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Tracking Austrian grocery prices by scraping store sites

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Re: Tracking Austrian grocery prices by scraping store sites

#21

Post by FirmwareBurner »

midasuni wrote: post #3

“asymmetric information warfare” I think that’s a great term in explaining how “the free market” doesn’t work.

>“asymmetric information warfare”

That's also a powerful tool for wage suppression and it's been used for decades to constantly low-ball workers.

Thank god in the last decade we saw a lot more transparency online through user provided open source salary data, which helps even out this asymmetry a bit and have workers demand their market value and hope to not get massively low-balled like before.

>I think that’s a great term in explaining how “the free market” doesn’t work.

It only works for those who set the prices as they can collude on price/wage fixing whereas workers and consumers can't organize in similar fashions.

Re: Tracking Austrian grocery prices by scraping store sites

#24

Post by l0b0 » 

  > Then we also got German and Slovenian stores.
Do they mean foreign companies operating in Austria, or separate DBs/web sites for other countries? (The forks[1] don't have legible names) I'd love to see a New Zealand one, as we have a big problem right now with rising cost of living and lots of suspicion of shenanigans.

[1] https://github.com/badlogic/heissepreise/forks

Re: Tracking Austrian grocery prices by scraping store sites

#26

Post by FirmwareBurner »

michaelhoney wrote: post #2

This is a great thread, and it shows the power of smart, tech-capable citizens.

>it shows the power of smart, tech-capable citizens

Consumers in Austria who travel abroad/to Germany often, already knew they were getting scammed for a long time now, but couldn't prove it and now they can, so the more important question is what will come out of it, as the data shows the big retailers clearly cooperating on price fixing.

My guess, nothing, as the government regulators who are supposed to watch over this, will find nothing wrong, as they're already bought and paid for to go work as lobbyists or "consultants" for these retailers once their stint in politics is over.

Why do I think this? Well, about 6 years ago, the 3 big telecom operators in Austria raised the prices together at the exact same time, and the government body in charge of overseeing these things said they have no proof that the 3 operators colluded together for price fixing and it could just be a coincidence, case closed.

The country is so corrupt, it's rotten to the core. As a consumer and taxpayer you are being legally fleeced form every direction with the blessing of the government, but this is probably true in many other countries.

Re: Tracking Austrian grocery prices by scraping store sites

#27

Post by ta1243 »

jiofj wrote: post #16
derelicta wrote: post #10

Truly shows how Free Markets are the most efficient

That's nice if we forget about the ECB printing money like there's no tomorrow.

Which explains why inflation in countires like Belgium, Spain, Denmark, Luxembourg are all under 2.5% as they famously don't use the Euro.

Re: Tracking Austrian grocery prices by scraping store sites

#28

Post by helpfulContrib »

0xDEF wrote: post #8

Funny how the two most pro-Russian EU countries, Hungary and Austria, are the ones suffering the worst inflation despite continuing to trade with Russia. The only parts of the countries doing well are Budapest and Vienna that are both controlled by opposition parties.

Austrian inflation and trade with Russia: please explain how this is related?

Is it because corporations are being used to put the squeeze on the Austrian people? Sanctions?

Because nobody wants to do trade with Austria?

In which case, there must surely be examples? I'd love to know a few.

Re: Tracking Austrian grocery prices by scraping store sites

#29

Post by yakubin »

0xDEF wrote: post #8

Funny how the two most pro-Russian EU countries, Hungary and Austria, are the ones suffering the worst inflation despite continuing to trade with Russia. The only parts of the countries doing well are Budapest and Vienna that are both controlled by opposition parties.

Hungary yes, but Austria doesn’t seem to be doing all that bad. Eastern Europe is doing much worse.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/225698/monthly-inflation...

Re: Tracking Austrian grocery prices by scraping store sites

#30

Post by zwarag »

l0b0 wrote: post #24

> Then we also got German and Slovenian stores. Do they mean foreign companies operating in Austria, or separate DBs/web sites for other countries? (The forks[1] don't have legible names) I'd love to see a New Zealand one, as we have a big problem right now with rising cost of living and lots of suspicion of shenanigans. [1] https://github.com/badlogic/heissepreise/forks

He added foreign stores that sell the partially sell the same things. Sometimes these stores also sell Austrian products which are cheaper in those countries than they are in Austria.
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