5 ms·

The problem is Japan has been in a deflationary environment for so long that they've forgotten how to bump up a price and turned into a nation of misers. I've

by dcw303 9y ago

The problem is Japan has been in a deflationary environment for so long that they've forgotten how to bump up a price and turned into a nation of misers. I've witnessed first hand the collective hysteria when an ice cream company raised their prices by 10 yen[0] and also had to put up with coworkers banging on in excitement whenever 7-11 has an Onigiri sale dropping from 110 to 100 yen. Not to mention the queues stretching around the block when Yoshinoya cuts a buck and a half off their beef bowls. My anecdotal evidence, based on looking in shop windows, is there's plenty of part time (arubaito) jobs on offer; the problem is young people are too smart to take them up on their pitiful 700 yen per hour offers, which in Tokyo barely cover your transport and lunch costs. And yet the businesses will continue to weep and wail and gnash their teeth because they can't find anyone. It's not rocket science. [0] https://qz.com/656080/a-japanese-ice-cream-maker-deeply-apologizes-for-raising-prices-by-9-cents/ https://qz.com/656080/a-japanese-ice-cream-maker-deeply-apol...

delhanty 9y ago
>coworkers banging on in excitement whenever 7-11 has an Onigiri sale dropping from 110 to 100 yen Usually it's an up to 150 yen onigiri for 100 yen, so of course they're going to get excited. Edit: It looks like it is/was an up to 160 yen onigiri for 100 yen! That's a 37.5% discount! [1] [1] http://seven-eleven-mania-blog.jp/gohankei/5617/ http://seven-eleven-mania-blog.jp/gohankei/5617/
- timr 9y ago
  It's still pretty silly, considering the absolute value of the savings. My personal favorite along these lines is the way that a single building might have 2-3 floors of the same kind of restaurant (say, yakitori), but the one place that is 5 yen cheaper per item will have a line out the door, while the others are half-empty.
  - FussyZeus 9y ago
    Is this a cultural thing? I've never been to Japan so I'm kind of flying blind here but I'd assign that 5 yen as a convenience cost and happily pay that price to avoid the long line. I have a hard time thinking the Japanese people place no value on their time whatsoever...
    - sharemywin 9y ago
      walmart(lines to get in line) vs. Kroger(generally pretty fast) vs. giant eagle(empty walk right up and pay).
      - deleted 9y ago
        [deleted]
ekianjo 9y ago
> the problem is young people are too smart to take them up on their pitiful 700 yen per hour offers, There's a large population of chinese students in Japan who are very happy to work at such rates.
- FussyZeus 9y ago
  > There's a large population of chinese students in Japan who are very happy to work at such rates. > which in Tokyo barely cover your transport and lunch costs Is this another of those things where paying a person an non-livable wage is going to be construed as a Good Thing™? How about we raise the prices so the people serving us the food can, you know, live?
  - ekianjo 9y ago
    train is extremely cheap in tokyo and eating is cheap as well. with one hour of this kind of work you can pay for both and you just dont work one hour so the rest is profit.
    - 1_2__4 9y ago
      You can eat and commute both ways for under 700 yen?
      - ekianjo 9y ago
        Did you even read my comment? You don't just work for one hour usually.
  - s73ver 9y ago
    Cause that's Socialism(TM)!
  - closeparen 9y ago
    Raising prices destroys demand. It's not immediately clear that 5 well employed people and 5 unemployed people are preferably to 10 poorly employed people. If the 5 who would be unemployed have some superior alternative, why aren't they doing it already? Or would you say they should be forcibly unemployed to combat their laziness in looking for better work (which you apparently think exists)?
ShabbosGoy 9y ago
> The problem is Japan has been in a deflationary environment for so long that they've forgotten how to bump up a price and turned into a nation of misers. My understanding is that the blame for this lies squarely with the Bank of Japan. The system was much more stable under the Finance Ministry.
ramphastidae 9y ago
Reminds me of the bizarre behavior of many co-workers who wait over an hour in line when Dunkin Donuts has free iced coffee day.

by dcw303 9y ago

delhanty 9y ago

>coworkers banging on in excitement whenever 7-11 has an Onigiri sale dropping from 110 to 100 yen Usually it's an up to 150 yen onigiri for 100 yen, so of course they're going to get excited. Edit: It looks like it is/was an up to 160 yen onigiri for 100 yen! That's a 37.5% discount! [1] [1] http://seven-eleven-mania-blog.jp/gohankei/5617/ http://seven-eleven-mania-blog.jp/gohankei/5617/

timr 9y ago
It's still pretty silly, considering the absolute value of the savings. My personal favorite along these lines is the way that a single building might have 2-3 floors of the same kind of restaurant (say, yakitori), but the one place that is 5 yen cheaper per item will have a line out the door, while the others are half-empty.
- FussyZeus 9y ago
  Is this a cultural thing? I've never been to Japan so I'm kind of flying blind here but I'd assign that 5 yen as a convenience cost and happily pay that price to avoid the long line. I have a hard time thinking the Japanese people place no value on their time whatsoever...
  - sharemywin 9y ago
    walmart(lines to get in line) vs. Kroger(generally pretty fast) vs. giant eagle(empty walk right up and pay).
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]

ekianjo 9y ago

> the problem is young people are too smart to take them up on their pitiful 700 yen per hour offers, There's a large population of chinese students in Japan who are very happy to work at such rates.

FussyZeus 9y ago
> There's a large population of chinese students in Japan who are very happy to work at such rates. > which in Tokyo barely cover your transport and lunch costs Is this another of those things where paying a person an non-livable wage is going to be construed as a Good Thing™? How about we raise the prices so the people serving us the food can, you know, live?
- ekianjo 9y ago
  train is extremely cheap in tokyo and eating is cheap as well. with one hour of this kind of work you can pay for both and you just dont work one hour so the rest is profit.
  - 1_2__4 9y ago
    You can eat and commute both ways for under 700 yen?
    - ekianjo 9y ago
      Did you even read my comment? You don't just work for one hour usually.
- s73ver 9y ago
  Cause that's Socialism(TM)!
- closeparen 9y ago
  Raising prices destroys demand. It's not immediately clear that 5 well employed people and 5 unemployed people are preferably to 10 poorly employed people. If the 5 who would be unemployed have some superior alternative, why aren't they doing it already? Or would you say they should be forcibly unemployed to combat their laziness in looking for better work (which you apparently think exists)?

ShabbosGoy 9y ago

> The problem is Japan has been in a deflationary environment for so long that they've forgotten how to bump up a price and turned into a nation of misers. My understanding is that the blame for this lies squarely with the Bank of Japan. The system was much more stable under the Finance Ministry.

ramphastidae 9y ago

Reminds me of the bizarre behavior of many co-workers who wait over an hour in line when Dunkin Donuts has free iced coffee day.