When I was in New York the other week I bought the Western Digital 250GB Passport, a portable USB powered 2.5″ hard drive which is suitable for travel. I purchased the hard drive from the electrical shop at the bottom of Macys on 34st for $124.99.
I got an email today from Amazon about their low prices on hard drives and usb drives. Amazon are selling the 250gb WD Passport for £87.98 (and in my experience Amazon are usually pretty cheap and a good bench mark for prices). With a $10 charge for tax in New York and even considering the low exchange rate my credit card gave me of 1.92 dollars to the pound the hard drive was just over £70, nearly £20 cheaper than the UK.
Infact, this is probably the worst example I could give you all as clothes have a bigger price difference and higher priced electrcial goods have even bigger savings. I know the dollar is weak just now and I know that I’m not taking standards of living into account but it still highlights how expensive goods are in the UK.
I can only imagine that the poor dollar and low cost of living makes travelling outside the USA expensive in comparison to other options but I’d still prefer to be in their position!
Two thumbs down to Rip Off Britain!
And still this is not such a huge difference. In my country (Romania) most prices are hugely inflated. Normall what I get here with 100 dollars I’d get with 50 or less from Amazon or even other countries we shop from time to time in: Germany comes to mind. The explanation is pretty simple: most of the products are imported and then they have lots of commissions added and other taxes. This makes them double the price most of the time. I also started getting goods from the internet with my paypal account and it’s a blast
I dont know much about the taxes of other countries but obviously when a country imports a lot of products the prices are a lot higher. I can image your frustration with this though particuarly since you are so close to countries like Germany which aren’t paying over the odds.
In the UK bcause of duty it’s more expensive to buy a bottle of whisky at a shop across the road from where it’s made compared to buying it in dozens of countries around the world which are thousands of miles away.