Monday, June 11, 2007

Losing value on our Ringgit

I was window-shopping last weekend and chanced upon an electrical shop displaying the latest OSIM uPilot massage chair promotion for Father's Day.

Now, it is really hard to ignore a bright red bulky chair in gleaming leather surrounded by little kids gleefully bouncing up and down on a couple of iGallops nearby.

On closer inspection, I noticed that the recommended selling price for this state-of-the-art ROBO stic (whatever THAT is!) uPilot chair is RM23,880.00 (West Malaysia).

I also took a look at the iGallop and discovered that this rather obscene (my husband's opinion, ok?) piece of bumping & humping equipment is priced at RM2,388.00!

Has the purchasing power of our Ringgit shrunk so fast that Malaysians no longer see the irony of paying the equivalent of an average teacher's full year's salary on a massage chair? And a couple of months' salary on a jiggling machine?

Are we regressing?

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7 Comments:

Blogger Surebor said...

jiggling machine.ROFL!!!

they are smart. buying one shows yr filial piety it seems

11/6/07 15:56  
Blogger zewt said...

oh well..... that's reality. and i really hate it when employers go telling ppl like us that we are highly paid... inflation has taken over everything.

and the best part... our bank negara governers said she wanna control the appreciation of ringgit. all for the country's sake... whose sake?

11/6/07 17:38  
Blogger Helen said...

Never underestimate the power of advertising. lol

11/6/07 18:52  
Blogger Maverick SM said...

The Ringgit is doing better; but the income will never do better than the Ringgit. Its a fact!

11/6/07 20:10  
Blogger Arena Green said...

Hello everybody! I guess for those of us who visit Linpeh's blog, we can appreciate the many jokes spawned by OSIM's brand of marketing strategy. :-D

And I agree with Mave - wages in Malaysia appeared to have remained relatively stagnant for the past 20 yrs while the value of our Ringgit have depreciated and the price of goods and services continue to go up and up.

No wonder overseas grads are not in a hurry to return home.

11/6/07 21:47  
Blogger TH said...

Hello there! :)

Was laughing at your 'shopaholic.limited' post. I'm now morphing into one too. Souvenirs have been invading my place too much!

I am definitely not in a hurry to return home. Now that the UK pass the law allowing grads to stay up to one year after graduation, many would continue to be here as long as possible.

Job opportunities back home are harder to find, especially in the science field whereby there is lack of expertise, equipments and facilities.

In the pharmaceutical line, all capsules here are filled using machines whereas the last time I volunteered in a hospital in Penang, I had to manually fill them up. I was shocked.

It's a still long way to go for home..in many areas.

12/6/07 01:19  
Blogger Arena Green said...

Hello Ms Twisted Heels!

Glad to hear you sounding so cheerful, but of course you should be - CONGRATULATIONS!!! Your shoulders must be feeling pretty light now, eh? ;-)

I think coming home even if jobs are aplenty here will not cushion the shock from the fact that the pay is rather pittance compared to the escalating costs of living.

You'd probably not get to enjoy the kind of lifestyle you imagined you deserve after all the years of slogging for your degree.

One of my ex-colleagues got so fed-up after spending 3 yrs back in Malaysia working her butt off but never making enough to put aside savings for a fancier car, finally quit, and went back to London.

The last straw for her was when she got soaked in her Proton after the car window she wound down to pay a parking ticket could not be wound up again during a downpour.

Yeah - you're right.

It's still a loooonngg way to go for home.

12/6/07 12:42  

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