- Thread starter Givadogahome
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Surprisingly most overpriced items in DR.
everything is for sale
I pay my neighbor in Villa Mella 300 pesos a month for her wifi password.... I get to share her claro service, she has her monthly bill offset by me and a couple other neighbors....it takes a village.
I pay my neighbor in Villa Mella 300 pesos a month for her wifi password.... I get to share her claro service, she has her monthly bill offset by me and a couple other neighbors....it takes a village.
Not that this comparison will mean anything (Norway prices vs Dominican prices), because, honestly, it doesn't mean anything unless you'remaking Norwegian Kroner. but to anyone coming down here from Norway (I imagen Switzerland would be the same), the prices here are so ridiculously low, so insanely tiny, that even a $30,000 dollar car seems like a joke. $4 dollars for a beer seems like a joke. $5.50 for a gallon of gasoline seems like a bigger joke. i could go on but, you get the point. for someone coming from a Scandinavian country, the prices here seem so ridiculously low that it's like a candy store. here are some prices we pay in norway:
1.) A beer costs about $9.50
2.) Double whopper at Burger King costs $10.50 (Burger only)
3.) A galloon of gasoline (about 4 liters) costs about $12.00
4.) A cappuccino costs $5.00 and up.
For Norwegians in particular, this island is a dirt cheap candy store.
Frank
1.) A beer costs about $9.50
2.) Double whopper at Burger King costs $10.50 (Burger only)
3.) A galloon of gasoline (about 4 liters) costs about $12.00
4.) A cappuccino costs $5.00 and up.
For Norwegians in particular, this island is a dirt cheap candy store.
Frank
Cars, pharmaceuticals, toiletries, candy, airline ticket taxes, petrol, parking tickets, rental cars, and anything imported.
Most of those ARE imported. Some toiletries, candy and parking tickets are domestic, maybe a tiny smattering of pharmaceuticals.
Let's make this simpler guys:
EVERYTHING, except: things made in the DR - rum, women, beans, rice...
EVERYTHING, except: things made in the DR - rum, women, beans, rice...
Let's make this simpler guys:
EVERYTHING, except: things made in the DR - rum, women, beans, rice...
Just add electricity and telecommunications services to the list that that about sums it up.
Let's make this simpler guys:
EVERYTHING, except: things made in the DR - rum, women, beans, rice...
Although true, people still come on every week asking about pricing and I'm sure in the mind that their money will be going further than it will. Even after several flown by years I still expect to wake up from that dream when I was told the price for my first car. I remember the day well, I met with the guy and I honestly thought he was just exercising his dry humour after the test drive and told me how much he wanted for it. But my cheery 'expecting a punchline' smile turned into an 'awkward squint' as I realised he was in fact serious about the price and was actually doing me a favour at that price as it goes.
I think reading threads like this drops peoples expectations and probably even puts many off. I know that had I known 7 or so years ago what I knew 5 or 6 years ago I would have not made the decision based on my original ideal, which some years later has resulted in us deciding to see if the grass is greener, and for the first couple of months it actually has been (but maybe that is just the grass is greener initial effect).
To think of the money we have pumped into the country over the years, could have quite comfortably taken a 3 year vacation around the world and not had to work a day, instead of continuing to work and having relatively little to show for it after all. It feels a little bit like having your shoes stolen and not noticing, while still wearing them.
Worth it? well, yes it has been, I/we have been blessed, it's not bad, far from it, and not even a financial motive for change, but not what we could have had, had I known all of the above several years ago, a move would probably not have been a serious consideration or at best an easy decision, but I'm glad I did. Contradiction at its best:ermm:
See I'm a freak, my bills are lower than elsewhere I've lived, seems I'm one in a million, although that would not be possible as I doubt a million people pay electricity bills in the DR.:bunny:
just out of curiosity, I checked the price of the same TV in the US (Amazon.com), and the cheapest electro-chain in Belgium...
A Samsung UN46D7000
Price on Amazon: 1,375$ (+ sales tax depending on state)
Price in Belgium: 2,200$ (all taxes included and 2 year warranty by law)
Just to prove my point, it all depends on where you come from.
BelgianK
A Samsung UN46D7000
Price on Amazon: 1,375$ (+ sales tax depending on state)
Price in Belgium: 2,200$ (all taxes included and 2 year warranty by law)
Just to prove my point, it all depends on where you come from.
BelgianK
The apples and grapes which have become ubiquitous here are imported by Papa"s son. I met him at an event.. well,. a trade show.. sponsered by the US Embassy which was given for the folks here who import US products. So I go to ask the granddaughter why it was that there were Washington State apples for sale at every little town in the county? Specifically on the border where it was hard to find a mango or a pineapple? She said that they had a marketing plan where they sold wholesale to any little vendor who came to their warehouse -- gave them the same price on one carton as they give National on hundreds.
I complemented her and moved on to her Dad, the son.. who had a master;s, he said, from business school in South Carolina (there you see the difference because here is enough to HAVE a master's but inside the States, I doubt he would brag about where it was from.. do not want to restart the civil war but do not think that there are any NAMED master's business programs in South Carolina. Clemson?) Anyway, I was drilling him a bit about all the importing and asked why he did not focus on exporting?
Why not, for instance, get the Snapple company down here to do some bottling of the mango nectar instead of just dumping the empty bottles?
He told me that I was naive and did not understand the country. He said that the fruit growers here are simply not up to that level of production,
I thought about the Haitian mango exporters and how the Haitian Francis mango is the top organic fruit in the world... (in terms of price, I think but do not remember where the top thing came from)
and then I thought about this guy.. the son of the former president
and thought that if the local fruit growers were not going to get any help from him.. were, in fact, being put out of business by him with his marketing of imported fruit...
well..
it made me sad
I complemented her and moved on to her Dad, the son.. who had a master;s, he said, from business school in South Carolina (there you see the difference because here is enough to HAVE a master's but inside the States, I doubt he would brag about where it was from.. do not want to restart the civil war but do not think that there are any NAMED master's business programs in South Carolina. Clemson?) Anyway, I was drilling him a bit about all the importing and asked why he did not focus on exporting?
Why not, for instance, get the Snapple company down here to do some bottling of the mango nectar instead of just dumping the empty bottles?
He told me that I was naive and did not understand the country. He said that the fruit growers here are simply not up to that level of production,
I thought about the Haitian mango exporters and how the Haitian Francis mango is the top organic fruit in the world... (in terms of price, I think but do not remember where the top thing came from)
and then I thought about this guy.. the son of the former president
and thought that if the local fruit growers were not going to get any help from him.. were, in fact, being put out of business by him with his marketing of imported fruit...
well..
it made me sad