US Dopers - how much do you pay? (Price comparisons)

It is regularly stated as fact that we here in the UK pay far too much for, well, just about everything.

Can some Americans give me some examples of how much stuff costs over there?

Here are some prices from the UK, for a comparison… (based on £1 = $1.75

Petrol/Gasoline (unleaded): 81p per litre ($5.36 a gallon)

Milk (4 pints): £1.00 ($1.75)

Bread (large, ordinary sliced loaf): 60p ($1.05)

Pair of jeans (high street, say Gap or equivalent): £39 ($69)

CD (chart album): £13-£14 ($23-$24.50)

McDonald’s Value Meal: £2.98 ($5.20) (haven’t had one for ages, so might have gone up)

So, are we getting ripped off? Any stuff that you think is very expensive over there? The average wage here is apparently £25,134 ($43,919), for reference.

Well, gasoline at the store down the block is about $1.41, and it’s a little high. Location does make a huge difference, as prices in Fort Worth, Texas aren’t the same as New York City, New York.

Bread seems to be about the equivalent. Haven’t bought milk in a year. CDs run in the neighborhood of $15-$20 unless they’re on sale.

McDonald’s Value Meals are about $3 - $4 I think (haven’t bought one in over a year).

DVDs are about $20, which I think is high if it doesn’t have sufficienct special features.

Prices are for San Diego, CA

Gas (unleaded) - saw it for about $1.69 this morning at the cheap shop

CD (chart album) - $12.99 if on sale at Target, probably $15-$18 “full price”

I don’t buy milk, so I’m not sure on that one. The jeans I buy are the cheapie ones, and I probably wouldn’t spend more than $20. But I’m sure Gap is much more than $20. The bread is probably a good price (I buy diet-type bread, which is over $2.00 per loaf, but the regular stuff is cheaper), and the McDonald’s meal is probably just a bit cheaper here.

Gas—at its lowest in ages, I bought a tankful last night for $1.28 a gallon

Milk–around $2.75 a gallon

Bread–$1.00 for the basic store brand, but up to $3-4 a loaf for the high-grain or exotic ones

Blue Jeans–I haven’t bought any in ages, but I could get a pair at Old Navy for around $30, or at the Mall for $50-60 if I wanted a “swanky” brand

CD–usually from $14–22

McD–the only meal I ever get is the cheapest–the double cheeseburger with no up-sizing–and it will run me $3.99
As for what’s expensive around here…

Beef–Prices of beef have been rising steadily. A pound of ground beef would have cost me $1.20–1.50 at this time last year and is now rarely found below $2.69 a pound

Heating–I hear that we have one of the highest natural gas rates in the country around here, but I don’t know if that’s really true. I live in a one-story, two bedroom house and keep the thermostat at 71 degree F. My gas bill in the dead of winter will easily reach $300 a month.

Film Processing–This is going the way of the DoDo what with digital, but I’m still shocked by how much it costs every time I need to get it done. $8-10 for 24 exposures, sometimes that includes double prints but not always.

New York City; I live in the Bronx but prices are pretty much the same up there for consumer products, more for services (haircuts, etc.) since you’re paying their rent on Park Ave. or whatever. I shop a lot in Manhattan so here’s their prices.

Gasoline–what’s that? OK, OK–$1.45–1.89/gallon, depending on if you want Regular or High-Test. Varies frequently depending on politics, refinery fires, etc. I’ve seen it go as high as $2.29.

Milk–$2.50-$3.50/gallon. More for organic or ‘natural’.

Bread–varies a lot. No frills local white, .99-1.49. Fancy name brand like Pepperidge Farms, $1.79-2.29. Stoneground by Shakers and baked in lava from Mt. Kilauea, tied in a ribbon and sold unsliced: $4-5.00.

Pair o’ jeans: Only a moron doesn’t go secondhand for jeans around here, and said moron can pay $29.99-$70.00 for the non-boutique kind. In fancy stores, the sky’s the limit. To be fair, moron stores often have sales, with $5-10 off.

CD’s: by chart I guess you mean new pop and stuff, not the Broadway or world albums? Usually $17.99-24.99, although often the big chains will discount them immediately to make it up on volume for the first few days or so (to $14.99 usually).

McDonald’s is also more expensive in NY: Value meals start about $3.99 and go up to five and a half bucks.

Hope this helps. The variations in prices are wild and woolly over here and people will cross borders to ‘cheaper’ states without sales tax on clothing, for example, so the prices skew even further. A big clothing chain will offer different high-priced items in different markets depending on the ethnic and financial makeup of the area, although some things like jeans will be the same everywhere. A Mickey D’s in Iowa will cost less than Eighth Avenue. Gas, don’t talk to me about gas. And so on.

Sheesh. Prices in the Bronx for consumer services are LESS than in Manhattan, of course.

Film processing–drugstore chain, about $10 for a roll of 24. A decent photography store, about $12-14 each, but you get good quality.

Looks like it’s the petrol that’s the biggest discrepancy. So your petrol costs less than half as much as milk, eh…?

DVDs here are usually about £20, so don’t complain about $20!

Er… one more thing, what is the average wage in the US? Anyone?

I believe it’s around $30,000 p.a. but it fluctuates across the states.

Well, minimum wage in Vermont is set to increase to $6.75 in January. I have no idea what the average wage is.

The only thing I’ve noticed that is far off from others estimates here is that milk is about $3.29 a gallon.

Oh, that’s $6.75 an hour, obviously.

89 octane gas is going for about $1.70 around my neighborhood.

Seattle-
Gas $1.73; Levi’s 501 jeans $31. 95; 1 gallon of 1% milk 2.99; Bread, store brand .79; Lettuce $1.49/lb; Tomatoes $2.49/lb;

In the NE Atlanta area:

Gas $ 1.18 - $1.25 more in other areas

Milk $2.69

Bread- National Brand- 1.79 Store Brand .79

Cd’s from Target/ Walmart on sale avg. $13.ish refuse to pay any more than that…
I now refuse to pay over $29.99 for jeans.
Coke/ 24 pack $5.99 and cheaper sometimes.

Usually buy groceries from Walmart, much cheaper than Kroger and Publix,
I HATE Publix:mad: :mad: :mad:

You’re getting ripped off, but especially on the big-ticket items you haven’t listed. A car that is sold in both countries, as a rule of thumb, will cost you the same number of pounds as the number of dollars we pay - even when made in a third country so importation costs are the same. So that’s left-hand drive, you say? Perhaps in part, but: Electronic equipment and music/movie recordings obey the same pricing principles… And then you have that 17% or whatever VAT on top, while US sales taxes are never more than half that and are usually much less.

Hey, Pittsburgh checking in.

Gas: 1.50 to 1.60 per gallon.
Cigarettes: 3.50 to 4.00 per pack.
Milk: ? My wife buys milk.
Bread: ? Same here, but both are less than two dollars.
Value Meal: 4.00 to 5.00 dollars.

I have to politicize this thread, don’t you know. The costs in England are higher for two reasons. Their currency is stronger than the US dollar, and the have a more left leaning (read: socialist) political atmosphere. I bet a lot of the higher costs are because of taxes that have to pay for socialized health care.

Well, r_k petrol here in Canada is more pricey than in the USA, but only because of taxes; still way cheaper than in Europe, though: currently 74.9 cents CDN per litre (say 32.5p/litre). A god bottle of single malt will run you CDN $60-75 (say Aardbeg).

CDs are cheaper here than most places, I think–I used to work in a new/used record store, and we had many tourists (including Americans) come in and load up big time, on new as well as used CDs: an ad in today’s paper has new hit CDs at CDN 14.99 (6.52 GBP) [Beatles “Let It Be” Naked], for example, Jessica Simpson CD for CDN 13.99 (6.08 GBP).

Bread (560 gram white loaf) 2 for CDN 1.98 (GBP 86p); fresh chicken breast (bone in) CDN 2.98/lb (GBP 1.30); McDonald’s meals run about the same as above (CDN 3.99-5.99).

Minimum wage per hour in British Columbia is CDN $8.00 (GPB 3.47); but our right-wing provincial govt. has brought in a first-job/entry-level rate of $6.00/per hour for the first 500 hours. I’m thinking the average young professional in their late 20s might pull down about 30K Canadian.

Average rent here in Victoria (one of the more expensive cities in Canada) is probably CDN $1000/month for a two-bedroom apartment. Average house prices in this area run about 275K for bare minimum 2 bedroom in working class area to average of 400K in “nice” neighbourhood for a 3 BR. Waterfront? Fuhgettaboutit.

Milk is heavily subsized and promoted here; it’s a longtime thing. Kids can get free milk in schools and everything.

What’s the VAT? I remember paying it in Canada for some stuff and thinking “geez, 15%! I’ll never complain about NY again!” but nobody could tell me where it went.

Yes, God drinks Ardbeg, apparently.

Forgot to mention DVDs are much cheaper here than in the UK; lots of budget releases for CDN 9.99-14.99; even big new stuff like the “Pirates of the Caribbean” is CDN 24.99; Buffy box set CDN 54.99. I pay through the nose ordering cool stuff like “The Office” Season 2, or “The Fast Show” that you can’t get here (or I just don’t want to wait a year for) from the UK. The range of goods on offer in the UK is vastly superior (at least for what I’m looking for) to what I can find here.

But I don’t whine about prices when travelling; what’s the point? I’m on holiday–if I was one of those people who tie themselves in knots over money, I’d just stay home, anyhow! It’s part of experiencing another place, another culture. Besides, if I look the wrong way and get run over (a strong possibility), that money I’ve put into the NHS will be worth it!

Mehitabel: next time you come up (and we hope you will!), keep your purchase receipts! You can apply for a GST refund when you leave the country:

http://www.ccra-adrc.gc.ca/tax/nonresidents/visitors/tax-e.html

This is only for non-residents, and only on goods purchased (i.e., not on GST paid on services, or food in restaunts, but hey, it adds up, right?)