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Australia: From lucky country to land of rip-offs


ozziepom

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Mr Harvey responded, saying he wasn't a whinger and just wanted to protect the whole retail sector, not only his business.

 

Opening an offshore company to undercut Australian businesses is going to do nothing "to protect the whole retail sector". Really don't see how becoming part of the problem is doing anything to fix it..

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I'd be perfectly happy to buy more online from Australian retailers if they actually had a decent website. As it is, most of them tell you to phone or visit the store for prices!

 

Do you realise how difficult it is to start up and operate an Internet retail business when you're stuck in a 1970's time warp?

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Personally, I'm 90% happy to pay higher prices. Driving them down in Australia will result it poorer conditions for workers and a race to the bottom. Those prices are baked in to the better standard of living we were all hoping for when we made the move.

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Guest The Ropey HOFF
it feels very surreal indeed being told this country isn't expensive by people who don't actually live here!:biglaugh:

 

 

Not to mention, those who live in Australia who tell us its cheaper to live in the uk, durrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh. Change the record Dom, it just causes aggro having silly digs at folk.

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Got a job about 2:1 compared to pre uk recession wage. However it is approx 2:5 at the moment due to drop in wages in uk at moment.

 

Just bought new car at current uk exchange rate it is approx 4,000 gbp cheaper than uk equivalent.

 

Admittedly some stuff seems expensive but when you look at wage increase I think it's not a lot of difference to living in a major uk city for most items.

 

Lack of competition for niche items puts the price up IMHO.

 

 

Loving Fremantle!

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Wow! I have trawled through this thread and have to say it has really put me off going to Aus! Quite disheartening really!

 

I was going to go around Aug 2012. Don't plan on living there forever, just for a year or two. Want to live in either Melbourne or Sydney. I have no problems with visa's etc. Can just start working with no dramas.

I currently work in IT Networking and earn around 30k in Southern England. I'm in a flat share and save quite good money.

 

Going by what most people are saying so far in this thread, I will be worse off in Aus for saving money than staying in UK. If I stay in a flatshare in either Melbourne or Sydney and work as a Network Engineer, will I really be worse off than I am now???

 

If I'm going to be worse-off then I'll seriously reconsider moving out there!

 

 

Merry Christmas all :)

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I'm in a flat share and save quite good money.

 

Going by what most people are saying so far in this thread, I will be worse off in Aus for saving money than staying in UK.

 

To be honest, if your intention is to come to Australia build a nest-egg and then return to the UK a wealthier man you should maybe have a rethink. You can certainly enjoy a decent standard of living, but anything you save here will be divided by around by 1.5 when you convert it back into GBP.

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Absolutely, at the moment the $AU translates very nicely back to sterling. We don't intend to go back, but we are stuck with a UK mortgage for the foreseeable. Any money I earn can be sent back as we can live on just hubby's salary here, and it'd be worth so much more in the UK, so much that the rotten mortgage could be paid off a LOT faster, saving several £k interest. But I need to get a job first of course!

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I'm sorry, but I think it's totally ridiculous to compare using a salary-based conversion. So for example, my salary is now 3.75 times what I was earning in the UK, if you just do a straight numerical division and ignoring the currency (you're suggesting that the average for this figure is about 2.2). If you take into account the current exchange rate I'm now earning 2.4 times my UK salary. So if I bought something in the UK that cost 1% of my salary, it does not mean I am happy to spend 1% of my salary here on the same item. If I was happy about that, it would mean that I would be satisfied by having the same standard of living as I had in the UK and having the same proportion of spare money each month. However I did not come here to have the same standard of living, I came here to earn more money and save more money. I don't want to spend $10k on a crap second hand car. I don't want to pay at least $75 each when we go out for dinner, and I don't like paying $100 a month for my phone and broadband!

 

As it is, we are saving more than we ever could in the UK, but we are also spending a lot more on day to day essentials. But just because we're saving more, doesn't mean Australia isn't a rip-off. It just means we earn a hell of a lot more here, and the exchange rate is in our favour when it comes to sending money back for the mortgage and student loans etc.

 

Now there you have it. Hard evidence of an actual rip-off. Someone is not only charging 3.75 times what they did in the UK for providing the same service but they're actually willing to admit to it on a public forum!!!

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after doing a com parison shop on tescos on line i can't see much difference in prices to oz the cheaper items i found are of a lessor weight

 

Hmm, that sounded odd to me so I thought I'd do a quick check for simplicity using own band and just the absolute staples, I found this...

 

Product Tesco Coles

Bread £1.05(800g) $2.29(700g) :elvis:

Milk £1.18 (2.27L) $2 (2L)

Eggs £2.50 (12/ Free rg) $4.00(12 Free rg

 

So in $'s at todays exchange rate (1.53)

 

Bread - Tesco $1.60 or 40% more expensive in Aus (for a 12% smaller quantity here in Aus)

Milk - Tesco $1.80 or 10% more in Aus (10% smaller qty in Aus)

Eggs - $3.82 or 5% more in Aus.

 

Of course the exchange rate makes a huge difference but new arrivals are bringing pounds so will find it expensive to start, provided they get a well paid job over here once self sufficient the cost of living is manageable.

 

Those with savings in £'s will find they buy less than in the UK for a variety of goods, but at least house prices in Australia have been falling and look to continue doing so for the foreseeable future.

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