# So is there anything I get a better deal on then Americans? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 18, 2004, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-there-anything-i-get-a-better-deal-on-then-americans/275439 "2004-11-18T11:10:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-there-anything-i-get-a-better-deal-on-then-americans/275439/21 "2004-11-18T15:13:24Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > As **GorillaMan** rightly points out, prices in London are not representative of average UK prices (except maybe in petrol). You can try comparing London and NYC, or US and UK, but not London and US. > > But London _is_ ridiculously expensive. However, I don’t live in London. I live in a small town in Hampshire. And although London prices for housing and eating out are more expensive than in other parts of the UK, there’s not such a difference in other costs. The price of food in supermarkets, for instance, is pretty much the same across the country - in fact in remote parts of the north it is often more expensive, due to the added transport costs. My parents live in Devon. Their house was still expensive for what it is (a two-bedroom bungalow), they still pay a fortune for petrol (more than I do here, in fact - last time I visited it was 89.9p a litre), and their local supermarket charges the same as, or more than, mine. High prices are not restricted to London. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-there-anything-i-get-a-better-deal-on-then-americans/275439/22 "2004-11-18T15:17:12Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > The Big Mac index is probably the way to go on this one. According to [that very index](http://www.economist.com/markets/bigmac/displayStory.cfm?story_id=2708584) shows that Britain is comparable to the Eurozone, but far cheaper than Switzerland or Sweden. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-there-anything-i-get-a-better-deal-on-then-americans/275439/23 "2004-11-18T15:18:58Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > Isn’t the sales tax built into the product price in the UK, like most countries. Our sales tax is almost always tacked on the end. Yes, that is one good thing. The price you see on the label is the price you pay. One of the only common exceptions to this is computers, which for some reason almost always have the price excluding VAT in huge numbers, with a tiny figure showing the actual total price underneath, eg: **Dullard Dell Exhaleron 3.2GHz yadda yadda DVD-RW.** Only **£899** (£1056.33 inc VAT) I’m not sure why they do this. It could be because most computers are bought by businesses, which don’t pay the VAT. But it still seems like a con. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-there-anything-i-get-a-better-deal-on-then-americans/275439/24 "2004-11-18T15:23:23Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > However, I don’t live in London. I live in a small town in Hampshire. And although London prices for housing and eating out are more expensive than in other parts of the UK, there’s not such a difference in other costs. > > The price of food in supermarkets, for instance, is pretty much the same across the country - in fact in remote parts of the north it is often more expensive, due to the added transport costs. There’s plenty of other things that are cheaper in other regions: Having your car serviced; cinema tickets; bus fares; window cleaners; beer (oh yeah, we’ve done that one 😉 );… ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-there-anything-i-get-a-better-deal-on-then-americans/275439/25 "2004-11-18T15:27:02Z")
Wait!!! I’ve thought of something that’s cheaper than in America!! University fees. Not for long, though… ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-there-anything-i-get-a-better-deal-on-then-americans/275439/26 "2004-11-18T15:44:54Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Ah, but what are your airport taxes like? The EasyJet prices often seem really cheap, and then you find that you have to add anything up to £50 per person in airport taxes onto a return journey. Yeah, the price I quoted above included taxes. Each of the legs were something like £5, and with taxes, it was the price I quoted. There simply is no airline that is anywhere near as affordable as Easyjet in the US, with or without taxes added in. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-there-anything-i-get-a-better-deal-on-then-americans/275439/27 "2004-11-18T15:51:01Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > In general, the prospect of trying to live in Britain makes this American’s head hurt. On top of the high prices and tiny spaces, there is the sales tax that is, what, 17%? Just to reiterate, with very few exceptions, you don’t notice the sales tax (“VAT”), since it’s built into the retail price. Thus the prices **Colophon** is comparing might actually be lower than the US equivalents, since they’re quoted ex-sales tax. > [@](#): > > And then the health care stinks. This is a whole other thread, but some people quite like it, it’s free to all, but you can still go private if you want to pay, and get hotel-style care et al. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-there-anything-i-get-a-better-deal-on-then-americans/275439/28 "2004-11-18T15:54:24Z")
I always think the question should be “why is the pound perennially overvalued against the dollar?”, rather than why Britain is more expensive than the US. I know it amounts to the same thing, but to me it seems a more realsitic way of looking at it. Any economists care to comment? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-there-anything-i-get-a-better-deal-on-then-americans/275439/29 "2004-11-18T15:55:27Z")
Sorr, totally screwed up the meaning of the first paragraph of the previous post. Please ignore. It should read: Just to reiterate, with very few exceptions, people in the UK don’t notice the sales tax (“VAT”), since it’s built into the retail price. Thus the with-tax UK prices Colophon is comparing might actually be lower than they seem, since the US equivalents are usually quoted ex-sales tax. ---
**Author:** ![Ghanima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Ghanima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghanima)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-there-anything-i-get-a-better-deal-on-then-americans/275439/30 "2004-11-18T16:03:11Z")
Why the hell aren’t you guys using Euros? 😕 And, how much do pay for, say, a war on Iraq? Because in the US, it _really_ expensive. ---
**Author:** ![blinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@blinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blinx)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-there-anything-i-get-a-better-deal-on-then-americans/275439/31 "2004-11-18T16:03:37Z")
Try buying a car in Denmark, our gasoline prices equal the british ones and we have about 180% tax on the actual car. Just one example: A brand new Ford Focus Ambiente (the most basic Focus model we have) is 211000 DKK ($36979.27 or £19946.3) I don’t think we have value meals here but a standard medium sized BigMac menu is about 50 DKK ($8.76 or £4.73) I live 125km (77 miles) from Copenhagen where I work, while housing is cheap there train fare is 128 DKK ($22.43 or £12) each way - I buy a train card each month and with the rebate that gives, I’m down to 2410 DKK ($422 or £227) a month. I tried looking up appartment prices in Copenhagen and found a 56m2 one in the south of Copenhagen, priced at 1350000 DKK ($236597 or £127618) that one is actually not so bad. Or sales tax is 25%. For reference, I earn 354000 DKK ($62041 or £33464) a year with about 5 years experience (IT related work), out of those I pay about 60% income tax before any deductions. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-there-anything-i-get-a-better-deal-on-then-americans/275439/32 "2004-11-18T16:05:44Z")
::crosses Denmark off of “Places I Might Want to Live” list:: Holy moley, **blinx**. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-there-anything-i-get-a-better-deal-on-then-americans/275439/33 "2004-11-18T16:07:40Z")
If you want to see some really screwy pricing, I was looking at the price of Shortwave radios a few months back. The price for some models was more in £ than it was in $ , even before the exchange rate was calculated. Wibble wibble hatstand territory. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-there-anything-i-get-a-better-deal-on-then-americans/275439/34 "2004-11-18T16:08:10Z")
> [@Ghanima](#): > > Why the hell aren’t you guys using Euros? 😕 I think you may be confusing us with our cheese-eating friends across the Channel 😉 > [@](#): > > And, how much do pay for, say, a war on Iraq? Because in the US, it _really_ expensive. Um, about [£1,250,000,000](http://quickstart.clari.net/qs_se/webnews/wed/cz/Qiraq-britain-costs.RQ5v_DOU.html) so far, I think. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-there-anything-i-get-a-better-deal-on-then-americans/275439/35 "2004-11-18T16:10:45Z")
> [@TellMeI'mNotCrazy](#): > > ::crosses Denmark off of “Places I Might Want to Live” list:: > > Holy moley, **blinx**. Yeah, but they get Lego real cheap. ---
**Author:** ![Ghanima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Ghanima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghanima)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-there-anything-i-get-a-better-deal-on-then-americans/275439/36 "2004-11-18T16:33:38Z")
Well, I learned [something new](http://www.euro.gov.uk/countrymenu.asp) today. I thought y’all had switched too. My bad. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-there-anything-i-get-a-better-deal-on-then-americans/275439/37 "2004-11-18T16:47:35Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > I think you may be confusing us with our cheese-eating friends across the Channel 😉 Don’t forget the potato-eating friends across the Irish Sea too! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-there-anything-i-get-a-better-deal-on-then-americans/275439.md?page=1)