Typically when buying bulk, a discount is involved right? Check your prices, as this is not necessarily so here!
Often, I'm left scratching my head in sheer disbelief... WHY? ...how could this be?
I really enjoy attempting to understand why the backward things I come across happen to be so. There are so many topics I could touch on that once explained, MIGHT make sense. For me, pricing of many goods is not one of those things. Many times prices here just do not make sense at all. Please, if you have a reasoning for the following rational, let me in on the secret, as I would really like to know.
I really enjoy attempting to understand why the backward things I come across happen to be so. There are so many topics I could touch on that once explained, MIGHT make sense. For me, pricing of many goods is not one of those things. Many times prices here just do not make sense at all. Please, if you have a reasoning for the following rational, let me in on the secret, as I would really like to know.
My story starts with my affection for the lemon and salt peanuts here. When I first came to this country in '02 I found a little shop bordering 'parke central de Guadalupe' that specialized in nuts, dried corn and animal feed. I'd usually purchase three kilos for about 2,100 colones. At that time, it was about a dollar a pound. This was the cheapest place I found this delicious treat in my travels to this wonderful land thus far.
Since my return, inflation has changed things significantly, and these same three kilos run me around 12,000 colonies! On the store shelves a kilo was priced at 4,000 colonies. As I examined further I noticed the 1/4 kilo bags of the same nuts to be 800 colonies each,which added together is 3,200 per kilo?! This couldn't be right. Right? ...Wrong. Your in Costa Rica now! lol I told the guy that I wanted twelve bags of the 1/4 kilo valuing 9,600 colonies.
Forget 'more for less'...this was war, at near a dollar per pound difference. Today, my peanuts cost $18 for the same amount $6 bought years ago. But it would have been $23 is all I'm saying.
I've never really been on a tight budget before and have always bought bulk with the assumption I'm saving in the long run. Because thats how its suppose to work. This backward rational of pricing is not an isolated experience either. During the farmers market I experienced the same thing over and over again. A bag of peppers was 8/1,000 colonies, yet 100/ea. at a couple stands. My favorite juice stand had a three liter orange juice for 1,166/lt., but the four liter was 1,250/lt.
Walmart and many other stores can't be left out either. I've stood nitpicking differences in oz/pkg. of so many items. The same thing occurs all over the place. So far, the only guess I'm left with is, perhaps the powers that be want people to consume less? Maybe their quantities are limited and they want to spread the love? I'm not sure. But hey, its worth a rant right?
By: Jay Asquith
Since my return, inflation has changed things significantly, and these same three kilos run me around 12,000 colonies! On the store shelves a kilo was priced at 4,000 colonies. As I examined further I noticed the 1/4 kilo bags of the same nuts to be 800 colonies each,which added together is 3,200 per kilo?! This couldn't be right. Right? ...Wrong. Your in Costa Rica now! lol I told the guy that I wanted twelve bags of the 1/4 kilo valuing 9,600 colonies.
Forget 'more for less'...this was war, at near a dollar per pound difference. Today, my peanuts cost $18 for the same amount $6 bought years ago. But it would have been $23 is all I'm saying.
I've never really been on a tight budget before and have always bought bulk with the assumption I'm saving in the long run. Because thats how its suppose to work. This backward rational of pricing is not an isolated experience either. During the farmers market I experienced the same thing over and over again. A bag of peppers was 8/1,000 colonies, yet 100/ea. at a couple stands. My favorite juice stand had a three liter orange juice for 1,166/lt., but the four liter was 1,250/lt.
Walmart and many other stores can't be left out either. I've stood nitpicking differences in oz/pkg. of so many items. The same thing occurs all over the place. So far, the only guess I'm left with is, perhaps the powers that be want people to consume less? Maybe their quantities are limited and they want to spread the love? I'm not sure. But hey, its worth a rant right?
By: Jay Asquith