The Irish are about to take deep offence to what I’m going to say, largely because they’re still not over Thierry Henry’s hand ball in the World Cup qualifier. But I wish the Irish were a little bit more like the French. The economy here sucks. In France they’d already have stormed the Ministry of Finance offices and beheaded someone. Nobody throws a good protest like the French.
The Boston Tea Party was a tipping point in the American Revolution and a homage to the French. The Irish, of course, love their tea and will never toss it into the harbor.
We, New Yorker’s, tend to think our 8% sales tax is too high. But it’s nothing compared to the 21% tax (VAT) in Ireland. This country is run by the Sheriff of Nottingham. (Proof below! I got his business card.) I generally don’t use this web space to advocate for violence, but someone needs to cut his heart out with a spoon.
I like to use the iPod Touch as an example. First, the Dollar ($) is about .70 of the Euro (€). An 8GB iPod Touch at any retalier costs $199 in the US. So, 199 x .70 should give you the cost of an iPod in €. Therefore you would expect it to cost €140 in Ireland. But that’s not what it costs.
A iPod Touch here is €199. Strip away the currecy signs and they’re the same price: 199. That blows my mind. I’ll be the first to say I don’t understand money. Largely, in part, because I don’t have any. But how could they both sell for 199. One of the currencies is 30% more valuable.
Every one here likes to point out the € is worth more, but they’re paying more for shit. That iPod Touch just cost them $270. Boned.
I went into Centra to buy a pint of Ben & Jerry’s and it was marked as €7.99. That’s fucking $11 you dumbasses. They’re $2.99 on sale and $3.99 regular price in Wegmans (at home). And yah, then plus 8% tax. To be fair, Superquinn normally carries it for €4.99, but that’s still $7.
Hello, McFly! Anybody home? We’re in a recession.
What really bothers me is there are no wholesalers and the concept of buying in bulk only applies to alcohol. For example, you want to buy a 20 oz Gatorade. They’re €2.00 each. What if you want to buy 6? Well, they’re still €2 each. They don’t even sell them in 6 or 12-packs. Want to buy 24? That’s €48 ($68).
A 24-pack of 20 oz Gatorade’s only costs $13.88 at Sam’s Club. That’s a $55 difference. The Irish are being raped by the Sheriff and the only plausible explanation is they love it.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
They’re doing Ben & Jerry’s for €4.99?? I need to get down to Superquinn!
Yep, we know we’re being ripped off, what can we do?
1)Protest..ha
2)Boycott.. we invented it but we’re terrible at it
This post is nice and clear and Ireland needs to hear more of this.
Good stuff
Ah, the same here in England. I never have understood why things cost the same numeric amount when the £ is worth more than the $.