Helpful hints for British people who compare UK and USA prices
Before you make me punch you repeatedly in the face
1. US prices do not show taxes, but British ones do
Bitch, whine, moan. That pretty much sums up what spews out of many British mouths when comparing prices in the UK and USA. In some cases, our American chums do get it better, but often they don’t—it’s just British people being stupid.
Case in point: the new Apple MacBook line. “Wah wah wah,” have gone lots of Brits, in a Kevin-the-teenager-style emo tantrum, moaning how it’s so unfair that a $999 laptop in the USA costs £719 in Britain.
Here’s the thing: US prices are shown without taxes. Therefore, you have to compare with Britain’s ex-VAT rate. At the time of writing, the US price is about £575, meaning the UK price is a full 37 quid more. And given how much Sterling’s getting kicked on the markets right now, Apple’s actually been pretty good with its ‘internal’ exchange rate and built-in cushion.
So, for all you people bullsh*tting about how you can “fly over to the US and get a laptop and still have change for munchies”, just try it. See how far you get with your 37 quid. You’ll probably be dropped out of the plane before you get past Ireland.
2. Rinse and repeat
Go back and read point 1 until you actually understand it, and then stop whining about how expensive items are in the UK unless they actually cost significantly more (Hello, Adobe CS4!)
Don’t some states have low/no sales tax?
Generally, comparing the USA pre-tax and the UK minus VAT price stuff does cost a lot more here.
That said, bad maths is bad and so are people who propagate it. We do pay more for the same goods, but it doesn’t help anyone by incorrectly saying how much by.
Haha, brilliant as ever, even if you do have the snuffles. 🙂
Instead of all that bother finding out which states don’t actually charge sales tax (Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon, shopping fans) you can go on Labour day, when tax isn’t charged.