the prices skyrocket as soon as you use an Australian IP. For example Adobe CS5 costs $599 in the US, and $1519 in Australia, despite our dollar being stronger.

Companies charge what the market will bear. It seems that Australia is a 'cashed up' country willing to pay these prices.

Also, as unpopular as it is, some degree of mark-up for Australia - even for digital software - shouldn't be unexpected. Especially for enterprise and commercial applications where support will often be part of the package you purchase. And guess what, having to pay a local support crew in Australia is going to be significantly more expensive than some other locations.

But for cases where the publisher/developer has no onshore office or support to pay for and still wants the mark-up? Fuck them.

[Stark]

Companies charge what the market will bear. It seems that Australia is a 'cashed up' country willing to pay these prices.

People REALLY don't want to hear this. It's hilarious. Why did prices stay static as value increased? Because people kept paying. It's arguably paid for the specific bullshit that publishers have to go through to sell here. If it wasn't massively more profitable I think the Australian market would be as relevant as Estonia.

[Sathanas]

Software has no excuse. iTunes, Microsoft and Adobe are big offenders of this, and to a lesser extent Steam is. For a digital method of distribution, so no transport cost, the prices skyrocket as soon as you use an Australian IP. For example Adobe CS5 costs $599 in the US, and $1519 in Australia, despite our dollar being stronger.

Companies charge what the market will bear. It seems that Australia is a 'cashed up' country willing to pay these prices.

Also, as unpopular as it is, some degree of mark-up for Australia - even for digital software - shouldn't be unexpected. Especially for enterprise and commercial applications where support will often be part of the package you purchase. And guess what, having to pay a local support crew in Australia is going to be significantly more expensive than some other locations.

But for cases where the publisher/developer has no onshore office or support to pay for and still wants the mark-up? Fuck them.

Absolutely, there would be support costs built in assuming there is an Aus based helpdesk, call out teams etc. This would be more relevant to companies such as Dell which have their overnight part warranties and support, however they're not really that much more expensive then a US equivalent.

I imagine for things like iTunes songs/movies etc, and their incredible markups there would be some kind of agreement with Australia based publisher/distributor to ensure pricing parity with established cost modelling.

[Stark]

Media that compates or is complimentary to inflated plastic disks will also be inflated, obviously.

[Alkaloid]

Some degree of markup is reasonable, but if they are going to try and charge me a 50% premium for the shows I ordered leaving the warehouse when I'm already the one paying for shipping, they can go fuck themselves.

And I'm pretty sure colluding with existing retailers to inflate your prices to match theirs is a textbook description. Of anti competitive pricing practices, and incidentally illegal.

[Stark]

In some specific cases this is definitely the case; console games and retailers in particular.

[Spyder]

I'm not sure if the ignorance or the racism comes first, so I'll go with 'I think you missed the point'.

I'm confused about NZ comments however; I was in dunners a few months ago and it seemed a very expensive town. Certainly no cheaper than Brisbane and in some ways more expensive.

I was actually shocked last time I was there too. $8 for a pint? They were $3.60 in Westport. Not that pub prices really affect Uni towns. The students typically "pre-load" themselves on store bought Vodka mixers before heading out, get through one beer and then spend the rest of the evening puking in the streets.

For day to day living, prices in NZ are often on par with Australia, so currency conversion tends to favour spending in AUD. Salaries in NZ tend to be a lot lower though - hence the continual migration. There are a few things cheaper here in Aus, you guys actually have some competition in your diary industry for example - milk costs more then petrol back home. Real Estate I think is generally a bit cheaper in NZ, still very hard to own a home unless you and your partner are earning a significant income.

I've started contract work so I can have a little more flexibility on which side of the Tasman I can choose to work on, so in a couple of years I may have totally different opinions again on where the better living is.

[Stark]

Man I looked out of interest at housing prices in CHCH before it fell down, and I was blown away anywhere in that town could be worth half a million, especially considering earning power.

[mr friendly guy]

This thread made me pay more attention to food prices. Raspberries at 125 g cost $8 AUD, while an equivalent of blueberries or blackberries cost $5. Yipes. Fortunately with that amount I can make 8 smoothie which comes out roughly $3 per glass. Which is like half price what you would get at a store.

[GuppyShark]

I wonder if salmon costs $30/kg in the US...

EDIT: Updated with current Coles price

[Spyder]

Man I looked out of interest at housing prices in CHCH before it fell down, and I was blown away anywhere in that town could be worth half a million, especially considering earning power.

It was a very popular place to buy investment property before they knew it was directly on top of a fault line.

You can get a 4 bedroom house in a decent Wellington suburb for just over $400k NZD. Which seems to be cheaper then what you find with similar commute times in Melbourne, I haven't spent much time looking into it though. What are house prices like in Brisbane? I've had a couple of people tell me I should think about moving up that way.

[Stark]

House prices in Brisbane are entirely fictional things created when heaps of speculators became massively rich when everyone was watching real estate shows. :V Housing in Dunedin seems to be much cheaper than CHCH, but Dunedin is far less interesting/temperate. NZ pretty much loses in the 'places I'll retire' stakes because of those cost pressures; I could buy an apartment in the middle of Taipei for $400,000.

[Spyder]

I'd be concerned if you wanted to migrate from Brisbane to the bustling metropolis of Dunedin. Although if you really wanted to live on the cheap, there's always Saigon.

[Broomstick]

I wonder if salmon costs $30/kg in the US...

I've seen some varieties of salmon, such as Copper River, going for even more than that in the US (it's roughly $50/kg), but certainly we don't pay that much for garden variety ordinary salmon.

[Stark]

I'd be concerned if you wanted to migrate from Brisbane to the bustling metropolis of Dunedin. Although if you really wanted to live on the cheap, there's always Saigon.

I like it in NZ. But a poor balance of work/pay and Dunner being captain international student rules it out. I'm pretty sure I'd make more teaching English in another country than I would in any kind of job I could get in NZ, and things would be way cheaper.

Cost of living important issue. Don't tell Surlethe. Brisbane, give the ludicrous housing prices, is only attractive in that my poor mandarin isn't a huge disability here. :v

[madd0ct0r]

I'd be concerned if you wanted to migrate from Brisbane to the bustling metropolis of Dunedin. Although if you really wanted to live on the cheap, there's always Saigon.

property prices in saigon are not cheap. living costs are (to a point), but then again you get what you pay for.

[Stark]

You mean like food, furniture, transport, that sort of thing? Or did you have a point?

[madd0ct0r]

yeah. food is cheaper, but dosed with all kinds of shit ranging from pesticides to hormones to cafe's adding soap to the coffee to get a better froth.

transport probably works out the same in raw cost, (since raw material costs (like petrol) are pretty standard globally), cars have a 200% tax rate on them and you should factor in the hospital bills if you are going to use a bike. More people die on the road daily in Vietnam then in iraq at the height of the war.

The air (especially in the big cities) is polluted to fuck, the water not far behind. Property costs are still really expensive, and as a foreigner you can't own land anyway. Even a local can only lease it for 50 years.

so yeah. not sure it's worth it baby.

[Surlethe]

Wow, yeah. Australia would be so much better off with deflation and 8-12% unemployment. #FirstWorldProblems

This is a really disappointing response from a conservative. Surely these predictable results of things that seemed good at the time deserves something better than a childish false dilemma? Perhaps you're simply incapable of discussing the results of these phenomena.

I don't really see much to discuss. As a society, you're doing great. The worst thing described by the article in the OP was an off-the-cuff allusion to the continued existence of poverty and that inequality continues to grow, followed by anxiety over a nonexistent debt and where the economy will go after the mining boom ends. Congratulations! Your central bank did monetary policy right and now you have a whole bunch of problems like "the middle class is getting bigger" and "everybody is buying houses."* Sorry, am I supposed to be feeling sympathy for your poor, beleaguered island nation?

*I'm assuming you were joking about wages and cost-of-living rising in step being a problem.