Consumer Products

Products sure are expensive here! Australia is an island, and protects its economy and well being very heavily. We’ve all heard the arguments in the US about keeping jobs local, and this is exactly what Australia does.

EVERYTHING is manufactured in Australia. If it isn’t manufactured and produced here it is very expensive. The tariffs on imports are very high to discourage importing. Because of this, the most common cars you will see on the road are Holden and Ford (produced in Australia). The products that we are used to seeing in the states such as Palmolive soaps, Coca-Cola and other bottled beverages, beers, Rubbermaid Tupperware, Colgate toothpaste and more are all produced in Australia. The produce and meats are all grown and farmed in Australia. Get the idea?

When shopping, the giant supermarkets and grocery stores that we are used to seeing at home are almost non-existent. Most Australians will go to the local butcher for meats, the local baker for breads, the local produce stand for fruits and veggies, and even the local news agency for the morning paper. Most of these stands are family owned, and just like Cheers, everyone knows your name. The people who own these storefronts are always very friendly and will make every effort to learn who you are, what you like and how they can help you personally. It’s quite a nice change from home; however we can see how the convenience of one giant super store is appealing.

The local bakers are my favourite so far, as they always have treats which are very cheap compared to everything else we eat. You can buy a pie (not a dessert, but a meat, potato, curry, etc pie), a spiced roll, a croissant, and other bread treats which are hard to explain such as cheese and onion sticks. You can purchase a pie, which is a nice quick snack while waiting for the bus, for about $2.30 on average.

Most other products are bought and sold similar to America. In the large shopping centres you have electronics stores, bed/bath stores, mobile phone stores, watch/jewellery stores etc. The one difference is the malls also have grocery stores, bakers, butchers, libraries, post offices, etc. Also the Department of Transport (DMV) is located in a shopping centre, you will find insurance and medicare centres in shopping malls, and the food courts are so expensive it’s not funny.

American products are so covered with warnings, ingredients, cautions, approvals etc. it’s amazing that products aren’t more expensive considering all of the lawyers and specialists they have to pay. In Australia you don’t see all of this. People are expected to take some responsibility for themselves, because it is common sense that eating an entire roll of toothpaste could be bad for your health and that you should keep Lysol out of the reach of children. America is too damn lawyer happy, and everything needs to be accompanied by a warning. Tonight take a look at the back of a tube of toothpaste – it’s ridiculous! In Australia the backside is covered with more marketing material to make you want to buy this one over that one. One thing that I do find interesting is their way of trying to stop drunk driving. Every bottle of alcohol has a symbol that claims “1.4 Standard Drinks”, for a bottle of beer. A bottle of liquor will be something like 21. Their rule of thumb out here is that you can have 2 standard drinks in the first hour, but you must only drink one standard drink every hour after that before driving.

One of my favourite things is in relation to sales tax. Though sales tax is a bit much over here (10%), the tax is ALWAYS included in the price that you see. When something on the shelf says $2.20, they register actually charges you $2.20! What a novel idea. This isn’t just on retail products, but on service such as haircuts and oil changes as well. The price you see is the exact price you pay, every time. Also, in the last 10 years or so they have completely gotten rid of pennies (or 1 cent pieces) so very few things end in 99 cents. If your total does come to an odd number, they round it to the closest nickel. However, they don’t understand the words nickel, dime or penny – simply 1 cent 5 cent and 10 cent pieces.

Some of the stores they have here are copies of what we have back home, using the same logo, look and feel of the shop but with a different name. The one that comes to mind is Repco (an AutoZone replica) and SuperCheap Auto (a Checker Auto replica).

So I’m sure there’s more, but this post is quite lengthy and I can’t think of anything else at the moment. Hope you enjoyed it!