In Seoul, a typical drying rack that can hold a full load of laundry would set me back about $10-$12. Here in the States, almost exactly the same drying rack costs $50. What gives? I feel like Robert De Niro's Al Capone in "The Untouchables," when he's shouting at the judge at the end of the movie:
Is this justice?
_
On the other hand, consider this: a new Equus 460 costs ~ USD 60K in the States and KRW 120 MIllion in Korea. Does "dumping" ring a bell?
ReplyDeleteThat's ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteOh, wait, I get it: it's an indoor/outdoor rack. I guess, uh, the Korean ones are only indoor. And you have to pay forty bucks extra for the outdoor...ness?
(On the other end of the spectrum, food items like beef and most fruits are insanely expensive here. The first time we went to the States, HJ was flabbergasted at how cheap apples were. We ate a lot of apples on that trip. And seedless grapes.)
Try buying an LG or Samsung TV or computer in South Korea and then see how much you would save buying the exact same thing in the U.S. It's usually close to half-price; however, the South Korean postal system "roks" in comparison to the surly U.S. one. I can send large 20 kilogram (44 pound) boxes to the U.S. for 48,000 won via 1 - 2 month long boat ride surface mail, yet I can only mail first-class 20 pound smaller boxes from the U.S. to South Korea for nearly $60 a pop.
ReplyDeleteOh, yeah, the point of this comment. In the U.S., we call those drying racks "clothes lines" that go in our monsterous back yards. Walmart and hardware stores usually have them for about 5-10 dollars depending on length and quality. You can even find smaller ones in the 10-20 ft. indoor apartment range these days. Also, clothes pins are still really cheap thanks to China.