[HN Gopher] Japanese restaurants: "not charging tourists more, j...
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       Japanese restaurants: "not charging tourists more, just charging
       locals less"
        
       Author : RestlessMind
       Score  : 11 points
       Date   : 2024-07-25 19:18 UTC (3 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.cnn.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.cnn.com)
        
       | JohnFen wrote:
       | > He maintains that he doesn't charge tourists extra. Instead, he
       | offers a 1,000 yen ($6.50) discount to locals.
       | 
       | I've seen businesses in the US use the exact same "logic". It's
       | disingenuous because there's zero logical difference between
       | charging party A more than party B and charging party B less than
       | party A.
       | 
       | > "We need (this pricing system) for cost reasons," Yonemitsu
       | said.
       | 
       | I understand the practice and genuinely think it's perfectly
       | acceptable. But to explain it in that way is deceptive.
        
         | gweinberg wrote:
         | You are correct of course. People fool themselves by pretending
         | there is such a thing as the "regular price" and saying it's
         | okay to charge some people less than the regular price, but not
         | to charge more than the regular price. But really there is no
         | regular price, just the different prices paid by different
         | groups.
        
         | ksec wrote:
         | >But to explain it in that way is deceptive.
         | 
         | Staff discount. Is it really staff discount or charging regular
         | customer more?
        
           | JohnFen wrote:
           | Both ways of looking at it are equivalent, in my view.
        
         | mc32 wrote:
         | There is a difference though.
         | 
         | The iconic example from Ninotschka is man walks into a coffee
         | shop and asks for coffee without milk, server says we're all
         | out of milk but have cream. Black coffee is black coffee, but
         | what matters is the act of saying no to something.
         | 
         | Sublation is not equal to something not existing or being.
        
           | tedunangst wrote:
           | I don't understand the coffee story.
        
             | phito wrote:
             | Me neither, read it about 5 times...
        
             | zem wrote:
             | man asks for coffee without milk that implies the existence
             | of coffee _with_ milk. however the cafe is all out of milk
             | - but they do have cream! would the customer perchance like
             | some coffee without cream instead?
        
               | tedunangst wrote:
               | Still have no idea how that demonstrates the importance
               | of saying no.
        
       | tamimio wrote:
       | Instead of looking into a two-tier payment system to try in North
       | America, because I assume that's the whole purpose of this
       | article, how about copying the Japanese model on tipping? It's
       | out of hand here; even fast food places like Five Guys and Subway
       | ask for a tip!
        
       | coro365 wrote:
       | Why not set up a system where travelers who feel they have
       | benefited from the weak yen can voluntarily pay tips? That would
       | be more moderate.
        
       | whalesalad wrote:
       | In hawaii this is called a kama'aina discount, been going on
       | forever.
        
         | gtvwill wrote:
         | That's wild. Astounding such behaviour exists in modern times.
         | 
         | I wonder if anyone has made a list of such establishments so
         | that tourists could avoid unfair price gouging/being rorted
         | while on holiday.
         | 
         | It's amazing folks write off treating customers unfairly just
         | because their from a different town and a "tourist". Gross af.
        
           | Ductapemaster wrote:
           | If people are willing to pay it, is it really so bad?
           | 
           | Charging what the market will bear is a core capitalist
           | principle and seems like good business to me.
        
           | maxbond wrote:
           | To me this seems like complaining that the T-shirts in the
           | gift shop are overpriced. They absolutely are, and you're
           | free not to buy one, but that's the premise of a gift shop.
           | Similarly, whenever I'm a tourist, it's evident to me that
           | I'm being charged a premium at every turn, and apart from the
           | obvious ways to avoid it (like getting snacks from a
           | convenience store instead of the hotel) I don't dwell on it
           | because that energy would be better spent enjoy my trip.
        
       | AcerbicZero wrote:
       | You could always call them just-in-time tariffs? I don't like
       | them personally, but I can certainly understand the desire to
       | incentivize what you like, and disincentivize what you do not.
        
       | uwagar wrote:
       | this should be made illegal.
        
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       (page generated 2024-07-25 23:11 UTC)