5 ms·
I remember shopping in Japan. The price on the tag, is exactly what you pay (same with services, like hotels). Since this is Japan, it's a high price, but no
by ChrisMarshallNY 2y ago
I remember shopping in Japan.
The price on the tag, is exactly what you pay (same with services, like hotels).
Since this is Japan, it's a high price, but no surprises.
Also, the service is amazing, and they won't accept tips. If you leave money on the table, they will chase after you, to give it back.
- belfalas 2y ago> Also, the service is amazing, and they won't accept tips. If you leave money on the table, they will chase after you, to give it back. I visited Japan some years back and loved this aspect of the culture as well. An Australian ski guide (this was a winter visit) explained it like so: "the Japanese attitude is to want to do a good job by default. Tipping implies that a good job is only done because of pay. The Japanese see quality service as intrinsically valuable in itself."
- ChrisMarshallNY 2y agoI believe that servers are also paid quite well.
- spiderice 2y agoQuick Google search says the average is $7.55 USD/hour (1,159 Yen). Seems like they're paid quite poorly.
- ChrisMarshallNY 2y agoMight be more to that story. Remember that Japan is a very socialized country, so CoL expenses are not what they are in the US. I have a friend that basically shops as part of her job. She has been power-shopping, mostly in Europe (dream job, I suppose), for decades. She tells me that she runs into the same sales associates, year after year, and has watched them “grow up” over years. So it seems to be possible, at least in Europe, for people to make lifelong careers in the service industry.
- pertymcpert 2y agoMost retail workers in Europe don't make a career out of it by choice. I can tell you that for damn certain.
- ChrisMarshallNY 2y agoThat actually goes for most jobs. HN folks are privileged. We have careers that interest us, engage us, and reward us. That's not the norm, in this world. I'm grateful for my career. I know quite a few folks that make excellent money, doing jobs they hate. In my mind, that's kind of a nightmare. https://ic.pics.livejournal.com/icon_uk/11800056/855574/855574_original.gif https://ic.pics.livejournal.com/icon_uk/11800056/855574/8555...
- thaumasiotes 2y agoThat's fantasy. The same thing is true in China. All it means is that the local culture doesn't tip.
- belfalas 2y agoThis kind of reply is what makes me want to quit HN forever. There's always somebody out there smarter who knows better. Why bother to try and contribute anything?
- thaumasiotes 2y agoYes, contributing mythology is in fact worse than contributing nothing.
- wileydragonfly 2y agoThis is geek internet. Suggesting that anything about Japan is less than peak perfection is controversial.
- presentation 2y agoJapan does have a well known “customer is god” cultural background; whether or not tipping has anything to do with that is here or there, though it is the expectation that if someone does a job, it is expected not to be half assed. One of the big differences between here in Japan and other parts of the world I’ve visited and lived in, is the near absence of service staff who actively make a point of looking like they hate their life and treat you like crap, though this is slowly changing here too.
- sofixa 2y ago> The price on the tag, is exactly what you pay (same with services, like hotels). That's the norm, not the exception, in developed countries.
- Eisenstein 2y agoExcept for the one with the largest economy.
- dghlsakjg 2y agoAnd Canada!
- sofixa 2y agoAnd that's not a point of pride now, is it. If you're the best but others are clearly beating you in a few categories, that's more reasons to improve to try to be the best everywhere, not put your hands in your ears and pretend nothing is wrong.
- floxy 2y agoNo sales tax in Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon.
- olddustytrail 2y agoCongratulations on living in a country where there are many people who are vastly richer than you.
- crazygringo 2y agoNo -- it's the norm in countries that have a single uniform VAT. It's obviously not the norm in countries that have sales taxes which vary by locality. Whether a country is "developed" or not has nothing to do with it. The vast majority of countries in Africa have a VAT, while the world's richest country has a sales tax.
- sofixa 2y ago> It's obviously not the norm in countries that have sales taxes which vary by locality Why not? If each store or restaurant or theatre or whatever in each locality know what price to bill you, they know the applicable price to show you upfront. > Whether a country is "developed" or not has nothing to do with it. The vast majority of countries in Africa have a VAT, while the world's richest country has a sales tax. The relevance of developed or not is how much of the economy is informal or includes a part of negotiation.
- mattlondon 2y agoSame in UK. As a kid, having grown up in the UK I knew that if the price label said £1.99 and I had £2 in my pocket I could afford it, with £0.01 change. First time I went to the USA as a young teenager I remember being quite embarrassed when the thing I thought I was getting for $1.99 was actually not $1.99 but $2.17 or whatever, and I had to leave without buying. Felt quite deceptive and totally incomprehensible.
- acuozzo 2y ago> Felt quite deceptive and totally incomprehensible. In the case of sales tax, it's deliberate propaganda. "Here's what we would have charged you if it weren't for greedy old Uncle Sam."
- tradertef 2y agoPropaganda? How is telling where your money is going is propaganda?
- ImPostingOnHN 2y agoThey can tell you where your money is going and also make the tax-included price the most prominent price on signs and tags.
- tradertef 2y agoMaybe.. also, tax changes from state to state and city to city and item to item. really like seeing tax explicitly shown in my receipt even though it is inconvenient sometimes.
- mattlondon 2y agoIn the UK on the receipt from most stores you get an itemisation of which items are liable to sales tax (some things are not taxed), at which rates (there are lower rates for some things), and how much of your total bill was to tax. E.g. https://smallbusinessowneradvice.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/tesco-receipt.jpg https://smallbusinessowneradvice.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/20... All the while the prices you see as a shopper are inclusive.
- xenospn 2y agoThe price part is essentially the same all over the world except for America, where you’re not entirely sure how much more you’ll have to add for taxes and tips.
- thenickdude 2y agoExcept 100 yen stores which are actually 110 yen stores.
- robotfelix 2y agoI'm not sure Japan is the best example here. My experience is that most shops have the price excluding consumption tax printed very prominently in large numbers, and then price including consumption tax is printed in much smaller writing underneath. The price excluding tax is the only one you can read at a distance, that draws you in. As someone from the UK who is used to seeing price tags show the final price you pay at the till, I was constantly disappointed that items weren't quite such a bargain as I'd first hoped. On the whole there are still many things that are much cheaper than in the UK though :)
- ChrisMarshallNY 2y agoI have a feeling that's optional. It may even be regional. My experience was almost exclusively Tokyo. I traveled to Tokyo for over 20 years, and always paid what was on the sticker. I was told that the tax was included in the price. I remember one of my bigger purchases, was a ¥75,000 Oceanus watch, and that was exactly what I paid.
- verall 2y agoIf you go to a donqi the price tags list without the tax besides small text that either lists the full price or says "+10% consumption tax" or along those lines. As a tourist you don't always have to pay the consumption tax though.
- ChrisMarshallNY 2y agoI have a feeling that you're right. I remember the saleswoman asking to see my passport, when I was buying the watch (it was that big department store in Akihabara).
- kalleboo 2y agoThere was a period of a few years where they raised the sales tax in steps 5%, 8%, 10%, and stores were allowed to show the price without tax during that period, which has left some practices a bit messy since.
- _zoltan_ 2y agoThis is the norm in Europe. It's crazy to me that in the US I can never be sure how much I'll end up paying...
- ensignavenger 2y agoJapan has the exact same sales tax rate(s) across the entire country, and it rarely changes. In the US, we have thousands of different rates and they change multiple times per year. Also, while it is the norm in Japan to include the tax, there are some exceptions. (Japan has 2 rates, 8% for certain items like food, and 10% for everything else).
- andreareina 2y agoBrick and mortar stores know exactly how much tax they have to pay, yet they don't show an all-inclusive price. It's clearly not a case of online retailers just not showing the tax because it's difficult. If they wanted to they could let you give your post code before checking out, and query the same database to show the post-tax price for everything.
- ensignavenger 2y agoReally, you expect them to go through every item in the store, multiple times per year, and update the price tags?
- celegans25 2y agoWith price increases over the last couple of years from inflation, retailers have shown they are more than capable of doing so already. So yes
- ensignavenger 2y agoPrice increases don't hit every item all at once.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- mazugrin2 2y agoAside from silly "sales-tax-holidays" I've never heard of the sales tax rates changing so frequently. I'm curious to know where this is happening "multiple times per year". Here in MA it's been the same rate for 15 years. And for the sales-tax-holiday situation can't a shop just say something like "everything will have x% taken off at the register" just like they would during a typical "10% off all items" type of sale?
- pedalpete 2y agoI believe this is the default for most of the world. Some countries have some strange differences like Argentina having a table charge on your bill, but here in Australia, the price on the box is the price at the till, with the exception of the card surcharges which are currently being reviewed to be removed. The exception here is also the holiday surcharge (an extra fee on holidays and Sundays), which has to be "disclosed" before ordering. Usually there is a small sign somewhere that nobody pays attention to.
- WickyNilliams 2y agoI have done a fair bit of travelling. The US is the only place I've been where the price shown is not the price paid. Adding on tips, and it becomes nigh on impossible to know how much something will cost you upfront. It's ridiculous tbh