From the article:
> Daragh Cassidy, head of communications at price comparison website Bonkers.ie, believes that one of the factors driving Ireland’s relatively high cost of living is cultural, namely our awkwardness around complaining, demanding a better service or shopping around to seek out better value.
Ireland’s high cost economy is protected by a pay wall it seems
And without the functioning public services too.
I know its said every day of the week in the media and on here but its no less absolutely shocking just how poor wages are in this country. The gap between high earners and everyone else is widening and there is a very genuine contempt from those in upper management to see those below them earning anywhere close to them. Last week the company where I work took on a young lad but his manager was literally furious behind closed doors that the HR guy had the neck to advertise the position for 30k. As far as the manager was concerned that was “an extravagant wage” (as if it was coming out of his own pocket). He told me he thought he could have got the extra worker on the team for 22k. It’s absolutely abhorrent. How can anyone live on those wages in Dublin?
We also don’t have as high taxes.
In Scandinavia the market is more flexible also – you can find a thing of reasonable quality for any price you’re willing to pay. In Ireland, it’s just dear.
I often wonder if the government’s policy goal that Ireland be a “good place to do business” for foreign firms equally means that it’s bad place to live for its inhabitants.
Couldn’t possibly be from neoliberal policies, surely
And the taxes.
It should be illegal to post this without posting the article that hides behind a paywall
Not to mention without the services the taxes pay for and without the sense of civic duty among the population and the politicians.
Dane here. Ireland does not have “Scandinavian prices”. Irish salaries are shite and no mistake, but everything is significantly cheaper. Only in your shitshow of a housing market do you almost compete.
Ireland’s high-cost economy: Scandinavian prices but without the salaries
What is it that makes the Republic such an expensive country?
Apart from the obvious cost drivers, there is also perhaps an unmeasurable cultural component to Ireland’s cost-of-living woes.
Photograph: Neil Hall/Reuters
By Eoin Burke-Kennedy
Sun Jul 3 2022 – 12:07
Survey after survey put us at the top of the price charts. Accusations of price gouging abound. What is it that makes Ireland such an expensive country?
High taxes; a lack of competition; our island status? They all contribute but there’s no real smoking gun. We seem to have Scandinavian prices but without the salaries to match. Is there perhaps a cultural component to our cost-of-living woes?
Take Tesco’s row with US food giant Heinz. The UK supermarket chain last week pulled Heinz baked beans and ketchup from its shelves after the US brand upped its prices in the face of higher input costs. A Tesco spokesperson said: “With household budgets under increasing pressure, now more than ever we have a responsibility to ensure customers get the best possible value, and we will not pass on unjustifiable price increases to our customers.”
The supermarket added it was “laser-focused on keeping the cost of the weekly shop in check” as food price inflation surges, adding to the cost-of-living crisis.
Whatever has gone on behind the scenes, Tesco is undoubtedly using the controversy to enhance its customer-centric credentials.
What’s interesting from an Irish perspective is that Tesco Ireland quickly reassured consumers here that the debacle wouldn’t affect them, meaning Heinz products would continue to be sold in Tesco’s Irish stores. Put another way, we’ll be paying the higher Heinz prices that Tesco is shielding the UK consumer from.
What can we infer from this? That we’re seen as a soft touch internationally? That we’re less likely to complain?
Market research has shown that UK consumers tend to put price considerations first whereas Irish consumers tend to be suspicious of cheaper products. Might this explain Tesco’s twin-track approach?
Daragh Cassidy, head of communications at price comparison website Bonkers.ie, believes that one of the factors driving Ireland’s relatively high cost of living is cultural, namely our awkwardness around complaining, demanding a better service or shopping around to seek out better value.
“Irish people have a morbid fear of being seen as tight-fisted,” he says. “If we were like the Germans, prices here would be lower…Would they be as low as Germany? No, because there are other reasons why prices are high but that cultural thing of not wanting to make a fuss when money is concerned, not wanting to complain when the service is bad, has an impact.”
Which direction are house prices going?
“Businesses know then they can charge a premium because we’re not as laser-focused on price as consumers in other countries,” Cassidy says.
His pushover thesis has a definite ring of truth to it. That said, there are some hard data points underpinning living costs here.
While VAT – at 23 per cent – is high, it’s not massively out of kilter with other countries. In contrast, the excise duty loaded on alcohol is. A bottle of wine attracts over €3 in excise duty, €6 in the case of sparkling, the highest rate in the EU.
Despite the adoption of renewables, electricity costs are also among the highest in Europe. The banking sector and its dwindling set of participants also charge a premium on lending and have done so since the 2008 financial crash on the rather spurious notion that the Irish market is a riskier proposition than its European peers. Irish consumers can expect to pay at least €80,000 more than their European counterparts on a €300,000 mortgage over 30 years.
High insurance costs, which the industry blames on big payouts, also play a role.
The boss of Ireland’s largest hotel chain, Dalata, last week blamed rising hotel room rates on pent-up demand in the wake of the pandemic and the refugee crisis. Dermot Crowley said the market was experiencing “a period of exceptional pent-up post-pandemic demand at a time when supply is temporarily reduced as a direct consequence of the war in Ukraine”.
Public criticism of hotels over their room rates has grown in recent weeks amid reports that weekend room rates of €300-€400 per night were being charged by modest hotels in Dublin. Whether Crowley is right or wrong, senior Government figures have been drawn in. Tánaiste Leo Varadkar warned the hospitality sector that any evidence of price gouging could result in the Government opting to restore the higher rate of VAT for the sector in 2023.
You might deem staggered prices for drinks in a pub or nightclub over the course of a night, now the norm in some Dublin venues, a form of price gouging.
You might also wonder why leaving it late to book an airline ticket comes with such a financial penalty when the product is the same. Airlines blame it on their algorithms. It goes unchallenged.
In the US there are laws against price gouging, which presuppose definitions of what exorbitant or excessive pricing is. We seem to make a lot of noise about excessive pricing without ever going after it legally.
You mean scandalous prices surely?
The problem for me here was always the lack of value.get taxed to death,get absolutely nothing,i mean we get nothing for it,no decent healthcare,no public transport, the most vulnerable are left to rot.
I dont know is it cultural or what but youll find generally too that paddy wants top dollar for whatever mediocre shite theyre pedaling.
How many restaurants have you been in paying way over the odds for aul shite that you would have enjoyed better at home.
But its at breaking point for me now,i went out with my wife and small kid yesterday,went to the funfair and ate in a greasy spoon,totted it all up after,150 quid.i wonder how many people are ready to leave here just to feel like theyre living their lives
We have had a mixture of Fine Gael and Fianna Fail since the inception of the state. They have made themselves very wealthy in the process of limping from one crisis to another
But Scandinavian in one tax is much higher. Are they looking at net income rather than gross income?
The Irish are suckers for brandnames. Take butter for example. In Lidl 454g of Kerrygold branded butter is 3.75. 454g of Dairy Manor branded butter is 2.50. they are identical. Off the same line in the same factory in Mitchelstown. All they do is change the wrapper. Yet in every queue for a till you will see more people with Kerrygold than Dairy Manor. €1.25 for different letters printed on the wrapper.
The Irish times: ‘Isn’t everything too expensive nowadays?’ [paywalled article]
I’ve been driving from Dublin to the north every month by motorcycle. Saving a minimum of 5 euro per bottle of wine. Nice drive and the tax saving pays for two tanks of fuel (on my thirsty bike).
Screw holidaying in rip off Ireland. I feel bad, but I am sick of this country now.
Fly to Lithuania and get a tooth filling, €2 plus cheap flight. Cheap accommodation, cheap food and wonderful people. Or go to a substandard ripoff Irish dentist 😬
The country is just being fed to debt vampires, and we will pay for it in the long run. Less kids less future for the country.
I moved to Norway recently, I will say thats a little bit of hyperbole. I am definitely missing picking up decent food for alright prices at places like Lidl. Over here the price of alcohol and beef etc is pretty crazy. The total on the weekly shop receipt was a bit of a shock when I first arrived.
A great example is the fact that we’ve just accepted gas prices going up because of Russia, despite us sources all of our gas either locally or through Scotland. Meanwhile the utility companies are all having bumper years. Government needs to take that extra tax windfall, impose an additional windfall tax and use the billions (I’m not exaggerating) for public infrastructure instead of throwing of out Willy bully to fan the flames of inflation.
nor the services
Ireland’s high-cost economy: Scandinavian prices but without the salaries What is it that makes the Republic such an expensive country?
Apart from the obvious cost drivers, there is also perhaps an unmeasurable cultural component to Ireland’s cost-of-living woes. Photograph: Neil Hall/Reuters
By Eoin Burke-Kennedy
Sun Jul 3 2022 – 12:07
Survey after survey put us at the top of the price charts. Accusations of price gouging abound. What is it that makes Ireland such an expensive country?
High taxes; a lack of competition; our island status? They all contribute but there’s no real smoking gun. We seem to have Scandinavian prices but without the salaries to match. Is there perhaps a cultural component to our cost-of-living woes?
Take Tesco’s row with US food giant Heinz. The UK supermarket chain last week pulled Heinz baked beans and ketchup from its shelves after the US brand upped its prices in the face of higher input costs. A Tesco spokesperson said: “With household budgets under increasing pressure, now more than ever we have a responsibility to ensure customers get the best possible value, and we will not pass on unjustifiable price increases to our customers.”
The supermarket added it was “laser-focused on keeping the cost of the weekly shop in check” as food price inflation surges, adding to the cost-of-living crisis.
Whatever has gone on behind the scenes, Tesco is undoubtedly using the controversy to enhance its customer-centric credentials.
What’s interesting from an Irish perspective is that Tesco Ireland quickly reassured consumers here that the debacle wouldn’t affect them, meaning Heinz products would continue to be sold in Tesco’s Irish stores. Put another way, we’ll be paying the higher Heinz prices that Tesco is shielding the UK consumer from.
What can we infer from this? That we’re seen as a soft touch internationally? That we’re less likely to complain?
Market research has shown that UK consumers tend to put price considerations first whereas Irish consumers tend to be suspicious of cheaper products. Might this explain Tesco’s twin-track approach?
Daragh Cassidy, head of communications at price comparison website Bonkers.ie, believes that one of the factors driving Ireland’s relatively high cost of living is cultural, namely our awkwardness around complaining, demanding a better service or shopping around to seek out better value.
“Irish people have a morbid fear of being seen as tight-fisted,” he says. “If we were like the Germans, prices here would be lower…Would they be as low as Germany? No, because there are other reasons why prices are high but that cultural thing of not wanting to make a fuss when money is concerned, not wanting to complain when the service is bad, has an impact.”
Which direction are house prices going?
“Businesses know then they can charge a premium because we’re not as laser-focused on price as consumers in other countries,” Cassidy says.
His pushover thesis has a definite ring of truth to it. That said, there are some hard data points underpinning living costs here.
While VAT – at 23 per cent – is high, it’s not massively out of kilter with other countries. In contrast, the excise duty loaded on alcohol is. A bottle of wine attracts over €3 in excise duty, €6 in the case of sparkling, the highest rate in the EU.
Despite the adoption of renewables, electricity costs are also among the highest in Europe. The banking sector and its dwindling set of participants also charge a premium on lending and have done so since the 2008 financial crash on the rather spurious notion that the Irish market is a riskier proposition than its European peers. Irish consumers can expect to pay at least €80,000 more than their European counterparts on a €300,000 mortgage over 30 years.
High insurance costs, which the industry blames on big payouts, also play a role.
The boss of Ireland’s largest hotel chain, Dalata, last week blamed rising hotel room rates on pent-up demand in the wake of the pandemic and the refugee crisis. Dermot Crowley said the market was experiencing “a period of exceptional pent-up post-pandemic demand at a time when supply is temporarily reduced as a direct consequence of the war in Ukraine”.
Public criticism of hotels over their room rates has grown in recent weeks amid reports that weekend room rates of €300-€400 per night were being charged by modest hotels in Dublin. Whether Crowley is right or wrong, senior Government figures have been drawn in. Tánaiste Leo Varadkar warned the hospitality sector that any evidence of price gouging could result in the Government opting to restore the higher rate of VAT for the sector in 2023.
You might deem staggered prices for drinks in a pub or nightclub over the course of a night, now the norm in some Dublin venues, a form of price gouging.
You might also wonder why leaving it late to book an airline ticket comes with such a financial penalty when the product is the same. Airlines blame it on their algorithms. It goes unchallenged.
In the US there are laws against price gouging, which presuppose definitions of what exorbitant or excessive pricing is. We seem to make a lot of noise about excessive pricing without ever going after it legally.
In Scandinavian countries workers tend to be much better organised. A few of them don’t have minimum wage laws because they are unnecessary.
Unions are organised across whole sectors of industry and are able to secure excellent wages, even for people doing jobs that would be paid terribly here, like fast food workers.
26 comments
From the article:
> Daragh Cassidy, head of communications at price comparison website Bonkers.ie, believes that one of the factors driving Ireland’s relatively high cost of living is cultural, namely our awkwardness around complaining, demanding a better service or shopping around to seek out better value.
Ireland’s high cost economy is protected by a pay wall it seems
And without the functioning public services too.
I know its said every day of the week in the media and on here but its no less absolutely shocking just how poor wages are in this country. The gap between high earners and everyone else is widening and there is a very genuine contempt from those in upper management to see those below them earning anywhere close to them. Last week the company where I work took on a young lad but his manager was literally furious behind closed doors that the HR guy had the neck to advertise the position for 30k. As far as the manager was concerned that was “an extravagant wage” (as if it was coming out of his own pocket). He told me he thought he could have got the extra worker on the team for 22k. It’s absolutely abhorrent. How can anyone live on those wages in Dublin?
We also don’t have as high taxes.
In Scandinavia the market is more flexible also – you can find a thing of reasonable quality for any price you’re willing to pay. In Ireland, it’s just dear.
I often wonder if the government’s policy goal that Ireland be a “good place to do business” for foreign firms equally means that it’s bad place to live for its inhabitants.
Couldn’t possibly be from neoliberal policies, surely
And the taxes.
It should be illegal to post this without posting the article that hides behind a paywall
Not to mention without the services the taxes pay for and without the sense of civic duty among the population and the politicians.
Dane here. Ireland does not have “Scandinavian prices”. Irish salaries are shite and no mistake, but everything is significantly cheaper. Only in your shitshow of a housing market do you almost compete.
Ireland’s high-cost economy: Scandinavian prices but without the salaries
What is it that makes the Republic such an expensive country?
Apart from the obvious cost drivers, there is also perhaps an unmeasurable cultural component to Ireland’s cost-of-living woes.
Photograph: Neil Hall/Reuters
By Eoin Burke-Kennedy
Sun Jul 3 2022 – 12:07
Survey after survey put us at the top of the price charts. Accusations of price gouging abound. What is it that makes Ireland such an expensive country?
High taxes; a lack of competition; our island status? They all contribute but there’s no real smoking gun. We seem to have Scandinavian prices but without the salaries to match. Is there perhaps a cultural component to our cost-of-living woes?
Take Tesco’s row with US food giant Heinz. The UK supermarket chain last week pulled Heinz baked beans and ketchup from its shelves after the US brand upped its prices in the face of higher input costs. A Tesco spokesperson said: “With household budgets under increasing pressure, now more than ever we have a responsibility to ensure customers get the best possible value, and we will not pass on unjustifiable price increases to our customers.”
The supermarket added it was “laser-focused on keeping the cost of the weekly shop in check” as food price inflation surges, adding to the cost-of-living crisis.
Whatever has gone on behind the scenes, Tesco is undoubtedly using the controversy to enhance its customer-centric credentials.
What’s interesting from an Irish perspective is that Tesco Ireland quickly reassured consumers here that the debacle wouldn’t affect them, meaning Heinz products would continue to be sold in Tesco’s Irish stores. Put another way, we’ll be paying the higher Heinz prices that Tesco is shielding the UK consumer from.
What can we infer from this? That we’re seen as a soft touch internationally? That we’re less likely to complain?
Market research has shown that UK consumers tend to put price considerations first whereas Irish consumers tend to be suspicious of cheaper products. Might this explain Tesco’s twin-track approach?
Daragh Cassidy, head of communications at price comparison website Bonkers.ie, believes that one of the factors driving Ireland’s relatively high cost of living is cultural, namely our awkwardness around complaining, demanding a better service or shopping around to seek out better value.
“Irish people have a morbid fear of being seen as tight-fisted,” he says. “If we were like the Germans, prices here would be lower…Would they be as low as Germany? No, because there are other reasons why prices are high but that cultural thing of not wanting to make a fuss when money is concerned, not wanting to complain when the service is bad, has an impact.”
Which direction are house prices going?
“Businesses know then they can charge a premium because we’re not as laser-focused on price as consumers in other countries,” Cassidy says.
His pushover thesis has a definite ring of truth to it. That said, there are some hard data points underpinning living costs here.
While VAT – at 23 per cent – is high, it’s not massively out of kilter with other countries. In contrast, the excise duty loaded on alcohol is. A bottle of wine attracts over €3 in excise duty, €6 in the case of sparkling, the highest rate in the EU.
Despite the adoption of renewables, electricity costs are also among the highest in Europe. The banking sector and its dwindling set of participants also charge a premium on lending and have done so since the 2008 financial crash on the rather spurious notion that the Irish market is a riskier proposition than its European peers. Irish consumers can expect to pay at least €80,000 more than their European counterparts on a €300,000 mortgage over 30 years.
High insurance costs, which the industry blames on big payouts, also play a role.
The boss of Ireland’s largest hotel chain, Dalata, last week blamed rising hotel room rates on pent-up demand in the wake of the pandemic and the refugee crisis. Dermot Crowley said the market was experiencing “a period of exceptional pent-up post-pandemic demand at a time when supply is temporarily reduced as a direct consequence of the war in Ukraine”.
Public criticism of hotels over their room rates has grown in recent weeks amid reports that weekend room rates of €300-€400 per night were being charged by modest hotels in Dublin. Whether Crowley is right or wrong, senior Government figures have been drawn in. Tánaiste Leo Varadkar warned the hospitality sector that any evidence of price gouging could result in the Government opting to restore the higher rate of VAT for the sector in 2023.
You might deem staggered prices for drinks in a pub or nightclub over the course of a night, now the norm in some Dublin venues, a form of price gouging.
You might also wonder why leaving it late to book an airline ticket comes with such a financial penalty when the product is the same. Airlines blame it on their algorithms. It goes unchallenged.
In the US there are laws against price gouging, which presuppose definitions of what exorbitant or excessive pricing is. We seem to make a lot of noise about excessive pricing without ever going after it legally.
You mean scandalous prices surely?
The problem for me here was always the lack of value.get taxed to death,get absolutely nothing,i mean we get nothing for it,no decent healthcare,no public transport, the most vulnerable are left to rot.
I dont know is it cultural or what but youll find generally too that paddy wants top dollar for whatever mediocre shite theyre pedaling.
How many restaurants have you been in paying way over the odds for aul shite that you would have enjoyed better at home.
But its at breaking point for me now,i went out with my wife and small kid yesterday,went to the funfair and ate in a greasy spoon,totted it all up after,150 quid.i wonder how many people are ready to leave here just to feel like theyre living their lives
We have had a mixture of Fine Gael and Fianna Fail since the inception of the state. They have made themselves very wealthy in the process of limping from one crisis to another
But Scandinavian in one tax is much higher. Are they looking at net income rather than gross income?
The Irish are suckers for brandnames. Take butter for example. In Lidl 454g of Kerrygold branded butter is 3.75. 454g of Dairy Manor branded butter is 2.50. they are identical. Off the same line in the same factory in Mitchelstown. All they do is change the wrapper. Yet in every queue for a till you will see more people with Kerrygold than Dairy Manor. €1.25 for different letters printed on the wrapper.
Politicians:
“We’ll RIODE the country proper like, WHAT!?”
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RTDJaJgvOM4
The Irish times: ‘Isn’t everything too expensive nowadays?’ [paywalled article]
I’ve been driving from Dublin to the north every month by motorcycle. Saving a minimum of 5 euro per bottle of wine. Nice drive and the tax saving pays for two tanks of fuel (on my thirsty bike).
Screw holidaying in rip off Ireland. I feel bad, but I am sick of this country now.
Fly to Lithuania and get a tooth filling, €2 plus cheap flight. Cheap accommodation, cheap food and wonderful people. Or go to a substandard ripoff Irish dentist 😬
The country is just being fed to debt vampires, and we will pay for it in the long run. Less kids less future for the country.
I moved to Norway recently, I will say thats a little bit of hyperbole. I am definitely missing picking up decent food for alright prices at places like Lidl. Over here the price of alcohol and beef etc is pretty crazy. The total on the weekly shop receipt was a bit of a shock when I first arrived.
A great example is the fact that we’ve just accepted gas prices going up because of Russia, despite us sources all of our gas either locally or through Scotland. Meanwhile the utility companies are all having bumper years. Government needs to take that extra tax windfall, impose an additional windfall tax and use the billions (I’m not exaggerating) for public infrastructure instead of throwing of out Willy bully to fan the flames of inflation.
nor the services
Ireland’s high-cost economy: Scandinavian prices but without the salaries What is it that makes the Republic such an expensive country?
Apart from the obvious cost drivers, there is also perhaps an unmeasurable cultural component to Ireland’s cost-of-living woes. Photograph: Neil Hall/Reuters
By Eoin Burke-Kennedy
Sun Jul 3 2022 – 12:07
Survey after survey put us at the top of the price charts. Accusations of price gouging abound. What is it that makes Ireland such an expensive country?
High taxes; a lack of competition; our island status? They all contribute but there’s no real smoking gun. We seem to have Scandinavian prices but without the salaries to match. Is there perhaps a cultural component to our cost-of-living woes?
Take Tesco’s row with US food giant Heinz. The UK supermarket chain last week pulled Heinz baked beans and ketchup from its shelves after the US brand upped its prices in the face of higher input costs. A Tesco spokesperson said: “With household budgets under increasing pressure, now more than ever we have a responsibility to ensure customers get the best possible value, and we will not pass on unjustifiable price increases to our customers.”
The supermarket added it was “laser-focused on keeping the cost of the weekly shop in check” as food price inflation surges, adding to the cost-of-living crisis.
Whatever has gone on behind the scenes, Tesco is undoubtedly using the controversy to enhance its customer-centric credentials.
What’s interesting from an Irish perspective is that Tesco Ireland quickly reassured consumers here that the debacle wouldn’t affect them, meaning Heinz products would continue to be sold in Tesco’s Irish stores. Put another way, we’ll be paying the higher Heinz prices that Tesco is shielding the UK consumer from.
What can we infer from this? That we’re seen as a soft touch internationally? That we’re less likely to complain?
Market research has shown that UK consumers tend to put price considerations first whereas Irish consumers tend to be suspicious of cheaper products. Might this explain Tesco’s twin-track approach?
Daragh Cassidy, head of communications at price comparison website Bonkers.ie, believes that one of the factors driving Ireland’s relatively high cost of living is cultural, namely our awkwardness around complaining, demanding a better service or shopping around to seek out better value.
“Irish people have a morbid fear of being seen as tight-fisted,” he says. “If we were like the Germans, prices here would be lower…Would they be as low as Germany? No, because there are other reasons why prices are high but that cultural thing of not wanting to make a fuss when money is concerned, not wanting to complain when the service is bad, has an impact.”
Which direction are house prices going?
“Businesses know then they can charge a premium because we’re not as laser-focused on price as consumers in other countries,” Cassidy says.
His pushover thesis has a definite ring of truth to it. That said, there are some hard data points underpinning living costs here.
While VAT – at 23 per cent – is high, it’s not massively out of kilter with other countries. In contrast, the excise duty loaded on alcohol is. A bottle of wine attracts over €3 in excise duty, €6 in the case of sparkling, the highest rate in the EU.
Despite the adoption of renewables, electricity costs are also among the highest in Europe. The banking sector and its dwindling set of participants also charge a premium on lending and have done so since the 2008 financial crash on the rather spurious notion that the Irish market is a riskier proposition than its European peers. Irish consumers can expect to pay at least €80,000 more than their European counterparts on a €300,000 mortgage over 30 years.
High insurance costs, which the industry blames on big payouts, also play a role.
The boss of Ireland’s largest hotel chain, Dalata, last week blamed rising hotel room rates on pent-up demand in the wake of the pandemic and the refugee crisis. Dermot Crowley said the market was experiencing “a period of exceptional pent-up post-pandemic demand at a time when supply is temporarily reduced as a direct consequence of the war in Ukraine”.
Public criticism of hotels over their room rates has grown in recent weeks amid reports that weekend room rates of €300-€400 per night were being charged by modest hotels in Dublin. Whether Crowley is right or wrong, senior Government figures have been drawn in. Tánaiste Leo Varadkar warned the hospitality sector that any evidence of price gouging could result in the Government opting to restore the higher rate of VAT for the sector in 2023.
You might deem staggered prices for drinks in a pub or nightclub over the course of a night, now the norm in some Dublin venues, a form of price gouging.
You might also wonder why leaving it late to book an airline ticket comes with such a financial penalty when the product is the same. Airlines blame it on their algorithms. It goes unchallenged.
In the US there are laws against price gouging, which presuppose definitions of what exorbitant or excessive pricing is. We seem to make a lot of noise about excessive pricing without ever going after it legally.
In Scandinavian countries workers tend to be much better organised. A few of them don’t have minimum wage laws because they are unnecessary.
Unions are organised across whole sectors of industry and are able to secure excellent wages, even for people doing jobs that would be paid terribly here, like fast food workers.