I love living in this country, but often the lack of options when it comes to buying things drives me insane. Case in point. I’m trying to buy a new bike for my daughter at the moment, and I can’t buy the one I want. I’ve researched it and found that the best one is a Scott Mach One Jr. Most of the others are mass produced steel framed bikes that weigh as much as a small car. The Scott is light, well made, gets good reviews and according to the Scott website is readily available in New Zealand. Most importantly it is adjustable enough to last until she is 8 or 9 unlike the other bikes that will only last for 18 months or so. However, having spent the last 3 days on the phone and email to pretty much every bike company in the country I have worked out that they all buy their bikes from one wholesaler and they, and the wholesaler are out of stock and another shipment will not be coming until October. End of story.
I understand that we are victims of our remoteness here, but the socialist in me can’t bear this lack of competition. It pretty much applies to everything that you buy in New Zealand. Whiteware, cars and definitely computers. In every industry there is the manufacturer, an importer (generally only one or two), the wholesaler, and a couple of retailers thrown in for good measure. We as the consumers get shafted from all directions – price, availability, quality and after sales service (which also is surprisingly bad here in NZ)
Maybe, it’s just me. Maybe I need to research less and just buy what’s on the shelves and be done with it. Put my logical side of me away and stop questioning this stuff. Otherwise I’m going to end up even more bitter than I already am..... If that is at all possible.....
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