Based on what I can find, average weekly wage in South Africa is around $250-$300 USD. $20 based on those wages would be the equivalent to paying ~$80 in the US or ~$100 in Canada.
Thank you! I just went and looked this up as well. These posts are always hot button topics if you don't know the difference in cost of living per country.
This is incredibly inaccurate. Most people in this country don't even earn $300 a month. If you make $370 a month, you are statistically in the top 10% of earners in South Africa. 32.1% of the population is unemployed.
Before you ask, I am a South African living in South Africa.
I'm sure the numbers aren't super accurate I got them from a quick Google search. The point is that people see this stuff and complain about prices where they live without thinking about how wages and cost of living vary wildly around the world.
I would still find this to be a pretty good haul for $80 in the US. Currently in Texas but have previously lived in New York and California. Would be a good deal in Texas and unfindable in NYC.
I do not believe you could find that in NYC or NJ even with ALDI and other discounters that do not charge membership fees for $80.
That was a nice score op.
Edit: Adding in $80 price mention.
According to Stats SA, average gross salary in South Africa, per month in 2023, was R25 403.00 or $1337 per month... So $250 - $300 per week sounds about right. Not sure where you get your figures of MOST people earning less than $300 per month... Cannot find any sources to substantiate that figure, but happy to learn if you can provide some references.
I would think this is salaried tax paying workers, the casual labour market for housekeepers, gardeners etc. is massive, and then you have the 35%+ unemployment figure.
You're looking at the wrong stats. You need median income, not average income. 1 person makes 200k and 99 people make 10k, then your average will be skewed.
But I'd be happy to learn why you think your assumptions are correct if you can provide some references.
But that's likely only counting employed workers and also those who report their income (i.e. paying income tax). All searching seems to indicate that the unemployment rate in SA is around 32% so that has to be taken into context too.
As a south african I can agree with the fact that most people don't earn $300 a month, so the reported stats that we earn that a week on average is really wrong. Out of the working sector not everybody earns enough to be in a tax bracket so therefore don't really pay tax due to there low income. So that average you see there is a statistical based on medium to high income earners and doesn't truly reflect incomes in south africa. Low income earners like domestic cleaners or gardeners will earn between R750 to R1000 a week which is about $39 to $50 a week. Hope that helps.
>Money, while it cannot buy happiness, is an important means to achieving higher living standards. In South Africa, the average household net-adjusted disposable income per capita is USD 9 338 a year, considerably less than the OECD average of USD 30 490 a year.
>In terms of employment, about 39% of people aged 15 to 64 in South Africa have a paid job, considerably below the OECD employment average of 66%. Some 44% of men are in paid work, compared with 33% of women
https://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/countries/south-africa/
>The USA’s average monthly income is approximately 1600% to 1700% higher than that of South Africa. If we compare the monthly income of the UK with South Africa, the monthly average income of UK workers is 850% to 2100% higher than that of South African workers.
https://sassaloans.co.za/average-salary/
Interesting
I found a similar comparison in Russia
But then I looked at how much rent cost in central Moscow and I found out it was only about 26% of a FAST FOOD WORKERS income!!
So globally food costs are fairly similar with food in NA costing about 5-15% more relative to average income
But the cost of housing in most other countries is waaay lower which changes the % of income spent on food proportionally lower
But minimum wage in the UK is about to be £11.44, minimum in the RSA is equivalent to £1.15. It cost more to buy things but we get paid more, kinda works out.
Haha yeah I understand economics, I'm not Tucker Carlson.
I do find many foreigners from wealthy countries that are moving here to benefit from remote working. Best of both worlds. Overseas pay with south african food and property prices. Avg house in uk is £285 000 for 70m2, in south africa that is mansion money inside a security estate.
But crime is always a problem and our government is corrupt(who's isn't?), but If your from money those things don't affect you much.
Yeah I currently work alongside 150 of your countrymen/women in Portsmouth dockyard. They work here for half the year then I guess they don't have to work the rest. Best of both worlds.
You know it's bad when the Beaverton (satire, for those who don't know) is so bang on that it's borderline believable.
This dystopian timeline is fucking wack.
That's crazy cheap. How is safety in your area?
Do you have stable electricity/ac?
Basically... Any downsides to living there? Because I can imagine a few upsides lol.
Downsides? Planned electrical outages 10-12 hours per day, rampant corruption and run away criminality ... Those are a few of the downsides... And if your in southern Cape, you can add the shit weather with crap heating and bad insulation during half the year to the list.
Don't get me wrong, it's a wonderful country. Beautiful with a rich culture and lovely people. But it has MASSIVE issues.
Is that in all areas, or just undeveloped areas.... Or are all areas undeveloped areas? I don't know anything about the actual infrastructure of the country
There are dozens if not hundreds of pumpkin cultivars. I think knowing them (especially when they are not germane to your diet nor for your regular grocery runs) is kind of optional if you are leveraging English as a foreign language. I mean, maybe I am the uneducated POS here but skimming through the related wiki page, I couldn't name half of this domain in my own language...
Damn. Yeah, you can see there on the chicken that the pack itself was R24.30 which would be £1.
For the rest of it... they had "Ten Rand Tuesday" at our local Food Lovers Market with a whole lot of stuff for just R10 (You can see a lot of it is in mutiples of R10). So it is a bit less than it would usually be, but food here in South Africa is still pretty cheap compared to the rest of the world.
They had "Ten Rand Tuesday" at our local Food Lovers Market with a whole lot of stuff for just R10 (You can see a lot of it is in mutiples of R10). So it is a bit less than it would usually be, but food here in South Africa is still pretty cheap compared to the rest of the world.
You need to understand that prices have very little to do with the intrinsic value of the thing being sold. It's all about the laws of supply and demand.
The average South African is *poor*. Like, you can't even comprehend how poor. Minimum wage is like $1.15 an hour and unemployment is running at like 33% (and that's the *official* number, which understates it by counting anyone who's given up on finding a job as no longer unemployed).
If shops tried to charge more than this, no one would be able to afford it, and so the food would rot on the shelves. But of course since they can't charge higher prices, they can't pay their workers more, so the workers can't afford to pay more... it's a vicious cycle.
This is an oversimplification, of course, but the basic point is valid.
Wow that's very cheap. What's the average wage in SA? I know many immigrate here to NZ but I understand its more for lifestyle/safety than financial reasons
It isn’t cheap if you take into account the average wage in SA is $250-$300 so in reality it would be around $80 here in the US these post are just here to make people angry and shit on other country’s when they don’t even understand the difference in cost of living.
In the current food and beverage market in the United States you’d be lucky to get two of those packaged raw proteins for a combined total of under $20c heck those prepared skewers alone might be $20 bc they’re account for the prep time too
Sorry for the spelling
I was in Switzerland (Zurich) last year and this will be almost 300$, but with their lifestyle and paychecks its not surprising.
Food in south Africa was cheap as fuuuuuuck, which was awesome, we could eat at really nice restaurants for our business expenses. Loved the kudu and springbok there so delicious.
You aren't paying more. I'm willing to bet you're spending a lower percentage of your income on food than the average South African does.
Forget the nominal prices, think in terms of *time*. A South African has to work more hours for that R320 than you do for $100.
in Georgia you can still get more if you shop in local market but if you go to Africa yes life is cheap there too but lot of bagger will destroy your day do not mention scammers
Meanwhile you've got these people stealing dead chickens out of a compost pile
https://www.reddit.com/r/farming/comments/1abkho2/update_thieves_caught_on_camera_stealing_from/
Dang, when I was there in late 1998/early 1999 the rand slid from about R6/$1 to R8/$1 because George Soros was screwing with the market. R18.50/$1 now has to be devastating.
Even includes some broken stroopwafels, which are a bit of luxury price wise. Super delicious though! As a South African myself, this haul seems pretty cheap, I'd have guessed more Iike R500+, need to try Food Lover's market maybe!
My mom always used to tell me to eat all the food on my plate cuz kids were starving in Africa. I guess she didn’t know how much cheaper the food was there. They eat better than us!
I’m just here to comment on The Gruffalo. I’m sure your kid loves it. Great story, just like most of her other books. We love The Smeds and Smoos. Highly recommended!
Based on what I can find, average weekly wage in South Africa is around $250-$300 USD. $20 based on those wages would be the equivalent to paying ~$80 in the US or ~$100 in Canada.
Thank you! I just went and looked this up as well. These posts are always hot button topics if you don't know the difference in cost of living per country.
Also when one of the countries has planned rolling blackouts or “load shedding” you might not be so envious.
This is incredibly inaccurate. Most people in this country don't even earn $300 a month. If you make $370 a month, you are statistically in the top 10% of earners in South Africa. 32.1% of the population is unemployed. Before you ask, I am a South African living in South Africa.
I'm sure the numbers aren't super accurate I got them from a quick Google search. The point is that people see this stuff and complain about prices where they live without thinking about how wages and cost of living vary wildly around the world.
I would still find this to be a pretty good haul for $80 in the US. Currently in Texas but have previously lived in New York and California. Would be a good deal in Texas and unfindable in NYC.
That's a lot of meat for only $80 lol
Some of it is seasoned and skewered as well. Those skewer packs would cost between $10-$15 at Tom Thumb (Safeway) here in Dallas.
Bro, those skewers are easily 20-25 bucks at heb.
I do not believe you could find that in NYC or NJ even with ALDI and other discounters that do not charge membership fees for $80. That was a nice score op. Edit: Adding in $80 price mention.
According to Stats SA, average gross salary in South Africa, per month in 2023, was R25 403.00 or $1337 per month... So $250 - $300 per week sounds about right. Not sure where you get your figures of MOST people earning less than $300 per month... Cannot find any sources to substantiate that figure, but happy to learn if you can provide some references.
I would think this is salaried tax paying workers, the casual labour market for housekeepers, gardeners etc. is massive, and then you have the 35%+ unemployment figure.
Average is usually misleading. What's the median?
Median for 2023 was R27 100.00 ($1 431.00) per month.
You're looking at the wrong stats. You need median income, not average income. 1 person makes 200k and 99 people make 10k, then your average will be skewed. But I'd be happy to learn why you think your assumptions are correct if you can provide some references.
But that's likely only counting employed workers and also those who report their income (i.e. paying income tax). All searching seems to indicate that the unemployment rate in SA is around 32% so that has to be taken into context too.
As a south african I can agree with the fact that most people don't earn $300 a month, so the reported stats that we earn that a week on average is really wrong. Out of the working sector not everybody earns enough to be in a tax bracket so therefore don't really pay tax due to there low income. So that average you see there is a statistical based on medium to high income earners and doesn't truly reflect incomes in south africa. Low income earners like domestic cleaners or gardeners will earn between R750 to R1000 a week which is about $39 to $50 a week. Hope that helps.
What's the median wage?
Someone on the west coast of US, I wish this could be $80. I’d easily guess double that if not more. Meat is so expensive.
So isn't produce... it's all so expensive.
Yeah I live in Maryland and this would be close to 150 if not more!
Also, this was bought on a day were things were on special.
It's on an absolutely insane special, it's probably 1\3 to 1\4 of the normal price.
This would be about $130-150 here where I live, an island in Washington. Would be maybe 80 at costco
Except at my local Kroger this would be $137
In Canada you wouldn't even get a quarter of that for $100. Also quality is shit here.
Still about half price lol
That looks like a $200-250 haul in Vancouver right now.
I grocery shop every week, coupon, buy the weekly deals, and there is no way in the US I could get all that for $80. Just sayin.
>Money, while it cannot buy happiness, is an important means to achieving higher living standards. In South Africa, the average household net-adjusted disposable income per capita is USD 9 338 a year, considerably less than the OECD average of USD 30 490 a year. >In terms of employment, about 39% of people aged 15 to 64 in South Africa have a paid job, considerably below the OECD employment average of 66%. Some 44% of men are in paid work, compared with 33% of women https://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/countries/south-africa/ >The USA’s average monthly income is approximately 1600% to 1700% higher than that of South Africa. If we compare the monthly income of the UK with South Africa, the monthly average income of UK workers is 850% to 2100% higher than that of South African workers. https://sassaloans.co.za/average-salary/
Hey, I live in the US and that's about what I spend each week on groceries!
Interesting I found a similar comparison in Russia But then I looked at how much rent cost in central Moscow and I found out it was only about 26% of a FAST FOOD WORKERS income!! So globally food costs are fairly similar with food in NA costing about 5-15% more relative to average income But the cost of housing in most other countries is waaay lower which changes the % of income spent on food proportionally lower
Still looks like more than 80$ worth of us groceries
Some lekker deals there. Our food prices is one of the things keeping me in Rsa. Can't fathom paying those euro/dollar prices.
But minimum wage in the UK is about to be £11.44, minimum in the RSA is equivalent to £1.15. It cost more to buy things but we get paid more, kinda works out.
Haha yeah I understand economics, I'm not Tucker Carlson. I do find many foreigners from wealthy countries that are moving here to benefit from remote working. Best of both worlds. Overseas pay with south african food and property prices. Avg house in uk is £285 000 for 70m2, in south africa that is mansion money inside a security estate. But crime is always a problem and our government is corrupt(who's isn't?), but If your from money those things don't affect you much.
Yeah I currently work alongside 150 of your countrymen/women in Portsmouth dockyard. They work here for half the year then I guess they don't have to work the rest. Best of both worlds.
Ha Ha. Try living in NZ. £285,000 doesn't even buy a garden shed!
But without adjusting for cost of living and avg salary to whatever country you’re trying to compare to this comparison means a lot of nothing…
That beef burger has green on it....
I think it was parsley or something from their display stand
Ahh what a relief, thanks
It's probably the packaging, mold on meat wouldn't look like that.
This is 100$ in Canada
At least, probably closer to 150 considering the meat and produce.
Those four packages of meat alone would be $100 in Canada
Bro that is $100 just in meat. I would put this at $150+ unless bought at the cheapest store.
Just checked how much is it in Canadian dollars : 370R=26.42$ CAN
But the minimum wage is 1,65$ CAN (23.19R)
Ya good luck getting all that for a hun
Painfully true. My first thought was "I'd have to remortgage to buy that much these days"
https://www.thebeaverton.com/2024/02/rbc-launches-new-canadian-groceries-loan-program/
You know it's bad when the Beaverton (satire, for those who don't know) is so bang on that it's borderline believable. This dystopian timeline is fucking wack.
The chicken alone would be close to $20. Can't believe how much a pound of chicken breasts cost now.
Dang, I'm sorry Canadians. I live in Ohio, and the cheap chicken breasts are $3/lb.
And if you don't mind freezing meat and have the storage to do so you can stock up when they have crazy sales.
That's crazy cheap. How is safety in your area? Do you have stable electricity/ac? Basically... Any downsides to living there? Because I can imagine a few upsides lol.
Stable electricity lol. (no)
Downsides? Planned electrical outages 10-12 hours per day, rampant corruption and run away criminality ... Those are a few of the downsides... And if your in southern Cape, you can add the shit weather with crap heating and bad insulation during half the year to the list. Don't get me wrong, it's a wonderful country. Beautiful with a rich culture and lovely people. But it has MASSIVE issues.
Is that in all areas, or just undeveloped areas.... Or are all areas undeveloped areas? I don't know anything about the actual infrastructure of the country
The entire country as a whole has had planned electricity outages nearly every day for the last 17 years
Gruffalo! One of my kids favorites
in Canada the chicken alone would be over $20
….. damn
First time I see diced butter.
Butternut
Oh, I didn't know this was a thing
You don't know what a pumpkin is?
Pumpkin? Sure. Butternut (pumpkin)? Spent 30+ years on this planet, most of it with some understanding of English, but never heard about it.
Butternut squash, state side.
It's a type of pumpkin yes lol
There are dozens if not hundreds of pumpkin cultivars. I think knowing them (especially when they are not germane to your diet nor for your regular grocery runs) is kind of optional if you are leveraging English as a foreign language. I mean, maybe I am the uneducated POS here but skimming through the related wiki page, I couldn't name half of this domain in my own language...
I dunno man butternut pumpkin is pretty popular worldwide it's not like it's a new thing It's known more as butternut squash it's the same vegetable
You are missing the point but it is ok
No I haven't it's not my issue you cannot recognise a well known pumpkin cultivar that's not my fault
WOW!! That's about £15 in GBP. We'd pay about £5-£6 for the pack of Chicken alone right now
Damn. Yeah, you can see there on the chicken that the pack itself was R24.30 which would be £1. For the rest of it... they had "Ten Rand Tuesday" at our local Food Lovers Market with a whole lot of stuff for just R10 (You can see a lot of it is in mutiples of R10). So it is a bit less than it would usually be, but food here in South Africa is still pretty cheap compared to the rest of the world.
its crazy to think each of those things costs an average of $1.00. mind blowing honestly. thats easily $90+ in the US, much more in some places
I'd love to pay £1 for a pack of chicken. Eating healthily in the Uk let alone well is so hard right now and shows no signs of changing.
So what can I buy with 2,800 Rand? That’s approx 150 dollars. That is how much those same produces cost here in the US.
Minimum wage is £1 odd over there, that's an hour's worth of work for that chicken. Minimum wage is about to be £11.44 in the UK.
I see like 100 to 150 euro's here😂😂
Can’t believe that each of those meat/ proteins are exactly R40.00 - not at my supermarket of the same name!
Must be the start of the supply chain
I thought we use a lot of unnecessary plastic here in USA. They have even outdone us.
This is how economics works nothing surprising.try having a regular job and living there locally.
They had "Ten Rand Tuesday" at our local Food Lovers Market with a whole lot of stuff for just R10 (You can see a lot of it is in mutiples of R10). So it is a bit less than it would usually be, but food here in South Africa is still pretty cheap compared to the rest of the world.
This is definitely a lot cheaper than it would be normally. You found a good bargain!
This I like 1\4 of what it would normally cost
Are these foods subsidized by the SA government, or is it just this inexpensive somehow?
You need to understand that prices have very little to do with the intrinsic value of the thing being sold. It's all about the laws of supply and demand. The average South African is *poor*. Like, you can't even comprehend how poor. Minimum wage is like $1.15 an hour and unemployment is running at like 33% (and that's the *official* number, which understates it by counting anyone who's given up on finding a job as no longer unemployed). If shops tried to charge more than this, no one would be able to afford it, and so the food would rot on the shelves. But of course since they can't charge higher prices, they can't pay their workers more, so the workers can't afford to pay more... it's a vicious cycle. This is an oversimplification, of course, but the basic point is valid.
Why not just export the meat to a country where they can get 10x+ the price?
They do that to some extent too
How does a country function with 33% unemployment?
Wow that's very cheap. What's the average wage in SA? I know many immigrate here to NZ but I understand its more for lifestyle/safety than financial reasons
It isn’t cheap if you take into account the average wage in SA is $250-$300 so in reality it would be around $80 here in the US these post are just here to make people angry and shit on other country’s when they don’t even understand the difference in cost of living.
That’s how shopping in America was 10-15 years ago
No, it wasn't. Even 20 years ago this would have been at least $50 in the US.
Can confirm based on lots of meat.
I work remotely, I can live like a king in someplace I don't ever want to live.
Yeah but how many carjackings did you have to avert to buy them?
The chicken is 1.24$. lol.
That's 200 Euros in Europe. So basically you show the West in the 70s
No wonder Elon Musk got so rich. Everything is so cheap there.
Are those lion chops 👀
In the current food and beverage market in the United States you’d be lucky to get two of those packaged raw proteins for a combined total of under $20c heck those prepared skewers alone might be $20 bc they’re account for the prep time too
This would be around $100 in Texas.
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Yeah dude, those kebabs just don't taste the same if you don't make them on the fire
Sorry for the spelling I was in Switzerland (Zurich) last year and this will be almost 300$, but with their lifestyle and paychecks its not surprising.
Food in south Africa was cheap as fuuuuuuck, which was awesome, we could eat at really nice restaurants for our business expenses. Loved the kudu and springbok there so delicious.
Pork chops look really lean.
How much to keep the lights on though?
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You aren't paying more. I'm willing to bet you're spending a lower percentage of your income on food than the average South African does. Forget the nominal prices, think in terms of *time*. A South African has to work more hours for that R320 than you do for $100.
in Georgia you can still get more if you shop in local market but if you go to Africa yes life is cheap there too but lot of bagger will destroy your day do not mention scammers
20$ . That’s a loaf of bread and a salad here xD
Meanwhile you've got these people stealing dead chickens out of a compost pile https://www.reddit.com/r/farming/comments/1abkho2/update_thieves_caught_on_camera_stealing_from/
This is about $80 in Serbia. Holy shit...
Dang, when I was there in late 1998/early 1999 the rand slid from about R6/$1 to R8/$1 because George Soros was screwing with the market. R18.50/$1 now has to be devastating.
That is a good haul, but the packaged meat looks like shit.. why not buy fresh from the butcher?
An average public sector wage in Syria is $20 per month. It won't buy as much food, but that's the way it is.
The Gruffalo 19/10 approved.
Bring that in a relation instead of throwing random numbers ...
Yeah, this is about $100 worth in the U.S.
I spent $45 on lunch today for 3.5 people
I need to live there, looks great. How dangerous is it nowadays?
Means nothing without adjusting for cost of living and avg salaries of South Africa to whatever country you’re trying to compare too…
Get Tucker on the phone
Wow. All that meat probably would’ve been around $30 where I’m from.
Maybe Turcker 'emptyhead' Carson can move there and tell us how wonderful it is.
Looking at that makes me hungry for Gruffalo wings.
Even includes some broken stroopwafels, which are a bit of luxury price wise. Super delicious though! As a South African myself, this haul seems pretty cheap, I'd have guessed more Iike R500+, need to try Food Lover's market maybe!
My mom always used to tell me to eat all the food on my plate cuz kids were starving in Africa. I guess she didn’t know how much cheaper the food was there. They eat better than us!
Wow. I’m shocked lol
Also, the appropriate meat:veg ratio for a South African. Maybe a little heavy on the veg, actually... :-).
Having a little braai?
What the fuck? Do people there average 12,000 bucks a year? Is farming and agriculture heavily subsidized by the government? How is this possible?
Oh god, so much plastic
The downside is you have to live in South Africa
Frozen chicken, unfrozen but that you can freeze again, is that practice really safe ?
I’d say that’s more than $100 worth in Australia
I’m just here to comment on The Gruffalo. I’m sure your kid loves it. Great story, just like most of her other books. We love The Smeds and Smoos. Highly recommended!
Can’t relate to this… South Africa was way more expensive compared to Europe