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Comment by whalesalad | Hacker News Reader

In hawaii this is called a kama'aina discount, been going on forever.

That's wild. Astounding such behaviour exists in modern times.

I wonder if anyone has made a list of such establishments so that tourists could avoid unfair price gouging/being rorted while on holiday.

It's amazing folks write off treating customers unfairly just because their from a different town and a "tourist". Gross af.

To me this seems like complaining that the T-shirts in the museum gift shop are overpriced. They absolutely are, and you're free not to buy one, but that's the premise of a gift shop. Similarly, whenever I'm a tourist, it's evident to me that I'm being charged a premium at every turn, and apart from the obvious ways to avoid it (like getting snacks from a convenience store instead of the hotel) I don't dwell on it because that energy would be better spent enjoying my trip.

I suppose the equivalent of not buying the T-shirt would be not traveling to touristy destinations.

In general, we should be quite careful when discriminating groups of people. Pricing things different based on where you're living isn't unheard of - if you're an American visiting India for a few months, what would be the "right" price for Netflix - but can be problematic

I don't disagree but "this requires care because it could lead to unspecified problematic outcomes" is true of literally everything. I think you have to specify what outcomes you're worried about or what's different about this instance for it to be a criticism.

Is it unfair? It seems reasonable that someone might prioritize - and subsidize - a long-term relationship with a repeat customer, over someone who's just passing through.

> Astounding such behaviour exists in modern times

Go shopping in a Moroccan medina some time and you may really have your mind blown - "such behavior" is the whole point there; every sale is a negotiation, no fixed prices for anything. Cultures vary!

If people are willing to pay it, is it really so bad?

Charging what the market will bear is a core capitalist principle and seems like good business to me.

And if the tourists are from colonizer countries it's even good karma.

So is that okay at your grocery store, with your public utility, with employment, with buying a car, etc? I would prefer a system with equal charges for everyone, that is inherently not discriminatory

Adding reply since I’m rate limited: I understand the “reality” with things like cars, but I’m asking if that’s what you want. A society where everything requires constant negotiation is not just exhausting but leaves lots of room for discrimination. Also regarding public utilities - I believe California recently proposed discriminatory pricing for utilities.

Grocery stores have coupons and customer discounts, employees can make different wages doing the same job, and car dealers absolutely give deals to some clients that they won't give to others. Public utilities are an exception, and that's specifically because they're government regulated.

But we're discussing commerce here and in commerce, prices are rarely the same for everyone.

you have the option to invest time in blending in and be treated as a local

To be fair, most tourists don't actually have the money or time to spend making that an option.

To be fair, food banks aren't really meant for everybody either

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