This made me sad today

paddylonglegs

This has gotten under my skin today so feel like a bit of a rant, or atleast someones opinion to realise if I should be annoyed about it or not.

I work for a print company, a designer sent me menu artwork last week to print for his customer, a Dublin city centre pub/restaurant. I get a call this morning asking if it had gone to print yet as his customer would like to change a price. I thought it could be 50 cent or there must be a typo or something. However I was surprised (fuming to be honest) when I saw there was a €5 increase in their steaks. I mentioned it to the designer in passing to double check it was right. He told me that his customer had been out for a meal over the weekend and had a similar steak to theirs, but it cost €5 more than theirs, so logically, they would get away with increasing their steak by €5, or probably a 25-30% increase. Rip-Off Republic is slowly creeping back.

This made me sad today. It reminded me of the start of the "boom" when I noticed I would get less change back after buying a couple of pints, a sandwich, or a lunch, yes we would have a quick moan about it, but then just moved on. To be straight, it was businesses taking advantage of everyone's supposed increase in wages. Yes, in the city centre and airports etc, businesses can take advantage of tourists and passing trade, its nothing new. But, this extortionate increase in pricing will only spread when other businesses realises they can get away with it. So the people that like to get out for a bite to eat on the odd occasion and may go slightly over their monthly budget doing so, will now be asked to dig deeper.

Rip-off Republic is slowly creeping back. The one thing I can't stand is getting ripped-off. Eventually we will all be looking for our wage increase and Ireland becomes un-competitive again. Have we learned nothing?

And before you ask, yes I do like steak

whiskeyman

End of the day, if businesses can up their prices and people still pay the prices, I don't see a problem with it.

If I was selling something for X, but thought people would pay Y (higher), what do you think I'd do?

stoplooklisten

Have you tried installing google ultron?

traprunner

Name and shame!

AnonoBoy

Skip to the end - did you change the menus or not?

Ken.

traprunner wrote: »

Name and shame!

Mod- I know Paddy has more sense than to do this but I have to say it anyway. Under no circumstances name them.

traprunner

ken wrote: »

Mod- I know Paddy has more sense than to do this but I have to say it anyway. Under no circumstances name them.

I wasn't serious and I hope Paddy would have known that in AH.

donegaLroad

there is an invisible line that pubs and clubs also keep crossing when they up their drinks prices, citing the excuse that their competitors are charging a certain price, and people are willing to pay.

cowboyBuilder

Of course RIP OF Ireland is back , and there will be another boom , and people will think they are better of - despite having less money in their pocket after paying extortionist mortgages and cost of living.

And then there will be another crash .. Ireland will be the only country where this will happen AGAIN.

Even Greece will cop on enough for it not to happen again.

Not Oireland tho !!!

Celtic Tiger BOOM!!!

colm_mcm

Could have been underpriced to start with?

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

We had date night last night, like we do every Monday. Usually restaurants are quiet enough on a Monday evening and everyone loves the early bird.
We tried a different restaurant last night, I've heard it's fantastic value. Checked the menu online before we booked. Looked great. 4 course early bird for 35 euro. All night Monday - Thursday, Friday and sat til 7.

Got there and apparently they're not doing early bird. That's grand. The place was packed. So many tables full. For two of us, no wine, 2 starters 2 mains and 2 desserts, 2 7ups and 1 espresso, came to just shy of 90 euro.

Now the service was outstanding, the food was amazing, lmii had half a cow on his plate in the form of a t bone steak, I've never seen the likes of it. But Jesus! I'm just glad it was his turn to pay and not mine

MarkR

Your story moved me. I was on the pooper, so that helped. Thanks.

esforum

you must live in an amazingly happy world if that made you sad,. I want to live with you

Kev_2012

I was living in Canada for the last few years and Limerick before that, and I always seen these Rip off Ireland threads, didn't get it at all. (Limerick is cheap for nearly everything! Canada seemed to be really expensive).

I moved to Dublin recently and by christ I understand what ye mean now. Rent is crazy, pubs, restaurants, public transit, it's insane! For my rent in Dublin I would pay off a mortgage on a decent 3 bed semi in Limerick in 15 years. It's absolute madness.

Slunk

What steak was it and how much was it to start with? I think people are a bit more clued up on prices now anyway. I don't just wander into any restaurant I do my research. If I feel its overpriced I move on. Obviously they will catch some suckers

mathie

Supply. Demand.

If people are willing to pay it then fair play to them.

I know a local café that has incredibly reasonable prices and they're struggling to get people through the door.
Yet the large chain store café / restaurant down the road charges almost double for a coffee and a cake and has queues of people on a Saturday.

paddylonglegs

Slunk wrote: »

What steak was it and how much was it to start with? I think people are a bit more clued up on prices now anyway. I don't just wander into any restaurant I do my research. If I feel its overpriced I move on. Obviously they will catch some suckers

Yeah they will catch the suckers alright. The main point being the crazy increases spreading like wild fire to other businesses, just because they can. Watch this space me thinks...

diomed

The prices are not your decision. You are doing a job.

"Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:"

paddylonglegs

mathie wrote: »

Supply. Demand.

If people are willing to pay it then fair play to them

Fair play to who?

paddylonglegs

diomed wrote: »

The prices are not your decision. You are doing a job.

"Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:"

I didn't decide any prices

Rabo Karabekian

LexieOnRale wrote: »

lmii had half a cow on his plate in the form of a t bone steak

What does lmii mean?

diomed

paddylonglegs wrote: »

I didn't decide any prices

I said the prices are not your decision.
You are doing a printing job, and should not have an opinion.

paddylonglegs

diomed wrote: »

I said the prices are not your decision.
You are doing a printing job, and should not have an opinion.

of course I have an opinion. I never said I didn't go through with the job.

diomed

paddylonglegs wrote: »

of course I have an opinion. I never said I didn't go through with the job.

Your opinion is not required.

uck51js9zml2yt

Maybe paddy can open another thread saying he saw a price for a,steak in xxx etc...;)

Not advocating this in the slightest!

paddylonglegs

diomed wrote: »

Your opinion is not required.

are you still trolling?

You're getting things mixed up here. I agree with you, I don't have an opinion on the prices of the job I'm printing. I sure am allowed to have an opinion on how greedy they are though, through any medium I like.

When you walk into your local restaurant and see they hiked the price by 30%, then you will have an opinion

paddylonglegs

Gabriel Long Plantain wrote: »

Maybe paddy can open another thread saying he saw a price for a,steak in xxx etc...;)

Not advocating this in the slightest!

do you not know I'm already trawling Bargain Alerts for this reason already???

mathie

paddylonglegs wrote: »

Fair play to who?

The people who are charging.

We live in an information age where it's incredibly easy to find out if we're being ripped off.
If you pay over-inflated prices then you've only yourself to blame.

moleyv

Should have put up the price of printing each menu by a fiver, you know, cause the restaurant will be able to afford it with all the extra money going around.

diomed

paddylonglegs wrote: »

are you still trolling?

Just to make things very clear which of the following would apply.

[ ] I work for a printing company
[ ] my boss knows I am abusing his client on social media
[ ] my boss agrees with my actions on boards.ie
[ ] the client knows of my actions on boards.ie and is happy with it

Boom_Bap

diomed wrote: »

Just to make things very clear which of the following would apply.

[ ] I work for a printing company
[ ] my boss knows I am abusing his client on social media
[ ] my boss agrees with my actions on boards.ie
[ ] the client knows of my actions on boards.ie and is happy with it

diomed - this is dragging the thread away from the topic. Please return to the topic which is the attitude of price changing on a whim and the return of the boom.

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

Rabo Karabekian wrote: »

What does lmii mean?

Luckiest man

riffmongous

It's the sort of behaviour that puts me off returning to Ireland, there just seems to be a lack of planning or concept of sustainability at almost every level of society

seamus

Thing is, you've no idea what state this man's business is in.

You've no idea if he's packed out the doors every night. Or whether he's driving a Bentley to his house in Clontarf, or taking the bus home to a flat in Phibsboro.

He might be making a €2 loss on steaks to get people in the door, and then sees someone down the road selling steaks for €5 more, still getting the customers, and providing an inferior service. So he thinks, "Why in God's name am I killing myself on these steaks?".

No, no you're right though. A 30% increase on a single item on a menu. Must be one of the greedy elite, ripping off the average Joe and destroying the economy.

Rabo Karabekian

I would normally fall on the left spectrum in terms of economic matters, but I'm always bemused when people say something like this is an example of 'rip off ireland'. It's fairly basic economics, and is only a case of ripping people off if they've been mislead in some way or if the company operates in a monopoly. I presume that's not the case here, as he's already basing his decision on other businesses in the area. Also, this happens all over the world, so it's not Irish specific.

LexieOnRale wrote: »

Luckiest man

I feel like I'm still missing something here. What does the 'ii' stand for? Is he lucky because he's with you or because he got a nice dinner?

Edit: doing a boards search, apparently this gets asked a fair bit. lmii = luckiest man in Ireland.

syklops

paddylonglegs wrote: »

This has gotten under my skin today so feel like a bit of a rant, or atleast someones opinion to realise if I should be annoyed about it or not.

I work for a print company, a designer sent me menu artwork last week to print for his customer, a Dublin city centre pub/restaurant. I get a call this morning asking if it had gone to print yet as his customer would like to change a price. I thought it could be 50 cent or there must be a typo or something. However I was surprised (fuming to be honest) when I saw there was a €5 increase in their steaks. I mentioned it to the designer in passing to double check it was right. He told me that his customer had been out for a meal over the weekend and had a similar steak to theirs, but it cost €5 more than theirs, so logically, they would get away with increasing their steak by €5, or probably a 25-30% increase. Rip-Off Republic is slowly creeping back.

This made me sad today. It reminded me of the start of the "boom" when I noticed I would get less change back after buying a couple of pints, a sandwich, or a lunch, yes we would have a quick moan about it, but then just moved on. To be straight, it was businesses taking advantage of everyone's supposed increase in wages. Yes, in the city centre and airports etc, businesses can take advantage of tourists and passing trade, its nothing new. But, this extortionate increase in pricing will only spread when other businesses realises they can get away with it. So the people that like to get out for a bite to eat on the odd occasion and may go slightly over their monthly budget doing so, will now be asked to dig deeper.

Rip-off Republic is slowly creeping back. The one thing I can't stand is getting ripped-off. Eventually we will all be looking for our wage increase and Ireland becomes un-competitive again. Have we learned nothing?

And before you ask, yes I do like steak

Hopefully you added a few quid to their bill for last minute changes.

paddylonglegs

seamus wrote: »

Thing is, you've no idea what state this man's business is in.

You've no idea if he's packed out the doors every night. Or whether he's driving a Bentley to his house in Clontarf, or taking the bus home to a flat in Phibsboro.

He might be making a €2 loss on steaks to get people in the door, and then sees someone down the road selling steaks for €5 more, still getting the customers, and providing an inferior service. So he thinks, "Why in God's name am I killing myself on these steaks?".

No, no you're right though. A 30% increase on a single item on a menu. Must be one of the greedy elite, ripping off the average Joe and destroying the economy.

Well he should've done his research before he set his prices. He might avoid having to take the bus home to Phibsboro then. If he did his market research properly, of which checking out competitors prices is only a small percentage of, then he wouldn't need to be hiking his prices up substantially.

seamus

paddylonglegs wrote: »

Well he should've done his research before he set his prices. He might avoid having to take the bus home to Phibsboro then. If he did his market research properly, of which checking out competitors prices is only a small percentage of, then he wouldn't need to be hiking his prices up substantially.

So, you think he should have just been charging "rip-off" prices to begin with rather than have the audacity to increase his prices later on?

It's not the prices you're complaining about, it's the fact that he has dared to try and make more money?

What the actual fnck like?

stoplooklisten

Man makes PROFIT, local community DEVASTATED

paddylonglegs

seamus wrote: »

So, you think he should have just been charging "rip-off" prices to begin with rather than have the audacity to increase his prices later on?

It's not the prices you're complaining about, it's the fact that he has dared to try and make more money?

What the actual fnck like?

Why would I want him to be charging rip-off prices? Every business is entitled to make money if they run their business properly, and some fail for various reasons. But, by the same logic, if you went into your local for a pint, the bar owner says, "sorry lads I'm putting up the price of that pint by €1.50, I'm not in financial difficulty or anything, but the bar next door has put up his prices so you may give me more money for the same product. Oh, and by the way, don't bother going to the next town to find a cheap pint, because they found out whats been going on here and they put their prices up too."

Would you really say to him, " thats grand, sure you're just trying to make a bit of extra cash".

This, in a nutshell, is what annoys me

Chips Lovell

So, if you hear that the lads in the printing company down the road are making €50 a week more than you, you're not going to ask your boss for a raise at your next review?

paddylonglegs

Jep Gambardella wrote: »

So, if you hear that the lads in the printing company down the road are making €50 a week more than you, you're not going to ask your boss for a raise at your next review?

I'll have to if I like me steak

roverrules

paddylonglegs wrote: »

This has gotten under my skin today so feel like a bit of a rant, or atleast someones opinion to realise if I should be annoyed about it or not.

I work for a print company, a designer sent me menu artwork last week to print for his customer, a Dublin city centre pub/restaurant. I get a call this morning asking if it had gone to print yet as his customer would like to change a price. I thought it could be 50 cent or there must be a typo or something. However I was surprised (fuming to be honest) when I saw there was a €5 increase in their steaks. I mentioned it to the designer in passing to double check it was right. He told me that his customer had been out for a meal over the weekend and had a similar steak to theirs, but it cost €5 more than theirs, so logically, they would get away with increasing their steak by €5, or probably a 25-30% increase. Rip-Off Republic is slowly creeping back.

This made me sad today. It reminded me of the start of the "boom" when I noticed I would get less change back after buying a couple of pints, a sandwich, or a lunch, yes we would have a quick moan about it, but then just moved on. To be straight, it was businesses taking advantage of everyone's supposed increase in wages. Yes, in the city centre and airports etc, businesses can take advantage of tourists and passing trade, its nothing new. But, this extortionate increase in pricing will only spread when other businesses realises they can get away with it. So the people that like to get out for a bite to eat on the odd occasion and may go slightly over their monthly budget doing so, will now be asked to dig deeper.

Rip-off Republic is slowly creeping back. The one thing I can't stand is getting ripped-off. Eventually we will all be looking for our wage increase and Ireland becomes un-competitive again. Have we learned nothing?

And before you ask, yes I do like steak

Did the print company not charge extra for the late change?

It is a bit depressing prices in some areas are creeping up, Ireland is a an expensive country.

For something up lifting and life affirming, watch the program about the Dublin city street sweeper who when to Manilla to work and see the life of a street sweeper there. It was on last night and must be on the player. We really are lucky in Ireland.

NiallBoo

My personal pet-peeve with pubs is when you order spirits and are given a 25 or 30ml measure.

Discodog

Rip off Republic only happens because buyers don't buy elsewhere. There may be some essentials like rents, utilities etc but apart from that, vote with your feet.

Elemonator

I do sympathise with you OP but it is a business, not a charity. It is there to make as much money as possible. I think if anyone had a business and they knew they could generate more money from it, they would. Plus the fact, what if its top-quality steak that warrants the price increase?

Personally though, I wouldn't increase the price to match the other restaurant. That will only create a precedent. Instead, I'd let myself become known as the cheaper restaurant and I would probably pull more customers to offset the loss of revenue from cheaper prices. That would probably work too if there is no difference in quality between the two restaurants.