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?!

It’s always a strange relationship between locals and tourists in a tourist place. On one hand you are very aware that part of the prosperity of your home is because of the tourists. (Although I personally do not work in an area which is even vaguely tourism related.) A lot of the facilities of the city are tourist related. But they don’t half fuck it up. And so many seem to have no comprehension whatsoever that this is a place where people live and work and try to get their kids to school

This ^ I don't work in tourism and most people I know don't but we still have to cope with the impact without any direct benefit. Those that are outraged by us getting a modest discount on a pint of beer or loaf of bread don't seem to be considering that. It seems a bit petty to me.

Those of you confidently stating that locals are being given a discount rather than tourists paying extra. How do you know? Where has the OP explicitly stated that?

I imagine that is what’s happening, and it wouldn’t bother me if it was that way round, but right now (at least at the time I’m typing this!) we don’t know either way.

I’ll never understand why people make up their own narratives and state them as fact, but I see it a lot on here .

Well I think the prices should be the same OP.

@NitrousOxide

Do you really think shops are going round saying "well the price on the shelf might be £5 but because you're a tourist you have to pay £7"?

Of course not. The price on the shelf will be £5 which is what the vast majority of people will be charged. However those who have a locals discount card will benefit from paying a little less - just like students, NHS workers etc. often benefit from receiving discounts too.

It’s always a strange relationship between locals and tourists in a tourist place.

Definitely. There is a bit of an attitude on this thread that locals shouldn't get any benefit of living in a high-tourist area and that they should be grateful the tourists are there in the first place!

My job doesn't really depend on tourism a great deal and tbh my life would probably be much easier if I didn't have to deal with thousands of cars clogging up the roads when I'm trying to get to and from work!

In all honesty I'm not sure that any section of society ought to be getting discounts. Does NHS discount include doctors? Don't get me wrong, they deserve what they get paid, but they are not the section of society who might struggle to buy groceries. Even other NHS workers, who are less well paid, might still be earning more than a shopper who is paying full price.
Some students are really poor, but others have tons of cash. Same with OAPs.
It seems wrong to arbitrarily allow some people to pay less, with no real knowledge about their personal circumstances.

Seeing this thread reminded me that on a few occasions supermarkets appear to have different prices for the same items depending on where in the country they are.

And we seem happy to pay varying amounts for petrol with no real explanation as to why.

I'm not sure why people are so against discounting. It's no different to putting things on sale at random points through the year.

My job doesn't really depend on tourism

Are you sure about that? You may not have direct involvement with tourists, but would your job be safe if there was a general downturn in your town due to lack of tourists? The ripple effects can be quite astonishing.

I used to live in a prosperous seaside town. In the 70s/80s when people started shunning the seaside for Spain etc., our local town completely imploded. Shops, banks, accountants, solicitors, estate agents, light industry, the local newspaper, etc., all closed down over a decade or so leaving one hell of a vacuum. We even lost our town's hospital. Even now 50 years on, there's still no sign of recovery - low house prices, crap schools, High Street with only tattoo shops, charity shops etc, two derelict industrial estates.

Even other NHS workers, who are less well paid, might still be earning more than a shopper who is paying full price.

My bugbear too. Around here, it's the NHS workers who are well paid compared to other locals - average wage locally is well under £20k. Yet they still get NHS discounts in local shops which seems strange. I can fully understand it in big cities where NHS wages are far too low, but in lots of areas, it's the NHS workers who are the well paid, living in the nice areas, etc.

Blimey. Given the impact on people's lives, NHS workers might generally be considered underpaid. Morally I think nurses / midwives / junior doctors etc SHOULD earn more than a call centre rep / shop worker / factory manager etc. It's better to see it as a bonus for NHS staff not being paid even more via taxation rather than begrudging them a few pennies off their milk.

My job doesn't really depend on tourism

This is getting off the point of the topic a bit but in my case, yes absolutely my job doesn't. The small community I live in has changed beyond all recognition because of tourism over a couple of generations - schools and local shops have shut because there isn't the resident population to keep them open. Still we do have a lot of jobs available cleaning holiday cottages so I suppose that's something to be grateful for

schools and local shops have shut

They're shutting all over the place, not just in tourist areas. There are hundreds of villages that have no tourism at all, but which have lost their shops, schools, GP surgeries, etc over the past 20 years as the younger generation have moved away to bigger towns/cities for work.

I live in Cornwall and can honestly say I've not seen it happening here

I reckon you’re just being charged the grockle rate!

No, sashkin... I'm not. Really I'm not.

1. I'm not in that bit of Cornwall
2. It's emmets, not grockles.

Seems to me that the situation was "Happily paying what the shop asked for their goods until the discovery that someone else might be paying less" -- and at that point it became disgusting.

Somebody is probably paying less for every single thing I buy. I could spend my life feeling indignant about it, or I could just get on with things and not get upset about something which is a fact, like someone always feeling they have to tell me that the clocks being moved an hour means they get an hour more daylight when it does no such thing. The only person who is worse off if I get upset is me, as a rule.

Asking, that's not a meaningful analogy though, is it? The clocks just go back and forward for everyone. Certain shops deliberately charge more money to people who are (or who they perceive as) outsiders.

Has the OP been back to say exactly how this differential pricing is operated?

Is it that shop prices are shown at the higher price, with discounts offered for locals,

OR are there 2 shelf-edge prices?

OR are prices shown as the lower for locals but surcharged at the till for outsiders?

The first is absolutely fine, but I don't think the latter two would be legal.

Are you sure about that? You may not have direct involvement with tourists, but would your job be safe if there was a general downturn in your town due to lack of tourists?

My local town has actually suffered due to tourism. I live just outside the National Park and as a result my hometown is totally neglected. The council gives not one shite about us anymore because we're not in the National Park and don't make them any money.

The town I work in is never going to see a lack of tourists - it's one of the biggest tourist towns in the country. However that doesn't mean locals don't suffer as a result. House prices have skyrocketed meaning people can't afford to buy homes in the towns they've lived in all their lives - second homes and rental properties have every ability to kill a town dead in the off-season. Tourism is very much a double-edged sword in that respect. The benefits don't always outweigh the positives.

*the benefits don't always outweigh the negatives.

Tourism is very much a double-edged sword

Indeed, it affects different places in different ways. Our village is thriving because of tourism. We still have some shops (post office, newsagents, 2 convenience stores, a bakery, a butchers), a couple of pubs, a couple of takeaways and a couple of restaurants, plus a school, 3 churches, a GP surgery, a garage, a garden centre, some cafes and some light industry. A village about 5 miles away of similar size but without any tourism has lost all it's amenities - not a single shop left.

As a historical quirk of fate, we have a couple of large caravan/camp sites adjacent to the village - a mix of seasonal and holiday accommodation. Some people rent for 1/2 weeks at a time during the holiday season, others who own, come every weekend virtually throughout the year as a weekend holiday home from Northern cities such as Manchester and Leeds. Because there are amenities for the caravan/campers, there are also an increasing number of homes being let for holidays too.

There's absolutely no doubt whatsoever, they keep the shops, takeaways and restaurants in business - that has a knock on effect of providing amenities and employment to the locals which keeps other local amenities.

We all know it's a knife edge situation - all it needs is for a few of the shops/takeaways/restaurants to close down and there'd be the knock on effect of fewer tourists meaning even fewer amenities meaning less work for locals, etc. I've not met one local who doesn't want the tourists as we all know what life would be like without them and it wouldn't be pretty! But, equally, we all know that too many houses converted to holiday homes would reduce the number of locals living and working 365 days of the year.

Luckily, we're in equilibrium at the moment.

Lots of places aren't in equilibrium though.

Without being outing, I work in Ambleside. Only one of my nine co-workers lives in the village - nobody else can afford to. We all commute upto an hour each way to get to and from work because house prices in the village are just unaffordable for people earning just above minimum wage.

Most houses here are owned by retired folk who bought years ago, or are second homes for people, or are holiday lets.

The tourists certainly don't keep the town afloat though they might like to think they do. It's the dependable locals who need bread, milk, a cafe to get a nice slice of cake and etc. on a drizzly day in February that keep things going for most businesses. Tourists aren't going to come here in the off-season - they're only interested when the weather is good on a Bank Holiday.

Too right the locals should benefit from being loyal customers - they're the ones who turn up no matter what the weather or time of year because they live and work here all year round. The little independent shops and cafes wouldn't survive without them.

The little independent shops and cafes wouldn't survive without them.

But would they survive without tourism? What other jobs would there be for the locals if tourism suddenly stopped?

Tourism is very much a double-edged sword

Absolutely.

As mentioned upthread, I’m currently visiting the UK from another EU CPI try, staying in Cornwall. I’m paying £1,200/week to rent a house that would cost c. £500k to buy. The average annual income around here is well under £20k. Jobs in the village all almost entirely linked to tourists- pubs, shop, surf school, boat rental, a small ferry, holiday home cleaners and maintenance people.

It’s a vicious circle. Children of local people can’t afford to move back to the village they grew up in. Anyone who owns a property that they wish to sell will get the best price from a developer who wants to use it as a holiday home. Residents need the tourist who are pricing their children out, but need the income themselves from tourism-related jobs.

On the flip side, I’d hate to think what the village would be like without tourism. It’s bustling, but I’d imagine the winters are tough and the local shop has to rely on not pissing local customers off during the summer.

I absolutely do not begrudge them saving 10p on their carton of milk in August if it means things are a little easier for everyone in January.

Yes, I think they would. Ambleside isn't actually an especially touristy town in the traditional respect.

I don't know how it works. When I overheard the local prices comment, the atmosphere in the shop seemed to change. Time seemed to briefly stand still. There was an air of awkwardness as it was obvious that I would have heard what was said. A pregnant pause, if you like. The other customer looked at me rather smugly. I was taken by surprise as it had all seemed pleasant until then. I paid up and left - I should have asked, but I was a bit taken aback, and am typically constrained by politeness or perhaps over-politeness.