|
Korean Job Discussion Forums
"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Teachers from Around the World!"
|
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired
|
 Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 7:26 pm Post subject: |
 |
|
| northway wrote: |
| TheUrbanMyth wrote: |
| alongway wrote: |
| Quote: |
| It's also every EMart, Homeplus, and LotteMart - the super supermarkets as they are called. |
No, it's not. Some Emarts will not close. The Starcity Emart for example will not close as it's in the shopping center and I believe their contract with the complex requiring they open outweighs this.
you can get the nationwide list of e-marts here:
http://store.emart.com/branch/eventnotice/eventnotice_view.jsp?id=470&seq=15062
It's about 10 emarts in Seoul but there are more than that here. |
(bolding mine) |
The link wouldn't open for me so all I had to work on was what I'd read previously. Regardless, do you really think that it won't contribute to the already prevalent overcrowding on weekends? Or will closing a third of the countries grocery stores one day a week make no difference at all? |
I'm simply pointing out that these claims about all (it wasn't just you BTW) or the majority are (at present) not true.
As for the overcrowding I suggested several possible solutions involving going at different times. Most foreign teachers (the overwhelming demographic on this board) have weekends and mornings (hakwon) or afternoons (public school) off. So shopping early or late on weekdays is a viable option for many. Which avoids the overcrowding on weekends.
Going early on a Saturday is another option...the crowds seem to increase around midday (at least from what I recall...when I DID go to Costco/Homeplus).
As for the Korean populace it doesn't seem to bother them as much...if it does they'll eventually vote/protest for its repeal. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
nathanrutledge
Joined: 01 May 2008
Location: Marakesh
|
| Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 7:39 pm Post subject: |
|
|
IDK about you, but most of my Korean friends are horribly ignorant about the laws and rules here. They just don't pay attention. When I went to the store with my gf, they gave us a flier explaining the new rules. I didnt even take it as I had known about it for some time. She, on the other hand, was pissed. "what the hell is this, why weren't we told about this, blah blah blah...." I think we'll see a lot of angry folks about this soon enough.
Also, the law is not fully in effect yet. Each individual Gu council has to implement the law. Some won't, some will be different than others. From what I read, there is no set rule on how it is enforced, so it could be a closing on the weekend, or reduced hours, or both, or some other scheme that they come up with. The fact that it's 32% of the stores now doesn't mean that it won't be 100% in the next few months. They are still working on the implementation. Also, look at where those stores are. The list from E-Mart shows that the majority of them are in large cities, where they serve a disproportionately large amount of the population. So while it's only 32% of the stores, what market coverage are we talking about here? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired
|
| Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 9:46 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| nathanrutledge wrote: |
IDK about you, but most of my Korean friends are horribly ignorant about the laws and rules here. They just don't pay attention. When I went to the store with my gf, they gave us a flier explaining the new rules. I didnt even take it as I had known about it for some time. She, on the other hand, was pissed. "what the hell is this, why weren't we told about this, blah blah blah...." I think we'll see a lot of angry folks about this soon enough.
Also, the law is not fully in effect yet. Each individual Gu council has to implement the law. Some won't, some will be different than others. From what I read, there is no set rule on how it is enforced, so it could be a closing on the weekend, or reduced hours, or both, or some other scheme that they come up with. The fact that it's 32% of the stores now doesn't mean that it won't be 100% in the next few months. They are still working on the implementation. Also, look at where those stores are. The list from E-Mart shows that the majority of them are in large cities, where they serve a disproportionately large amount of the population. So while it's only 32% of the stores, what market coverage are we talking about here? |
Well if there's enough angry folks then it won't be 100% or even 32% of the stores...it will be zero.
Like I posted let's wait and see. So far the available evidence does not bear out the gloom-and-doom scenarios that have been posited here. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
alongway
Joined: 02 Jan 2012
|
| Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 11:21 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| northway wrote: |
| TheUrbanMyth wrote: |
| alongway wrote: |
| Quote: |
| It's also every EMart, Homeplus, and LotteMart - the super supermarkets as they are called. |
No, it's not. Some Emarts will not close. The Starcity Emart for example will not close as it's in the shopping center and I believe their contract with the complex requiring they open outweighs this.
you can get the nationwide list of e-marts here:
http://store.emart.com/branch/eventnotice/eventnotice_view.jsp?id=470&seq=15062
It's about 10 emarts in Seoul but there are more than that here. |
(bolding mine) |
The link wouldn't open for me so all I had to work on was what I'd read previously. Regardless, do you really think that it won't contribute to the already prevalent overcrowding on weekends? Or will closing a third of the countries grocery stores one day a week make no difference at all? |
Link works fine in firefox and IE, why won't it open for you?
| Quote: |
Why does it HAVE to be one of those two Sundays that it is closed?
|
It doesn't have to be, but life happens and you might suddenly actually need to go shopping on one of those days. I could think of dozens of scenarios that could suddenly cause you to want to/need to go shopping on those days. You're stuck with stores which couldn't remotely begin to fill the void left by closing those other stores, both in price, quality and selection. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
northway
Joined: 05 Jul 2010
|
| Posted: Wed May 09, 2012 4:26 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Quote: |
| Link works fine in firefox and IE, why won't it open for you? |
iPad=no Firefox or IE |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
alongway
Joined: 02 Jan 2012
|
| Posted: Wed May 09, 2012 4:44 am Post subject: |
|
|
| northway wrote: |
| Quote: |
| Link works fine in firefox and IE, why won't it open for you? |
iPad=no Firefox or IE |
Just opened the link on my iphone, works just fine.
So what's your excuse now? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
northway
Joined: 05 Jul 2010
|
| Posted: Wed May 09, 2012 4:45 am Post subject: |
|
|
| alongway wrote: |
| northway wrote: |
| Quote: |
| Link works fine in firefox and IE, why won't it open for you? |
iPad=no Firefox or IE |
Just opened the link on my iphone, works just fine.
So what's your excuse now? |
It seriously won't open, what do you want me to say? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
alongway
Joined: 02 Jan 2012
|
| Posted: Wed May 09, 2012 4:47 am Post subject: |
|
|
| northway wrote: |
| alongway wrote: |
| northway wrote: |
| Quote: |
| Link works fine in firefox and IE, why won't it open for you? |
iPad=no Firefox or IE |
Just opened the link on my iphone, works just fine.
So what's your excuse now? |
It seriously won't open, what do you want me to say? |
http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/7770/img5944.png |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
northway
Joined: 05 Jul 2010
|
| Posted: Wed May 09, 2012 4:52 am Post subject: |
|
|
| alongway wrote: |
| northway wrote: |
| alongway wrote: |
| northway wrote: |
| Quote: |
| Link works fine in firefox and IE, why won't it open for you? |
iPad=no Firefox or IE |
Just opened the link on my iphone, works just fine.
So what's your excuse now? |
It seriously won't open, what do you want me to say? |
http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/7770/img5944.png |
Sorry, are you on my iPad right now? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
wylies99
Joined: 13 May 2006
Location: I'm one cool cat!
|
| Posted: Sat May 12, 2012 5:23 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| It's surprising to read that a few posters actually support this new Korean government policy of forcing larger stores to close two Sundays each month. If they actually are in Korea, which is doubtful, then they should listen to their Korean neighbors. Koreans are very upset with being inconvenienced over some political pandering during an election year. Many Koreans work six days a week and Sunday is their day to go shopping. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired
|
| Posted: Sun May 13, 2012 3:22 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| wylies99 wrote: |
| It's surprising to read that a few posters actually support this new Korean government policy of forcing larger stores to close two Sundays each month.. |
Yes it is surprising given that that not a SINGLE poster that I can see supported this policy. People were just saying that life will go on as usual more or less.
As for me most of my neighbors don't shop at Costco...as for the rest I rather doubt that they drive 70 minutes one way to shop at Costco and then 70 minutes back every Sunday. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Weigookin74
Joined: 26 Oct 2009
|
| Posted: Sun May 13, 2012 3:59 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| TheUrbanMyth wrote: |
| Weigookin74 wrote: |
| TheUrbanMyth wrote: |
| bobbybigfoot wrote: |
Costco should make an example out of this council: if you pass this legislation, we will DEFINITELY lay off workers. For each hour, you make us shut, an employee is let go.
Then put up signs in ALL costcos to let people know what is going on. Include pictures and phone numbers of ALL council members.
That should solve the problem fairly quickly. |
The quote "You can't fight City Hall" was made for a reason.
Assuming Costco would do such a thing what stops the council from saying "Fine. For each employee you lay off your property taxes increase by 5%."
Or simply point out that if Costco does such a thing, council will just publicize the fact as a FOREIGN company laying off KOREAN employees.
Which is not exactly going to win Costco many local fans. |
They'd prob pull a Wal Mart or Carrefour and just leave. Shame Korea in some way tries to regulate everything. In some ways, its easier to start many types of businesses. But, if there's too much success, they try to rein it in. English academies one other example of this. |
I rather doubt Costco is going to risk this over one store.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/328002-costco-wholesale-great-business-mediocre-price
| Quote: |
| Costco reports that its most recent warehouse openings in Japan, Taiwan, and Korea had record-breaking opening-day sales, and that the warehouse they opened in Australia was particularly well-received. The company expects these countries to be great places for continued expansion. |
Closing 2 Sundays a month is hardly undue hardship.
And Wal-Mart and Carrefour were losing money which is why they pulled out. As long as Costco is making money, they are not going anywhere. |
They came in too soon. Too much xenophobic nationalism at that time. With FTA coming into effecty, if they came back now, they'd make a killing. Lots more people have been abroad and would now welcome Wal Mart if it tried to re-enter. They just have to try and remember to sell rice and kimchi alongside the western products. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Weigookin74
Joined: 26 Oct 2009
|
| Posted: Sun May 13, 2012 4:05 pm Post subject: |
|
|
These big stores also can't be open 24 hours? WHat the F#%^ is wrong with this country? So, 47.5 Koreans should pander their A$$ to .5 Koreans? I mean we b!tch about regulation in the west but we've got nothing on this place.
You know I had a friend in business and law who told me that the government will sometimes harass foriegn companies by digging up extra tax to pay. Even if they have lawyers who gauranteed no tax. I've also heard that there is a lot harassment of smaller businesses that try to import and sell too much foriegn goods.
I mean d@mn it! Let people make their own choices as consumers. If a product is crap, it's crap! You can't protect it and hope people are fooled into thinking it's great. If a company wants people to buy their product instead of a better made product, then they simply need improve their product. Enough said. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
DIsbell
Joined: 15 Oct 2008
|
| Posted: Sun May 13, 2012 5:32 pm Post subject: |
|
|
This ordinance isn't just picking on Costco; it applies to LotteMarts, HomePluses, EMarts, etc.
I don't think it's an unbearable hardship for the stores and if anything I support it so that those workers get just a bit more time off. Most of them work 6 days a week and it isn't physically easy. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Patrick Bateman
Joined: 21 Apr 2009
Location: Lost in Translation
|
| Posted: Sun May 13, 2012 5:59 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| DIsbell wrote: |
I don't think it's an unbearable hardship for the stores and if anything I support it so that those workers get just a bit more time off. Most of them work 6 days a week and it isn't physically easy. |
The purpose is not to protect workers of large grocery stores. In fact, it's not unreasonable to think that employees will still go in on closed days.
People's gripe with this is, politicians are blatantly pandering to small businesses, and at the expense of convenience to others. Is protecting small/local businesses a laudable cause? I think so. But, doing so shouldn't come as a detriment to consumers nor the larger stores.
Is it even a big deal that some stores are closed a few days a month? No. But that's not really the point. The point is the government is interfering in an inappropriate way, which is a big deal. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
