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

[BBInGinDrinking]

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?!

I get cheaper entry to sports centres in my Borough.

And they are a public service! Not private like a shop.

Disgusting ill be writing to them about good grotesque discrimination.

I dislike differential pricing but it's everywhere in my (UK) city ... cheap prices for students, for larger groups, for OAPs; cheaper utility tariffs if you can deal online, price-matching for those with the ability to shop around, free delivery if you can bulk buy, M&S offers to card-holders ... just tell me how much it is, one fair price for everybody.

Is this really any different from a loyalty card scheme in a supermarket? The local regular customers support the shop all the year round and get a loyalty discount for doing so. Seems perfectly reasonable to me. The shop can't survive on summer tourist customers alone.

What if shops had different prices for ‘foreigners’ then?

Like the Macy's discount for international visitors?

Or is it OK to offer lower prices to foreigners, but not higher?

Fab idea having lived in a rural community destroyed by 2nd home owners thst now has no shop

Giving locals a discount is perfectly legal so nothing to complain about

This would put me off an area.
This summer I've been to two tourist spots, one of which welcomes tourists and the other noticeably resents them. There is plenty of choice so I won't be back to the one with unfriendly locals. I am sure they won't miss me!

Sorry, no. It’s disgusting

It’s disgusting to acknowledge your loyal, local customer base who shop at your business all year round by charging them marginally less than tourists who maybe do a small holiday shop with you once or twice a year?

I think you need to recalibrate your disgust scale if that is really so unthinkable to you.

Would it be ok to hand out loyalty cards that give e.g. 10% of your previous months spend off a bill? Only locals can take advantage of that too.

I live in a seaside town in Norfolk, we have a resident advantage card which mean when we pay for 1 hour parking we get one or two hours free parking depending on car park. When the ticket prints out it also gives you a discount ticket to be spent in local shops.

The issue is less about the money and more about the message it sends.
The locals seem to be saying: "yes we need you to sustain our tourist industry - bars, restaurants, hotels, caravan parks - but we also resent having you so will charge you more". Not very welcoming, is it?

I think the idea of a 'local' discount is better than a 'tourist' charge....

even though they mean the cost is exactly the same.

I think there's some psychology in there.

People wouldn't complain about locals getting 10% off but would get upset about tourists paying 10% more.

Are you holidaying in Royston Vasey, OP?
Exactly what I thought.

Wow. Surely they can’t know everyone who lives nearby, so how do they determine who is who? This interests me too. And where do they draw the lines –what if, for example, they use accent as a determinant but there's a local who doesn't have a 'local' accent and gets charged as an outsider, and someone who's from somewhere far enough away that they're an outsider, but near enough that they sound like they could be local?

But why do people like tourists.

Because they spend money.

They don't actually like hordes of randoms descending on their towns because they love to meet new people or whatever you are thinking

I don't see this as a problem. I live in a very touristy area and most shops offer a local "discount" in high season. So the price tourists pay is the correct one; it's just that locals are rewarded. I think it's a way of acknowledging that during summer towns can be overcrowded and overrun with traffic which can make things quite inconvenient for local people.

@HandsReachingOut how on Earth is it discrimination?!

Definition of Discrimination: In it's most literal sense, discrimination is the act of making a distinction between one thing and other. ... In the legal sense, discrimination means something different. Discrimination is the unequal or unfair treatment of a person based upon some personal characteristic.

Deliberately charging people two separate prices depending on where they are from is discrimination. Deliberately charging people two separate prices depending on their nationality is discrimination. I was simply stating that their practice is discrimination towards a set group of people and discrimination is illegal in a lot of countries.

I live in Cornwall and have never experienced this 😳

I am not sure how I feel about this right now. I don’t think people on holiday should pay hugger prices but then locals are the ones keeping the shops going all year round even when holiday areas quieten down in the winter. Rather than having different prices maybe a discount scheme for locals?

Saying that a lot of tourists attractions have discounts for locals which I fully agree with.

A lot of places have summer and winter prices though.

People wouldn't complain about locals getting 10% off but would get upset about tourists paying 10% more.

People will complain about anything.

Look at some of the opinions on this thread. Some people have no idea what it’s like to live in a small UK tourist town when the only job you can find is very very seasonal, no ones building any affordable family homes, instead there’s luxury apartments marketed as second homes for non-locals. Businesses closing over the autumn and winter because they can’t sustain themselves once the tourists leave. Services stopping over the same period because there isn’t the same need for a bus route etc.

But the local shop should be worried about the optics of how charging the locals less than tourists lest they seem unwelcoming

I wonder when a local becomes a tourist?

When was the last time anyone in the UK treated the displayed price as the starting point for haggling? An invitation to treat is part of the contractual process, but that's pushing it quite a lot!

One price for locals and another for tourists doesn't show much respect of those visitors who are supporting the local economy.

Indeed choma - what about the local with family visiting from outside the area?

It's sending mixed messages to on the one hand want Brits to holiday in the Uk and on the other charge them more in shops for doing so. Also if you go back to the same place you will see the local shop as expensive and just buy the bare minimum there. It's encouraging people to take city breaks rather than stay in rural places

discount for regulars - sounds fair to me.

How did you find that out?

I can understand some countries 'fleecing' tourists. I remember reading an account of tourist from USA in Tibet whining at being charged more than the locals at a hostel place. Well even the most cash strapped tourist earns scads more than the locals do!!

Not sure how I feel about places like Newquay. However, if it was obvious they hated the tourists (but loved their £££) I would not go there. Yes these places get beseiged by tourists but so does London!!

How can they tell who is local and who is a tourist?!