rbutterworth@watmath.UUCP (03/04/87)
There was a lot of discussion a while back about Sunday shopping in Ontario. I've just spent some of the last month in Australia, and the shopping hours there might be of interest to those that were following the previous discussion. Those that don't like the current situation in Ontario, will think that the Australia (Sydney area anyway, I don't know about the rest of the country) situation is extremely wonderful or horrible, depending upon one's point of view. It seems that on week nights, almost all shops are closed by 5:00 or 6:00. On Thursday nights they remain open until 9:00, but on Fridays they still close early. Each city has one week night on which they stay open late. Thursday is Sydney's night. I was somewhat surprised that there wasn't any Friday night shopping in the area, but my hosts tried to reassure me by pointing out that lately many of the shops have been staying open as late as 3:00 or 4:00 on Saturday afternoons. (Don't even think about Sundays.) I don't know for sure whether the shopping hours are regulated by law or are voluntary, but the people I spoke with thought that it was entirely up to the shop owners themselves. The thought of shops staying open late on other nights seemed to be completely silly to them. The shops would have to double the number of employees since they couldn't operate with a single shift as they do now. Also, where would they even find people who would be willing to work in the evening? One thing I really did like about shopping in Australia (and Singapore and many other non-NorthAmerican countries) is the prices. When I buy something in Ontario its price is say $4.99. That means that I actually have to pay $5.34 with tax. That's a $5, a $.25, a $.05, and 4 $.01s. When I buy the same thing elsewhere its price is $5.00. That means that I have to give them a $5 bill and that's it. The concept is so simple it is amazing. Have you ever wondered how many man-hous of labour go into counting change every year in this country? In the month I was away the only one-cent coins I saw were sitting on people's desks at home. Not once was I ever given or asked for a one-cent coin. Even five-cent coins were very rare. Why can't we do something sensible like that here? I suppose that would be as unAmerican as expecting Canadian products to have reasonable sizes (will that be the 341mL size or the 355g?) Australia is completely metric now, by the way, and it was wonderful not having to bother converting. One other item. Movies there are $8 each, but at least you can get a glass of beer to wash down the popcorn.
tjsmedley@watmum.UUCP (03/05/87)
In article <5626@watmath.UUCP> Ray Butterworth writes: > >It seems that on week nights, almost all shops are closed by 5:00 >or 6:00. On Thursday nights they remain open until 9:00, but on >Fridays they still close early. Each city has one week night on >which they stay open late. Thursday is Sydney's night. This is much the same as the situation in Germany. There it is regulated by law. >I was somewhat surprised that there wasn't any Friday night shopping >in the area, but my hosts tried to reassure me by pointing out that >lately many of the shops have been staying open as late as 3:00 or >4:00 on Saturday afternoons. (Don't even think about Sundays.) Most of the stores in Germany closed about 1:00 (that's pm not am) on Saturdays, except for the first Saturday in each month when they stay open until 5 or 6. Many stores (and businesses) especially in smaller areas also closed at lunch time for an hour. This sort of set-up is perfectly suited to the wife-at-home-who-does-all-the-shopping way of life. On a different but related note, the size of the fridges is also well suited to this lifestyle. They are in general much too small to hold more than a day or two of groceries, so you can't go shopping once a week and stock up. A lot of people went shopping every day, but since the stores are only open during working hours, the person who does the shopping can't work. >One thing I really did like about shopping in Australia (and Singapore >and many other non-NorthAmerican countries) is the prices. When I >buy something in Ontario its price is say $4.99. That means that >I actually have to pay $5.34 with tax. That's a $5, a $.25, a $.05, >and 4 $.01s. When I buy the same thing elsewhere its price is $5.00. >That means that I have to give them a $5 bill and that's it. The >concept is so simple it is amazing. Have you ever wondered how many >man-hours of labour go into counting change every year in this country? This is also the way things are in Germany, but (aside from the fact that I also hate counting change) I'm not sure that it's such a good idea. Here the tax is added on top of the price so you are always aware of how much the Government is getting (I know, there are other taxes that we don't see, but at least we do see this one). There's no way that the Government can raise Provincial Sales Taxes without everyone noticing. I think that when the tax is included in the price it makes it far too easy to raise them -- look at liquor and gas taxes for example. It would be nice if merchants could price things so that the prices work out to something reasonable after the tax is added though. Trevor
henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer) (03/06/87)
> ... When I buy something in Ontario its price is say $4.99... > When I buy the same thing elsewhere its price is $5.00. The problem is that if the $4.99 prices get a foothold, they drive out the $5.00 prices, because pricing something at $4.99 results in higher sales than pricing it at $5.00. The difference is much larger than one would expect from a one-cent price drop, because the key issue is that customers subconsciously perceive $4.99 as significantly cheaper than $5.00. There's a moral here somewhere... -- "We must choose: the stars or Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology the dust. Which shall it be?" {allegra,ihnp4,decvax,pyramid}!utzoo!henry
absary@watdragon.UUCP (03/07/87)
>The problem is that if the $4.99 prices get a foothold, they drive out the >$5.00 prices, because pricing something at $4.99 results in higher sales >than pricing it at $5.00. The difference is much larger than one would >expect from a one-cent price drop, because the key issue is that customers >subconsciously perceive $4.99 as significantly cheaper than $5.00. There's That's partly what I was getting at in my previous article when I said that including the sales tax in the price is the wrong business decision. Is that the usual tactic followed by most European countries? I know Germany does it, and I seem to remember that so does England.