Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Draz]

[Triban]

Avocados for 3,000? Awesome blossom.

What about sour cream?

I am feeling some home made nachos in my future.

[Chokse]

marsavalanche informs us that we are being ripped off but then tells us that if he/she lived near a Costco, he/she would shop there often.

You do realize that the prices at Costco Korea are often double what they are in the US, right? So, you're willing to be ripped off too. Brilliant reasoning dude.

If you buy anything non-Korean in Korea YOU ARE BEING RIPPED OFF!!!!!! Either go completely native or pay the price to have comfort from back home.

[brento1138]

On the plus side, that mart has a very very decent selection of foods. Friendly enough guy there, and I don't find the prices bad. I've been shopping there for a good 4 years or so, on and off, whenever I need something. Most products I buy there are guilty pleasures, food that really doesn't do me much good. But after getting a Costco membership, I don't buy many products there any more. I still go there for the odd thing though.

My only complaint is the quality of product. There have been a few times where I've had questionable products. For example, I often buy the Thai rice there... but now I inspect it with great detail. I would see little black "bits" of something in there, which I just assumed was no biggie. But then one day, I picked up one of the rice bags I usually get, and there were several insects roaming around inside of it (tiny black things) and several of their dead counterparts (which were the black bits I had found previously). That really turned me off the rice there. To think I had been eating insect parts... oh well, guess I got my protein?

And I bought the tortellini there and found that it tasted pretty weird. I figured "oh, that must be how it's supposed to taste." I ended up with a bad stomach that night, and threw the rest of the pasta away. A few months later, I bought the very same stuff from Costco, and it tasted fine. I wonder why there was such a huge taste difference?

Other products I've bought there had expiration dates fast-approaching. I wonder how long their products sit there, or how well some things are refrigerated, or how much care they take in redistributing the rice into smaller bags?

[brento1138]

[Zyzyfer]

[Chokse]

Brento: It may be true that the prices at Costco Korea and Costco Canada are the same, but it is not true for Costco US. The US prices are, for must items, much cheaper than they are in Korea (Average of 30-50% cheaper in the US).

I understand why and I'm not complaining about it. When you live overseas, you pay more for imported items. I accepted that a long time ago. I go to Costco and other marts with imported items and I pay a premium for things from home.

My problem was with the comments that marsavalanche made. We are all fools for paying too much for something but he/she is as sane as they come for paying too much at Costco. The fact is that most items at Costco cost more than they do in the US, and Costco is a US store. In Canada, it is a "foreign" store, and while there aren't import duties, the cost to ship items there increases, as does the red tape.

The point I was trying to make is that some stores (the Foreign SuperMarket in Itaewon included) have things the other stores don't. They also buy things from places like Costco and Emart so people can save a trip if they are willing to pay extra for the luxury.

Who are you, marsavalanche, to decide if something is worth it or not for another person. If someone wants to pay $10 for Pop-Tarts, that's his/her business. Hell, I think anyone who pays 4,000 won for a bowl of Bibimbap should have his/her head examined. Does that give me the right to criticize anyone who eats Bibimbap?

Ultimately, people decided how much something is worth. If no one buys Pop Tarts or Mac and Cheese at the prices they are selling them for, then the price will go down. Obviously people are buying them and the store is charging exactly what people are willing to pay.

[Koreadays]

I went there once to see what was up, soon as I saw he was splitting up costco products from bulk and selling them individually for way to much,
I just walked out. he has nothing you can't get elsewhere.
for much cheaper..

[APETRO]

On that note, does anyone know where I can find natural peanut butter? Not the skippy generic junk...so far no luck.

[calicoe]

[Greenman]

Foreign food mart has many foreign items?




MIND BLOWN

[IamBabo]

APETRO,

high street market sells natural peanut butter, it's skippy's though, haha. also, red door has adams, and at the supermarket in yeongdeungpo's times square has a really good one, but it's pricey! i think 12-14,000!

[Zyzyfer]

[sojusucks]

A couple of us were there yesterday morning. Yeah, that was me.

I was shopping for dates, couscous, hummus, cranberry sauce, and more sauerkraut. I also found strawberry canned frosting. Since the last time I bought sauerkraut there, the section for sauerkraut has expanded and there's also canned German sauerkraut. I saw two dudes put the canned variety in their baskets, so it must be a hot seller. I've never seen it anywhere else. The large jar of Vlasic sauerkraut cost 7,000 won and the canned variety cost 5,500 won.

[goreality]

Personally I like places that don't post prices and often change them when they do. Go to the market in the evening there are often deals...then again maybe they will raise the price when there is only a few items left. I walk through the local market everyday and know my prices, I also check the online shops for foreign goods prices before I go to those markets in itaewon. You can't blame anyone for trying to make a living or overcharging.