Some Minor Annoyances with New York City

"sechumlib" wrote in message
...
googled wrote:
"sechumlib" wrote in message
...

Tashi wrote:


it sucks when you go to buy a stamp for the post price of .50c and you

have

to pay .54c because of GST. or you get your haircut and you have to pay

GST

and PST on it!!

Well, I can see why that's so annoying for stamps. In the US, we don't
pay tax on them.

However, to talk about ".50c" in any meaningful way is impossible. That
would be half a cent. Fifty cents is "50c".


The "c" in ".50c" is to indicate Canadian currency not cents. Otherwise
people would assume USA currency.

I stand by my original statement.

O'tay. In the USA 50 cents is designated by 50¢, not 50c.

googled wrote:


The "c" in ".50c" is to indicate Canadian currency not cents. Otherwise
people would assume USA currency.


At last a humble Canadian who uses a small 'c' to identify Canadian currency.
Thought I'd never see the day. (cough) Nex

carrigman wrote:

1. Why can't the marked prices on things include the NYC sales tax?
It's annoying when you see something for sale for, say, 9.99 only to
find you have to pay an additional 8% or whatever extra. In Europe
the marked price is inclusive of all taxes. NYC should catch up.

That's not a New York thang; it's the norm in the USA.

2. How come there are so few internet cafes? I eventually happened on
one, by sheer chance, in West 33rd Street.

We don't need 'em. I have yet to find a public library that does not
allow access, gratis. I'll be using one at Lake Tahoe in a couple of
weeks. Photocopy places usually have machines for hire.

3. What's with all the honking? If traffic is held up for an instant
there is a cacophany of car horns being sounded.

"New York, New York, it' a helluva town." They do that to entertain
tourists and to assure them that they're no longer in Kansas, Patagonia,
or Tuscany.

Old story:
Lil' ol' woman nearing curb. Car waiting to make right turn. Car behind
leans on horn. Driver of first car takes car keys to honking driver and
says "Here, you run her over".

Again, not something one hears in most European cities.

You must be quite young. In the post-war years, Europeans drove with
their horns. Here's an excerpt from "Driving in Italy" at the site at
Right in the sig: http://geocities.com/iconoc/Articles/ItalDRIVE.html

Horn-tooting seems to be a thing of the past. Time was when
Italians, as well as other Europeans, drove with their horns. No more.
In the horn-tooting days, pedestrians crossed streets at great risk.
That's also no longer the case even in mid-block. They were consistently
polite, tolerant, and patient.

not something one hears in most European cities.

Yeah. 'Cause there are strictly-enforced laws with hefty fines. The
cacophony that was ain't no more.
__________________________________________________ _________________
A San Franciscan who's visited 49 of 50 US states.
http://geocities.com/dancefest/ - http://geocities.com/iconoc/
ICQ: http://wwp.mirabilis.com/19098103 --- IClast at SFbay Net

googled wrote:

"sechumlib" wrote in message
...

I stand by my original statement.


O'tay. In the USA 50 cents is designated by 50¢, not 50c.

And it's 50¢, not .50¢ as was in the original posting.

sechumlib a écrit:

WHICH states? I don't know of any. Canada, yes.

Louisiana. Ithought there where others.

carrigman wrote:
A brilliant city and a great place to visit but....

1. Why can't the marked prices on things include the NYC sales tax? It's
annoying when you
see something for sale for, say, 9.99 only to find you have to pay an
additional 8% or whatever
extra. In Europe the marked price is inclusive of all taxes. NYC should
catch up.

It's not the custom, and, as others have pointed out, not everyone has
to pay the tax.


2. How come there are so few internet cafes? I eventually happened on one,
by sheer chance, in
West 33rd Street. In European cities they are plentiful. One would have
thought that with the
amount of visitors to NYC there would be a ready market for many more of
them in the city.

There are more than you think, but you must have your own computer to
use most of them. All Starbucks, Barnes and Noble, and Borders
bookstores have WiFi for a fee; most of the smaller city parks have
free WiFi; NY Public Libraries have computers and some have WiFi. And
some of the smaller bookstores.


3. What's with all the honking? If traffic is held up for an instant there
is a cacophany of car horns
being sounded. Again, not something one hears in most European cities.

I've heard a lot of horns in London, Paris and Rome.

Larry

PeterL wrote:

It's the western travelers' inability to bargain. The posted cost of
an item is never the final price of an item.

In the US (and also in Canada, as far as I can tell), the posted cost IS
usually the final price. There are exceptions, and I know that. I'm
speaking of the general trend of commerce.

On Sun, 23 Oct 2005, sechumlib wrote:

In the US (and also in Canada, as far as I can tell), the posted cost IS
usually the final price. There are exceptions, and I know that. I'm
speaking of the general trend of commerce.

In Canada, sales tax is almost never included in the posted price.

--
Yves Bellefeuille
Google users: To reply to posts, click "show options" next to the
poster's name, and then click "Reply" in the line that says:
"Reply | Reply to Author | Forward | Print | Individual Message"

Larry wrote:

carrigman wrote:

A brilliant city and a great place to visit but....

1. Why can't the marked prices on things include the NYC sales tax? It's
annoying when you
see something for sale for, say, 9.99 only to find you have to pay an
additional 8% or whatever
extra. In Europe the marked price is inclusive of all taxes. NYC should
catch up.


It's not the custom, and, as others have pointed out, not everyone has
to pay the tax.


2. How come there are so few internet cafes? I eventually happened on one,
by sheer chance, in
West 33rd Street. In European cities they are plentiful. One would have
thought that with the
amount of visitors to NYC there would be a ready market for many more of
them in the city.


There are more than you think, but you must have your own computer to
use most of them. All Starbucks, Barnes and Noble, and Borders
bookstores have WiFi for a fee; most of the smaller city parks have
free WiFi; NY Public Libraries have computers and some have WiFi. And
some of the smaller bookstores.


3. What's with all the honking? If traffic is held up for an instant there
is a cacophany of car horns
being sounded. Again, not something one hears in most European cities.


I've heard a lot of horns in London, Paris and Rome.

Larry



Almost everyone does have to pay. If the goods are being shipped out of
state then the receiving state collects their taxes. If you manage to
lie to evade taxes you can end up in prison. Ask Koslovsky.

B Vaughan wrote:

On Sat, 22 Oct 2005 12:51:57 GMT, Rita wrote:

On Sat, 22 Oct 2005 13:19:34 +0100, "carrigman"
wrote:

1. Why can't the marked prices on things include the NYC sales tax?

Many "rational" reasons have been stated and I can think of at least two
more possible explanations.

1. National (or cross state) advertising was invented before local sales
taxes. If not, national [retailers] would, I bet, still advertise their
national prices for NoiceMaker DDR Robust at $99.99 +[local] tax. Local
advertisers could follow or not. I think tey would.

2. This is an explanation for people with 2+ years of graduate studies.
Business people are too dumb to invent a method to redistribute the
sales revenues earned when advertised at price including geometrically
averaged and harmonized locally different taxes among stores the way
they had been earned when advertised at taxfree price + tax.

2. How come there are so few internet cafes? I eventually happened on
one,
by sheer chance, in
West 33rd Street.

New York real estate rental prices are astronomical and the modest
Internet
cafes seen in many places in Europe could not make it here. Those
that do exist often are located off the beaten track in areas where
rents are not so high.

There are quite a few in my neighborhood in Astoria, Queens, I'd say
a dozen or so within a 10 block radius of my home. But rents here are
far cheaper than in Manhattan.

Something that tourists may not realize is that almost any copy center
(e.g. Kinkos) has computers for hire. The price is a bit exorbitant,
probably because of the high rent Rita cites, but there are lots of
copy centers around. You should never be far from a computer.

How a set of seat and computer can cover rents in a copy center but not
in a cafe? Is the price exorbitant when it is higher than the value of
service *to you*? Might it be that internet/computer services bundle
nicely with teh services of a copy center but not a cafe?

There used to be more internet cafes than there are now, but many of
them went broke. For one thing, the demand is lower than it used to
be. What with cell phones, Blackberries, Palms and Wifi, not as many
people need them to keep in touch.

Internet cafe is a naturally born bad idea. Because of fast
technological development and declining tech prices, early entrants
cannot generate enough cash flow to cover investments. For the same
reason customer base evaporates fast (people can own theis own) as B.V.
has noted. It can even be stated that internet cafes are a sign of
economic and technical backwardness of a country.


3. What's with all the honking? If traffic is held up for an instant
there is a cacophany of car horns
being sounded. Again, not something one hears in most European
cities.

Ah yes. There is no rational explanation for this I'm afraid. It is
purely a New York thing and a most annoying one.

The first time I took my kids to New York City (over 20 years ago), my
eight-year-old daughter saw a sign which threatened a $50 fine for
honking. She asked me, "Is that a joke?"

It mgfht be practiced and tolerated. Figure the chain.

Ilkka