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[garykasparov]

Businesses Use Tricks to Hike Prices

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2008/03/123_20383.html

By Jane Han
Staff Reporter

Kim Min-ja runs a noodle eatery in Namdaemun Market's famous ``kalguksu'' (knife-cut noodles) street. She said prices of all menu items ― mostly made out of flour ― were recently fixed up by 500 won, more so by peer pressure than rising costs.

``The whole street was resetting the price from 3,500 won to 4,000 won, so you're pretty much left with no choice,'' said Kim, who has for the past 15 years been in business on the street lined up with 20 some similar joints.

The world's biggest commodity crops, such as wheat, corn and soybean, have been selling at record highs since last year, pushing up flour prices by about 65 percent. A 20-kilogram pack of flour for restaurant-use went from 13,500 won to 22,166 won, according to market data.

Kim says although rising costs leave less profit for businesses, the sudden price change can easily repel customers.

``I'd rather pick lower profit over fewer customers,'' she said, adding that many restaurant owners seem to use this opportunity to raise prices a bit more than needed.

A National Statistical Office data showed last week that Chinese restaurants have been charging eaters 9.2 percent more than they did in December due to flour shortages.

Analysts say owners not only used the opportunity to reset ``jjajangmyeon'' (black bean paste noodle) prices but also other dishes unrelated to flour.

Lim Ok-hee, who runs a Chinese restaurant in Myeongdong, central Seoul, said a bowl of her jjajangmyeon edged up from 2,500 won to 3,500 won, while other dishes like ``tangsuyuk'' (sweet-sour pork) saw similar changes.

She said many small restaurants in Myeong-dong, which is dense with cheap eateries, are seeing this as a good excuse to modify their prices.

``Ramyeon'' (instant noodles) used to cost 1,500 won but 2,000 won is becoming the new market standard.

Owners say it's because of the rise in costs, but ramyeon prices, in fact, only went up by 100 won.

Businesses should be more honest with their price modifications, says the Korea Consumer Agency, adding that today's consumers are smart, so ``They won't take such unfair practices for long.''

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[mistermasan]

flour has pretty lousy nutrition. don't eat food that doesn't benefit you. ramen noodles arejust as bad as ciggys.

the gains of flour, white rice, iceberg lettuce are all pretty minimum. what happens if we stop eating such fillers and only eat foods that are nutritious? for me the weight is melting off, hunger pangs just aren't there and much more energy.

[bacasper]

[mistermasan]

pretty much the produce section and chicken sporadically. love those beans.

[Ilsanman]

Last I heard it wasn't illegal to raise your prices. But if your customers boycott, don't go crying to the gov't.

[bondjimbond]

[mindmetoo]

Where was the trick? The cost of materials has gone up. The restaurant held the line for a while but has had no choice but pass the cost to the consumer. The paper claims restaurants are raising prices more than necessary but what was the basis for this claim? Maybe they're raising prices to higher that supposedly necessary to recoup some of the losses they took holding the prices lower than necessary. Or flour prices are bound to go up and instead of raising prices every day, they're building in a future price rise now. Also they're raising prices of other dishes unrelated to flour. Ummm. Costs are rising across the board?

Hey, stop eating flour based products and eat rice based products. Import loads and loads from China and the USA. Oh wait. Rice is super protected and you can't import foreign rice? So you're stuck with over priced Korean rice and that would only make prices higher. Huh. You don't say. Huh. Say, sure would be nice if Koreans could solve problems of their own making.

[mistermasan]

the first (and unexamined) trick here is paying for food that doesn't nourish you.

kids at my school come in starving.the only thing they can eat is ramen.there isn't any food value. they come in on emptytanks, eat this crud and are worse off for having eaten.

if it ain't food, don't eat it.

the days of cheap food are gone. eat the good stuff, cut the crud.

[mindmetoo]

[Typhoon]

Isn't a group of similar businesses getting together to increase prices across the board illegal. Are there not safeguards against this. I am sure that if Ford and GM decided to raise the price of their cars $5000 dollars at the same time there would be some inquiries and raised eyebrows from consumer groups. Although I guess jajjangmyong restaurants aren't quite the same as big corporations. It is all perspective.

[mindmetoo]

[mistermasan]

ther are refined carbs and unrefined carbs.
refined carbs, such as white flour, break down quickly. sugar spikes and the kid crashes. thekids sucking down pepsi right before class, likewise, are gonna be full of energy at first but are gonna be irritable before long.

unrefined (the good stuff):
whole grains
brown rice
fruits
veggies
low fat.

these are refined and convert at a slower, more user friendly rate.

of course, i could be wrong, but such is how the nutritionist/ex-sister-in-law laid it out.

[mindmetoo]