This made me sad today

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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?

mariaalice

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.