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I recently visited NYC and I can’t help but feel the city has a wide culture of laissez faire unenforcement. So many grocery and convenience stores in the city

I recently visited NYC and I can’t help but feel the city has a wide culture of laissez faire unenforcement. So many grocery and convenience stores in the city have no posted prices for any items, even in the airport. As a foreigner I was pretty shocked but the people I talked to said it was pretty much normal and there’s nothing really that can be done. Mind you we checked and it is actually not legal to have no visible pricing. I’m not sure what it is that’s stopping the city from actually doing anything about it, like the truck issue it seems it would be trivial to enforce.

wnolens 4y ago
Living there, it definitely feels as if there's a low key lawlessness about town. I haven't developed a hatred for the cops here yet, but there's an outspoken critique to the point of being a meme that they enforce very little of these everyday things and beyond (like muggings)
- bobthepanda 4y ago
  Particularly in the realm of traffic, they tend to flout the law as well; go to nearly any police station and there will be both police and personal cars parked on the sidewalk, or illegally parked in spots. What makes it particularly galling is that they also oppose automated enforcement of traffic laws. Officially it is because it would take away jobs (that they are not doing, since traffic enforcement in NYC leaves a lot to be desired), and unofficially because the police themselves benefit from the discretion exercised by fellow officers refusing to enforce laws on their colleagues.
  - konschubert 4y ago
    Why is “this would take away jobs” an argument that can be made in any non-communist country?
    - quickthrower2 4y ago
      Mostly it isn’t unless it is one of those jobs that isn’t needed most of the time but sometimes like for example a soldier or rural fire service and some bean counter thinks yeah we can slash that. Getting rid of the job gets rid of the people with experience, so it can be a one way switch. Normally solving a problem with a robot creates more jobs. There are speed cameras, but still you have hidden manually operated speed traps and it frees up resources for drug and alcohol testing.
    - ivanbakel 4y ago
      > Why is “this would take away jobs” an argument that can be made in any non-communist country? Because a capitalist economy is rooted in self-interest. Labour bodies have power to shape the economy, and they represent the interests of their members, who don't want to lose their jobs. Plus, people are not perfect market actors with such little empathy that they are willing to abandon their colleagues for a bit more workplace efficiency. So if you know that Bob in your office will be fired due to automation, and you like Bob (and worry you are next), you're going to oppose automation.
    - dahfizz 4y ago
      In a democracy, people vote for things. People also want a job. People are not going to vote for things which will lose them their job.
      - jokethrowaway 4y ago
        And when you're the government you don't want to lose employees. Propaganda will make sure this won't even reach the average citizen.
        bobthepanda 4y ago
        Police is an interesting edge case, where at least in 2022 the people who want to reduce police are firmly on the left, and those firmly on the right want to cut everything except police. There was an attempt to defund police, and that went down with the electorate like a lead balloon.
  - wjnc 4y ago
    Oh my. My city recently got a few of those vehicles doing automatic parking fines. They were so good the number of fines was national news. There is something to be said for 100% enforcement of these rules. NYC is a boon for AI powered enforcement in that respect. Imagine all video enforceable traffic violations being automatically and instantaneously ticketed. It would change the city (and the cops).
- mellavora 4y ago
  > it definitely feels as if there's a low key lawlessness about town. history of police: the NY police force stared when one politician got his street gang made official. So the police have a cultural heritage. And on the other side,the city isn't a bunch of people who basically agree (or think they basically agree) on what is right and wrong, then use the law to enforce this. Counter-example, Sweden from circa 1000 to 2000 AD. (Sweden still thinks it is this, but has growing issues with immigrants from non-nordic cultures)
- hbarka 4y ago
  San Francisco would like a word about low-key lawlessness. Actually beyond low-key. Watch an open-air market for stolen goods. Watch the impunity. See how City Hall and SFPD respond. https://youtu.be/dykaJjegDEY https://youtu.be/dykaJjegDEY
  - b112 4y ago
    Just watched. There is no suitable excuse for this, at all, full stop.
  - lupire 4y ago
    Wow. The city commisioner says "No, yes, No. The police have not been aggressive enough with enforcement, because we don't want them to."
    - mehphp 4y ago
      Unreal. People are getting robbed in traffic at gun point and there are "bigger" "more violent" issues for the police to deal with?
  - mschuster91 4y ago
    Jesus f..ing christ. It's one thing to not crack down on victimless crimes aka people dealing small-time drugs on the street, but that here is a travesty of justice. I mean... what the fuck is that "yeah we have so many leads to follow up". Dude. Take a hundred officers, cordon off the area and fleece everyone. It isn't that hard. And what the fuck was that "we want police to focus on bigger things"?! Like, camera crews get robbed on highway heists? At gunpoint? Doesn't get much bigger than that!
justsomehnguy 4y ago
> and there’s nothing really that can be done And even if they had been posted.. it is still not the price you would pay at the till, because you know, reasons.
- b112 4y ago
  Here, if the price is posted wrong for groceries, you get the product free, up to 10 bucks. https://educaloi.qc.ca/en/capsules/price-labelling-and-accuracy/ https://educaloi.qc.ca/en/capsules/price-labelling-and-accur... You'll note that if they put price stickers on the product, things are more lax. And if they put nothing, you report it. And yes, it is enforced. It is trivial to handle this stuff. Simple.
  - justsomehnguy 4y ago
    I was talking about famous inability to display the actual price (product/item price + whatever tax applies that time of a day) on a tag.
    - b112 4y ago
      Not sure what you mean, but outside of tax info, as per Quebec link above, no pricing info by, or on the product is illegal here. And it is enforced.
      - andrewshadura 4y ago
        What the above commenter means, is that in the EU (and many countries across the world) if a price tag says €10, you pay exactly €10. In the US, if the price tag says $10, you may end up paying $12 or something random amount on top of the signed price, because it doesn't include taxes, which makes shopping extremely inconvenient compared to taxes-included price tags.
        b112 4y ago
        It makes it inconvenient for travellers, I agree there. Growing up, and living with this, I find it trivial to deal with.
snmx999 4y ago
Are the items still scanned and everybody gets the same price when paying or are you saying that tourists pay a higher price?
- nerdponx 4y ago
  The former, and the cashier can also tell you the price of any item before you have to pay for it. However that doesn't help much if you are a foreigner and don't speak English well.
  - a4a4a4a4 4y ago
    > However that doesn't help much if you are a foreigner and don't speak English well. Well... welcome to the world? You'll have the same issue traveling to South America, Europe, Asia. When you travel and end up in a country where you don't speak the native language, communication gets more difficult. This is a non-issue.
    - scambier 4y ago
      The issue being discussed is the lack of price tags. If I'm a foreigner and don't speak the language, at least I know how much I'll pay beforehand.
      - b112 4y ago
        Quite. Reading numbers is far easier than someone saying those numbers in a foreign language. If someone speaks 10.43 to me in German, I have no idea.
        vetinari 4y ago
        Even street vendors in random Asian places will punch the numbers into calculator and show you. You don't have to understand the language.
        4y ago
wolverine876 4y ago
That's a feature, not a bug. NYC has always been free, free-wheeling, and very pragmatic. Think for yourself, don't worry about what everyone thinks about you, get things done, work it out pragmatically with the people around you. Look at how traffic flows - no laws describe it, lanes are often ignored, etc., but it works. Saying 'you are violating traffic laws' would be misunderstanding the system fundamentally. NYC has always worked very well, the greatest city in the world for generations (despite recent media campaigns that seem to have forgotten it), but it's also not for everybody.
- zppln 4y ago
  Meh, compared to something like Tokyo NYC is a shitshow.
- Gareth321 4y ago
  Crime is getting pretty bad these days. (https://www1.nyc.gov/site/nypd/news/p00041/nypd-citywide-crime-statistics-march-2022 https://www1.nyc.gov/site/nypd/news/p00041/nypd-citywide-cri...) It's not as bad as the worst period in New York's history, but that's not an excuse.
  - wolverine876 4y ago
    How is that related to double parking?
  - yowzadave 4y ago
    New York City might well be the safest city in the country: https://twitter.com/mnolangray/status/1520134999164395521 https://twitter.com/mnolangray/status/1520134999164395521 Obviously there's much that could be done to make the city safer, and it does seem there was an uptick in certain types of crime during the pandemic (though not localized to NYC in any way). I'm just wary of people's intuitions about things like crime, which have historically been divorced from reality.
    - wolverine876 4y ago
      > I'm just wary of people's intuitions about things like crime, which have historically been divorced from reality. Also, there's a media campaign by conservatives to say that 'liberal cities are dangerous' (and to dog whistle race issues). Somehow, Miami and Texas cities never come up.
quickthrower2 4y ago
You can do your bit by bringing all the items to the checkout, ask the price of them all, swap half of the “too expensive” ones. Then repeat. Until finally you have purchased what you want while driving them crazy.
- mafro 4y ago
  How much time do you have?! Let's be realistic, typically one just wants to buy something, at the right price, and go back to doing something more fun than looking at grocery store shelves.
  - quickthrower2 4y ago
    If I get a spam scam call suddenly my diary opens up :-)
- quietbritishjim 4y ago
  Unfortunately, driving the minimum wage checkout clerk crazy is probably not going to have any impact on the store owner.
  - Cthulhu_ 4y ago
    Do a full Karen and ask for the manager... every time.
    - speed_spread 4y ago
      Never go full Karen.
    - hutzlibu 4y ago
      Good solution probably, to vent of some steam, but otherwise there are a million things I would rather do, than fighting windmills.
  - Nextgrid 4y ago
    It will if people do this en-masse and the throughput of the store goes to zero.
waihtis 4y ago
Same here. I was supposed to buy stuff from JFK but no price tag = no purchase. Also, why are US duty free shops garbage compared to European ones? It's double price at the airport in contrast to the local shops, whereas in EU you can often buy things with a heavy discount at the airport.
- Cthulhu_ 4y ago
  > whereas in EU you can often buy things with a heavy discount at the airport. I've browsed the tax-free shops in European airports, it's... disappointing. They will bump up the price from retail anyway because people assume it's a good deal, and they'll focus on premium / luxury goods one wouldn't normally buy. I mean at the same time, you wouldn't find said premium / luxury goods on the high street either, nor an enthusiastic salesperson having you try fancy whiskeys at nine in the morning, so that's a plus on these tax free shops, lol.
  - waihtis 4y ago
    Granted it's a somewhat of an edge case because of the state monopoly, but at least alcohol is 20-40% cheaper at the airport in FIN airports UK duty free (pre COVID) also seemed to be slightly better priced in contrast to high street
    - Symbiote 4y ago
      I think they are sold without the duty (the sin tax), but still with VAT for an EU flight. Then add on the cost to run a shop in an expensive location. Comparing a basic Gordens gin, at Copenhagen Airport it's 6DKK (€0.80) less than at a typical supermarket, 165 vs 171DKK/litre. However, the price in Sweden is about 260DKK/litre, and I assume the target market in that airport is Swedes.
  - jhugo 4y ago
    It's even worse: many of the alcohol products for sale at duty free are exclusive to duty free, thus preventing any price comparison. They market this as an advantage (get a whisky you can't get anywhere else!) but at least in the world of Scotch, they're mostly no-age-statement "luxury" whiskies with far more brand than substance.
nottorp 4y ago
There are a lot of consumer protection rules in Europe. For most of them, in the US they don't even know it's possible :)
- cdot2 4y ago
  Except I'm in Texas where we don't have this issue. This is specifically a New York thing and is an issue with enforcement and not with the wording of the law
  - nottorp 4y ago
    They display final price including sales tax and any “fees” in Texas? Is your cable/internet/etc contract fixed price for the duration of the contract or they can add any “fees” when they feel like it?
maxerickson 4y ago
Looking briefly, it seems owner operated stores with 2 or less full time employees are not subject to the pricing display regulations. Some close family aren't counted as employees. (I only looked briefly, maybe I misunderstood)
AnIdiotOnTheNet 4y ago
> and there’s nothing really that can be done. This seems to be a really common refrain for a lot of problems these days.
- freeopinion 4y ago
  And it isn't true. There are various things that can be done. You can shop only at stores that do post prices, even if that means travelling some distance or paying higher prices. You could open your own store and be sure to post prices. You could organize a protest in front of stores that don't post prices. You could form a volunteer service that posts prices for stores. Obviously, these things require various levels of effort from you. They may or may not be worth it to you. But "there's nothing really that can be done" usually translates to "there's nothing really I am willing to do."
cure 4y ago
> there’s nothing really that can be done I very much doubt nothing can be done - this is just a matter of (political) will and appropriate enforcement. Here in MA we also have a law that says that items for sale must be priced. The law must have teeth, because all big stores have dedicated price scanners spread out through the store. The scanners can be used to check the price of any item, in case a price tag was not applied. In general, price tags are present, even in small corner stores.
- ghaff 4y ago
  In my experience in MA, in larger stores shelved items usually have a price (and price/pound or price/quart) label on the shelf along with an item description. But it's a lot less common for individual items to be tagged than it used to be. The availability of scanners varies.
- gumby 4y ago
  Here in California the posted price has to include the price in “natural” units (per oz, or per dozen eggs, or whatnot) for easy comparison. Whole Foods gets around this by often displaying the unit price as “per item” (so the two prices on the shelf are the same). They’ve been getting away with this practice for decades.
woodruffw 4y ago
> I’m not sure what it is that’s stopping the city from actually doing anything about it, like the truck issue it seems it would be trivial to enforce. Law enforcement in NYC has a revanchist attitude towards the actual citizens of the city. Most of the city's police live outside of the city[1][2] and drive into work, which puts them directly at odds with the average resident. This attitude extends into every facet of NYC's law enforcement, which is why most of the city's actual petty crimes (illegal parking, dangerous driving, obscured plates) go unreported: everybody knows that the police simply don't care. Edit: So that I'm not just kvetching, here are some things that I think would improve the situation: * Allow citizens to report 53' trailers and other illegal vehicles (e.g. obscured plates) in exchange for a cut of the fines, similarly to how the city uses citizens to report idling violations[3]. * Require all uniformed NYPD to attain a post-secondary decree (rather than a partial degree at a rock-bottom GPA, as currently required). Similarly, require them to pass a fitness test similar to the NYFD's. * Require all uniformed NYPD to live in the city, and restructure their patrols to emphasize the neighborhoods they live in. Minimize in-car patrol time in favor of foot patrols and Japanese style police booths. [1]: https://gothamist.com/news/majority-nypd-officers-dont-live-new-york-city-new-figures-show https://gothamist.com/news/majority-nypd-officers-dont-live-... [2]: Notably, civilian employees of the NYPD (and most NYC civil servants) are actually required to maintain residency in the city. This is purely a carveout for the police. [3]: https://www.nbcnewyork.com/investigations/nyc-anti-idling-law-turns-into-huge-payday-125k-for-one-man-for-citizens-who-report/3637231/ https://www.nbcnewyork.com/investigations/nyc-anti-idling-la...
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- jdeibele 4y ago
  A local firefighter and I were volunteers for our kids' soccer club. He said that he specifically worked on the other side of town because he didn't want to respond to fires or health emergencies that involved his neighbors. There are definitely some tradeoffs with having police officers or firefighters live and work in the same neighborhood. Does being familiar with the local troublemaker help or hurt the police response? Does going to the grocery store and seeing the family of someone you couldn't save make you feel like staying home? Or maybe you do see the people you did help.
alistairSH 4y ago
They don't have a price display on the shelving, or they don't have every single item individually stickered with a price label? Here in suburban DC, the latter is rare and the former is the norm. That said, we don't have much in the way of bodegas - it's all chain markets from 7-11, Sheetz, etc up to the big grocers.
ajmurmann 4y ago
How so people but anything not knowing the prices? When something on a store doesn't have a price, I ask someone if I want it enough or, more likely, won't but it. If a store near me regularly wouldn't have prices posted, I'd stop going there. It seems like any store posting prices would have a competitive advantage. It's every store holding the line?
Fatnino 4y ago
I'd say especially at the airport you wouldn't expect to find posted prices. The prices on everything there, even water, are "if you have to ask you can't afford it. And if you can, I don't want to sell it to you". They have a captive pool of customers and can squeeze them for as much as they like. What are you gonna do? Leave through security to go join the real market? All before your connecting flight? Shut up and pay $10 for 500ml of water.
- GayforMoleman 4y ago
  Non-Americans would just call that illegal.

wnolens 4y ago

Living there, it definitely feels as if there's a low key lawlessness about town. I haven't developed a hatred for the cops here yet, but there's an outspoken critique to the point of being a meme that they enforce very little of these everyday things and beyond (like muggings)

bobthepanda 4y ago
Particularly in the realm of traffic, they tend to flout the law as well; go to nearly any police station and there will be both police and personal cars parked on the sidewalk, or illegally parked in spots. What makes it particularly galling is that they also oppose automated enforcement of traffic laws. Officially it is because it would take away jobs (that they are not doing, since traffic enforcement in NYC leaves a lot to be desired), and unofficially because the police themselves benefit from the discretion exercised by fellow officers refusing to enforce laws on their colleagues.
- konschubert 4y ago
  Why is “this would take away jobs” an argument that can be made in any non-communist country?
  - quickthrower2 4y ago
    Mostly it isn’t unless it is one of those jobs that isn’t needed most of the time but sometimes like for example a soldier or rural fire service and some bean counter thinks yeah we can slash that. Getting rid of the job gets rid of the people with experience, so it can be a one way switch. Normally solving a problem with a robot creates more jobs. There are speed cameras, but still you have hidden manually operated speed traps and it frees up resources for drug and alcohol testing.
  - ivanbakel 4y ago
    > Why is “this would take away jobs” an argument that can be made in any non-communist country? Because a capitalist economy is rooted in self-interest. Labour bodies have power to shape the economy, and they represent the interests of their members, who don't want to lose their jobs. Plus, people are not perfect market actors with such little empathy that they are willing to abandon their colleagues for a bit more workplace efficiency. So if you know that Bob in your office will be fired due to automation, and you like Bob (and worry you are next), you're going to oppose automation.
  - dahfizz 4y ago
    In a democracy, people vote for things. People also want a job. People are not going to vote for things which will lose them their job.
    - jokethrowaway 4y ago
      And when you're the government you don't want to lose employees. Propaganda will make sure this won't even reach the average citizen.
      - bobthepanda 4y ago
        Police is an interesting edge case, where at least in 2022 the people who want to reduce police are firmly on the left, and those firmly on the right want to cut everything except police. There was an attempt to defund police, and that went down with the electorate like a lead balloon.
- wjnc 4y ago
  Oh my. My city recently got a few of those vehicles doing automatic parking fines. They were so good the number of fines was national news. There is something to be said for 100% enforcement of these rules. NYC is a boon for AI powered enforcement in that respect. Imagine all video enforceable traffic violations being automatically and instantaneously ticketed. It would change the city (and the cops).
mellavora 4y ago
> it definitely feels as if there's a low key lawlessness about town. history of police: the NY police force stared when one politician got his street gang made official. So the police have a cultural heritage. And on the other side,the city isn't a bunch of people who basically agree (or think they basically agree) on what is right and wrong, then use the law to enforce this. Counter-example, Sweden from circa 1000 to 2000 AD. (Sweden still thinks it is this, but has growing issues with immigrants from non-nordic cultures)
hbarka 4y ago
San Francisco would like a word about low-key lawlessness. Actually beyond low-key. Watch an open-air market for stolen goods. Watch the impunity. See how City Hall and SFPD respond. https://youtu.be/dykaJjegDEY https://youtu.be/dykaJjegDEY
- b112 4y ago
  Just watched. There is no suitable excuse for this, at all, full stop.
- lupire 4y ago
  Wow. The city commisioner says "No, yes, No. The police have not been aggressive enough with enforcement, because we don't want them to."
  - mehphp 4y ago
    Unreal. People are getting robbed in traffic at gun point and there are "bigger" "more violent" issues for the police to deal with?
- mschuster91 4y ago
  Jesus f..ing christ. It's one thing to not crack down on victimless crimes aka people dealing small-time drugs on the street, but that here is a travesty of justice. I mean... what the fuck is that "yeah we have so many leads to follow up". Dude. Take a hundred officers, cordon off the area and fleece everyone. It isn't that hard. And what the fuck was that "we want police to focus on bigger things"?! Like, camera crews get robbed on highway heists? At gunpoint? Doesn't get much bigger than that!

justsomehnguy 4y ago

> and there’s nothing really that can be done And even if they had been posted.. it is still not the price you would pay at the till, because you know, reasons.

b112 4y ago
Here, if the price is posted wrong for groceries, you get the product free, up to 10 bucks. https://educaloi.qc.ca/en/capsules/price-labelling-and-accuracy/ https://educaloi.qc.ca/en/capsules/price-labelling-and-accur... You'll note that if they put price stickers on the product, things are more lax. And if they put nothing, you report it. And yes, it is enforced. It is trivial to handle this stuff. Simple.
- justsomehnguy 4y ago
  I was talking about famous inability to display the actual price (product/item price + whatever tax applies that time of a day) on a tag.
  - b112 4y ago
    Not sure what you mean, but outside of tax info, as per Quebec link above, no pricing info by, or on the product is illegal here. And it is enforced.
    - andrewshadura 4y ago
      What the above commenter means, is that in the EU (and many countries across the world) if a price tag says €10, you pay exactly €10. In the US, if the price tag says $10, you may end up paying $12 or something random amount on top of the signed price, because it doesn't include taxes, which makes shopping extremely inconvenient compared to taxes-included price tags.
      - b112 4y ago
        It makes it inconvenient for travellers, I agree there. Growing up, and living with this, I find it trivial to deal with.

snmx999 4y ago

Are the items still scanned and everybody gets the same price when paying or are you saying that tourists pay a higher price?

nerdponx 4y ago
The former, and the cashier can also tell you the price of any item before you have to pay for it. However that doesn't help much if you are a foreigner and don't speak English well.
- a4a4a4a4 4y ago
  > However that doesn't help much if you are a foreigner and don't speak English well. Well... welcome to the world? You'll have the same issue traveling to South America, Europe, Asia. When you travel and end up in a country where you don't speak the native language, communication gets more difficult. This is a non-issue.
  - scambier 4y ago
    The issue being discussed is the lack of price tags. If I'm a foreigner and don't speak the language, at least I know how much I'll pay beforehand.
    - b112 4y ago
      Quite. Reading numbers is far easier than someone saying those numbers in a foreign language. If someone speaks 10.43 to me in German, I have no idea.
      - vetinari 4y ago
        Even street vendors in random Asian places will punch the numbers into calculator and show you. You don't have to understand the language.
        4y ago

wolverine876 4y ago

That's a feature, not a bug. NYC has always been free, free-wheeling, and very pragmatic. Think for yourself, don't worry about what everyone thinks about you, get things done, work it out pragmatically with the people around you. Look at how traffic flows - no laws describe it, lanes are often ignored, etc., but it works. Saying 'you are violating traffic laws' would be misunderstanding the system fundamentally. NYC has always worked very well, the greatest city in the world for generations (despite recent media campaigns that seem to have forgotten it), but it's also not for everybody.

zppln 4y ago
Meh, compared to something like Tokyo NYC is a shitshow.
Gareth321 4y ago
Crime is getting pretty bad these days. (https://www1.nyc.gov/site/nypd/news/p00041/nypd-citywide-crime-statistics-march-2022 https://www1.nyc.gov/site/nypd/news/p00041/nypd-citywide-cri...) It's not as bad as the worst period in New York's history, but that's not an excuse.
- wolverine876 4y ago
  How is that related to double parking?
- yowzadave 4y ago
  New York City might well be the safest city in the country: https://twitter.com/mnolangray/status/1520134999164395521 https://twitter.com/mnolangray/status/1520134999164395521 Obviously there's much that could be done to make the city safer, and it does seem there was an uptick in certain types of crime during the pandemic (though not localized to NYC in any way). I'm just wary of people's intuitions about things like crime, which have historically been divorced from reality.
  - wolverine876 4y ago
    > I'm just wary of people's intuitions about things like crime, which have historically been divorced from reality. Also, there's a media campaign by conservatives to say that 'liberal cities are dangerous' (and to dog whistle race issues). Somehow, Miami and Texas cities never come up.

quickthrower2 4y ago

You can do your bit by bringing all the items to the checkout, ask the price of them all, swap half of the “too expensive” ones. Then repeat. Until finally you have purchased what you want while driving them crazy.

mafro 4y ago
How much time do you have?! Let's be realistic, typically one just wants to buy something, at the right price, and go back to doing something more fun than looking at grocery store shelves.
- quickthrower2 4y ago
  If I get a spam scam call suddenly my diary opens up :-)
quietbritishjim 4y ago
Unfortunately, driving the minimum wage checkout clerk crazy is probably not going to have any impact on the store owner.
- Cthulhu_ 4y ago
  Do a full Karen and ask for the manager... every time.
  - speed_spread 4y ago
    Never go full Karen.
  - hutzlibu 4y ago
    Good solution probably, to vent of some steam, but otherwise there are a million things I would rather do, than fighting windmills.
- Nextgrid 4y ago
  It will if people do this en-masse and the throughput of the store goes to zero.

waihtis 4y ago

Same here. I was supposed to buy stuff from JFK but no price tag = no purchase. Also, why are US duty free shops garbage compared to European ones? It's double price at the airport in contrast to the local shops, whereas in EU you can often buy things with a heavy discount at the airport.

Cthulhu_ 4y ago
> whereas in EU you can often buy things with a heavy discount at the airport. I've browsed the tax-free shops in European airports, it's... disappointing. They will bump up the price from retail anyway because people assume it's a good deal, and they'll focus on premium / luxury goods one wouldn't normally buy. I mean at the same time, you wouldn't find said premium / luxury goods on the high street either, nor an enthusiastic salesperson having you try fancy whiskeys at nine in the morning, so that's a plus on these tax free shops, lol.
- waihtis 4y ago
  Granted it's a somewhat of an edge case because of the state monopoly, but at least alcohol is 20-40% cheaper at the airport in FIN airports UK duty free (pre COVID) also seemed to be slightly better priced in contrast to high street
  - Symbiote 4y ago
    I think they are sold without the duty (the sin tax), but still with VAT for an EU flight. Then add on the cost to run a shop in an expensive location. Comparing a basic Gordens gin, at Copenhagen Airport it's 6DKK (€0.80) less than at a typical supermarket, 165 vs 171DKK/litre. However, the price in Sweden is about 260DKK/litre, and I assume the target market in that airport is Swedes.
- jhugo 4y ago
  It's even worse: many of the alcohol products for sale at duty free are exclusive to duty free, thus preventing any price comparison. They market this as an advantage (get a whisky you can't get anywhere else!) but at least in the world of Scotch, they're mostly no-age-statement "luxury" whiskies with far more brand than substance.

nottorp 4y ago

There are a lot of consumer protection rules in Europe. For most of them, in the US they don't even know it's possible :)

cdot2 4y ago
Except I'm in Texas where we don't have this issue. This is specifically a New York thing and is an issue with enforcement and not with the wording of the law
- nottorp 4y ago
  They display final price including sales tax and any “fees” in Texas? Is your cable/internet/etc contract fixed price for the duration of the contract or they can add any “fees” when they feel like it?

maxerickson 4y ago

Looking briefly, it seems owner operated stores with 2 or less full time employees are not subject to the pricing display regulations. Some close family aren't counted as employees. (I only looked briefly, maybe I misunderstood)

AnIdiotOnTheNet 4y ago

> and there’s nothing really that can be done. This seems to be a really common refrain for a lot of problems these days.

freeopinion 4y ago
And it isn't true. There are various things that can be done. You can shop only at stores that do post prices, even if that means travelling some distance or paying higher prices. You could open your own store and be sure to post prices. You could organize a protest in front of stores that don't post prices. You could form a volunteer service that posts prices for stores. Obviously, these things require various levels of effort from you. They may or may not be worth it to you. But "there's nothing really that can be done" usually translates to "there's nothing really I am willing to do."

cure 4y ago

> there’s nothing really that can be done I very much doubt nothing can be done - this is just a matter of (political) will and appropriate enforcement. Here in MA we also have a law that says that items for sale must be priced. The law must have teeth, because all big stores have dedicated price scanners spread out through the store. The scanners can be used to check the price of any item, in case a price tag was not applied. In general, price tags are present, even in small corner stores.

ghaff 4y ago
In my experience in MA, in larger stores shelved items usually have a price (and price/pound or price/quart) label on the shelf along with an item description. But it's a lot less common for individual items to be tagged than it used to be. The availability of scanners varies.
gumby 4y ago
Here in California the posted price has to include the price in “natural” units (per oz, or per dozen eggs, or whatnot) for easy comparison. Whole Foods gets around this by often displaying the unit price as “per item” (so the two prices on the shelf are the same). They’ve been getting away with this practice for decades.

woodruffw 4y ago

> I’m not sure what it is that’s stopping the city from actually doing anything about it, like the truck issue it seems it would be trivial to enforce. Law enforcement in NYC has a revanchist attitude towards the actual citizens of the city. Most of the city's police live outside of the city[1][2] and drive into work, which puts them directly at odds with the average resident. This attitude extends into every facet of NYC's law enforcement, which is why most of the city's actual petty crimes (illegal parking, dangerous driving, obscured plates) go unreported: everybody knows that the police simply don't care. Edit: So that I'm not just kvetching, here are some things that I think would improve the situation: * Allow citizens to report 53' trailers and other illegal vehicles (e.g. obscured plates) in exchange for a cut of the fines, similarly to how the city uses citizens to report idling violations[3]. * Require all uniformed NYPD to attain a post-secondary decree (rather than a partial degree at a rock-bottom GPA, as currently required). Similarly, require them to pass a fitness test similar to the NYFD's. * Require all uniformed NYPD to live in the city, and restructure their patrols to emphasize the neighborhoods they live in. Minimize in-car patrol time in favor of foot patrols and Japanese style police booths. [1]: https://gothamist.com/news/majority-nypd-officers-dont-live-new-york-city-new-figures-show https://gothamist.com/news/majority-nypd-officers-dont-live-... [2]: Notably, civilian employees of the NYPD (and most NYC civil servants) are actually required to maintain residency in the city. This is purely a carveout for the police. [3]: https://www.nbcnewyork.com/investigations/nyc-anti-idling-law-turns-into-huge-payday-125k-for-one-man-for-citizens-who-report/3637231/ https://www.nbcnewyork.com/investigations/nyc-anti-idling-la...

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jdeibele 4y ago
A local firefighter and I were volunteers for our kids' soccer club. He said that he specifically worked on the other side of town because he didn't want to respond to fires or health emergencies that involved his neighbors. There are definitely some tradeoffs with having police officers or firefighters live and work in the same neighborhood. Does being familiar with the local troublemaker help or hurt the police response? Does going to the grocery store and seeing the family of someone you couldn't save make you feel like staying home? Or maybe you do see the people you did help.

alistairSH 4y ago

They don't have a price display on the shelving, or they don't have every single item individually stickered with a price label? Here in suburban DC, the latter is rare and the former is the norm. That said, we don't have much in the way of bodegas - it's all chain markets from 7-11, Sheetz, etc up to the big grocers.

ajmurmann 4y ago

How so people but anything not knowing the prices? When something on a store doesn't have a price, I ask someone if I want it enough or, more likely, won't but it. If a store near me regularly wouldn't have prices posted, I'd stop going there. It seems like any store posting prices would have a competitive advantage. It's every store holding the line?

Fatnino 4y ago

I'd say especially at the airport you wouldn't expect to find posted prices. The prices on everything there, even water, are "if you have to ask you can't afford it. And if you can, I don't want to sell it to you". They have a captive pool of customers and can squeeze them for as much as they like. What are you gonna do? Leave through security to go join the real market? All before your connecting flight? Shut up and pay $10 for 500ml of water.

GayforMoleman 4y ago
Non-Americans would just call that illegal.