dominican vs gringo price

oldschool

Active member
Oct 9, 2004
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I'm gonna give my 2 cents on the matter. Im sorry to say this, I wish I could lie to you and tell you everything is gonna be ok, but things won't get any better any time soon. There's absolutely no real will on the part of the authorities to combat the problem of violence, the only thing they care about is hiding it and saving their asses, putting the blame on "perception" or dembow singers. Nobody wants to take responsability and the root of the problem is constantly being ignored, because it's far too complex to solve in 4 years and politicians only care about their vote. Meanwhile, people kind of want to make a change and everybody is disgusted by the violence that has been taking place more recently since mid December 2015 to present day, but nobody actually takes real iniciative, i still haven't seen a peace march or a marathon against violence, all i see is people comenting in the streets and on the internet, and everybody shocked about recent events. Some people do, however give their grain of sand, mainly those community leaders that help the community, some artists and random people doing random acts of niceness like giving away school utensils to poor kids, etc etc. Other than that, I don't see any improvement in the near future, no matter how optimistic I try to be. Moral is on an all time low, people are desperate, the lack of justice is stronger than ever and corruption is also very strong. I'm actually surprised that we've managed to sort of keep our sh*t together compared to Brazil, Venezuela, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico etc that are much more violent. But that won't last much longer unless we don't force our authorities to really create an effective strategic plan that solves the problem from the root. But one thing im gonna say, tourists being killed or falling victims by violence is incredibly rare. Tourists are very safe compared to dominicans. The ones who have it worse with the insecurity are us dominicans.

For those who give constructive criticism, kudos to you. My problem is with those who get off on bad things happening in DR and i recognise that type of people when i read them. I've never denied the truth, actually, im here to make things clear, because i've seen alot of ridiculous stereotypes and exaggerated stories being spewed all over the place in this forum. Also, some people here seriously are way too paranoid and/or have a persecution complex. The other day I was on an uber and the driver told me that he had a gringo client who f*cked up his rating because of a stupid f*cking reason. It so happens that the app was telling the drive that the route he was taking was too congested, so the driver decided to take an alternative route and stop the app before the destination so the client wasn't overcharged, but he would leave him right in front of the place the gringo was going to. Well the gringo automatically assumed that the driver was trying to take advantage of him and gave him a 0, even though he was charged 60 pesos for the whole trip, even less than the base rate that is 70 pesos, all that because the driver stopped the app before time so he wouldn't get overcharged and as a result he got undercharged, but for some stupid f*cking reason the gringo still thought that somehow the driver robbed him and gave him a 0. That driver was trying to do him a f*cking favor.

Reminded me alot of the stuff that I constantly read in this forum, people saying that dominicans are bad people, that everybody wants to take advantage of you or everybody see's you as a dollar sign. That p*sses me off because you come here and start messing around with prostitutes and sanky pankies, hanging around with the worst kind of people and then acuse 10 million human beings of being "con artists". Apart from it being offensive, it is very misleading and makes foreigners not only not want to come here, it gives us a bad name. Alot of people visit these forum to get information before booking their trip and when they read all the bull****, they get discouraged. I really don't mind it that much if they get discouraged by the TRUTH, but it really gets on my nerves when they believe things that are not true and exaggerated stories, Dominican Watch Dog style.

I don't hide the truth, on the contrary, I try to EXPOSE the truth as much as posible, especially when bullsh*t is harming us. And i know for a fact that some people here are f*cking trash and have the worst intentions. The same type of people that got ****ed over by a prostitute or a sankie and want to take it out on the whole population. Reminds me of a youtuber called "hobo traveler" i think. A sad excuse of a human being. People like that are garbage to me!!

while I understand that you need to defend your country and you assume it's only the worst people who rip off the forigners...let me give you a couple examples to the contrary here in POP

Telefonica Puerto Plata: Why are there 2 separate prices to ride this cable car, a Dominican price and non Dominican price....guess which one is cheaper...but I hear that the cable car is run by sankies

Ocean world: Why are there prices for Dominicans/Cedula holders and a price for people who aren't/don't....guess which one is cheaper... I'm pretty sure this business is not run by sankies.

overcharging foreigners anywhere is ingrained soooo much in DR society that even the government and non-Dominican businesses participate.

Now what if a place like Disney World in Florida operated like thiis.....how do you think that would be received.....yes Florida residences do get some discounts to enter the park but the price is same for everyone to go on the rides unless there is some sort of special limited time offer.

I can give you more examples of this if needed

Everyone knows that there are gringo prices and Dominican prices for everything bought or supplied here....and maybe that makes some people disgruntled or constantly suspicious
 

dv8

Gold
Sep 27, 2006
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re: teleferico and ocean world. this is to encourage local tourism. and, of course, a "dominican price" is valid for everyone with a cedula, so i always pay dominican price too. having said that, i am going to create separate thread on that, if you do not mind, since it has nothing to to with subject at hand...
 

Derfish

Gold
Jan 7, 2016
4,441
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while I understand that you need to defend your country and you assume it's only the worst people who rip off the forigners...let me give you a couple examples to the contrary here in POP

Telefonica Puerto Plata: Why are there 2 separate prices to ride this cable car, a Dominican price and non Dominican price....guess which one is cheaper...but I hear that the cable car is run by sankies

Ocean world: Why are there prices for Dominicans/Cedula holders and a price for people who aren't/don't....guess which one is cheaper... I'm pretty sure this business is not run by sankies.

overcharging foreigners anywhere is ingrained soooo much in DR society that even the government and non-Dominican businesses participate.

Now what if a place like Disney World in Florida operated like thiis.....how do you think that would be received.....yes Florida residences do get some discounts to enter the park but the price is same for everyone to go on the rides unless there is some sort of special limited time offer.

I can give you more examples of this if needed

Everyone knows that there are gringo prices and Dominican prices for everything bought or supplied here....and maybe that makes some people disgruntled or constantly suspicious

Better check out Disney World one more time. Floridians get a huge discount and last I knew the individual rides are included in the gate price, has this changed? Museums all over have local prices and tourist prices. There is nothing Dominican about giving discounts to local people. Happens all over the planet.
Der Fish
 

bob saunders

Platinum
Jan 1, 2002
32,571
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dr1.com
It is common in many countries to charge the locals one price and tourists a higher price. Dominican business people try to charge Dominicans that they assume are rich higher prices for goods as well. Even on something like a package of printing paper, they will try to get a few extra pesos off you if you aren't alert and ready to barter. My wife has an incredible memory on what she paid for anything in the past six months.
 

oldschool

Active member
Oct 9, 2004
537
22
38
Better check out Disney World one more time. Floridians get a huge discount and last I knew the individual rides are included in the gate price, has this changed? Museums all over have local prices and tourist prices. There is nothing Dominican about giving discounts to local people. Happens all over the planet.
Der Fish

Do New Yorkers get a discount too ?
 

drSix

Silver
Oct 13, 2013
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Are we talking about Gringo taxes??? I have a couple good ones.

Walking up to the Parada in Sosua to get a publico, douchebag taxi driver pulls in, stops and says that he'll take me to POP for RD$300. LOL, I laughed at him. It's RD$50 to POP from Sosua.

My wife wanted some chicks, the pollo kind, and asked her Dominican co-worker to go to the chickeria and ask the price. They told him it was RD$X (I don't remember exactly) per pound. When she went to get the chicks they asked for a flat RD$1000 for three chicks, and would not budge on the price. Several times more than the price was for the Dominican who had stopped just a few hours prior.
 

dv8

Gold
Sep 27, 2006
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hacienda, on the other hand, offers low price on some online deals for those with a foreign passport.
 

oldschool

Active member
Oct 9, 2004
537
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hacienda, on the other hand, offers low price on some online deals for those with a foreign passport.

True...but there has to be a catch though right I think it's called " Vacation Club " I mean timeshare
 

zoomzx11

Gold
Jan 21, 2006
8,367
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Relax. Its just part of the game of life that is living in the DR. With a little common sense its avoidable. The whole idea of living is to avoid stress in all its forms. Never dwell on it or look for stress. Stress is your mortal enemy. Stress ruins your health, happiness and will shorten your life. Try and blend in and enjoy yourself.
 

london777

Bronze
Dec 22, 2005
786
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Walking up to the Parada in Sosua to get a publico, douchebag taxi driver pulls in, stops and says that he'll take me to POP for RD$300. LOL, I laughed at him. It's RD$50 to POP from Sosua.
Very poor example. Like you I pay RD$50 and travel steerage, but RD$300 is very cheap for a private taxi to Pto Pta, even if it is a clapped-out publico.

Also, do not use "POP" to mean Puerto Plata city. It is incorrect and can be confusing in discussions like this. POP is an airport.
 

rice&beans

Silver
May 16, 2010
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Very poor example. Like you I pay RD$50 and travel steerage, but RD$300 is very cheap for a private taxi to Pto Pta, even if it is a clapped-out publico.

Also, do not use "POP" to mean Puerto Plata city. It is incorrect and can be confusing in discussions like this. POP is an airport.


Oh thanks for clearing that up.....

Now I can sleep......
 

Ecoman1949

Born to Ride.
Oct 17, 2015
2,807
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The resort I stay at in Playa Dorada offers Dominican families a lower rate membership entry fee. Non Dominicans pay as much as $2000 more for a similar package. Personally I don't have a problem with this. Any business is good business and the revenue generated by the DR memberships keeps the resort going which benefits me.
 

jstarebel

Silver
Oct 4, 2013
3,330
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Better check out Disney World one more time. Floridians get a huge discount and last I knew the individual rides are included in the gate price, has this changed? Museums all over have local prices and tourist prices. There is nothing Dominican about giving discounts to local people. Happens all over the planet.
Der Fish


Exactly. This happens everywhere. In St. Thomas, locals pay $ 1.00 for a taxi while tourists pay $20.00 from airport to east end. Anguilla has a departure tax of $25.00. locals don't pay it.. This is NOT just in the DR.
 

Derfish

Gold
Jan 7, 2016
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Exactly. This happens everywhere. In St. Thomas, locals pay $ 1.00 for a taxi while tourists pay $20.00 from airport to east end. Anguilla has a departure tax of $25.00. locals don't pay it.. This is NOT just in the DR.

But on the other hand when leaving Colombia the country charged me an American $20 as a departure fee, but my Colombian wife had to pay double that!
Der Fish