This-American-Life

One weird aspect of life in the USA is not just the weird labor vs material costs but even how much the material costs vary from retailer to retailer. I have been to 50 countries now and have not seen this variance in any high-income, middle-income, or low-income country. It taxes your mental energy because even simple tasks can have a huge cost variance. My car has two battery-powered keys. One was dead, other one started giving low-battery notifications as well. Over the weekend, I learned about different ways to change the car battery with a 100X variation in costs. ...

The price variance one sees in the United States is huge. It is not just that price of “organic” groceries can vary up to five times. Even, something as standardized as coke would be sold in a restaurant for 5-10 times more than the grocery store next door. The same goes for non-perishables like clothes where almost all of them, despite being manufactured in the same set of factories can have a huge price range. Sometimes, even the quality is identical.

While Sitting at a local restaurant in Cairo, Egypt, I deliberated between Subia and Dom Palm to drink. Two adult women, the mother (in-law?) wearing a burqa and the daughter (in-law?) wearing an abaya sat in front of me. The third member of their party was a little girl, wearing a bright pink frock. She was small enough to be placed right on the table. Dom Palm, I decided, will be the “authentic” Egyptian taste for tonight.

Car insurance in the United States is a system that more or less works well. You call up insurance agents representing different insurance companies with similar policies but varying quality of service. Then you buy it based on how much insurance premium they charge and how good/bad quality of service you are willing to accept. If you have an expensive car or you are a reckless driver, you end up paying more. The less you use your insurance, the lower your premium becomes over time.

“I need the address.", the immigration official shouted at her, as she, a septuagenarian Indian woman, with her limited English, repeatedly, pointed to the paper containing the phone number of her daughter.