If you try and book one person on some regional flights, they quote you X. But if you book a couple of people, suddenly the price rises some 15-20% PER PERSON, not just 2X. In other words, it costs you much more to book as a couple (literal, or a couple of friends traveling together) than it does to book single journeys. That is particularly surprising as their current promo is that you can save if you travel with a bunch of friends…

I was so shocked by this seeming incongruity, that I made sure and tried several iterations, flipping back from single journey to a couple traveling together. I even bought a single journey. Then tried to book another single on the same flight, and indeed got the lower fare per person! THAT IS BAD ASS OBNOXIOUS! The week before I got nailed and paid more for two passengers. This week I would have done the same for three folks from the office, but wisened up and bought them individually. Forget that logic makes you think the prices would be the same, or even more rationally, that they might give you a break on prices if you are more people traveling together, but to intentionally charge you more for two people traveling together when you can book them separately and pay less? It just cements my growing view that the DUMBER THE CUSTOMERS, and the MORE OPPORTUNISTIC the BUSINESS OWNERS, the more money is to be made in the Philippines.

So wise up folks. Let your friends know. Check the single journey price and the double journey ones before you book. And I just now checked the domestic flights and for the few destinations I checked, they don’t seem to do the same thing. But be wary nonetheless.

The post A Dirty Little Airline Ticketing Secret… appeared first on Market Manila.

My early morning Saturday market trips are extremely relaxing and while it may seem counter-intuitive, I seem to get “energized” after an hour or so picking out vegetables, fruit and sometimes, seafood as well. This morning, as I gathered baskets full of produce, I wondered what a PHP100 would buy you today…

First up, PHP100 buys you a kilo of incredibly fresh patani or broad beans, still in their pods, photo up top. The beans, when peeled, yield several cups full of light green beans, ready to be blanched and turned into a healthy spread, or added to a mixed vegetable dish, or even tossed into a nice pinakbet.

PHP100 also gets you roughly 1.4 kilos of the most amazing looking cauliflower from the Mt. Province. Today, the cauliflower and broccoli seemed to be really robust, perhaps due to the cold spell in upland farms. At say PHP70 a kilo, cauliflower is more often than not, an overlooked, healthy cruciferous vegetable. You can bake it whole, add it to pasta, make it into a gratin, etc. The photo features roughly 1.6 kilos of cauliflower, so you would have to shave off 10% to be totally accurate about what a hundred pesos gets you. But the heads were nice and big, tight and creamy off-white. Very, very fresh. And just in case you tend to be careless at groceries, I just spied not as nice local cauliflower in a grocery for 99.95 per kilo (vs. PHP70 at market), and just one shelf up, they had cauliflower “heads” (probably imported but not better looking) for a whopping PHP319 a kilo! If you don’t watch it, you could be paying from PHP70-319 per kilo for the essentially the same thing, that’s ridiculous.

I also got 5 big ears of yellow corn for PHP100, or PHP20 per piece. In Silang, Cavite less than a week ago, the asking price was roughly PHP16.66 per piece. When corn fields reach their peak of harvest in Silang, you can buy these for roughly PHP12 each.

Fresh young garlic only appears briefly in markets around this time of year, and I picked up a nice bunch for PHP100 this morning. I love to add this in volume to pots of slow-cooked adobo to provide a nice garlicky, yet ultimately naturally sweet tinge to the finished dish.

The cook was particularly quick with her knife, and cleaned all the fish before I could photograph them. At any rate, PHP100 buys you just one small talakitok or jack these days. Seafood is now far more expensive than meat in many cases…

PHP100 buys you just 12 medium sized white shrimp (suahe). Yipes, that’s just above PHP8 per shrimp!

Half a kilo of salay-salay yielded three smallish fish, also for PHP100.

I don’t buy meat or chicken in wet markets, but I was curious how much chicken PHP100 would buy, and the answer is roughly 6 large meaty wings worth (from a reputable grocery). They cost roughly PHP16 each.

While at college on a limited budget, my roommate and I practically lived on chicken wings which were given away for next to nothing at U.S. groceries… and to this day I can’t look at a chicken wing without thinking “tight budget” — yet they taste absolutely wonderful!

Finally, my suki Mary at the FTI market had FANTASTIC strawberries today. Larger than the usual Benguet berries, they were asking PHP100 for a pack of roughly 350 grams (PHP280 per kilo) that were a lot less than the same berries in a local grocery for PHP490+ per kilo (or up to PHP900 a kilo for the tasteless good-looking imports). I picked up four packs, didn’t bargain with my suki, as usual, and paid my bill. In the car, I checked my handwritten bill and noticed that Mary (suki) had discounted the berries significantly, presumably in lieu of pesky bargaining, so actually, I got a bowl and half of strawberries for PHP100, which is a pretty good bargain.

The post What Does PHP100 ($2.20) Buy You in Manila Markets Today… appeared first on Market Manila.

In the last few years, many (but not all) banks with credit card businesses in the Philippines have introduced “overlimit” fees. Basically, banks set a “credit limit” which is by definition SUPPOSED to be the maximum amount of credit a customer is allowed to avail of, THEN the bank “allows” (notice the unilateral move) customers to EXCEED that stated credit limit and then they CHARGE often EXORBITANT rates for the “privilege”… How completely and utterly ABSURD is that?

Why is it ABSURD, in my personal opinion?

An overlimit fee is absurd for the primary reason that the bank has already determined a CREDIT LIMIT per client or groups of clients under one main card. While I agree that it is also the cardholder’s responsibility to use his/her card responsibly and within established credit limits, the nature of the transactions and data tracking falls heavily in favor of the card company to be able to EASILY track the status of the cardholders charges at any given point in a typical period. The extensive and almost SOLE reliance on computers to indicate if a client has reached, breached or crossed his/her limit is EASILY relied upon to PREVENT any card from going “overlimit.” The often used explanation of banks that they do this SOLELY AT THEIR DISCRETION and presumably for THE CLIENT’S CONVENIENCE falls flat when they charge a fee for the situation. If banks were serious about providing for their clients’ needs, then perhaps they would consider allowing one charge to cross the credit limit within reasonable sums, then indicate to the client by text, email or phone call that their cards have breached the limits and all future charges will be denied. But as is the case for several of these banks, they ALLOW REPEATED CHARGES AFTER the credit limit is breached (I have personally seen up to 8 charges approved after limits were breached!) WITHOUT ANY SERIOUS EFFORT to contact the client to let them know the current situation of the account. The fees charged for this CONVENIENCE are often exorbitant:

For example: Let’s say you have a PHP50,000 credit limit. You charge up to PHP49,500, just below your credit limit. Then you charge PHP1,500 and it is not denied. You charge again PHP1,000 and still it is not denied. Then again for PHP2,000 and it is approved still. You will have exceeded your credit limit by PHP4,000 that period, and depending on your bank, you could be charged as low as PHP500 at HSBC, and theoretically as high as PHP1,500 at Standard Chartered or Metrobank (that charge per occurrence). The PHP500-1,500 in fees for a PHP4,000 overlimit amount is equivalent to 12.5% to 37.5% for a few days time (and up to a month maximum). That translates into an equivalent annual percentage interest rate of 150-450%!!! THAT IS ABSURD! For me, that certainly would approximate a general definition of usury I would think. And this could all have been avoided if the bank simply set the instructions for its computers to stop charges once the limits have been breached!

The U.S. Government has BANNED or OUTLAWED “Overlimit Fees” in 2010 — an enlightened move that recognizes how ridiculous and ANTI-CONSUMER they really are:

In the U.S. CARD Act that went into effect on February 22, 2010, President Obama signed some new regulations with respect to credit cards. With respect to “overlimit fees”, and I quote:

“Over-the-Limit Fees: Issuers cannot charge you a fee if you go over the limit on your credit card unless you have given them permission to authorize purchases that put you over your limit. Issuers cannot charge an over-the-limit fee if you go over the limit solely due to interest charges or fees. If the issuer does authorize a purchase that puts you over your limit, you cannot be charged an over-the-limit fee unless you had opted-in to be allowed to go over the limit. (This does not require card issuers to allow you go to over your limit. They are still free to decline purchases above your credit limit.) When over-the-limit fees are permitted, an issue cannot charge an over-limit fee more than once per billing cycle. If you only go over the limit that one time (and don’t continue making purchases that put you over your limit), you cannot be charged over-the-limit fees for more than three months in a row, even if your required minimum payments don’t bring you back under the limit.”

Should overlimit fees be allowed if the client AGREES to pay the fee beforehand? Yes.

To counter banks’ arguments that they do this SOLELY for client convenience, then why not simply ask clients if they WANT this facility, and HAVE them EXPLICITLY sign up for it. Instead of the other way around where they automatically assume everyone either wants or needs it! This is a similar concern to that of banks just wantonly inncreasing credit limits in this country when the risk of loss falls on the cardholder when cards are stolen or fraudulently used.

Marketman’s Opinion

It is my opinion and solely opinion, that some banks in the Philippines probably charge the OVERLIMIT FEE for the sole reason that they want to increase their fee income. Clients who are most likely to be paying this fee are probably those with lower credit limits to begin with and/or those who are running very high balances on their credit cards, with less financial resources to pay off their bills. Either way, the fees are, in my opinion, highly opportunistic and extremely anti-consumer given that the bank is the one who has the SOLE discretion to allow overlimit charges, but then CHARGES a large fee for the “privilege”. How much in this fee category do banks collect per annum? Shouldn’t the government authorities insist that they disclose this? Are these funds that could have been easily saved by consumers if banks just stuck to their credit limits?

My “back of the paper napkin” estimates would go something like this. Let’s say there are 6 million cards in the Philippines paying 72 million monthly bills per annum (12 months x 6 million) and just 1-2% of those monthly bills go overlimit in a given year, that would mean that 720,000-1,440,000 instances of overlimit charges could have occurred. If you assume PHP500 on average in fees (remember some banks charge for EVERY transaction, not just once, other banks don’t charge at all), then that would suggest a very crudely estimated PHP360-720 million in overlimit fees collected every year!!! But I suspect it could very well be higher than that in reality.

What can be done, who will benefit, be hurt by changes???

Why not just stick to the real concept of a CREDIT LIMIT? It is the maximum amount of credit that the bank is willing to extend. Beyond that, the charges should be denied. Simple, right? If the client thinks they will be needing overlimit privileges, then they can ask for a higher credit limit, or barring that, then explicitly agree with their bank or credit card company that they are WILLING to pay fees for that overlimit facility. This all makes COMMON SENSE. But apparently many people don’t recognize that. How much simpler a situation could a REPRESENTATIVE or CONGRESSMAN/WOMAN have for pushing for laws or amendments to banking regulations that could potentially benefit up to 4 million credit card customers and their families, a voting constituency of say 8-10 million total, almost enough votes to elect a SENATOR of the REPUBLIC, and many of them citizens are the folks that FUEL the engine of ECONOMIC GROWTH in this country, who are productive, earn an honest living, pay taxes, save and invest? This would definitely be a no brainer for me. Gutsy interested elected officials out there? Contact me if you want to understand more about this issue and others related to it…

And now, an INTERESTING PERSONAL EXPERIENCE some of you may want to read about. I am no shrinking violet when it comes to banking issues. Last year, I took up the automatic credit limit increases and overlimit issues with one of the banks listed above, and sent letters to the CEO, and had extensive talks with several of their most senior managers. The credit limit and overlimit fees were just some of the minor concerns then. For the past three months, I have been going back and forth with the same bank on service related issues, and again the topic of credit limits and overlimits have resurfaced to even better and damnin, in my opinion, written communications. So you may be amused, infuriated, irritated, annoyed, bemused by the bank’s official to the issues:

First, last year, a letter from the CEO of the Bank on 25 March 2010, stated with respect to credit limits and overlimits on our staff credit cards, and I quote verbatim:

“With respect to the credit limit assigned to your card, I confirm that we have arranged to suppress any automatic increases in your credit limit until such time that a request is initiated from your end. Allow me to clarify, however, that for cardholders such as yourself who demonstrate exemplary account handling behaviour, the Bank has in place a tolerance threshold for certain transactions which exceed the designated limit. As such, I hope for your understanding that we are unable to suppress this feature as doing so would affect other cardholders who exhibit the same account handling behavior.”

The interesting conclusion — yes, definitely banks can SUPPRESS automatic increases in credit limits, so don’t take no for an answer. If they could suppress our limits, they can suppress automatic increases for you as well. This is written proof. As for not being able to suppress overlimits, I wasn’t impressed by their explanation, and know that a slight update to their software could easily accommodate this request if they were indeed seriously concerned about the client’s wants and needs.

From this year, a letter from a Senior Vice President, in the cards area, dated 04 April 2011, with respect to over credit limit, and I quote verbatim:

“Over Credit Limit: The Bank has a tolerance level threshold for certain transactions which exceed the designated limit. As such, we ask for your understanding that we are unable to suppress this feature as doing so would affect other cardholders who exhibit the same account handling behaviour. In recognition of your preference regarding this issue, we shall endeavour to call you in instances when your credit llimit has been breached.

With regard to the Overlimit Fee, we understand there are instances, due to the tolerance threshold applied, where the credit card accounts may be subjected to the fee. In the same way, we regret that we are unable to suppress the automatic charging of the subject fee as this applied through (Bank’s) credit card base. However, we will proactively reverse the fee after it gets posted to your account.”

The interesting conclusion — the bank in question has promised to “endeavour” to call me whenever the account crosses the credit limit. The reality? They never ONCE called me when the account breached the limit 2-3 times over the past year where supplementary cards with low limits breached the credit limits. But see how privileged Marketman is, they will call me, but not call hundreds of thousands of other card holders… how outrageous is that. Shouldn’t you request the same exceptions? Shouldn’t you be given a call if you cross your credit limits? Even better, every single time an overlimit fee is charged to my account, the bank has promised to REVERSE it. It means I will presumably NEVER pay an overlimit fee. Again, shouldn’t all of you be given the same treatment? I certainly think so. :)

REFERENCES:

And just so you don’t think I am making this all up, below are some definitions of “overlimit fees” from several foreign and local banks operating in the Philippines. I will state that Bank of the Philippine Islands appears to be the only large credit card player that DOES NOT, repeat DOES NOT charge overlimit fees. Please email me if I am mistaken on this.

1. HSBC Philippines (with an estimated 500,000+ active credit cards) defines the overlimit fee in the Terms and Conditions governing its various credit cards as follows, and I quote:

“In case the CARDHOLDER exceeds his/her approved CREDIT LIMIT on billing date, the CARDHOLDER shall pay the ISSUER an overlimit fee of PHP500.00 for such billing period, or such other amount as may be set by the ISSUER from time to time.”

2. Standard Chartered Bank Philippines (with an estimated 230,000+ active credit cards) has this in their frequently asked questions section in answer to the question “what if I go over my credit limit?” and I quote:

“For every purchase or transaction in excess of your assigned credit limit (inclusive of retail purchases, cash advances, fess, and other charges), an over limit fee of P500 will be charged to your card account.”

3. Citibank Philippines (with an estimated 1,000,000+ active credit cards) describes their Overlimit Fee as, and I quote:

“P500 if you exceed your credit limit by your Statement Date.”

4. Metrobank (with an estimated 300,000+ active credit cards) has one of the lengthiest definitions in its Terms & Conditions, and I quote:

“The Card Member and/or supplementary member(s) shall keep track of his/their total obligations so as not to exceed the approved credit limit at any given time. The indication of a credit limit on the Credit Card account shall not relieve the Card Member, supplementary member(s), and co-obligor from liability for all purchases, cash advances, fees and charges in excess of said credit limit. MCC reserves the right, without prior notice, to decline any transaction, suspend the Credit Card privileges of the Card Member and his supplementary member(s) and/or charge an over limit fee for every occurrence in such amounts as may be fixed and announced by MCC, if the credit limit will be or has been exceeded.”

According to this table, the overlimit fee at Metrobank is equivalent to PHP500-700 PER occurrence.

—–

The vast majority of the readers of Marketmanila.com have at least one credit card in their wallets. The objectives of the following series of posts on credit cards in the Philippines are simple. To help readers, acquaintances and the public in general understand the local credit card industry a little better. To highlight the unique risks associated with Philippine-issued credit cards. To remind the public of particular safeguards they should consider to reduce the risk of holding their credit cards. To explain some of the salient features of credit cards that people may wish to learn more about. To encourage our legislators to review the laws governing local credit cards to ensure a truly reasonable playing field that protects consumer’s rights, as well as those of banks and credit card companies. To encourage the public to educate themselves and seek fair laws that govern the credit card industry in the country. And to narrate several recent, specific credit card and banking service shortfalls that I have experienced and which are a useful tool to illustrate many of the objectives stated above.

Interested in reading the rest of the credit card series? Click here:

Part I – An Industry Overview
Part II – Credit Limits

The post Part III – Credit Card “Overlimit Fees” And Why I think They Should Be BANNED By Philippine Regulators… appeared first on Market Manila.

Definitely not a common fruit choice. But every once in a while, I get a hankering for cherries, say once or twice a year, and feel the urge to splurge. So at Divisoria a few days ago (yes, I was there in the sweltering heat buying packaging materials), I spotted a street side vendor with surprisingly fresh looking cherries and was told they were PHP800 a kilo (roughly $18.5 per kilo or $8.50 per pound). Admittedly out a bit early for North America or europe (I can’t imagine they are from Australia or New Zealand at this time of year) where they peak in June or so, I was tempted. I tried to bargain but the vendor wouldn’t budge, and even the calculation that PHP200 would yield me 1/4 kilo didn’t do the trick, and I walked away. Later the same day, I chanced on cherries at S&R Taguig, and was shocked to see a price tag of PHP1,500 a kilo! Nearly double the Divisoria price! I realize it’s a free market and all, but this just goes to show that if you don’t know your prices, you could seriously pay a huge differential from other places in town. So okay, okay, Divi to Taguig is a hassle in distance, but just down the road at Metro Gaisano at Market!Market! mall, cherries could be had for PHP977 a kilo… Wild. Thank goodness in a few weeks more time I shall have access to the peak of North American cherry season and I hope they are say $3-5 a pound so I can indulge to my heart’s content. I know, I know, don’t eat too many or you’ll have the runs. :)

Mud Crabs / Alimango PHP400 – 899 a kilo!

I love alimango. Chili crabs, garlic crabs, sotanghon crabs, chilled crab claws with cocktail sauce, etc. At the Nasugbu market, PHP400 a kilo (turns out they are “imported” from elsewhere and are NOT abundant in the local area. PHP400-600 on the Tagaytay ridge from road side vendors, depending on your bargaining capacity (they whisper quietly on pressing that the crabs come all the way from Bulacan!). At the seaside market, for the finest specimens, say PHP400-450 from our crab dealer suki, with some of them weighing close to 3/4 kilo each. But at a Makati grocery, PHP899 a kilo for the same darned crabs! Sorry, but that’s just outrageous. More than double the price of Baclaran? It’s worth your gas to drive the little distance if you need to buy just 1-2 kilos!

Dry Pasta Prices PHP45 – PHP125 per pound

Standard 500 gram or 1 pound packages of dried pasta from spaghetti, penne, etc. So the brands vary and the quality of flour and other ingredients vary dramatically. But I suspect if you picked the three best brands you can find, and compare across various outlets, you would be shocked to find out that you could be paying almost double the price from one venue to another. I like S&L for great dried pasta and arborio prices (not to mention all their other stuff like cheese) that run say PHP50 or so for a pound of pasta. In the malls and large groceries, you’ll be paying up to PHP110-120 for similar quality products.

Woks from PHP400-600 at different branches of the same chain of stores!

I bought a cheap wok with a handle in Cebu to try out and got it for PHP454 or so. Back in Manila, I went to a branch of the same restaurant supplies store, and spotted the same wok. I ask how much and they say PHP580 or 600 or so. Shocked, I told the saleslady I just bought the exact same item in Cebu two days before for PHP454, and she quickly said they would give it to me for PHP400 instead! Yikes. No wonder they had no price tags, the prices are completely fluid! How annoying is that?

Chairs PHP5,900 – 6,900 some 40 meters apart!

I have been madly searching for reasonably priced, durable and attractive restaurant chairs. We had exhausted all known sources in Cebu, and I had spent a morning in Manila checking out half a dozen sources. First of all, a pet peeve. Everyone has dozens of floor samples, but when I asked if they had 40-50 in stock, the inevitable answer was first, a slight look of shock and widened eyes accompanied by raised eyebrows and slightly opened mouth, then the answer, “ay walang stock!” I can understand that happening once, but the same answer for 8-10 different models requested? Why do stores have so many frigging floor samples if they only have 1 chair in stock, the floor sample? And I am not talking about rinky dink small shops, but the biggest suppliers and retail chains that carry chairs… :( I found a very cool looking chair on the fourth floor of megamall, but nearly fainted at the PHP5,900 peso price tag, so I walked some 40 meters down the hall and spotted the EXACT same chair in EXACTLY the same color. The price? PHP6,900! When I mentioned to the sales person that the shop down the hall also had the chair in their window for PHP1,000 less, he just shrugged his shoulders…

Placemats (Chilewich and copies…) PHP 59.95 – PHP799.95!

I have always liked the design, practicality and look of these original Chilewich placemats, in the top photo in this link. Sister watches out for them on sale in her part of the world and has sent a couple of dozen our way over the past 7-8 years. They are washable, stain resistant, but look quite presentable. They were made with a “revolutionary” plastic or synthetic material when they first came out, and they were woven like mats or baskets. A few years ago, I noticed that VERY VERY close copies were coming out of China, and I bought these at Shoemart home store for just PHP79 per piece. They are good approximations of the real thing, but the colors are a bit off and the suppleness of the synthetic material differs oh so slightly. Fast forward to restaurant madness and I was seeking a particular design of placemat, but didn’t find the ones I wanted, but discovered that AUTHENTIC Chilewich products are carried at a home store in Serendra (not sure of the name) and at Shoemart Home Store in the basement of Megamall. The price of a real Chilewich place mat? PHP799.95 or so per piece. How odd that carried by the same parent company, SM, in their home section of their department stores, are the similar Chinese sourced placemats for just PHP59.95, down PHP20 from 3 years ago! If I were Chilewich, I’d be annoyed. :(

The moral of the post. Shop around if you don’t want to pay ridiculous prices. I realize time is money and all that, but if you think your convenience is worth so much, at least run the numbers once in a while to make sure that’s still true. :)

The post Random Outrageous Price Differentials in Manila… appeared first on Market Manila.

What is a Credit Limit?

I bet 80+% of you were certain of the answer to this question, and yet, defying all reasonable logic, many foreign and local banks engaged in the credit card business in the Philippines seem have a different definition for a “credit limit” when it comes to their respective credit cards.

Typical Definition

A credit limit is the MAXIMUM amount of credit that a lender or financial institution (bank, credit card company, etc.) is willing to extend to a debtor. Or, for credit cards specifically, it is the MAXIMUM amount a debtor is allowed to borrow against a specific credit card.

How is a credit limit determined?

The amount of one’s credit limit is often driven by the size of one’s annual income, the assets you hold (homes, bank accounts, securities, etc.), your previous history with respect to paying obligations, etc. Often, a bank reviews a client’s details and creates a credit score which drives the credit limit offered to an individual. Banks like to keep increasing credit limits, OFTEN without a client’s approval or agreement, so be sure that your credit limits haven’t been creeping up over the years to a level you simply do not need or want.

Why is carrying a wallet filled with credit cards issued in the Philippines potentially more dangerous than carrying cash?

In the Philippines, if your credit card is lost or stolen, most banks try to hold you FULLY LIABLE for all charges made against the card until you call the credit card company to report that the card is lost. This is SIGNIFICANTLY different from standards elsewhere in the world. In the U.S., for example, the maximum liability for the cardholder in a similar situation would be as low as $50.

If you are shaking your head and want to know more, please read this post I wrote nearly 5 years ago. If I were you, I would open up my wallet right now and mentally add up the total credit limits of all Philippine issued credit cards that you maintain. If it would be difficult or even just slightly painful for you to have to pay up that entire amount in cash soon after your cards are lost/stolen and used to their maximum limits, then you might seriously consider lowering your credit limits as soon as possible. As a personal rule, I try to keep my local credit card limits at less than two months of my salary/income and this dramatically reduces my risk in case the cards are stolen or lost. I have other tips for reducing your risk of loss in the linked post above.

What Happens When a Bank Blatantly Disregards Credit Card Limits? Do you think that a large bank would give Mr. & Mrs. Marketman PHP42,000+cash/credit if the bank didn’t do anything WRONG? An Interesting Case Study…

I had two nearly identical situations where credit cards of my supplementary card holders (staff members) were allowed to breach their credit limits (which I had set strictly in a written letter to the bank) by as much as 100% of the credit limits! Read about the first instance, here. I wrote a follow-up “concluding” post, here. But just three months later, lightning struck twice and I was faced with the same situation again, here. What’s the bottom line? That particular bank allowed a serious breach in credit limits, up to double the original credit limit, and when I pointed out that it had happened on several occasions, they finally admitted they had indeed allowed major breaches and could not explain why, and they credited our accounts with PHP42,000+ for “goodwill”… Sorry, but I can be cynical. And when a bank gives you PHP42,000 while claiming they did nothing wrong, you have to wonder why they were parting with their money… Credit limits should represent A LIMIT, and the use of computers these days makes it potentially VERY EASY to establish and maintain that LIMIT.

——-

A quick check of various bank websites (banks operating in Philippine market) resulted in these definitions for credit limits…

1. “CREDIT LIMIT” – The maximum outstanding balance of charges which the CARDHOLDER and his/her supplementary CARDHOLDERS are allowed to maintain at any given time subject to security features and credit limit management features that the ISSUER may impose for the benefit of the CARDHOLDER” – HSBC Philippines (Fine print in Font Size 9 in original electronic document)

2. “Credit Limit. The Cardholder will be assigned a Combined Credit Limit, expressed in Philippine Pesos, which represents the maximum allowable outstanding balance on all of the Cards held by the Cardholder combined, at any time.” – Citibank Philippines (Fine print in Size 5 in original electronic document)

3. “CREDIT LIMIT – Upon acceptance of Cardholder’s application, BPI, at its sole discretion, shall grant a credit limit to the Cardholder expressed in local currency (Philippine Pesos) which consists of either one or both of two forms, namely: (a) the Regular Credit Limit and (b) the Special Installment Plan (S.I.P.) Limit, the aggregate of which represents the maximum outstanding balance that a Cardholder and his/her supplementary cardholders are allowed to share at any given time subject to the security requirements and credit card management requisites which may reasonably be imposed by BPI from time to time ( the “Credit Limit” ). In no event shall the Cardholder and his/her supplementary exceed the Credit Limit.” – BPI (Fine print in Size 11 in original electronic document)

Surprisingly, I was unable to locate the typical terms and conditons that outlined “credit limits” for credit cards for either Metrobank or BDO on-line…

Of the banks above, it seems ONLY BPI sticks to their credit limits. Their definition jives with the commonly accepted definition of a credit limit. Once a charge exceeds the stated credit limit, the charge is denied. Many other banks “bend” their definitions of credit limits, and now allow “overlimits” which is a way to increase fees collections, but more on that issue in the next post.

CREDIT LIMITS – A SUMMARY

1. A credit limit should (but doesn’t always in the Philippines) represent the maximum amount of outstandings you can have on a card.
2. Banks/Credit Card Companies often increase credit limits without seeking your permission or approval, under the guise that they are doing you a favor and that all customers presumably want the biggest credit limits that they can qualify for.
3. A local credit card with a very high credit limit also carries a very high risk for the holder, particularly if the card is stolen or lost and used to charge items fraudulently. The cardholder is HELD LIABLE for all charges made before they notify their credit card company of the loss.
4. It is safer to carry the fewest amount of local credit cards as practically possible, and to bring down the credit limits on those cards to the level which represents your actual needs. You may want to consider reducing your credit limits on locally issued cards to reduce risk. One way you might do that is to figure out how much you can afford to pay up in the event that your cards are stolen and charged to the maximum. Or you can look back over the last year and see what the maximum credit you have used in the past is, and bring your credit limits down to that level.
5. Despite the relatively clear definitions of “credit limits”, you need to READ the fine print in credit card applications/websites as they are, frankly, often difficult to fully understand, and unclear for most customers. It amazes me that government has NOT seen fit to set clear guidelines for critical terminology like “credit limits” as it applies to credit card customers.
6. If you want to maintain a modest credit limit, put that peso figure in writing, send it to your credit card company and be vigilant when you peruse your credit card statements for any unauthorized increases in credit limits. This will give you some added proof and protection when a card company allows huge breaches in credit card credit limits.

Interested in reading the rest of the credit card series? Click here:

Part I – An Industry Overview

The post Marketman’s Credit Card Series 2011, Part II – Credit Limits… appeared first on Market Manila.

The Philippine Credit Card Industry, a very quick (by my standards) overview.

What is glaringly obvious is the difficulty of obtaining readily available industry statistics for the Philippine credit card market. Industry groups such as credit card associations, local press, studies, central bank reports, etc. seem to have published (particularly on-line) far less than I used to typically see in other global markets when I used to work as a management consultant, several times engaged to study and fix credit card related issues. But here is a basic overview I managed to piece together, and my sources are listed at the bottom of the post. Some of the figures are extrapolated or estimated, but I think the overall general picture is reasonably accurate given the sources used. Corrections from those with better and more reliable information are most welcome.

How many credit cards in the Philippines?

As of December 2010, there were roughly 6.7 million credit cards issued in the Philippines, and several sources suggest those cards are held by roughly 3.6-4.0 million individuals (many folks have more than one card each). If I had to take an educated guess, I would say that roughly 2.5-3.0 million people have one credit card each, while roughly 1.0+ million people have multiple cards.

Who are the biggest players or issuers of credit cards?

This is actually rather difficult to determine, the most concrete data I could find dates back to 2004, so this is my best guess extrapolating out and given news reports.

Citibank
Banco de Oro (BDO)
Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI)
HSBC
Metrobank
(Standard Chartered or AIG as the other possible top five players.)

Citibank probably has well over 1.3 million cards issued, while the top 5 in total probably account for 2/3 or more of all credit cards issued in the country. For Citibank and HSBC, the vast majority of their credit card customers probably DO NOT have deposit accounts with those banks.

Estimated Industry Growth – Cards Issued

2004: 4.5 Million cards issued
2007: 6.0-6.2 Million cards (roughly 11% annual growth 2004-2007)
2008: 6.5 Million cards
2010: 6.7 Million cards (roughly 3% annual growth 2007-2010)

So industry growth has slowed dramatically to 3% per annum from 2007-2010, from 11% in the previous 7 years, DESPITE robust economic growth during the last three years.

Roughly 4 million people have credit cards, and this represents a huge constituency of citizens, many of whom are gainfully employed, salaried workers and business owners, who are mostly all within the top 10% of the income brackets of the country (see my previous post on Philippine poverty and income levels, here), and who earn incomes and salaries and pay the vast majority of taxes collected by the government. They and their immediate families constitute a serious voting block in this country and should be able to push for positive reforms in credit card laws if necessary. Personally, it is my opinion that the market is close to saturation, not only because of the apparent slowdown in growth of cards, but because of the demographics and average incomes I wrote about in my previous post(s).

Estimated Industry Growth – Credit Card Receivables

2000: PHP40 Billion (estimate)
2001: PHP45 Billion (estimate)
2002: PHP50 Billion (estimate)
2003: PHP53 Billion (estimate)
2004: PHP65 Billion (estimate)
2005: PHP80 Billion (estimate)
2006: PHP99 Billion (estimate)
2007: PHP116 Billion (roughly 16.2% annual growth rate from 2000-2007)
2008: No data found
2009: PHP 128 Billion
2010: PHP 135 Billion (June 2010, roughly 6% annual growth rate 2007-2010)

Loans outstanding or credit card receivables of banks grew at a blistering pace of 16.2% from 2000-2007, but slowed dramatically to roughly 6% per annum 2008 to June 2010.

Average Outstandings Per Card (Estimated)

2004: PHP14,444
2007: PHP19,016
2010: PHP20,149

However, it seems a majority of cards DO NOT CARRY REVOLVING BALANCES. This is consistent with a recent survey I did. So if you assume that only 45% of all cards do revolving balances (based on a quoted figure from the Credit Card Association of the Philippines), then you could adjust the above figures to reflect that 55% of all cards have zero or close to zero balances on average, while the remaining 45% have these extrapolated estimated balances per card:

2004: PHP32,098
2007: PHP42,257
2010: PHP44,776

To me, this is a stunning piece of data. Roughly 3 million cards carry an average of PHP44,776 in revolving balances. And if you assume that some folks have two or more cards, then the average revolving balances for some 2 million folks in the country is roughly PHP60,000 or more per person, and I won’t even hazard a guess per couple/family! I will show later how these folks are paying some PHP25-35,000+ per annum in effective interest, penalties and fees! If that isn’t reason enough for citizens and lawmakers to sit up and at least educate themselves, I don’t know what is!

Past Due Credit Card Receivables (as a percentage of total receivables)

2003: 18.0%
2004: 22.5%
2005: 20.5%
2006: 16.4%
2007: 14.2%
2010: 15.0% (June 2010)

Figures quoted from the press suggest that there are more than PHP18 Billion in past-due credit card receivables, or roughly 15% of total outstandings as of June 2010. Of these, probably more than half are well over 180 days in arrears, or the vast majority eventually going to be written-off the banks books. At least these figures are lower than those racked up in 2004, when nearly 1 out of every 4 pesos of loans were past-due.

All of these loans are probably charged not only the 3-3.5% monthly finance charge, but also another 6-7% late penalty or other similar fees. At roughly 10% per month or more than 210% compound annual interest, the chances of a debtor pulling themselves out of that debt trap are slim indeed. Let me simplify this for you. Let’s say you owe PHP100,000 on your credit card and due to a death in the family, emergency medical operation after being sideswipped by a bus or you were burglarized at home, hog-tied and all your worldly belongings stolen. You would miss your minimum payment for your credit card that month. And the credit card company would impose roughly 10% in interest and late charges. And let’s say you were not able to make several subsequent payments and everything kept compounding at 10% a month. Do you know how much you would owe the credit card company at the end of one year? A whopping PHP313,843 or thereabouts. Doesn’t that seem a bit excessive? Usurious? Absurd?

Technically, banks are supposed to classify debts overdue for more than six months as bad debts and provision against them to write them off, in practice, there may be ways to stretch that rule.

Dictionary definition of usury – “the practice of lending money and charging the borrower an exorbitant, excessive or illegally high interest rate.”

Other Interesting Pieces of the Philippine Credit Card Story

“The rate of consumer credit defaults in the Philippines is almost TRIPLE the average in Asia” (Malaya, 2008)

“The credit card interest rates in the Philippines are currently amongst the HIGHEST in the world…in effect, good borrowers are shouldering a significant portion of the premium on bad debts since, given the lack of credit data that would permit lenders to determine the quality of borrowers, high interest rates are levied on ALL credit card debt.” (Winecito L Tan, BSP in his paper entitled “Consumer Credit in the Philippines”)

Below, a very interesting graph that compares the composition of household debt across 11 Asian countries in 2008. One of the most glaring conclusions is that the Philippines has the highest percentage (@28%) of all household debt in the form of unsecured credit card loans, and lowest percentage of housing loans among all countries in the study. This is probably one reason that the growth in credit card exposure has slowed dramatically in the last 3 years.

Graph is from Household Indebtedness and its implications for financial stability, a paper by Don Narkornthab, Bank of Thailand.

SUMMARY

This is the first of a series of several posts on credit cards in the Philippines. There are 6.7 million cards issued for roughly 4.0 million people. Most of these people fall into the top 10% of the income levels for the Philippine population. There are roughly PHP135 Billion in credit card receivables. I figure that roughly 2 million people could have upwards of PHP60,000 in average revolving balances on their credit cards every month, and are paying upwards of PHP30-40,000 in interest rates, late payment fees, and other fees per capita per annum. Some 15% of all outstandings are past due, down from historical highs above 20% several years ago. Interest rates of 3-3.5% per month are the equivalent of 51+% per year compounded, and when you add in penalties and other fees, could rise to as high as 200+% per year. Credit card fraud and defaults are very high in the Philippines (suggesting banks should choose their clients more wisely), interest rates are amongst the highest in the world, and household debt in the Philippines relies VERY HEAVILY on unsecured credit card debt.

Stay tuned for more in this series in the days ahead. Do me a great big favor and let your friends, colleagues and family know about this series of posts. Over the next month, on a normal basis, this post will get 15-20,000 page views from marketmanila.com regulars and casual visitors. But this is a topic that should interest anyone who holds a Philippine credit card, and thus it would be good if the maximum number of people were aware of this series of posts. If all of you posted this on your facebooks, tweeted about it, copied the posts and added them to your own blogs or websites, then there is a pretty good chance that 150-200,000 people will get to see it. Who knows, they might just learn something useful and avoid getting into credit trouble or know how to better assert their rights as a consumer as a result of reading a few posts. If you know any newspaper columnists, writers, newscasters, broadcasters, who can help to bring further awareness to these issues, I would be more than happy to share as much as I know about the topic with them if that can help the public at large. Thank you.

Sources:

Consumer Credit in the Philippines, 2008 Winecito L. Tan, BSP (A Paper prepared for a speech at the Bank for International Settlements
Issues on Revenue Recognition Practices of Selected Philippine Credit Card Companies, 2004 Erlinda S Echanis, Professor of Accounting & Finance, University of the Philippines
Household Indebtedness and Its Implications for Financial Stability, 2008 Don Nakornthab, Bank of Thailand
BSP Adopts same collection practices for all consumer loans, 2011 Lee C. Chipiongan, Philippine Development Finance
Credit Card Holders Cry Out For Reforms, 2009 Ramon J. Farolan, Philippine Daily Inquirer
Stanchart sees slower credit card growth, 2008 Gerard S dela Pena, Businessworld
Credit card receivables up 4.9% to PHP136 Billion in first half, 2010 Lawrence Agcaoili, The Philippines Star
Card Companies: Use credit wisely, 2010 Jarius Bondoc, The Philippine Star

Interested in reading the rest of the series? Click here:

Part II – Credit Limits

The post Marketman’s Credit Card Series 2011, Part I – An Industry Overview appeared first on Market Manila.

I occasionally treat the crew to some fast food… for a change of pace, for convenience, for a treat with MSG :) and all kinds of hard to pronounce ingredients. While we are more likely to opt for fried chicken, spicy at that, we do occasionally go for burgers or even pizza. Recently, a fast food chain has been in the press and totally in your face with their roadside billboards offering their “value meal” which includes one chicken drumstick, grilled, one portion of rice, half a kalamansi and chilies. Not sure if it comes with a drink. They do offer vinegar as a dip. This is NOT the unlimited rice version. It retails for PHP49. So I wondered just how much value was in the value meal. In the West, the rule of thumb is that food cost is roughly 1/3 or less of the price of the dish. If you can manage to get the food cost to say 25%, and customers still flock to you, then you have the beginnings of a great business… But that ratio takes into account higher rent, wages, and other costs involved in food businesses (insurance, compliance, etc.) in other parts of the world. So out of curiosity, I decided to try and replicate the “value” meal and see what it cost to make.

I marinated grocery (Rustan’s, at that) purchased chicken legs for about 1 hour. I also added chopped lemongrass, garlic, etc. If you want the legs to be juicier, brine them for a couple of hours before marinating them. Next, I put them on a charcoal grill for a few minutes. Served them with a heaping serving of rice, and in the photo below, added a small portion of lechon pancit. So what did it cost? Roughly PHP10 for the chicken, and PHP3.50 for the rice. If I were buying in bulk, these prices would go down, so I am estimating that the “value meal” actually cost roughly PHP13-14 total in total food costs. No rent, no people, no advertising, no clean-up, taxes, etc. That is roughly 28% food cost. Bingo!

The purpose of this post? To illustrate just how much we are all paying for convenience. Many of the folks who purchase “value meals” are likely to think they are often a bit short on funds in general, and yet, for convenience, they opt to eat out often, paying a substantial premium for the privilege of doing so. Frankly, there sometimes isn’t that much real “value” in a “value meal”… at least in my personal opinion. And I know, some of you are aware that I am involved in the food business, so let me just go ahead and tell you the average food and ingredient cost of a Zubuchon is roughly 60-68% of the retail price. And since we turn them by hand, our labor costs exceed nearly all of our peers as well. No wonder we haven’t attracted buyers with billions wishing to acquire us. Hahahaha. If you add the pancit, the total cost of this pictured meal would not exceed PHP20 for the meal. Oh, and commercial iced tea is one of the cheapest drinks you can make, at roughly PHP2-3 pesos per glass ingredients cost, if I recall correctly.

The post How much “Value” in a “Value Meal”??? appeared first on Market Manila.

1. WHITE ONIONS. Medium to large size, white or sometimes referred to as yellow or Spanish onions. They have a slightly golden peel or skin, but the flesh of the onion is white. Here is a picture of the onions that should be priced (go to this post, and refer to onions in third photo, on the LEFT hand side of photo).

2. TOMATOES. “Native” tomatoes not large beefsteak or western salad tomatoes. These should be semi-ripe to ripe, medium to high quality specimens, not the seconds or mushy versions. Go to this post and look at the tomatoes in the third photo for the proper reference point.

3. GARLIC. Ideally, we should seek locally grown garlic, but I find that they have been trampled by cheaper and less fragrant chinese imports. But since native garlic is rare in many groceries nowadays, let’s use as the standard medium sized garlic, most likely NOT the native variety.

4. POTATOES. Medium sized potatoes (not the new or pebble sized versions). Locally grown and brown. Size of potatoes affect prices (they are graded even at the Benguet source) so it is useful to pick what you believe to be the medium sized potatoes and record the price of those.

5. BANANAS. Lakatan (third photo in this post). Medium to large sized bananas, roughly a day shy of ripe. Smaller bananas will likely have a lower price, overripe bananas will also have a lower price in markets. So think about 6-8 inches, but don’t bring a ruler to the grocery, people WILL look at you funny. :)

6. CARROTS. Medium to large locally grown carrots. Not imported carrots. Not the small baby or finger sized carrots.

7. KALAMANSI. Medium-sized, firm and green. Not large, yellowing and ripe. Photo here.

8. BAGUIO OR GREEN BEANS. Good quality and fresh, medium to large size.

9. CABBAGE. Green (not red or purple) locally grown cabbage or REPOLYO. Not chinese, savoy or other cabbage. Medium to large sized head.

10. KALABASA or SQUASH. Medium sized, nearly ripe specimen. Photo here.

11. PECHAY. The most common locally grown pechay. The stuff you grew in the school yard when you were in 3rd grade. Medium sized, fresh specimens. Photo here.

12. GINGER or LUYA. Medium sized fresh knobs.

Okay, if you wish to participate in the survey for the benefit of ALL marketmanila.com readers, please take the list of 12 items above and list down the PRICE PER KILO where you normally do your food shopping. Let’s do this for stores/markets in the PHILIPPINES ONLY PLEASE. If at the market, you may bargain to obtain the best price if you are inclined. At groceries, prices are fixed obviously. You do NOT need to buy all these items, but you will probably need several of them anyway. Then leave a comment on this post, in this format:

Mang Procopio’s Gulayan (name of grocery or market)
Jose Rizal Avenue (address or general area)
Saturday, 2 October 2010, 8am (date and time)

1. Onions PHP50.00/kilo
2. Tomatoes PHP49.95/kilo
3. Garlic PHP76.00/kilo
ETC. (please follow order above or I will go blind compiling data! :)

Thank you very much. I am curious how many of you will participate in this effort. The more the merrier. :)

Happy produce shopping this weekend!

The post Top 12 Produce Items Purchased by Readers… Want to Compare Your Grocery or Market? appeared first on Market Manila.

Okay, so this isn’t “major, major” like losing the Ms. Universe pageant, a possible reality the other day, what with Ms. Philippines’ idiotic answer that the vast majority of Filipinos may think was simply cute rather than a condemnation of the deteriorating state of education in the archipelago. Gosh, are beauty and brains really like oil and water? Younger folks forget or don’t even realize perhaps that a previous Filipina Ms. Universe answered her question 4 decades ago with something like “we don’t speak Tagalog at home, only the maids do”… But this post doesn’t have to do with beauty at all, just the absurd state of fruit pricing in our local groceries. I used to joke that I was getting good at “produce arbitrage” — that is the discovery and exploitation of illogical price differentials from various food sources in Manila. I get to the groceries so often that I should really be able to put together a live update on the blog (a la ticker tape style) on retail prices on the fifty most commonly purchased fruits and vegetables. If it were really easy to do this online, with say 50 volunteer readers adding their data by text every time they hit the groceries, we could really piss off the retailers big time… and save filipino consumers millions of pesos per year. :)

So here is what set this off. Yesterday, I purchased four Packham Pears at S & R in Fort Bonifacio for PHP169.95. They don’t sell them by kilo, only in packs of 4, so I weighed my pack when I got home and it was 1.33 kilos in weight, resulting in a price per kilo of PHP127.78 or roughly ($2.80 per kilo, or $1.29 per pound). On the way home, I stopped by Rustan’s Express in front of the San Antonio Church in Forbes Park, just two kilometers away from S&R, and which caters to many of the same customers as S&R. Both have rents to pay, airconditioning bills, staff, etc. While Rustan’s is a small outlet in this particular location, it has several groceries around the metro, and probably a similar if not LARGER buying power that S&R overall. I saw similar Packham pears for sale there, so I browsed at the price of their pears. A whopping PHP199.95 per kilo at Rustan’s, displayed on a pack of 3 packham pears! That is PHP72.17 or 56% MORE than the pears for sale at S&R just two kilometers away! THAT IS SIMPLY OUTRAGEOUS. OUTRAGEOUS. And this type of pricing absurdities continue because (stupid, spendthrift, clueless, careless, dopey, etc.) buyers tolerate it!

I have written posts on prices before, here and here, and on grapes, here. I know for a fact, through friends, that executives of several grocery chains in Manila read this blog for ideas, to see what’s in season, etc. And yes, I hope someone from Rustan’s is reading this right now. Because it will be hard to explain why their fruit appears to be so grossly overpriced. And it’s not just Rustan’s. I noticed a few weeks ago that butternut squashes from Dizon farms at SM Makati, were sold for 30-40% more than the exact same product at the Dizon farm stall in Market!Market! Mall. I realize that it is a free market, and consumers should beware, but this is absurd. Nearly every one I know, rich or not, complains about rising expenses, and yet, it seems that the buyers themselves tolerate such wide disparities in pricing of goods, both basic and more luxurious, like pears. We don’t grow pears in this country, and I would guess there are only a few shipments of pears (imagine how many pears fit into a 20 foot container?) to Manila per month, so it’s truly hard to figure out why the prices are so variable.

Just to drive the point of price disparities home a bit more… Let’s say you are a family of 4 with a combined monthly income of say PHP100,000. You will probably spend between PHP25-30,000 on groceries and food items per month. If you get screwed to the tune of say 10% price differentials based on where you choose to shop, then you stand to “waste” up to say PHP36,000 per year! That’s almost the full year’s tuition at a decent private school. So let your wallets do the talking, buy from retailers who offer the best prices on average and shun grocers that appear to be taking advantage of consumers… One final thought. Let’s say there are between 10,000-15,000 readers of marketmanila that visit the blog at least 2 times a month and live in Metro-Manila, and we assume that on average they influence the expenditure of say PHP30,000 in groceries and marketing per month. On an annual basis that would (at the high end of the estimate) mean roughly PHP5 billion in food/grocery/market purchases. If we all collectively saved just 5-10% because of smarter shopping, that would be a collective savings of PHP250-500 million! Yipes! :)

The post A “Minor, Minor” Pear Rant… appeared first on Market Manila.

It always amazes me how erratic, variable and unstable the prices of some groceries are at supermarkets and stores within walking distance of each other in Metro-Manila. I realize in a free market, there are absolutely no price controls; however, in a competitive market, prices should naturally reach a justifiable/equilibrium level where supply and demand intersect. In the latter example, intelligent, rational and informed consumers are the “police” of the system. And only if the buying public acts on price distortions will retailers be more careful about how they price their goods, and in some cases, practically fool the consuming public. Take red seedless crimson grapes, for example. Not exactly a day to day commodity, but something that many readers might at one time or another have purchased or consumed. I suspect it is just about after the peak of the table grape harvest in California, and a bijillion kilos of grapes are making their way to markets all over Asia, including the Philippines. I have taken to making grape shakes at home once a day or so. They are a part of my self-designed diet, and with 15-20 grapes per shake they make a refreshing, naturally sweet drink that costs less than a can of Diet Coke…

Surprisingly, grape prices in Manila are wildly variable, and if you don’t constantly frequent several groceries in Manila, you might not have noticed it. So here is my little post on “grape arbitrage” and I do wish there was a blog out there that only posted comparative prices of various groceries from stores around Manila. Last weekend, at the FTI Taguig market, one of my fruit sukis offered me red seedless Crimson grapes at PHP180 a kilo. After a bit of posturing, they brought the price down to PHP170, but I didn’t bite. Why? I had just seen the grapes on a special offer at SM grocery Makati at PHP118, a real steal, considering the same grapes in a California grocery are currently priced at $0.99 a pound or roughly PHP93 a kilo. That means that even with freight imputed, the grapes were well-priced. Imagine if ripe Cebu mangoes (currently roughly PHP90 a kilo in Manila, were exported to California? I sincerely doubt they would be at a Vans or Kroger’s for say PHP130 a kilo! Then today, I went back to SM and the prices had gone up, and the special was over, but the grapes were still a reasonable PHP154 a kilo. A little later, I happened to go to Rustan’s at Rockwell to pick up a beef mechado, with the lard inserted into the middle, and I spied aggressive signage around the crimson red seedless grapes and it very proudly screamed : “Buy One Take One, PHP399.95 per kilo!” In case you don’t have a calculator, that is PHP 199.97 a kilo, or 30% higher than SM, AND you have to buy 2 kilos to boot! And really now, are their grapes normally PHP399.95 per kilo, or did they just double the price for the promo. Egads, there should be laws against that type of pricing/promotion…

Frankly, I find it incredibly annoying.

Rustan’s : PHP199.97 a kilo (but you have to buy two kilos)
Market Suki : PHP170 a kilo
SM Grocery : PHP 154 a kilo

And don’t get me started on the fruit retailer at the basement of Rockwell, or the ones at Salcedo market, either of which might be charging up to PHP240+ per kilo for exactly the same grapes that probably were flown or shipped over in the exact same container. So buyers beware. Know your prices or get royally shafted. :(

Note: October 26 and I just checked prices again:

So there can be as much as an 80%! difference in price within just minutes of each store, all in upscale, mall settings. Outrageous!

Count this as Marketman’s Consumer Report #3, and here was #2, and #1. :)

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