This is the snob effect. People like the author believe produce is cheaper because of poor quality. Does Chinatown respond by lowering prices further because people won't buy poor quality produce?
If it weren't for prejudice then Chinatown groceries might price for more profit. The customers are missing out too. Marketing can fix this.
That's incorrect. Cheaper produce is generally known to be the best produce.
For instance, it's summer in the northern hemisphere right now. You can't turn around without running into a ripe stonefruit (peach, plum, apricot).
Because the local trees are bearing right now, not only do you get high quality produce, but you get it for cheap because there's a glut of supply. But if you want an orange, you settle for an expensive, tasteless orange flown in from Chile, cause it's winter down there and that's when oranges become ripe.
If you tried increasing prices of produce in Chinatown, people would laugh in your face and move on down. The Chinese culture is very food aware and value conscious.
I was replying to your comment that marketing was going to "solve the problem".
See my comment above about how Chinese culture is food savvy and value conscious. Increasing prices won't increase profit, it will just decrease sales to very low levels, while people laugh and move on down to the next stall.
"That's incorrect. Cheaper produce is generally known to be the best produce.
For instance, it's summer in the northern hemisphere right now. You can't turn around without running into a ripe stonefruit (peach, plum, apricot).
Because the local trees are bearing right now, not only do you get high quality produce, but you get it for cheap because there's a glut of supply. But if you want an orange, you settle for an expensive, tasteless orange flown in from Chile, cause it's winter down there and that's when oranges become ripe."
was a response to "People like the author believe produce is cheaper because of poor quality."
Perhaps there's more to it than snobbery? Take, as an anecdote, this list of food safety incidents in China [1]. Whether or not that's comparable to the issues in the North American food supply chain, someone felt that there was enough concern surrounding the quality Chinese food to write an article about it. Food for thought.
Exactly. This is why I use the word prejudice. We can extrapolate this to Muslims. Though the conversation won't be as lighthearted.
I think snob effect is the main factor, as I listed it first. Assuming I jumped to xenophobia as the deciding factor is biased. Of course how we view Muslim immigrants and Chinese produce are orders of magnitude apart in impact.
Your original post mentioned that you thought the author was inappropriately associating low prices with low quality ... that's not prejudice, though, right? That's a bog-standard standard heuristic people in my culture use to establish value (see: putting weights in electronics to make them feel more 'premium'). IMHO, it is genuinely terrifying that melamine made it into so many chinese dairy products. Perhaps the media sensationalized it too much, making the event stand out in my memory over similar local events? Who knows.
I guess what I'm getting at is rushing to the conclusion that xenophobia is the only deciding factor here seems a bit premature, and that the problem itself is likely multifaceted.
Exactly. The Aldi-principle: Sell a lot, with a low amount of labour (often even putting the pallet directly from the truck into the store), and it’ll be cheap.
Or their prices are lower because their customers, being aware of overseas prices, are more sophisticated about pricing than a typical US shoppers and so the vendors can't get any with absurdly inflated prices.
I say this because I spent a dozen years living in southern Europe where, not only are all food prices lower, (eg a loaf of bread is often 1/10 what it is in the states and American brand boxed cereal and California wine is cheaper then in their paces of origin.) but also there are product differences that reduce prices but not quality (eg eggs and milk that don't require refrigeration, vastly less packaging, few advertisements)
So yes marketing would raise prices but by bringing in more naive consumers and raising their expenses.
> there are product differences that reduce prices but not quality (eg eggs and milk that don't require refrigeration, vastly less packaging, few advertisements)
Being aware of products on sale for cheaper does not help if they're on another continent. (Given that the EU is basically an agricultural-subsidy league, it's not surprising to see produce for cheaper, either, though it depends on local wages as well.)
But the real thing which drives down the prices isn't just savvy, it's that these customers care about the price and are wiling to go to additional efforts to pay less, whether by shopping at a less-traditional or inconvenient place, or by using coupons. Meanwhile the rich-white-single-programmer happily cruises down to a nearby Whole Foods because he really doesn't care about an extra few dollars on his grocery bill; he even buys the pre-sliced fresh fruit as a convenience.
With regards to milk, note that you can find boxed milk in the US (UHT milk, or even milk powder)... it's just not as common, and culturally is regarded as an inferior good. As for eggs, you'll have to blame the USDA for the mandate that they are washed before shipment (as opposed to by the customer).
If it weren't for prejudice then Chinatown groceries might price for more profit. The customers are missing out too. Marketing can fix this.