11/13/2005

high cost of living, why?

this hawker at a hdb food court said he had to pay $10,300 a month for his rental of a noodle stall. he employs two additional staff to help him and his wife, a total of four workers to run the stall 7 days a week, 12 hours a day.assuming each worker cost $1,500 pm. the basic cost to operate a stall is $16,300, excluding ingredients. at $100 a day, it will add another $3,000 to his cost, making it about $20,000. at $3 for a bowl of noodle, in order to break even, he has to sell 6,666 bowls a month or 222 bowls daily just to break even. so every day he has to slog for the first 222 bowls before he makes his first dollar. it is simply hard work compares to what the land lord is getting. in a food court of 20 stalls, the landlord will collect a cool $200,600 a month once he has everything set up. they said it is easier to make money with money. with such high rentals, it is very difficult for the small business to thrive and make a decent living.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Please be practical. Nobody ask the stall holder (SH) to bid at a high price. The reason is because a lot of S'porean are kiasu and that is the price they pay.

Look at COE, why did it drop so drastically is because people are running out of cash (that's why so many cars being scrapped and re-exported) and they have learn to be practical after decades of overbidding.

Don't blame when you put in the bid.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

hi,

the rental was not decided on a bidding process. the landlord just raise it and the stallholders either take it or leave it.

those who can make a decent living will continue. those who can't will vacate. this stallholder is giving up the stall. at that price it doesn't make sense to him anymore.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

the coe is coming down because of a change in govt policy. there is speculation that it will be removed eventually.

the policy of managing cars on the road by controlling car ownership through high coes is under severe criticism. the new policy is to let people own cars but pay for usage. more erp points will be erected to manage congestion and collect revenue while allowing the people the satisfaction of owning cheaper cars. but pay every time you drive.