It’s bloody annoying.
The typical wage for wait staff in Taiwan is a fraction of what staff in Western countries get. The wholesale cost of the product is pretty reasonable in Taiwan (reflected in 7-11 prices).
So why is it on a par or regularly more expensive to buy a drink in Taiwan than say the US, Canada, Oz and NZ?
The ironic correcting factor I find is taking a taxi home in Taiwan is pittance, vs in a western country.
Rent is crazy expensive in Taipei in any good location.
I used to think a liquor license, was a license to print money.
If you’re going out to a popular pub on a weekend, you get the idea that they’re raking in the bucks. That’s not always the case. Not every pub is popular, and not every day is on a weekend.
Also, I’m guessing that the drinks sold per customer is lower in Taiwan than in many other countries.
Ah Huang’s not as silly as he appears. He sends along his kids and relatives to fry your brain with frustration through your working day leaving your tongue screaming for a drop of home, and then shafts you mightily for the pleasure.
HG
The average price of a bottle of Corona in a pub is around NT$150. I could easily drink 8 - 10 a night because it’s basically diluted donkey piss. So, an evening out, without food, would easily come to between NT$1200 - 1500 and I used to do it nightly. :s
buy one beer, then restock from the capacious bag at your feet that you have previously filled with the same brand from costco or even 7-11.
i too object to paying NYC prices for a shoddy warm ale.
And we wonder why drinks are the prices they are…
Go to one of those 7-11s with a table outside, and make that your drinking venue!
is this a trick question? because they know they’ve got a captive market, and you’re willing to pay those prices. cha-ching!
comrade k: you’re not suggesting that I do that are you? that was a suggestion form me to you, not an admission.
i’m FAR too genteel for that kind of underhand undertable behaviour.
i just drink at home, but still from a brown paper bag. sometimes i share it with the pigeons.
Expensive? Damn… I thought it was quite affordable here, but then again, I don’t drink beer so…
Cider isn’t exactly cheap in the few places that sells it though, but I think KGB is going to be my new drinking hangout, the Cider they have is first class and I wish more places here would sell it, i.e. actual bars/night clubs…
Because you need more of it?
Of course not, u. Thanks for the suggestion. I’ll remember that the next time I’m standing outside my favorite pub with a bag full of beers wondering why the door is locked and there’s a for rent sign on the door… 
Please get the Spanish right. It’s [color=#0040BF]‘burro [/color]piss’. 
So lets do the math. 120NT a bottle or US$4, which is about 2 quid. Hmm anyone remember the last time you could get a beer in London for 2 quid even in the convenience store (Skol doesn’t count). :fume:
Yeah, but get paid stacks more cash in Engerlan.
S’all good; just don’t put yer credit card behind the bar…
I specifically didn’t mention the UK because the prices for everything there are the exception, and as mentioned the wages make up for it.
But anyway, going to your example. Lets do the math.
These days, it’s pretty difficult to find a beer for 120 in Taiwan. Take a Corona for example. At Carnegies it’s around 200nt now. Brass Monkey is around 170nt.
7-11 is about 50-60 nt, and that is after margins. Wait staff are getting about 100nt an hour in Taiwan, in the UK I have no idea, but it must be something like 8-10 quid? So using the wait staff model, in the Uk you’re paying about half the total of an hourly staff rate, say 4-5 quid. In Taiwan, it’s relatively 3-4 times as much.
I know it’s a simplistic view, but a worker’s wage is a reasonable indicator of relative costs. I accept rent may be high here, but surely not higher than somewhere like the UK - but even so, some of the hole in the wall joints I have been to in heartland Taiwan charge pretty close to Taipei prices, even if the pub is a glorified shipping container on someone’s paddock.
Now, what has glorified apple juice that good Belgian beers don’t have … :eh: 
Its more than twice that in Dubai
[quote=“Truant”]
These days, it’s pretty difficult to find a beer for 120 in Taiwan. Take a Corona for example. At Carnegies it’s around 200nt now. Brass Monkey is around 170nt.
7-11 is about 50-60 nt, and that is after margins. Wait staff are getting about 100nt an hour in Taiwan, in the UK I have no idea, but it must be something like 8-10 quid? So using the wait staff model, in the Uk you’re paying about half the total of an hourly staff rate, say 4-5 quid. In Taiwan, it’s relatively 3-4 times as much.
I know it’s a simplistic view, but a worker’s wage is a reasonable indicator of relative costs. I accept rent may be high here, but surely not higher than somewhere like the UK - but even so, some of the hole in the wall joints I have been to in heartland Taiwan charge pretty close to Taipei prices, even if the pub is a glorified shipping container on someone’s paddock.[/quote]
I guess it’s because many Taiwanese bar-goers don’t drink much. Go to an average UK pub and the punters will be sinking back the pints, meaning more profit for the bar. Many Taiwanese on the other hand will sit in the bar for hours and only drink one drink, so the laoban had to make all his profit out of that one drink.
By the same token, Taiwanese ‘all you can drink’ type pricing is relatively common and cheap. The bar can still make money because most locals will not drink much. In the UK such offers are a recipe for carnage.
Yeah, well I have been to pubs in Sweden too, and good gawd there is a reason the swedes make regular trips to other countries to buy their booze. 