Ripoff prices

Bravo Man.......It sounds like the first 5 points are just "what you've been told" so you should really speak from personal experience only before forming opinions. As for your front suspension bushes....it just goes to show the advantage of shopping around doesn't it!

Bravo man fact based on your own experience is the best way to speak, as to many people tell whoppers and destroy businesses.
Then the next lot of travellers get nothing at all.
We were up that way last year and did not strike any prices like you have quoted.
Bushy.

Peter,
once you become a captive market you pay what they want.

Now in all fairness, I think we all have to accept you have to pay a premium when travelling in remote areas. They pay transport cost and then have it sitting around until it is purchased if at all. Also many of the remote places have to provide their own power at hugh expense. Running a genset and having a backup set 24hrs a day costs big time.

Yes, there are rip off merchants out there but the best thing you can do is say no, if you don't absolutely need it.

On the other side of the coin we paid a $1.69 for a good loaf of bread at the IGA in Charleville. Unbelievable price.

Then at Capella which is not remote at all the going price for 2 small cokes and a loaf of bread it was $12.50. Answer! thanks but no thanks, and we went to Clermont and purchased there.

Paid the same price for a genuine air filter in Charleville as the coast and the seller wasn't a Tojo dealer. Good to see.

Buyer beware
RA.

I think it's called convenience,if you want it now in remote areas you pay their price.... but you always have the option of organising your own goods and freight.... and waiting.

Nobody forced you into buy it from the "Ripoff" businesses, it's your choice.

In remote areas money talks and with money you can get what you want when you want.

Want a weld done on a broken part and offer them $100 for the job up front and it gets done ..... offer them $20 and you'll be walking

Never leave home with less then a few thousand $$$$$ CASH.

If you don't want to pay that much then walk away. It's not a ripoff.

A lot of those top end businesses keep running for 12 months of the year and the tourists only come for a few months.

what gets me is when I can buy fuel at places like Mt dare, Rabbit flat cheaper than I can in Huskisson nsw

I have to say I have seen both sides but I do agree from time to time we do get ripped off under the guise of peak seasons and remoteness. Fuel is one regular area of occasional rip off. I have paid 50c a litre over the odds for fuel on the Nullabor and to me that is pure profiteering. A fuel truck must carry 100,000 lts of fuel and you cannot tell me it costs an extra $50,000 to get the fuel 500km,s from the depot.
A hamburger and chips and fish and chips meal on an eat in menu in a roadhouse $50!!! .
A powered caravan site $50 a night.
$5 in a caravan park to do a load of washing.
Charging 1 1/2% surcharge for using a credit card.
But then the other side of the coin, stupid me thought I had a puncture and I couldn't find it to fix it so I took it to a tyre dealer in Exmouth for repair.The valve was loose!!! Begged him not to tell my mates. No charge.
A stone caught between the disk rotor and backplate, $20 to put it on a hoist, take the wheel off, remove the disk brakes and fish the stone out.
Powered caravan site in Leinster $15 a night with free laundry and $12 for slap up 3 course meal at the BHP mess.

Its hard to knock the Autopro in Broome.
There are plenty of towns in the North West with no auto parts shop at all.
I've found their prices pretty fair in the past.

Hey Guys you dont have to go outback to be ripped off, at least out there there is some reason for things being more expensive.

Try traveling anywhere on the east coast during School Holidays or peek tourist season.

Cheers
Wayne B

Bravo Man I assume you mean "exaggerate", "Kununurra", and "Wyndham"!!!!!

The problem with these types of discussions is that all too frequently the comparison is made between what you are used to paying therefore if it is more expensive elsewhere it must be a rip-off. Little consideration is given to differing cost base, tyranny of distance, and convenience like being able to buy a tyre to replace the one you just shredded in the middle of no-where.

And granted, perhaps some places do charge more, and I’ve seen Innamincka mentioned a couple of times for example, but the trade store season probably peaks for three months of the year, if you want him there next year when you are travelling in the ‘touring’ season he needs to cover his expenses when no-one is about. I’m sure that is the case in many places.

Why are airlines tickets more expensive in the school holidays, why do trade people charge extra for turning up on a Sunday morning to fix your toilet, why are people paid a higher hourly rate if working overtime, and let’s not get started on fuel around holiday periods?

Well I guess it’s because it is the way of the world, and I’m sure one way or the other we all engage in it, sometimes it isn’t just as obvious as others...

How does it go...don’t judge someone until you’ve walk a mile in their shoes!

Good weekend to all...

Bravoman
Airlines charging $7.50 credit card fee
Banks charging interest rates way above what they pay, making record profits, and paying their execs around $10mil a year
Car companies charging Australians twice what they charge in USA or UK for the same car.
The washing machine repair man charging $125 for a house call before charging for any work he might do..
The government taxing us blind then bleep the proceeds up against a wall (stimulus.)
State governments charging stamp duty on GST and lux car tax.
Local government rates.

Some of these imposts you can avoid.

I'd be getting more excited about these before worrying about a few lousy bucks in the bush.

Bob

I don't know why you complain about ripoff prices away from the big cities, you can easily get ripped off in big cities.
Some of the places I stay at are remote and I accept to paying a bit more as usually the place has other reasons to offset the cost.
Broome seems to come up regularly around the traps as a ripoff and I have heard it so much I believe it is probably true

Is it a rippoff ? Out here where we live I have all of a 3 minute walk to the one and only very small shop , 2 lt of pauls full cream milk costs $4.30 and is a fresh delivery to the shop twice per week ,, my next nearest place to buy milk means a 250klm round trip at current diesel prices costing round $50 odd for the trip ,, and ohh for the same brand of 2lt of milk I would then save a whole 40cents ,, yep I must be getting ripped off !!

I don't realy object to paying the often higher prices some items attract in more remote places as the type of travel we do usually brings high savings in some other ways.
What gives me the bleeps is when you get some feral red neck owning the local camp ground & roadhouse in a small town on a popular tourist route where he holds a virtual monopoly & charges a high rate with a very poor quality product.

Coming back from Birdsville recently we came down the dirt and overnighted at Windorah. At the local grocers shop we were charged $6 for a 200g bag of Smiths Crisps which we normally buy of the coast for $2.99. We wanted them for Happy Hour so we bought the item but wondered between ourselves if there is a 2 tier pricing regime. One price for the tourists and one for the locals. If we lived there and had to pay $6 a bag we would have to buy less... and I presume less of everything, if this double the coast price is across the board on all purchases.

I'd also say that one shouldn't always assume that those small family run shops in small towns are always going to be a rip off.

Yes it's different when you're a tourist vs when you're a local, not with the pricing, just that as a local you know the people that run the stores you know weather their prices are overboard or not. And you know what things are reasonably priced (like every day shopping affordability kind of thing) and which things you would probably travel every once in a while and stock up on from the big shops.