David Naulls
October was an interesting month for us as we coped with the roller-coaster ride of the GST wall of shame.
It struck a public nerve in a way that we hadn’t expected. It’s easy to think that people have become inured to price rises – particularly for “essential” products and services. This is not so it seems.
There have been over 19,000 visits to the “Wall” so far and it also went “viral” on Facebook and Twitter.
The public sent in 345 nominations. Some of the main categories were cafes, fast food outlets, newspapers, ISPs, and Lotto. It seems that many of the nation’s cafes took the opportunity to do some belated catch-up when October 1 came round.
All consumers have been affected by these price increases – legitimately from GST or otherwise. We received this from a high school student.
“Last term our school started selling 60 cents liquorice. On Monday (the first day back at school since the GST increase) the liquorice was still 60 cents. Unfortunately, yesterday the price was raised to 70 cents. This price rise was blamed completely on the GST increase, although the GST increase should only have raised the price to 61.5 cents. … We love our red liquorice and now many of us don’t have enough spare change to buy our lunchtime treat. To us, it is a disaster.”
Of course, the cash price of the liquorice could only increase to 70 cents because that’s the smallest coin in circulation. But again it would be more honest to say this is a price increase, a small part of which is because of GST.
Because we wanted to post verifiable prices as quickly as possible – otherwise there would have been little point in doing it – we didn’t go through our usual exhaustive consultation processes with businesses. That’s why we’ve published on the “Wall” the full responses from affected businesses.
In some cases businesses decided to amend their pricing – and good on them for doing so.
The “Wall” has reminded businesses that someone was watching – that can only be a good thing.
David Naulls
Editor
Consumer magazine
More from consumer.org.nz
Member Comments
Got a question or comment on this topic? Share your views and experiences with other Consumer members...
To add a comment you need to be a member of consumer.org.nz. Login or Join.
Read what our members have to say close
To save money on essentials and make buying decisions easy, you can't go past Consumer. We're proud to have over 65,000 members all enjoying our independent information online or in Consumer magazine.
Here's what some of them say...
"Just wanted to let you know that I find your site excellent! Easy to find my way around, everything at my fingertips - just a click away.
I only took out a 3 month membership as I wasn't sure but it is actually really easy to use and if I want it on paper I can print the
reports. Thanks again".
Denise Watkinson - Waitakere
"My mother (74) got a renewal letter from her insurance company for her car insurance, wanting $570. After reading
your article on car insurance, I contacted one of the companies you recommended, who quoted her $318 for the same
level of cover. I just wanted to stay thank you very much for your article, as it has saved my mother a substantial amount of money".
Adrian Lane - Kapiti Coast
"I've been a member to the magazine since 1997 and enjoy reading it a lot. I've found lots of helpful information on different issues...
Thank you for being so helpful".
Peter Kovalenko - Porirua
"I have been a member of the Consumer NZ for 20 or more years and have enjoyed much reliable advice.
I turn to their tests before making significant purchases".
Lyndal Print – Auckland
Join Consumer now and make your decisions easy on a huge range of products and services
- Over 500 reports, plus interactive tools and calculators
- Independent advice from NZ's trusted source of information
- Join over 65,000 members who help us get all NZers a fairer deal
from just $28
