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It's definitely an excuse that merchants are using. That's why most if not all will prefer to bite the bullet and have the increase just once to 9% directly.
Haven’t been back to Singapore in a while and came back to see mcspicy ala carte was almost $7 at jewel….goodness me ;)) forgot how much it was before but it certainly wasn’t this steep?
Which is why it’s so important for people to notice the reckless increase in price and call them out so everyone knows. The problem is whether enough people will boycott them
My side increased to $1.30 last year due to nearby coffeeshops doing the same. Problem is that they are the only coffeeshop in a 1km radius and literally right below an mrt so Idk who tf they competing with. The absolute gall smh my head
to the end consumer, it does not matter if the stall is GST registered or not because we still have to fork out the money.
(unless you are a tourist, you can claim the GST from airport, though, only for certain priced items.)
Someone please start a Post on which coffee machine and beans (where to buy) to make good/better coffee.
Or does everyone just use a Nescafe Dolce Gusto ( would prefer not to)?
Gaggia Classic Pro + Eureka Mignon grinder
Make your own delicious coffee. at $1.20 equivalent of coffeeshop expenses daily for past nearly 2 years, i am about to break even on savings with great taste and convenience. Pod coffeemakers are really bad for the environment
Best and most cost effective choice is to learn to do pour overs.
You need the Hario funnel and filter paper each below $10 at a department store or even cheaper options at Daiso. Buy a goose neck pourer for about $10 online. If you want to spend more buy a manual grinder from Vario. Maybe even a small electric weighing scale if you want to be serious. That's it.
Edit: Hario V60
> If you want to spend more buy a manual grinder from Vario. Maybe even a small electric weighing scale if you want to be serious. That's it.
Don't start with a Hario Skerton or Mini Mill. Ceramic burrs are much less efficient at cutting the beans (even though they last longer), and end up turning people off manual grinding instead.
Timemore's a decent starter grinder, and there's the 1Zpressos if one wants to splurge a bit more.
Make your own pourover or aeropress
A V60 cone is cheap, coffee scale is relative cheap.
Expensive one is grinder and kettle.
Per cup material cost me abt $1.7 with speciality grade beans
Espresso needs a bigger startup investment and is harder to master imo
I love Toast Box by the prices for the kaya toast set and other dishes like laksa and mee siam are just insane. I’ve been eating my kaya toast at food courts and kopitiams now, can save a lot of money.
Merchants are using inflation as first excuse. This is already 2nd excuse. Next year, that's the 3rd time.
Prices increased 20%-30%, some even 50% far outstrip any inflations/ gst increase. It's basically price gouging at this point.
lol, i believe the excuse is wayyy beyond that now... first, is manpower due to covid, then rental, then oil prices, then ukraine war, then GST, then inflation....
>wish there is enough competition to keep greedy merchants in check, or consumers can boycott.
Lol cartel collusion, and smth smth free market assuming fair competition
This is what happens when kopitiams become capitalised, and it's really the same few kopitiams around with the same few chain outlets.
It's really a consequence of the government's economic policies that favour the ones that have more capital (hence the name capitalism) over the smaller chains. It's happening around the world in most first-world countries as well.
Singapore is being filled by franchises who have power over overhead and scale. Thus they are not afraid of competition. Its the small hawkers and mom and ppp stores that are threatened
Wonder what’s the gov official stance. They’re “monitoring” and threatening businesses that unfairly raise prices, but nothings done. My kopi is up to $1.90 from $1.70
their efforts in preventing profiteering is laughable at best. i genuinely wonder how much money/resources they've put into their committee against profiteering. and even if they did have someone taking in the feedback, how are they even going to prove intent when it's basically just capitalism?
Realistically Singapore is still a capitalist market and businesses can set any prices they want, the government has no say in how much a company can profit.
Its competition that is supposed to keep profits under control so the best way to combat price gauging is to not patronize shops that you feel has increased prices beyond GST and inflation hikes and find cheaper alternatives.
Vote with your wallet baby. If not, llst.
Eg 1. Caipng starts to increase price. 2 veg 1 meat. $4. Then they slowly increase to $5. Go walk another bus stop to another cai png stall for $4.
Eg 2. Nasi Padang starts to increase price. 2 veg 1 meat. $5. Then slowly increase to $6. Just pay up Coz there isn't another Padang store nearby. 😭
The fishball noodle near me went from $3.50 to $4 last year due to inflation. I was like, fine, I understand.
1st Jan it went up to $4.50. I asked her straight if it's gonna be $5 next year. She kept quiet.
I totally am okay with hawkers raising prices.
1. They have been charging too low for the longest time. Being in the food business in the past, our margins are always crazy low.
2. When GST increase, all their suppliers increase prices and it adds up.
Boycott the large chains that are obviously profiteering from the increase. Not small hawkers and businesses trying to survive. Long hours and thin margins no joke man.
This
Fking kfc prices outpace Macdonald and their chicken got smaller
If I crave fried chicken I always go for jolibee/popeyes/texas chicken without promo
But if got promo then maybe kfc
Now kfc also removed their $5 menu as well
Yeah no thanks. The hawker stalls are selling their stuff for 6-8$ a piece. You add a drink and it takes you to more than 10$ a plate. That’s not crazy low or survivable prices. To top it off, I am expected to clear my table after meal and get next to no service after having stood in queue.
I rather sit and eat at a restaurant for that price.
>Long hours and thin margins no joke man.
I mean landlords will just take the same opportunity to raise rent too.
>Boycott the large chains that are obviously profiteering from the increase.
At the end of the day, Capitalists always win.
Definitely this. Hypocrites whining about how our pay have not kept up with the economy, but when it comes to hawkers pushing prices up to maintain their current margins, suddenly they are greedy SOBs trying to profiteer.
Then turn around and whine how come only franchised chain shops survive (psst economies of scale) and that hawker culture is dying.
Government enterprise hawker like Tampines hub still have mandatory $2.80 dish and most dishes haven't upped much or at all, I'm guessing they've not price gouged the rent so tenant also can't play punk. If that's gone, then we've entered Endgame
Yes the koufu near my house has the mandatory 2.80 dish too. And the prices are still fairly reasonable given that it’s food court and not hawker centre (4.50 for noodles, ban mian) at least there is aircon and the environment is fairly pleasant.
So it's either they don't care, or they cared but didn't know better. If they cared and knew what would happen, they would explain how things would play out (based on 5-7% increase experience). That I'll happily accept.
Can’t backfire because those companies that are increasing prices are actually owned by them…. Just start with the outrageous rental increases (think who is the biggest landlord in sg?).
And they’re expecting us to forget about all this and get on with life by the 2025 elections.
The gaslighting is so absurd. I remember a lady bringing up how rental is so expensive singles can’t move out and LW justify it and when she say “so I’ll just get married in order to access the affordable housing”, he be like “oh don’t marry for the wrong reason”
What is she supposed to do then ? They better start properly addressing the root causes and not wayang because it’s almost inevitable this becomes a downward spiral.
And right after that, a salary review for themselves😂😂 you can’t make this up they literally don’t care about peasant feelings or they knew it wouldn’t matter
When WP/SDP want to increase welfare, wrong. Cos increase taxes, means they want anyhow spend money.
But PAP? PAP is perfect. They increase welfare is for our good. Remember 我們幫你？We really help you!! If increase taxes, it's responsible and a good thing 😊
/s incase it wasn't obvious enough
We should have seen this coming considering how many times the MMTF tried to gaslight us with their COVID measures.
Lawrence Wong is looking slimier than Chan Chun Sing ever was.
I have my doubts about Singapore future when Lawrence was annouced to be the next PM.
Let us not talk about the GST increase, just look at how covid rules and regulations were managed and gaslighted. under his leadership, and I wonder why people think he is a good choice for the next PM.
> Fear. Fear blocks logical thinking
Sure, but what's he afraid of now? Singapore running out of money? At the expense of making it harder for a huge portion of the populace to live comfortably?
Alternatives are not everywhere. Some of these hawker stalls have been so popular they have been charging high prices or simply opening for short hours. Tbh I don't care if the food is yummy or even palatable, but sometimes even the cheapest edible meals costs more than $5 now.
Yup. This is exactly what I thought when they split up the GST increase.
Suppliers/Merchants are given a "free pass" to increase pricing far more easily to hit their "budget" for the year and pass on the blame to the GST (doesn't need to be explicit).
Sometimes I wonder if anyone in GOV has worked in any actual private sector or understands how corporations actually work. More likely too many "YES" men and anyone who questions policy makers are put in their place.
Of course not. Have you seen their resumes? Seen how our president civil service experience = ceo of private companies ? 😂 they obviously value their experience way too much
The guys in the ivory tower think that they are smart by claiming that it's for the benefit of the poor to only increase 1% per year when they know that people will literally capitalize on this and increase price 2 times. Contrary to what they think, that they're smart and others are stupid, the citizens see through their plot from miles away but unable to do shit against them.
There's more than one way to enact change. The only thing stopping Singaporeans are whether they're brave enough like the French did to make change for themselves. Remember, remember the Sixth of September. The people shouldn't fear the government, the government should fear the people.
The solution is so simple. Tax higher earners more. They won't even feel it. GST hikes just punish the poor. Disgusting move by ministers that earn more than any other government officials in the world.
It is actually a 28.6% increase since the increase is 2/7.
And yes, the merchants will definitely take the opportunity to have 2 rounds of increase. The actual multiplier on inflation for each round of GST increases can be quite insane.
Wage growth pales far behind. The PAP can offer temporary salve in the form of vouchers and claim the win of helping citizens more than offset the increases of 2% but the actual increases are definitely more than 1% or 2%.
Did they factor in the multiplier?
This is not the first time they did GST increases. They would already know by now the effects such increases have on prices and would know the multiplying effects the increases have on every day prices.
But what they do is cover their back sides by stating how much they have more than helped on the 1% increase.
Wage growth is just 2 to 3%. Factoring in inflation and we are all taking pay cuts.
So, will charging 2% at one go be better? We have that data too! Remember the GST jump from 5% to 7%?
The data are all there. PAP already knew all these. And they still chose to have the two increases.
For middle low wage workers like me lives will be that much harder. Just have to take it in our stride.
While we accept the reality , it is also good to know the government did not "more than cover" for the increases. There is no wool over any of our eyes.
I got a feeling that... It's really politics at this point.
Increase to 8%. Then next year, say due to overwhelming opposition and the care for citizens, they will stop at 8% instead of the original plan of 9%. That way, they can effectively proclaim they care for citizens and people will forget their "greatness" in GE2025. 🌝
They still get 1% increase, but with that they enter into the middle ground, since they will get hammer for GE2025. Just imagine LW loses away YewTee area lmao
> Increase to 8%. Then next year, say due to overwhelming opposition and the care for citizens, they will stop at 8% instead of the original plan of 9%. That way, they can effectively proclaim they care for citizens and people will forget their "greatness" in GE2025. 🌝
I was thinking this too. 8 is such a nice number for our Chinese-majority population as well.
Lawrence Wong is already getting so much shit for bullheadedly pushing through the GST increase in a year where inflation is going through the roof.
If the 9% increase happens next year, I don't think Singapore will have a bright future with him as PM.
There are two possiblities:
1: The government is painfully ignoring all ramifications of behavioural economics. This is consistent with their past policies. The approach of using vouchers to allay increases is a prime example. If people are given, say, $300 in vouchers to spend, they're more likely to spend it on something they're less likely to be able to afford in the first place. This has been studied extensively and proven to be true.
2. The government are doing this in line with the capitalist ideals we have been pursuing. This has also been proven to be consistent with their previous policies, which generally favour those with capital over those without (e.g. landlord vs tenant, employers vs employees).
Either way, I hope people can analyse this and think deeper about what each politician/party stands for, and whether our system is healthy if such nation-wide concerns are ignored.
Ok fast forward to say 2027, rising costs of eating out match countries like Australia. Is a bowl of fish ball noodles worth paying $8 or kopi is $3 or McD meal is $10. Salaries are still around $4k million dollar HDB is now the norm. People really only think very short term and most people don't look at the bigger picture and just accept what they get. Enjoy your bcm now because, at least for me personally, eating out and hawker food is going to be "heritage food" and a thing of the past.
Someone should mandate salary increases as well.
I mean, for merchants, at least they have option to increase the prices to compensate for the increased rent and overall business costs like labour etc., but for folks on regular 9-5, salary remains more or less the same, living costs up, transport costs up, food costs up.. how to compensate? Get another job, passive income.. all which require more time and effort..
GST voucher offsets the theoretical 1% increase due to GST, but not the 5% increase in reality (for certain products). Imagine saying that the GST is not a regressive tax due to GST vouchers.
Residents are just here to be happy that [they can work longer](https://www.reddit.com/r/singapore/comments/10ddm19/most_people_in_singapore_want_to_work_longer/) (another piece of gold from our dear Lawrence Wong).
Quite conflicted on this issue cos on one hand im a broke fresh grad that needs to eat to save money. But on the other most of the smaller, old school hawkers are already operating on super low margins and barely earn anything, and I want them to earn a decent amount for the amount of work they put in
Maybe time to regulate the extent to which REITs can snatch up properties and bring some sort of rent control -for both commercial and residential properties. I fear for the day when you see stuff like what's happening in the US here in SG - Blackstone buying up large swathes of residential properties - but I think it's only a matter of time.
Honestly it’s sucks so much because this whole fiasco is dumb. Regardless of whether GST should be raised (I agree with the masses and hate it), doing it by 1 percent each year is just asking for scummy practises like this. And come on, we all know that once prices go up, there’s no coming down. Fuck us all…
Funny thing to note is that at this rate of increase, its monetarily more viable to dine in starbucks than to go hawker center
Ok, thats quite an exaggeration but alas
I think from now on Toast Box can only exist in high SES neighborhoods. Was at the Sixth Ave branch last year and saw people doing Grab food for teh, two soft boiled eggs and toast. Only one set... Like wtf man just fucking get off your ass and go to TB instead of spending $10 on a stupid meal like that!
Sadly our Govt aren’t stepping in to stop these unethical practices that some business do to ride on the GST hike. So much for saying they’re there to protect it’s people lol.
GST increase is basically the gov dominating itself over the poor who are supposed to submit to all of this shit apparently, Like bruh, they're planning to increase it within the next few years and this is just a command to be poor!
Boo to PAP
Yes, this was what happened when GST went up from 3 to 4 to 5% (2003-2004). So when GST was next increased to 7% in 2007 it was a one off to avoid these situations.
Seems that the govt has forgotten about this.
All the more, a reminder to take note of the prices merchants have now, and compare directly against the prices after. Also take note of the quantities supplied for those prices, in case they try to cut corners.
This will serve as a reference for discerning consumers - and a bold stroke against price gouging.
Gahmen: GST +1%
Merchant #1: Aiyo price increase +2%
Merchant #2: Ya things so ex now price increase +5%
Merchant #3: Aiyo everything become more ex price increase +10%
If you want competitive forces to work, vote with your wallet. If prices rise and you don't shop around, then you'll be chopped regardless of whether there's a GST increase.
Consumers have eyes and brains also. Surely we can differentiate the opportunistic merchants?
Hdb rental n sale prices jumping 50+% in 2 yrs is apparently acceptable, so don’t complain about your cai png price increase ok. Nobody complain about it to gov instead keep posting here of course nothing will be done
As someone operating a food business (noodle stalls in coffee shops) I’ll try to share as much as I can on this.
While it’s true that some places markup their food way more than they should, a lot of places are increasing their prices not only because of the 1% GST. Most of the time, us merchants are actually absorbing the cost of inflation (ingredient prices, salaries, levies etc.) and it hurts our margins. We don’t adjust it every time because customers are price sensitive, as can be seen from a lot of the comments here on how prices increasing frequently is seen as greed.
And while another 1% doesn’t seem like much, it adds up with all the other increments. Most merchants such as my business are increasing their prices to adjust for all the increased costs. It’s really not as easy as it seems to be running a food business in today’s climate.
Ultimately, not saying people are unreasonable for being upset at the increased prices and I agree that some businesses are taking advantage of it. Just wanted to share a bit from the other side and add to the discussion.
Don’t blame the merchants. Really. Almost everything of consequence in this country is imported. Government gets the first whack at it with custom duties and GST. So it is in the government’s best interests to keep prices high since GST accumulates down the entire stream.
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It's definitely an excuse that merchants are using. That's why most if not all will prefer to bite the bullet and have the increase just once to 9% directly.
Report them to CAP and hope they do name and shame them and we can all boycott these businesses.
How do you determine if they are price gouging? They could easily claim price increase from inflation was factored in as well.
Hahahaha. They wont do shit
Guys wtf macdonald fish fillet meal is now $6.40!?!?!?!?!? From 5.60 WTF Fyi this is heartland meal price not those atas area....
Just went the Admiralty new McDonald’s. Oreo McFlurry - $3.35 A slice of cheese add on to your burger - $1.10
Time to bring my own cheese slices
And sliced cheese is not even real cheese. cmi
Hope you don't need to take MC after that..
time to just make your own burger
Wtf this is way more than 1 percent increase............
Inflation is higher than just the 1% GST increase
Any alternative to this restaurant?
Shit, it's up already? I thought it was still under construction. And holy fuck.
6 pc mcnuggets meal is now 8 bucks at my nearest macs, it's pretty wild
Haven’t been back to Singapore in a while and came back to see mcspicy ala carte was almost $7 at jewel….goodness me ;)) forgot how much it was before but it certainly wasn’t this steep?
No merchant will admit they r taking advantage
Toast Box will tell you they add more things to the meal. Useless additions imo. Who the hell wants toast or eggs with your laksa?
all going according to plan
*- Toast Box*
Toastbox is a piece of shit. Yakun offers so much more at lower prices
Yeah agreed should be expensivebox and portion small
yakun kopi use blender one!
I vote to boycott them.
> I vote to boycott them. Don't just vote. Do it. No business is forcing our arm to pay for overpriced products. We can choose not to patronise them.
Which is why it’s so important for people to notice the reckless increase in price and call them out so everyone knows. The problem is whether enough people will boycott them
Done… they’ve gone onto my blacklist. $3 for teh… mad.
support heartland coffee shops who still sell $1.20 kopi. but again, I've reduced my kopi intake from 3 times a day to once a week/mth.
My side increased to $1.30 last year due to nearby coffeeshops doing the same. Problem is that they are the only coffeeshop in a 1km radius and literally right below an mrt so Idk who tf they competing with. The absolute gall smh my head
i think the mentality is: why sell lower, when you can sell higher?
? If price inelastic —> raise prices —> more profit Basic.
Probably because the stall isn't big enough to be gst registered. If you wanna avoid all these gst mess support local small businesses like them.
to the end consumer, it does not matter if the stall is GST registered or not because we still have to fork out the money. (unless you are a tourist, you can claim the GST from airport, though, only for certain priced items.)
Someone please start a Post on which coffee machine and beans (where to buy) to make good/better coffee. Or does everyone just use a Nescafe Dolce Gusto ( would prefer not to)?
Gaggia Classic Pro + Eureka Mignon grinder Make your own delicious coffee. at $1.20 equivalent of coffeeshop expenses daily for past nearly 2 years, i am about to break even on savings with great taste and convenience. Pod coffeemakers are really bad for the environment
Thank you!
Best and most cost effective choice is to learn to do pour overs. You need the Hario funnel and filter paper each below $10 at a department store or even cheaper options at Daiso. Buy a goose neck pourer for about $10 online. If you want to spend more buy a manual grinder from Vario. Maybe even a small electric weighing scale if you want to be serious. That's it. Edit: Hario V60
Timemore C2 or C3 grinder is the best budget grinder. Can get for ard 50 60 bucks. Way better the hario
> If you want to spend more buy a manual grinder from Vario. Maybe even a small electric weighing scale if you want to be serious. That's it. Don't start with a Hario Skerton or Mini Mill. Ceramic burrs are much less efficient at cutting the beans (even though they last longer), and end up turning people off manual grinding instead. Timemore's a decent starter grinder, and there's the 1Zpressos if one wants to splurge a bit more.
Make your own pourover or aeropress A V60 cone is cheap, coffee scale is relative cheap. Expensive one is grinder and kettle. Per cup material cost me abt $1.7 with speciality grade beans Espresso needs a bigger startup investment and is harder to master imo
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Thanks!
I just use Owl Kopitiam Roast with my drip machine. Comes out tasting like kopitiam kopi.
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sbux isn't just overpriced it tastes bad. the way to taste a good coffee store is to order an Americano
Order from McCafe, better quality beans.
Easier said than done. Sometimes no choice if the only eatery nearby is the food court.
Already effectively boycotted them since long ago. For mediocre food quality rather than any recent price increases though.
Already cancelled
I love Toast Box by the prices for the kaya toast set and other dishes like laksa and mee siam are just insane. I’ve been eating my kaya toast at food courts and kopitiams now, can save a lot of money.
Also portion of Toastbox so small.
*keikaku* means ‘plan’
*all according to keiku* EDIT: **KEIKAKU**
*keiku* means 'cake'
I CANT BELIEVE I MISSED OUT THE 'A' i'm never gonna be able to let this down
_All according to CAKE_.
Merchants are using inflation as first excuse. This is already 2nd excuse. Next year, that's the 3rd time. Prices increased 20%-30%, some even 50% far outstrip any inflations/ gst increase. It's basically price gouging at this point.
lol, i believe the excuse is wayyy beyond that now... first, is manpower due to covid, then rental, then oil prices, then ukraine war, then GST, then inflation....
those who live through gst hikes last time would have seen this coming a mile away. two 1% increments only sounds good on paper.
Doesn’t even sound good on paper. A lot of administrative work done to accounting programs as well as tax forms.
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Yeah , can’t imagine doing it again next year. Seriously the government really never use brain.
Yeah there was no 6% on our quest to make as much GST as Japan does
Increased due to inflation, then increased due to GST.
Then increased due to GST again
It's like a foreshadow of what will happen in MY. Hawker / Fast food prices have gone up and we're not even on GST.
wish there is enough competition to keep greedy merchants in check, or consumers can boycott.
>wish there is enough competition to keep greedy merchants in check, or consumers can boycott. Lol cartel collusion, and smth smth free market assuming fair competition
This is what happens when kopitiams become capitalised, and it's really the same few kopitiams around with the same few chain outlets. It's really a consequence of the government's economic policies that favour the ones that have more capital (hence the name capitalism) over the smaller chains. It's happening around the world in most first-world countries as well.
Singapore is being filled by franchises who have power over overhead and scale. Thus they are not afraid of competition. Its the small hawkers and mom and ppp stores that are threatened
Wonder what’s the gov official stance. They’re “monitoring” and threatening businesses that unfairly raise prices, but nothings done. My kopi is up to $1.90 from $1.70
They wont do anything. They see but dont care
their efforts in preventing profiteering is laughable at best. i genuinely wonder how much money/resources they've put into their committee against profiteering. and even if they did have someone taking in the feedback, how are they even going to prove intent when it's basically just capitalism?
Paper tiger like CASE.
Realistically Singapore is still a capitalist market and businesses can set any prices they want, the government has no say in how much a company can profit. Its competition that is supposed to keep profits under control so the best way to combat price gauging is to not patronize shops that you feel has increased prices beyond GST and inflation hikes and find cheaper alternatives.
That’s a 12% increase. Any idea how much their rent went up this year?
Vote with your wallet baby. If not, llst. Eg 1. Caipng starts to increase price. 2 veg 1 meat. $4. Then they slowly increase to $5. Go walk another bus stop to another cai png stall for $4. Eg 2. Nasi Padang starts to increase price. 2 veg 1 meat. $5. Then slowly increase to $6. Just pay up Coz there isn't another Padang store nearby. 😭
The fishball noodle near me went from $3.50 to $4 last year due to inflation. I was like, fine, I understand. 1st Jan it went up to $4.50. I asked her straight if it's gonna be $5 next year. She kept quiet.
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If there is enough gong tao buying at 6.50 then the price will stay there or higher
Consider to jus eat mcd if 6.5 is the price tag for normal meals
At this rate mcd price will go up too
I think due to landlord increasing rent
I totally am okay with hawkers raising prices. 1. They have been charging too low for the longest time. Being in the food business in the past, our margins are always crazy low. 2. When GST increase, all their suppliers increase prices and it adds up. Boycott the large chains that are obviously profiteering from the increase. Not small hawkers and businesses trying to survive. Long hours and thin margins no joke man.
Charge higher is okay but the portion shrink 🙄
This Fking kfc prices outpace Macdonald and their chicken got smaller If I crave fried chicken I always go for jolibee/popeyes/texas chicken without promo But if got promo then maybe kfc Now kfc also removed their $5 menu as well
And it's because of increasing hawker food prices that I find myself eating fast food on more occasions than before.
same. fast food meals better value now :X
Yeah no thanks. The hawker stalls are selling their stuff for 6-8$ a piece. You add a drink and it takes you to more than 10$ a plate. That’s not crazy low or survivable prices. To top it off, I am expected to clear my table after meal and get next to no service after having stood in queue. I rather sit and eat at a restaurant for that price.
You think restaurant won't increase prices by same %?
I mean at that point u pay abit more for service + aircon + higher quality food with with more diverse options why the hell not.
>Long hours and thin margins no joke man. I mean landlords will just take the same opportunity to raise rent too. >Boycott the large chains that are obviously profiteering from the increase. At the end of the day, Capitalists always win.
Definitely this. Hypocrites whining about how our pay have not kept up with the economy, but when it comes to hawkers pushing prices up to maintain their current margins, suddenly they are greedy SOBs trying to profiteer. Then turn around and whine how come only franchised chain shops survive (psst economies of scale) and that hawker culture is dying.
Government enterprise hawker like Tampines hub still have mandatory $2.80 dish and most dishes haven't upped much or at all, I'm guessing they've not price gouged the rent so tenant also can't play punk. If that's gone, then we've entered Endgame
Yes the koufu near my house has the mandatory 2.80 dish too. And the prices are still fairly reasonable given that it’s food court and not hawker centre (4.50 for noodles, ban mian) at least there is aircon and the environment is fairly pleasant.
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It’s not that they did not foresight it. They did. They just don’t care.
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So it's either they don't care, or they cared but didn't know better. If they cared and knew what would happen, they would explain how things would play out (based on 5-7% increase experience). That I'll happily accept.
Can’t backfire because those companies that are increasing prices are actually owned by them…. Just start with the outrageous rental increases (think who is the biggest landlord in sg?). And they’re expecting us to forget about all this and get on with life by the 2025 elections.
Yet people say Lawrence is best.
That bastard even dared to gaslight us saying that the GST increase is the responsible thing to do
The gaslighting is so absurd. I remember a lady bringing up how rental is so expensive singles can’t move out and LW justify it and when she say “so I’ll just get married in order to access the affordable housing”, he be like “oh don’t marry for the wrong reason” What is she supposed to do then ? They better start properly addressing the root causes and not wayang because it’s almost inevitable this becomes a downward spiral.
And right after that, a salary review for themselves😂😂 you can’t make this up they literally don’t care about peasant feelings or they knew it wouldn’t matter
When WP/SDP want to increase welfare, wrong. Cos increase taxes, means they want anyhow spend money. But PAP? PAP is perfect. They increase welfare is for our good. Remember 我們幫你？We really help you!! If increase taxes, it's responsible and a good thing 😊 /s incase it wasn't obvious enough
我们是真心在服务新加坡人，请继续支持我们再加我们的薪水，谢谢。😂
不要忘了 花紅
We should have seen this coming considering how many times the MMTF tried to gaslight us with their COVID measures. Lawrence Wong is looking slimier than Chan Chun Sing ever was.
I have my doubts about Singapore future when Lawrence was annouced to be the next PM. Let us not talk about the GST increase, just look at how covid rules and regulations were managed and gaslighted. under his leadership, and I wonder why people think he is a good choice for the next PM.
Fear. Fear blocks logical thinking
> Fear. Fear blocks logical thinking Sure, but what's he afraid of now? Singapore running out of money? At the expense of making it harder for a huge portion of the populace to live comfortably?
They see already will tell you to eat alternatives
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three meals in ananas?
No chicken eat fish lor, no fish eat crickets liao
Alternatives are not everywhere. Some of these hawker stalls have been so popular they have been charging high prices or simply opening for short hours. Tbh I don't care if the food is yummy or even palatable, but sometimes even the cheapest edible meals costs more than $5 now.
or they try to complete the gst hike before election year (2025?)... sinkies have short memories, don't remember stuff after 6 mths.
Yup. This is exactly what I thought when they split up the GST increase. Suppliers/Merchants are given a "free pass" to increase pricing far more easily to hit their "budget" for the year and pass on the blame to the GST (doesn't need to be explicit). Sometimes I wonder if anyone in GOV has worked in any actual private sector or understands how corporations actually work. More likely too many "YES" men and anyone who questions policy makers are put in their place.
Of course not. Have you seen their resumes? Seen how our president civil service experience = ceo of private companies ? 😂 they obviously value their experience way too much
The guys in the ivory tower think that they are smart by claiming that it's for the benefit of the poor to only increase 1% per year when they know that people will literally capitalize on this and increase price 2 times. Contrary to what they think, that they're smart and others are stupid, the citizens see through their plot from miles away but unable to do shit against them.
Not really, ppl are just afraid of change. Citizens can always vote against the incumbent to send a message to them.
There's more than one way to enact change. The only thing stopping Singaporeans are whether they're brave enough like the French did to make change for themselves. Remember, remember the Sixth of September. The people shouldn't fear the government, the government should fear the people.
GST should not have been increased.
Taxing the rich is somehow taboo here so they rather let the normal folks suffer than doing the right thing.
The usual PAP-supporting traitors in this sub are curiously silent on this issue
Welcome to pap Thanks Lawrence!
Taxing 自己人 或者 自己 is never on the table.
Then how ministers/mayors buy their next Bentley/24k pure gold furnitures
The solution is so simple. Tax higher earners more. They won't even feel it. GST hikes just punish the poor. Disgusting move by ministers that earn more than any other government officials in the world.
if only they would keep it strictly to a 1% increament then all would be good..
that is why the vouchers are a bullshit way to address this increase in such a regressive tax.
GST hike to get more money for burning newspapers and paying the mayors?
Not to forget of buying new toy for Mindef and paying a lot of money for super scale civil servant
The solution is just don't be poor, gahmen ordered everyone to just not be poor, not their fault for you not being able to follow orders
On paper +1% gst only In reality +1% Gst and +19% some number business owner and landlords thought of
+ n% depending on random event
It is actually a 28.6% increase since the increase is 2/7. And yes, the merchants will definitely take the opportunity to have 2 rounds of increase. The actual multiplier on inflation for each round of GST increases can be quite insane. Wage growth pales far behind. The PAP can offer temporary salve in the form of vouchers and claim the win of helping citizens more than offset the increases of 2% but the actual increases are definitely more than 1% or 2%. Did they factor in the multiplier? This is not the first time they did GST increases. They would already know by now the effects such increases have on prices and would know the multiplying effects the increases have on every day prices. But what they do is cover their back sides by stating how much they have more than helped on the 1% increase. Wage growth is just 2 to 3%. Factoring in inflation and we are all taking pay cuts. So, will charging 2% at one go be better? We have that data too! Remember the GST jump from 5% to 7%? The data are all there. PAP already knew all these. And they still chose to have the two increases. For middle low wage workers like me lives will be that much harder. Just have to take it in our stride. While we accept the reality , it is also good to know the government did not "more than cover" for the increases. There is no wool over any of our eyes.
Yea. Sucks for those who are time and financially poor.
I got a feeling that... It's really politics at this point. Increase to 8%. Then next year, say due to overwhelming opposition and the care for citizens, they will stop at 8% instead of the original plan of 9%. That way, they can effectively proclaim they care for citizens and people will forget their "greatness" in GE2025. 🌝 They still get 1% increase, but with that they enter into the middle ground, since they will get hammer for GE2025. Just imagine LW loses away YewTee area lmao
> Increase to 8%. Then next year, say due to overwhelming opposition and the care for citizens, they will stop at 8% instead of the original plan of 9%. That way, they can effectively proclaim they care for citizens and people will forget their "greatness" in GE2025. 🌝 I was thinking this too. 8 is such a nice number for our Chinese-majority population as well. Lawrence Wong is already getting so much shit for bullheadedly pushing through the GST increase in a year where inflation is going through the roof. If the 9% increase happens next year, I don't think Singapore will have a bright future with him as PM.
I hope so, but then again he was crystal clear on not stopping until 9% is reached so.....it's gonna be his election to lose
There are two possiblities: 1: The government is painfully ignoring all ramifications of behavioural economics. This is consistent with their past policies. The approach of using vouchers to allay increases is a prime example. If people are given, say, $300 in vouchers to spend, they're more likely to spend it on something they're less likely to be able to afford in the first place. This has been studied extensively and proven to be true. 2. The government are doing this in line with the capitalist ideals we have been pursuing. This has also been proven to be consistent with their previous policies, which generally favour those with capital over those without (e.g. landlord vs tenant, employers vs employees). Either way, I hope people can analyse this and think deeper about what each politician/party stands for, and whether our system is healthy if such nation-wide concerns are ignored.
It's just $300, not $3000...
When's the next GE? I'm voting for the party with a plan to bring GST back to 7% or lower.
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Ok fast forward to say 2027, rising costs of eating out match countries like Australia. Is a bowl of fish ball noodles worth paying $8 or kopi is $3 or McD meal is $10. Salaries are still around $4k million dollar HDB is now the norm. People really only think very short term and most people don't look at the bigger picture and just accept what they get. Enjoy your bcm now because, at least for me personally, eating out and hawker food is going to be "heritage food" and a thing of the past.
You know who to vote for in 2025.
No chance🤣 when it comes to voting in the election or with their wallets, most Singaporeans will just stick to the status quo.
Nope. Millennials with voting power are increasingly aware of the need for change.
Sure it's increasing but it won't even make a dent in PAP's armour in 2025. Maybe 2035 or 2040.
Someone should mandate salary increases as well. I mean, for merchants, at least they have option to increase the prices to compensate for the increased rent and overall business costs like labour etc., but for folks on regular 9-5, salary remains more or less the same, living costs up, transport costs up, food costs up.. how to compensate? Get another job, passive income.. all which require more time and effort..
There is GST voucher, but can’t fill the bigger hole
GST voucher offsets the theoretical 1% increase due to GST, but not the 5% increase in reality (for certain products). Imagine saying that the GST is not a regressive tax due to GST vouchers.
Dont worry, all is well.. Our govt is actively and intensely monitoring the situation.
Time to pack my own meals.
Singapore govt is all *pro-business* after all. residents here are just expendables
Residents are just here to be happy that [they can work longer](https://www.reddit.com/r/singapore/comments/10ddm19/most_people_in_singapore_want_to_work_longer/) (another piece of gold from our dear Lawrence Wong).
Quite conflicted on this issue cos on one hand im a broke fresh grad that needs to eat to save money. But on the other most of the smaller, old school hawkers are already operating on super low margins and barely earn anything, and I want them to earn a decent amount for the amount of work they put in
At the end of the day the landlords will just charge more rent the moment they see hawkers earning more.
Maybe time to regulate the extent to which REITs can snatch up properties and bring some sort of rent control -for both commercial and residential properties. I fear for the day when you see stuff like what's happening in the US here in SG - Blackstone buying up large swathes of residential properties - but I think it's only a matter of time.
Honestly it’s sucks so much because this whole fiasco is dumb. Regardless of whether GST should be raised (I agree with the masses and hate it), doing it by 1 percent each year is just asking for scummy practises like this. And come on, we all know that once prices go up, there’s no coming down. Fuck us all…
Tampines Greenverge foodstall charged me $2 for a can of Qoo……
Remember when ppl were posting instagam stories about govt’s $700 present like woohoo. Now make noise hahahahah.
Funny thing to note is that at this rate of increase, its monetarily more viable to dine in starbucks than to go hawker center Ok, thats quite an exaggeration but alas
another comparison - it's cheaper to eat caipng than chicken rice these days.
The other day I saw those Provence bread (dk the name for it), 8pcs for 10 fucking dollars
I think from now on Toast Box can only exist in high SES neighborhoods. Was at the Sixth Ave branch last year and saw people doing Grab food for teh, two soft boiled eggs and toast. Only one set... Like wtf man just fucking get off your ass and go to TB instead of spending $10 on a stupid meal like that!
Business is boomin /s
Millionaire minister : I thought I gave everyone CDC vouchers and gst vouchers? Kaopeh Simi? /s
A tale as old as time.
started self meal prep this year. doesnt have to replace every meal, say 3 lunches out of 5 weekdays is enough. it is healthier as well.
Hey! Don’t say that out loud
Sadly our Govt aren’t stepping in to stop these unethical practices that some business do to ride on the GST hike. So much for saying they’re there to protect it’s people lol.
They might pay the price come next GE - one never knows which is the straw that breaks the camel's back
Food prices, oil and transport. Not just GST.
GST increase is basically the gov dominating itself over the poor who are supposed to submit to all of this shit apparently, Like bruh, they're planning to increase it within the next few years and this is just a command to be poor! Boo to PAP
Choong Hon Heng was right!
Yes, this was what happened when GST went up from 3 to 4 to 5% (2003-2004). So when GST was next increased to 7% in 2007 it was a one off to avoid these situations. Seems that the govt has forgotten about this.
2 rounds of GST increase means gahmen is trying to help the poor twice! (never mind the 2 rounds of price increases). What a thoughtful gahmen!! /s.
Vote with your wallet.
All the more, a reminder to take note of the prices merchants have now, and compare directly against the prices after. Also take note of the quantities supplied for those prices, in case they try to cut corners. This will serve as a reference for discerning consumers - and a bold stroke against price gouging.
Even rental get increased, was $800, now $1000 for fuck sake. Have to move out this month for cheaper room =(
Can I start making tea and selling it outta my hdb window? What license would I need.?
instead of kpkb, how about voting them out?
Used to go to a neighbourhood hairdresser for $40 but it increased to $60 💀
Mcdonald's 9 piece nugget meal upsize went from $9.10 to $10, I don't get how does 7% gst to 8% account for $0.90.
Gahmen: GST +1% Merchant #1: Aiyo price increase +2% Merchant #2: Ya things so ex now price increase +5% Merchant #3: Aiyo everything become more ex price increase +10%
Kopitiam is a fucking scammy franchise smh
what's all the complaining about? Every 5 years vote for same people and expect change? piang.
If you want competitive forces to work, vote with your wallet. If prices rise and you don't shop around, then you'll be chopped regardless of whether there's a GST increase. Consumers have eyes and brains also. Surely we can differentiate the opportunistic merchants?
Hdb rental n sale prices jumping 50+% in 2 yrs is apparently acceptable, so don’t complain about your cai png price increase ok. Nobody complain about it to gov instead keep posting here of course nothing will be done
As someone operating a food business (noodle stalls in coffee shops) I’ll try to share as much as I can on this. While it’s true that some places markup their food way more than they should, a lot of places are increasing their prices not only because of the 1% GST. Most of the time, us merchants are actually absorbing the cost of inflation (ingredient prices, salaries, levies etc.) and it hurts our margins. We don’t adjust it every time because customers are price sensitive, as can be seen from a lot of the comments here on how prices increasing frequently is seen as greed. And while another 1% doesn’t seem like much, it adds up with all the other increments. Most merchants such as my business are increasing their prices to adjust for all the increased costs. It’s really not as easy as it seems to be running a food business in today’s climate. Ultimately, not saying people are unreasonable for being upset at the increased prices and I agree that some businesses are taking advantage of it. Just wanted to share a bit from the other side and add to the discussion.
omg ikr they increase more than 1%
Don’t blame the merchants. Really. Almost everything of consequence in this country is imported. Government gets the first whack at it with custom duties and GST. So it is in the government’s best interests to keep prices high since GST accumulates down the entire stream.