An Unnecessarily Complicated Explanation of Buying Stuff

You’re at the market. You want to buy a kilo of oranges but there are no prices listed. How can you avoid paying too much? The short answer is you can’t. This is an example of what economists call “information asymmetry” where one party is aware of important information that is unknown to the other party. The fruit seller knows the wholesale price of oranges, the typical price of oranges, and the lowest price she would be willing to accept. More importantly, she’s aware you don’t know any of this.

Locals don’t have this problem because they’ve grown up here and know how much things cost. They know that the best possible price one could get for a kilo of oranges is X and the most any sane person would pay is Y. Therefore almost all oranges will be sold at a price between X and Y, with the seller trying to get the price as close to Y as possible, and the buyer trying to get it as close to X. You of course are ignorant of this and might get quoted a price of 2Y. After much negotiation you settle on a price of 1.5Y. You feel proud of yourself for negotiating a good deal when in reality you’ve been totally screwed.

One way to deal with this is to ask a local how much a kilo of oranges usually costs and pay something close to this (as a foreigner you will never get a great deal, but it’s possible to get an OK deal.) You could also ask for prices from a variety of fruit sellers and use the lowest quoted price as a starting point for negotiations. Lastly, there’s the copout strategy where you just get your Lao friend/boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse to buy the oranges.

Now obviously spending $.25 too much on some fruit is insignificant to even the cheapest backpacker, but the oranges are just an example. Many, many prices are negotiated in Laos and small rip-offs turn into big ones and quickly add up. If you live here and have to rent a house and buy a car, motorbike, TV, computer, DVD player, etc., you’re potentially wasting thousands of dollars that could be better spent on Beerlao.

How to get good prices on items is something I’m frequently asked. I guess people think there’s some kind of magic formula like “the quoted price is 2 ½ times the real price” (I might start saying that just for fun), but the reality is far more complicated.

This has nothing to do with anything, but someone needs to come out with a smart phone that’s also a universal remote. Think of the convenience.

The Bangkokization of Vientiane Begins

True Coffee just opened a giant store on Setthathirath Road. They must be forgetting they’re not in Times Square because the shear enormity of their signs overpower everything for several blocks. As far as I know, this is the first foreign chain allowed to open a branch in Laos. The Vientiane Times has an ad looking for managers for a new Pizza Company store. God help us all.

What I’m trying to do with this site

Since I launched this site I’ve just been messing around and adding content. I haven’t done much of anything to promote the site or improve my Google search ranking—I haven’t even told many of my friends about it. I’m planning on doing all of these things once I get the site redesigned.

Basically what I want is a blog on the front page featuring the latest things I’ve written and a sidebar listing past articles divided by theme (Laos basics, cultural observations, etc.) as well as things like restaurant reviews, a FAQ, and emails I’ve received. All of this would be more organized and user-friendly than the standard blog format and would probably increase traffic.

Designing this seemed simple enough, but all of my efforts came out looking like a Geocities homepage from 1997. I’ve been pretty lazy about trying to find a web developer but I’ve talked to a few. They’ve either not understood what I’ve wanted (language barrier) or quoted prices that seem ridiculous for the simple site I want to have. I’m perfectly capable of modifying and updating the site, I just don’t have the skills to create it in the first place. Anyway, I guarantee the relaunch will take place by mid-2009.