Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Johnny_Bravo]

the best way to save money in Korea....

is...

to buy NOTHING (or as little as humanly possible) IN KOREA.

Why? because other than public transportation and medical services, food and products are typically double, sometimes TRIPLE their cost back in the US.

When I moan about the high prices of everything here, my Korean co-workers don't seem to understand, but my landlord.. a 60 something Korean with grown children who were born in the US (this means he spent over 30 years living in the US...

my landlord and I were talking outside today, outside of a local convenience stores where I was checking out some cheap little plastic cabinet, (for clothes) for which they wanted 40K won. (it was the only cabinet without Hello Kitty or Teddy Bears on it).

He is the one that basically said - everything here except taxis/subway - is double, often triple US prices.

Which essentially matches my own private observations during my time here.

My handler shrugged and said - we're just like Japan - except no my dear, you're not. The Japanese currency is a real global currency with value, unlike yours. They also make more of it than you do. And , in Japan there has been full scale deflation for the last decade, whereas in Korea prices have been screaming higher than any Predator drone and that's right in the face of the supposed deflationary economic slowdown.

The Koreans are getting screwed, they just refuse to realize it. At last my landlord (who's Korean to his credit) understands it though.

and so should you.

So my advice to you, if you want to save money, do not buy anything here unless absolutely necessary. Buy it when on vacation in Thailand, the Phillippines, stateside, and save your hard earned money.

[fortysixyou]

This is a spot-on observation.

One thing that gets me is food prices. I honestly think it's cheaper just to eat at Kim Bap Nara or Cheon Guk everyday instead of buying stuff at E-mart, etc., and preparing it at home.

And that sucks.

[Robot_Teacher]

There's no sense in telling the Koreans how their country is over charging on import goods and even domestically produced goods, becuase they usually don't have the outside knowledge of other world economies like we do and are proud to work long hours to over pay for their subsistence. Most couldn't see it any other way despite wanting lower prices, higher pay, and more time off as everyone in the world wishes for out of instinct.

It's true that Emart shopping to cook for yourself is much more expensive than eating from Korean restaurant. Why do most Koreans dine as a group in restaurants or have motor bike delivery? Eating in a communal fashion is the cheapest way to live with gimbap being the cheapest lunch for 1 to 3 people. Cooking like I do is the most expensive way to go, but since I don't live communally nor have people to eat out with, I must eat in and ordering motor bike delivery for just myself is not cost effective nor is what I want to eat as well as being extremely difficult to order.

Of course, going on diet and not drinking import beer is a great way to save money. Also shop the street markets which pop up once every 5 days; the 5 day markets. You can cut your fruit and vegetable costs in half by planning around your local 5 day market, but too many vendors pull up shop come 5 O'clock. I learned some basic Korean which is a must. It's nice if you can hit the market on lunch break or a weekend like I do as that's when the most is available. It seems like better deals are to be had early as in lunch time as supply is ample and sellers are feeling more optimistic than when tired out with exhausted goods supply at 5 O'clock. Some sellers go until 6 or 7 while others take it down at 3 or 4 O' clock.

As for clothes and shoes shopping, forget it even though they have your sizes. You can buy cheap junk to tie you over if really in need, but you'll still mostly likely be over paying for the low quality you get.

[Johnny_Bravo]

clothes here, if you can find the size you want, not to mention the style you want/look you want - will easily cost twice the amount, probably more.

my landlord was holding up and rubbing his old Ralph Lauren shirt as proof, saying it cost more than double here from what he'd pay in the states.

there was a story in Korea Times recently about how T-shirt sales were spking, as Koreans were saving money - so they will be ramping up production of T-shirt shortly.

I'm going to bet these T-shirts will be overpriced

My question is - will all these T-shirts still be in completely un-understandeable English? (though sometimes I love the results, they're hilarious)

Why don't they produce T-shirts in their own native language, like baboshirts does, for e.g. My students love my baboshirts. One even asked where he could get one.

This is one reason I'm seriously considering flying back to the US during summer vacation, using the free GEPIK flight stipend. It's a tough call though, since I think current idiotic KAL fares to hometown are running around 1.6 mil won and with that dough I can fly somewhere else in Asia and have flight and living expenses covered for the vacation.

But - back stateside, I can adjust and reload on clothes, shoes and some other minor things which would be nice to have here for the remainder of my contract. (which runs another year)

[Adjumas Cheekbones]

most expats here could do with eating a little less anyway, especially the girls.

[superacidjax]

Real simple. It's called protectionism. The tariffs and quotas imposed artificially raise prices due to Korea's attempt at protecting domestic industries. For instance rice is tariffed at around 300%. That means that domestic rice producers are that much more inefficient than world rice production.

300%. That's just on rice. One argument states that the tariffs are good because they "protect jobs." Wrong. They protect rice farmers' jobs at the expense of the rest of the country. How many jobs are lost from goods NOT purchased because of the 300% more spent on rice by the average family? That extra money could be spent purchasing other goods and services, thus driving the economy rather than weighing it down.

That's just rice. Amplify that effect by nearly every product produced here (excepting LCD TVs and a few other select products in which the Koreans have a competitive advantage.) The tariff and quota excesses here are what make the prices so high.

I've written about this extensively over the years on Daves, so I won't rehash the economics lesson now. But in a nutshell, the loud far left wants to burn buildings anytime trade liberalization is proposed (FTA, US beef, rice, etc.) Does anyone think the beef protests were about safety? Wrong.. they were about protecting overpriced Korean beef. The average Korean doesn't "get" it because they don't understand the opportunity costs of effectively subsidizing specific industries.

The rice farmers can be seen and heard, but the countless other industries being harmed cannot be seen or heard because there is no visible "victim" for those industries being harmed because Koreans spend too much for rice. It isn't like the hair salon can say that rice tariffs are harming them because they don't "see" the sales not happening as a result of ultra-high rice prices.

Take rice and multiply it by every other industry in Korea and that is why prices are so high (even for domestic products.)

There's no reason an iPod Touch 32GB should cost about $370 in the US and $530 in Korea. None at all.. the reason: tariffs. It doesn't have anything to do with shipping or anything (they are drop-shipped from China for both Korea and the US.) That is a $160 price difference.. which is effectively a government subsidy for the Korean iPod clones.. which are of inferior quality compared to the iPod.

The iPhone's non-existence in Korea is another example of bad government policy at work. In "protecting" local makers, they are actually retarding innovation and ultimately the consumers are the ones that lose out (even though they don't even realize it.)

For Korea to not be 12th place (or lower) in the world economy, they need to start adhering to their WTO agreements.. otherwise, this country will slide into backwater status much quickly than they emerged as manufacturing powerhouses.

[madoka]

[AmericanExile]

I saw a steak today for over 100,000 won. That ain't no 2 or 3 times more expensive. If it was Komodo dragon, panda or something maybe, but beef?

[digsydinner]

for those in seoul...remember, you're living in a major international city. i'm sure if you go out to the boonies, it's similar to the boonies back where you come from.

however, even in seoul...i don't think i'm paying that much more. the fast food chains are priced at the same (if not cheaper) than their equivalents back home. obviously...the korean food is much cheaper here than back home (soon doo boo costs me around 4.25USD here, while back home, i'd be paying 8USD). soju? forget about it...they're practically giving it away here compared to home... a lot of speciality restaurants have their "special" dish item for around 6,000 won (ie. sulongtang jip)....you don't necessarily have to go to a kimbap chungook or a fast food boonshik place to get cheap food.

when you mention e-mart or costco...duh, all that stuff is imported... go to any other country and their imported goods will be expensive. honestly, i find that anyone who shops there is plain stupid...

clothes? the stuff i find in dongdaemun is relatively the same quality as the crap you'd find at old navy or the gap...but much cheaper. if you want your basics...go to uniglo or something...

i have no idea where you guys shop...but it seems like you haven't really ventured out all that much.

i think this thread is more about newbies who are just complaining about their low paychecks from what is probably their first paying gigs. go out and explore! and stop depending on foreign "luxuries"...there's a lot of inexpensive things here you can live off of....

[digsydinner]

[madoka]

[gangwonbound]

Dont be a vampire and go out all the time in Hongdae/Itaewon and you'll save shed loads.

[dporter]

[tiger fancini]

If you're single, then it's definitely cheaper to eat at restaurants than to buy food and cook at home. However, if you have a family then it becomes cheaper to do the supermarket/home cooking thing.

I don't think clothing is particularly overpriced here, unless one is buying imported designer brands. HomePlus has an extremely reasonable selection of clothing, as do Giordano, WhoAU, Codes Combine, Uniqlo etc. I'm 195cm and, with the exception of long sleeve shirts, don't have too much of a problem getting clothing here.

Cigarettes are ridiculously cheap, and a night out on the sauce can also be very cheap if one doesn't have to drink Erdinger/Guinness in Itaewon bars.

However, the best way by far to save money is (as it would be in any other country) not to drink to excess on a regular basis.

[Kimbop]

Bunch of cheapskate esl kiddy-babysitters earning $22,000 a year!