Poll

Is everything in the UK more expensive? or is it just me?

Just you.9%9% - 6
I've noticed it too.65%65% - 42
Never been to the UK.25%25% - 16
Total: 64
USAFDude_1988
Will fly for food.
+120|6526|Daytona Beach, FL
Am I the only one who thinks he's gettin overcharged for just about everything in the UK?

For example, at Circuit City in the US, I bought Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 for around $30 in 2004. At PC World in the UK, I just saw them selling it for £39.95 ($75)!!!! Keep in mind this game has been out for years!

Another example is Burger King. There's an American BK on my base.. I can get a double cheeseburger value meal for $5. If I'm on the road and stop by a British BK.. I'll pay around $6.70.

Going out to eat is a nightmare... My family ate at Chili's the other night in Cambridge.. we ended up paying around $80 for dinner... compared to only around $50 at an American Chili's.

Of course the most horrific example is the gas price.. but that's a European issue and not just the UK.

A lot of the time, I see items that seem to be pound-for-dollar (like they replaced a dollar sign with a GB pound sign). For example, computer games that should be $40 are in fact £40.

Prior to living here, I lived in Germany for over a year, and I never remember paying over $60 for a dinner.. let alone $80. Computer game prices were a little higher compared to US prices.. maybe around $60.

I believe this is why the UK is so scared of changing to the Euro.. because the British would realize how much they're getting ripped off. But who knows? Maybe it's just me..

Last edited by USAFDude_1988 (2006-09-10 16:43:28)

Harmonics
A stabbing fatality
+22|6520
It sucks living in the UK, it is so expensive. Thats why I love going on holiday to america.

Btw, the name mildenhall sounds familiar, where in the country is it?
USAFDude_1988
Will fly for food.
+120|6526|Daytona Beach, FL
Just northeast of Cambridge.
Naughty_Om
Im Ron Burgundy?
+355|6650|USA
everything is more expensive because of the increased TAX due to free healthcare system
Jbrar
rawr
+86|6559|Winterpeg, Canada

Naughty_Om wrote:

everything is more expensive because of the increased TAX due to free healthcare system
lol, we here in Canada get free healthare, and tax is anywhere from 6% to 21% depending what province you live in. (6% government, rest is provincial). Still cheaper than the UK.

Last edited by Jbrar (2006-09-10 16:40:07)

aardfrith
Δ > x > ¥
+145|6810
It's in Suffolk.

As for prices in the UK, it's pretty much common knowledge that we get ripped off for prices of stuff.  We pay the most for petrol (US translation = gas) in Europe, I think.  We used to be cheaper than France but successive governments have tried to get people out of their cars by upping the taxes.  Hasn't worked though.

Computer games and hardware it'#s pretty much US price numbers but in pounds, as USAF says.  The only thing that's cheaper, that I can think of, is healthcare.  The government would have you think it's "free at the point of delivery" but there are a number of things we pay for, outside of taxation.  Still, mostly it's free so long as you don't need medication.

The worst thing is car prices.  Because we drive on the left, the car companies can extort massive amounts of cash, claiming it's because the driver's side has to be reveresed.  As an example, the base model of the Ford Focus costs £11,000 in the UK, about $20,000.  In the US, the base Ford Focus is $14,000.
Harmonics
A stabbing fatality
+22|6520

USAFDude_1988 wrote:

Just northeast of Cambridge.
Thought so, I'm pretty sure my granddad was stationed there once. I used to live in ipswich, hour away from cambs.

I also met this beautiful girl there
crimson_grunt
Shitty Disposition (apparently)
+214|6672|Teesside, UK
Noticed this many years ago.  About 2-3 years ago to save money I ordered an expensive text book from amazon.com and had it shipped over seas and still made a big saving compared to what i would have paid if I'd ordered from amazon.co.uk with free shipping.
Scorpion0x17
can detect anyone's visible post count...
+691|6783|Cambridge (UK)
UK prices have always sucked, and probably always will. But then we do have one of the strongest economies in the developed world (particularly considering our size and population)...

USAFDude is pretty much spot on regarding the $ to £ price conversions - take the dollar price and put a pound-sign in-front. Even though £1 is currently valued at $1.8640!

(BTW, USAFDude - I live just south-west of Mildenhall (i.e. in Cambridge))

Last edited by Scorpion0x17 (2006-09-10 18:22:15)

Dieselboy
Flicker of beans since 1986
+87|6568|Reading, Basingrad
Anyone know what the average price for Gas is in the US?

We currently pay on average £0.92 per litre here which is $1.71 per litre
joker3327
=IBF2=
+305|6616|Cheshire. UK
We know we are being ripped off but the Great british Public is scared of change so the wont cause any trouble to get the prices dropped...we just seem to put up with them and grumble about it in the Pub....if we actually stood up and demostrated things would change....but alas we are a nation of people who cant be bothered to do anything but like to bitch about doing something...
Jinto-sk
Laid Back Yorkshireman
+183|6609|Scarborough Yorkshire England

Dieselboy wrote:

Anyone know what the average price for Gas is in the US?

We currently pay on average £0.92 per litre here which is $1.71 per litre
92p your being robbed mate we only pay 88p here in the boro (yes I know you said average)

My experience is we are not that much more expensive than other places the only things we are ripped off on is cigs, booze n petrol.  Fresh produce (meat, veg) in other countries might be a bit cheaper but we are talking less than 50p difference. A can of coke has always worked out about the same in every country I've been too.  A lot of the reason we are expensive is all to do economics as well.  The pound is the strongest currency in the world (free NHS has very little to do with it), that is why we will not join the EU till the very very last opportunity.  People slate the NHS but free health care for all is one thing I'm proud of this country for, ok It may not be the best service in the world, but at least we are not gonna turn someone away cos they have no insurance/can't afford to pay our medical bill (the whole dentistry thing is a farce, but at the end of the day that is greedy dentists wanting more money which they get from private patients so they want all their patients on their books as private patients so they can make more)
anyway enough from me
Wasder
Resident Emo Hater
+139|6692|Moscow, Russia
Yeah, I heard Britain is an expensive country and London is the most expensive city in the world.
Here are some facts about Moscow prices for comparison:

A 0.5l bottle of good beer: $1.1
A pack of good cigarettes: $1.2
A ticket for one ride on a bus/underground: $0.5
A cheeseburger: $0,75
A 0.5l bottle of good vodka: $3
Gas: $0.7 per litre
A copy of BF2 as it came out: $25

If you want to know more, you may ask. That's just all I can quickly come up with.
JahManRed
wank
+646|6645|IRELAND

The UK is a service economy. High prices are a direct result of the lack of industries. Everything is imported these days. Add to that a disproportionately large armed forces a couple of wars and hey presto!!
Coolbeano
Level 13.5 BF2S Ninja Penguin Sensei
+378|6780

Well, it's completely normal. Costs of Living is different for every country you go to. Your salary is different (unless you're an expatriate but that's too complicated to factor in). As another example, I'll tell you how cheap everything here in BKK is.

USAFDude_1988 wrote:

For example, at Circuit City in the US, I bought Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 for around $30 in 2004. At PC World in the UK, I just saw them selling it for £39.95 ($75)!!!! Keep in mind this game has been out for years!
If you go buy Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 here, you have 2 options; a pirated copy (the only effective downside is really the lack of multiplayer, but I don't think this game even has any decent MP playability) or a real boxed game (advantage is a box and a fancy manual and that crap).

The pirated copy would cost at most US$3. Anything more than $5 and you're getting ripped off.
The real copy, if you could even find it for sale, would cost at most US$10.

USAFDude_1988 wrote:

Another example is Burger King. There's an American BK on my base.. I can get a double cheeseburger value meal for $5. If I'm on the road and stop by a British BK.. I'll pay around $6.70.
Double Cheeseburger Value Meal is 179 baht, equivalent to nearly $4.50. Of course, this is with BK raising the prices recently (not inflation). Less than a year ago a Double Cheesburger Value Meal cost just over US$3.00.

USAFDude_1988 wrote:

Going out to eat is a nightmare... My family ate at Chili's the other night in Cambridge.. we ended up paying around $80 for dinner... compared to only around $50 at an American Chili's.
Dunno what Chili's is, but an evening out can probably compare. You go to one of the hundreds (around 350 I think) Italian restaurants in this city, one of the top notch, owned and operated by a Michelin Star Chef (lots here), ordering some of the most expensive items, will cost you nearly US$40. And even that is very expensive. An expensive night out would be anything over US$25.

USAFDude_1988 wrote:

Of course the most horrific example is the gas price.. but that's a European issue and not just the UK.
Yay for US$2.38 a gallon!

USAFDude_1988 wrote:

A lot of the time, I see items that seem to be pound-for-dollar (like they replaced a dollar sign with a GB pound sign). For example, computer games that should be $40 are in fact £40.
Hell, with US$40, I could buy BF2, with SF, EF and AF, altogether... seven times.


Living in Thailand is really cheap, ainit?

Just one thing; you get paid a shitload less. Minimum wage runs from about US$3.52 to $4.63. In comparison to around over 5 dollars an hour.

Oh wait, 5 dollars an hour?
Minimum wage here is 4.63 US dollars... a DAY. Less than FIVE DOLLARS in a full DAY.

...If you're lucky, that is.
USAFDude_1988
Will fly for food.
+120|6526|Daytona Beach, FL

Dieselboy wrote:

Anyone know what the average price for Gas is in the US?

We currently pay on average £0.92 per litre here which is $1.71 per litre
We're paying on average $.75 a litre, which is 41p.

Tax is roughly 6% of our gas price. While in the UK it's around 50%.

If you consider the population of the UK.. they're making a shitload of money. That's sad considering the shitty state of UK motorways... Where is the money going to??!

Last edited by USAFDude_1988 (2006-09-11 06:26:58)

stryyker
bad touch
+1,682|6737|California

Vat
Knight`UK
Lollerstorycarpark
+371|6598|England
Why are we scared to go to the Euro??? its so weak as a currency it would make naff econmic sense to do that .

More and more E.U countrys are try to opt back out of the weak Euro as there own money was so much stronger.

Never buy your games from pcworld as they are a rip off go online and buy or if you have to buy from a shop go to G.A.M.E
CameronPoe
Member
+2,925|6573
THe UK is a bit of a rip-off - and that's saying something guiven that I live in Dublin, one of the most expensive places in Europe. Everytime I go to the UK my wallet gets fucking eaten alive. I can't explain it - perhaps my mind equates pounds to euros and I throw caution to the wind with respect to my spending. Off to London in November - I'd better start saving now. LOL

PS The Euro is NOT a weak currency. It's strengthening all the time as well.

Last edited by CameronPoe (2006-09-11 06:52:49)

Knight`UK
Lollerstorycarpark
+371|6598|England

CameronPoe wrote:

THe UK is a bit of a rip-off - and that's saying something guiven that I live in Dublin, one of the most expensive places in Europe. Everytime I go to the UK my wallet gets fucking eaten alive. I can't explain it - perhaps my mind equates pounds to euros and I throw caution to the wind with respect to my spending. Off to London in November - I'd better start saving now. LOL

PS The Euro is NOT a weak currency. It's strengthening all the time as well.
Since when has it got stronger ?? as in verus the English Pound  £1 = EUR 1.47 thats pretty weak tbh
mikeshw
Radioactive Glo
+130|6855|A Small Isle in the Tropics

its all relative and tied to the population's earning power. for instance an everthing at one pound shop in the UK has the same logic as an everything at $1.99 shop here. To me 1 pound is 3 Singapore bucks.. ain't cheap.
CameronPoe
Member
+2,925|6573

Knight`UK wrote:

CameronPoe wrote:

THe UK is a bit of a rip-off - and that's saying something guiven that I live in Dublin, one of the most expensive places in Europe. Everytime I go to the UK my wallet gets fucking eaten alive. I can't explain it - perhaps my mind equates pounds to euros and I throw caution to the wind with respect to my spending. Off to London in November - I'd better start saving now. LOL

PS The Euro is NOT a weak currency. It's strengthening all the time as well.
Since when has it got stronger ?? as in verus the English Pound  £1 = EUR 1.47 thats pretty weak tbh
I wasn't talking relative to the pound. I meant relative to the rest of the world.
Dieselboy
Flicker of beans since 1986
+87|6568|Reading, Basingrad
And housing prices......jesus.

I just happen to live in the most expensive parts of the UK to buy a house.

for instance...on average it costs:-
£229,000 ($426,000) for a Flat (apartment) in Windsor.
£297,000 ($552,000) for a small terraced house
£299,000 ($556,000) for a small semi-detached house
£521,000 ($969,000) for a decent size detached house.

I bought a place on my 21st Birthday for £150,000 and sold it two years ago for £295,000.....I got lucky but the wife likes spending it a bit too much
mikeyb118
Evil Overlord
+76|6616|S.C.
I could give a lecture about the economics of why goods are cheaper in the US, but to make it short and very simple.
OIL
brome
brap.
+244|6604|Accidental, TK
well, just be thankful it's not as bad as norway.  equiv of 85p for a mars bar in a corner shop.  85p!

Last edited by brome (2006-09-11 08:09:06)

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