King Abdullah’s decree to reduce gasoline prices has been welcomed by more than a sigh of relief from those pinching their pennies. And while our petrol prices are not the cheapest in the world, this extra savings is a boom to those strapped by rising costs elsewhere.
It was unfortunate that when the king last announced a salary hike for government employees, prices on the shelves and the marketplace took a similar posture. It wasn’t long before most of that hike and more was eaten up by rising costs. But some consumers have begun to fight back at what they see as unfair market practices.
Sara, a housewife and a mother of four, is married to an employee in the civil service. They were ecstatic when they heard of the 15 percent salary increase her husband received last November. But it wasn’t too long before she began to notice that her grocery bills at her regular supermarket were creeping up as well. One time she demanded to see the store manager. As she recounts, when confronted by her irritation over the subtle increase, the British store manager was very apologetic and stated that prices had risen but the euro had something to do with it.
“The euro!” Reaching into her grocery cart, she pulled out one of her purchases.
“What does this bag of rice that is produced in India have anything to do with the euro? It has been marked up by 8 riyals since I last shopped for rice. Or have the Indians joined the European Union now?”
Leaving behind a flustered store manager she turned her back and walked out of the store. She doesn’t shop there anymore, preferring some of the newer hypermarkets with far more competitive prices. And as she tells me she is more alert now, and regularly scans the newspapers for good buys.
Ahmed, a university student, took in the drop in gasoline prices with pleasure. He lives some distance away from the university, and his gas bills were taking a healthy bite of the monthly stipend he was receiving. He is more conscious of his driving habits and regularly performs maintenance on his vehicle for optimum mileage. He and his buddies are also resisting the rising prices at coffee shops, an event they all once regularly enjoyed but which was hitting them hard in their meager wallets. “Today, we just meet up on the seashore with a large mat and some thermoses filled with homemade coffee. We take pleasure in our outings in a far more pleasant and cheaper environment.”
Badr was a typical consumer for several years. And the crafty charm of easy money in the form of credit cards and delayed payments lured him into a very tight financial situation. “It got so bad that I was purchasing my groceries on credit. And it wasn’t that I wasn’t making good money. It was just that I was spending it faster than I was earning it.”
“And what used to really bother me was that my bank was making money off my back. They are very skillful in seducing you to apply for credit but are not very hospitable or understanding when you begin falling behind in your payments. Some time ago, I cut off all my credit cards, borrowed from a relative to pay off my debts and today I am free. I now use my ATM card everywhere. That way if I have it, I spend it. If not, it can wait.”
Arwa, a Saudi homemaker, recounts her recent experience when shopping, with her husband, for a new vehicle.
“Our family car is eight years old, and was showing signs of old age. We had been putting some money aside for a new purchase. But we were not prepared for the prices we faced in the market. Every model seems to have gone up in recent times. And for all that money we had saved, what do you get? A piece of tin and metal!” “And even though some of the car dealers were bending over backward to sell us their product in installments, we just didn’t feel right about committing ourselves to such a long-term debt. My husband eventually turned our old car in to a workshop, got the engine repairs and a paint job done, and the car today looks and runs like new. The money we saved was used to open an investment account.”
Rollie, a Filipino engineer at the port and living here with his family, recalls the time when his landlord raised his rent. “It was two days after that salary hike announced by the king when he told me my rent had gone up by 20 percent. Luckily for us, it was our last month of the old contract. We found another place and moved. It is slightly smaller but is newer and has all the modern amenities. I drive by my old apartment nowadays on my way to work, and guess what? It has been vacant for the five months since I left. Greed has its just rewards.”
While most of us are easily being taken in by the economic miniboom of sorts and spending far more than is wise, it is gratifying to note that there are others out there who have begun to live by the dictum, “a penny saved is a penny earned.”
