Korean Job Discussion Forums

[yingwenlaoshi]

Have you noticed some prices going up?

I just got back from returning a head of iceburg lettuce to my usual grocery store. It was 7000 Won? Holy ole fk!!! When I was first leaving there, I wondered why my bill was so high and she showed me how much the lettuce was. I couldn't believe it, but told her that it was ok and made a couple of more comments about it. She said that the price has gone up and was talking to the managers around the cash counter. I got home and thought, "Fk this!" Went to another store with my golden head of lettuce. They had smaller heads for 2500. My was much heavier, but I think different kind. Heavier. So I bought that head there and went back to the original store and got my money back.

I'll be fkred if I'm going to pay 7 bucks for lettuce!

Other things I've noticed were one place that has sogogi guk bap. It was 5000 but now is 6000. Same with this spray deodorant: now 6000, was 5000 (too expensive in the first place since it's so puny, but I'm always on the run and that's the nearest spot on my way to work - lasts about maybe 2 weeks if I'm lucky).

Have any of you noticed anything else? I think cider at your basic convenience stores such as Bi The Way, etc. was 1800, but now is 1850. Pretty stupid to buy it there since it's 12 or 1300 at other non-franchised places.

[bassexpander]

I've seen prices steadily going up for the past several years. I laugh every time I read someone mention this, because there seems to be a crew of people on this board who deny it, and start quoting how they can get a meal for 3,500 won at a Korean dirty-spoon restaurant.

Seoul is expensive. Much more than it was just 5 or 10 years ago.

[mindmetoo]

Pringles and Whopper combo setu is my metric. When I first came here 4 years ago, a Whopper combo was 4800 won. Now it's 5400 won. Pringles was 1800 won. Now it's 2300 won. Based on these two measures, I see about a 5% annual inflation rate. The CIA factbook says Korea had a 2.2% inflation rate in 2006. CNN reports 2.5% this year.

However, goods we're price sensitive about (princles, a cup of starbucks coffee) we may not see a straight 2.5% raise every year. That would mean a 2,000 won can of pringles rises to 2,050 won. We don't see that. But we might see after a couple years the price jumps 2,100.

Retailers will typically eat small increases in inflation. Having to reprice ever can of pringles for the sake of an extra nickel might not be worth it. So sometimes retailers wait until inflation makes repricing worth it.