this post was submitted on 17 Jul 2024
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It's more about you going to a poor country, and raising the cost of living of the communities there by telegraphing to landlords and retailers that you will happily pay X% markup for goods and services.
Who told you I'm paying any markups? Nobody is aware of my income, and I'm paying the same prices anybody else does.
Any more assumptions?
Locals: shop around for the place that sells it at the lowest cost. Take extra time to go to different stores for different products even if they're all available in one place. Regular price too high? Vote with your wallet and don't buy it. Good price but you don't have much money? Buy less.
Wealthy foreigner: This is cheap. I'll take it.
No one needs to know your income. The price may be the same for everyone, but if you're willing to pay a higher price, then they'll be more likely to keep the higher price, thus reducing everyone else's buying power. If you buy more than the locals and help eat up their stock, that again incentivises keeping prices where they are, or even increasing them. The storekeepers don't care about how much money you have. They look at whether things sell or not, then make their decisions based on that.
There's only one supermarket near me, everybody goes there.
And everybody buys all the rest online. I don't shop in malls because the prices are inflated. Even if I don't need to watch every penny, it doesn't mean I shouldn't.
Yes, many. Rent is 3% of your salary and you don't believe that that automatically grants you far more buying power than others?
You will never have to make the choice of paying for treatment or food, and retailers and insurers see this as a stat they can bank on to jack local prices.
Of course it grants me more buying power, but that doesn't mean I'm using it. 80% of my income goes to savings, my lifestyle is no different to my next door neighbors, for whom the 20% I do spend is all they have. The only difference is that for every month I work, I can retire 4 month early.
Fair enough. To be fair, I don't know you. I just wanted you to be in the category of digital nomads that I can rage against because the world is expensive and unjust, and if I'm suffering through it then so should you.
But that's not fair to you. Sorry for pinning my frustrations on you, and I'll try to be better in the future
No worries, it happens. Thanks for speaking it out though rather than just walking away, that really says something about your character. Much appreciated!