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AIBU?

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Original poster

To think that shops charging non-locals higher prices is not on?

391 replies

BBInGinDrinking · 01/09/2019 15:34

We're on a family holiday staying in a rural coastal cottage in the UK and have been doing all our grocery shopping at the local stores in the nearest villages. I discovered on the last visit to a general store in one village that they have two sets of prices - lower ones for locals and higher ones for visitors.

Who knew?! Is this a thing?!

OP posts:
adaline · 03/09/2019 05:56

I don't understand the resentment. I don't know anyone with a second home anywhere

Just because you don't know someone with one, it doesn't mean they don't exist!

Go to a popular tourist town somewhere like Cumbria, Devon or Cornwall and most properties are either second homes or holiday homes - of course locals are pissed off. They're priced out of their home town by people who are only there a few weeks a year and whose houses stand empty the rest of the time. They push the property prices up for everyone else and force locals to buy further and further afield - increasing commuting times and road traffic because actually most tourist areas have little to no public transport available to anyone who actually lives there.

Tourism might have its benefits but it also has huge negative connotations to the people whose lives get disrupted by it.

adaline · 03/09/2019 06:04

You move away from home to make money and return home to buy.

That only works if there are homes available to buy! Most standard property where I am rarely ever goes in sale - unless you have millions in the bank, that is. The normal cottages and terraces are either owned by rental companies or the local council - there isn't anywhere for locals to actually buy unless they have half a million to spare.

If you live in a tourist-heavy area you're not likely to earn a great wage - retail, hospitality and tourism are all notoriously low-paid professions with anti-social hours. Unless you manage to work your way up to be an area manager somewhere, you're not going to be earning mega-bucks.

Nobody is saying that tourism has no benefits - but it does have massive downsides too. If you only see somewhere during tourist season you have absolutely no idea what living there is actually like for the locals the other nine months of the year. Ambleside in tourist season is virtually unrecognisable from Ambleside in the off season.

sashh · 03/09/2019 06:58

I once mentioned this and was told it doesn't exist.

Some places abroad used to (maybe still do) charge different prices to different visitors.

It's fair enough, holiday places have to make as much money as possible from visitors in the summer. Tourists subsidising the local shops allow them to open all year and might make the difference between them opening at all and closing.

You will be paying more for your cottage than a local renting long term too.

PreseaCombatir · 03/09/2019 07:02

I name and shame the dart ford crossing.
They charge me a higher price than those living in dartford, and it’s diabo

ShirleyPhallus · 03/09/2019 07:16

In London, if you get an Oyster card (for travel) at any station, or machine, you pay a refundable deposit for it. Those who land and buy one at an airport are sold one with a 'tourist tax' as the £4-5 can't be refunded.

@DianaT1969 no one should need to buy an Oyster card, using contactless is cheaper and easier

PreseaCombatir · 03/09/2019 07:21

what about for monthly/weekly travel cards?

Loopytiles · 03/09/2019 07:25

I don’t think this is OK.

It put me off buying from street stalls in NYC, eg fruit, baked goods, drinks and smoothies: prices often weren’t advertised or we would be charged much more than the stated price and told it was “tax” (much more extra than was charged in shops).

ShirleyPhallus · 03/09/2019 07:50

@PreseaCombatir I assume if someone was a tourist they wouldn’t need a weekly card but it’s still cheaper to use contactless, oyster automatically caps it for you so if you go over the cost of a weekly travel card, you don’t get charged anything more. It’s really good, much better to use contactless than oyster.

ConcreteUnderpants · 03/09/2019 07:50

Have to agree with the comments about North wales. Although beautiful and my birth place, the racism (anti-English) is appalling and rife.

The pubs, the shops... Even now they talk in Welsh when they know non-Welsh speakers are about.
I'm fluent but don't have an accent, so have experienced this many times. It's appalling and I'm glad the tourists have no idea what is being said.

PreseaCombatir · 03/09/2019 07:56

Shirley I was asking about myself, I knew it capped for daily trips, but didn’t realise it capped over a week/month.

MrsCollinssettled · 03/09/2019 07:57

OP you are obviously sufficiently well off to be buying things without needing to check whether you can afford it first, so why begrudge a local person getting a discount?

adaline · 03/09/2019 08:26

Thinking about it, surely it's no different to loyalty cards in places like Waterstones or Cafe Nero? Where you buy 9 coffees or whatever and get the tenth free - that's essentially the same as getting a 10% discount for continued loyalty.

Why is it okay for big chains to offer benefits to their loyal customers but not for independent shops in tourist hotspots?

I also notice nobody kicking off has answered - if your favourite cafe or shop started offering you 10% loyalty/locals discount for going so often, would you all insist on paying the full price to "make it fair"?

manicmij · 03/09/2019 08:52

Yellowellies. Years since I have been to Wales and that happened then in all the shops and pubs so nothing has changed. As for the tourist tax loads of countries have this. Scottish Government has been discussing applying one very recently. The tax in other countries goes toward the cost of maintaining the infrastructure a d services needed for tourism - allegedly!

Kazzyhoward · 03/09/2019 08:54

However, no way would I shop in a shop that charged tourists more than locals!

How is that different from a shop that gives discounts to NHS workers or Uni students????

sashh · 03/09/2019 08:55

I've just remembered when I lived in Oxford the local theatre gave discounts to NHS staff. You couldn't get it for things like comedians on tour but for ballet and opera and plays.

ConcreteUnderpants · 03/09/2019 09:51

Years since I have been to Wales and that happened then in all the shops and pubs so nothing has changed.

I hate it, manicmij and because it is just done out of racism and spite.

Out of interest, do any of you do the same thing...whatever language you're introduced to someone in is the language you will forever speak to them in?
Resulting in conversation where A speaks to B in Welsh, but C in English, B speaks to C in English but to D in Welsh who then will translate to his English wife. Yet you are all speaking the same conversation!
Always felt very sorry for the non-Welsh partners having to have this translated!

IamaBluebird · 03/09/2019 10:25

Was in a pub in North Wales , a large group of English customers were told, well at least you're English and not from South Wales Smile

Aderyn19 · 03/09/2019 11:36

Maybe there is a difference between charging less than something would normally cost, to people whose loyalty you would like to reward and deliberately inflating a price because the customer is a tourist.
'Free 10th coffee' cards for Costa etc are different because they are available to every customer and it's a matter of choice to use it or not.

adaline · 03/09/2019 11:42

'Free 10th coffee' cards for Costa etc are different because they are available to every customer and it's a matter of choice to use it or not.

Okay, what if a local cafe put in a system like that then? Every ten coffees free, or in a shop - keep your receipt and we'll give you 10% off your next bill. It would still mainly benefit locals.

It's the same discount but somehow one is acceptable and the other isn't?

Kazzyhoward · 03/09/2019 11:50

Free 10th coffee' cards for Costa etc are different because they are available to every customer and it's a matter of choice to use it or not.

If a holiday home owner shopped there often enough, they'd become a regular and get the "locals" discount.

NHS and Uni student discount cards aren't a reward for being a regular customer - they're just as discriminatory as a local's discount so why aren't people complaining against those too?

Aderyn19 · 03/09/2019 13:19

adaline one is acceptable and the other not because one doesn't specifically exclude anyone, even though in practise a tourist is unlikely to benefit.

Kazzy, I did say up thread that I don't agree with the NHS/student discount thing, since well paid doctors don't need help to pay for their shopping.

If a packet of chic biscuits cost £1.50 and that's the true, genuine price then I think it's more acceptable to charge say £1.30 to locals if the shop owner is do inclined. But imo it would be wrong to charge the locals £1.50 and put the price up to £1.70 for tourists.

sashh · 03/09/2019 13:22

Out of interest, do any of you do the same thing...whatever language you're introduced to someone in is the language you will forever speak to them in?
Resulting in conversation where A speaks to B in Welsh, but C in English, B speaks to C in English but to D in Welsh who then will translate to his English wife. Yet you are all speaking the same conversation!

Yes but my non English Language is BSL, so there is an extra layer that a deaf person cannot learn to hear.

I once had a BSL conversation in a supermarket, with a deaf person, but her small child insisted on interpreting into English for me. It was quite cute.

As a child my parents had a friend who was French, his wife and child did not speak French and when they were on holiday they would go into a bar or restaurant and the friend would hear his family being discussed, their clothes,hair etc.

Then the waiter would come over and friend would engage in a conversation about the details of something on the menu.

adaline · 03/09/2019 13:34

But imo it would be wrong to charge the locals £1.50 and put the price up to £1.70 for tourists

But that's not what's happening...

Aderyn19 · 03/09/2019 13:50

But that's not what's happening...

How do you know? The OP says prices weren't marked on the goods or visibly displayed.

Kazzyhoward · 03/09/2019 14:01

The OP says prices weren't marked on the goods or visibly displayed

The OP says she didn't notice any prices. She never said there were no prices displayed.