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The realities of 'owning' a Japanese convenience store

japantimes.co.jp

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Re: The realities of 'owning' a Japanese convenience store

#131

Post by Freak_NL »

Kurtz79 wrote: post #121
masklinn wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Once you know those nothing beats pulling a warm can of black coffee from the machine. I'd say pulling a bottle of warm lemon / lime tea was even better, especially with travel-sore-throat. > low prices Aside from providing warm drinks, that's the big ticket right there: IME, european vending machines are basically predatory, they're way overpriced for what they provide and rely on necessity or impulse rather than…

"Aside from providing warm drinks, that's the big ticket right there: IME, european vending machines are basically predatory, they're way overpriced for what they provide and rely on necessity or impulse rather than just doing good business." Absolutely agree: I don't remember the last time I bought something from a public vending machine (or even seeing someone else doing so) here in Spain. Prices are anywhere betwe…

It affects my behaviour as a consumer. In Europe I tend to purchase snacks and lunch in supermarkets or convenience stores at the bigger stations before travelling (but rarely those on the platforms because of the prices). In Japan, I just get it from any convenience store (including those inside the gates) or the vending machines without a second thought.

Re: The realities of 'owning' a Japanese convenience store

#133

Post by Insanity »

bkor wrote: post #111
ovi256 wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, this is by law and it's a requirement for having a pharmacy operating license. Fun fact: in most of the world, medical personal like pharmacists can't go on strike.

Are you sure about that fact? Pharmacists went on strike in Netherlands this year. Another reply mentioned Poland. It seems there's no EU rule, or maybe it's more that some still need to be open. The majority of what a pharmacy provides is repeat customers anyway. Despite regular customers planning badly pretty much all the time, the majority gets their medicine for a minimum of various weeks. The participation of th…

Well he did say "most of the world" which is not "everywhere". I did not read it as if every single country has this requirement. :)

Re: The realities of 'owning' a Japanese convenience store

#134

Post by SenHeng »

frequentnapper wrote: post #31

I currently stay in japan. The competition here is intense when it comes to food and drink. Every alley, even in residential areas in the back of the houses, has some mom & pop operated hole in the wall eatery. I never see more than two customers at many of these places at a time, but they stay open ungodly hours. I can't imagine they would be making more than $2-3 an hour on the average after all the costs.

A lot of family run retail shops all over the world/Asia seem to have this misconception that family labour is free, thus their employees/children/siblings are effectively working for below minimum wage.

Re: The realities of 'owning' a Japanese convenience store

#135

Post by redact207 »

CydeWeys wrote: post #16

I was just in Japan two weeks ago, and convenience stores were omnipresent. I'll admit, it was incredibly convenient, as I never went for lack of food or water, and I got into habit of grabbing a beer and a snack every night to take back to my hotel room before bed. I was relying on them (and vending machines) pretty heavily for coffee and green tea throughout the day as well. There were way too many convenience stor…

I studied this as part of my degree. It's mostly the ice cream vendors problem, where apparently the franchises would prefer to saturate a smaller area with competitors than a larger area with no competition.

It's probably an oversimplification but it is painfully evident when walking around metro areas of Japan.

Re: The realities of 'owning' a Japanese convenience store

#136

Post by crimsonalucard »

delhanty wrote: post #30

Even for HN, these are some of the most empathy-deficient comments that I've ever read. Yes, it's true that there is a huge problem with overwork for the franchisees. But those stores aren't there (just) for you. Imagine this scenario: you're over 80, living on your own and not very mobile. The fact that there's a 7-eleven within 100 metres that sells a large variety of foodstuffs and essential items in single portio…

Well LA you typically have a car. Though not as convenient as japan there are definitely 24/7 convenience stores or supermarket spots within short driving distance to where I use to live.

Re: The realities of 'owning' a Japanese convenience store

#137

Post by crimsonalucard »

esyir wrote: post #89
ariwilson wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

LA's a bad example; while there may not be a 7-Eleven every hundred meters, there's certainly one within a mile radius of most people in the city.

A mile is a somewhat long distance to walk though. A hundred meters takes less than a minute, enough that I'll just pop out and get something random. the 10min++ to walk a mile is an exponential increase in friction.

Nobody walks in LA or most of california. You drive everywhere you need to go. CA is suburban with the exception of SF. A mile is a short drive. A convenience store every 100m is kind of excessive.

Re: The realities of 'owning' a Japanese convenience store

#138

Post by irq11 »

innocenat wrote: post #62
Klonoar wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand if those places seem amenable to you, but I (and pretty much everyone I know who lived there long term) wouldn't set foot in one of those past their college years. They're horrible for your body. I'd sooner eat conbini food and pass out. The late night pubs do exist, sure, but a lot of them stay open to capture any foot traffic from people missing their last train around midnight. Most don't serve full m…

> I understand if those places seem amenable to you, but I (and pretty much everyone I know who lived there long term) wouldn't set foot in one of those past their college years. They're horrible for your body. I'd sooner eat conbini food and pass out. Regularly see elders in my local Yoshinoya. The Beef-Salmon set is good.

Yoshinoya is junk food.

The OP isn’t being literal, but the point is correct: Yoshinoya seems great if you’re a tourist and you’ve had it once or twice in your life. But if you live there you begin to associate it with missed trains and late-night binge drinking. I had to be pretty wasted to eat gyuudon - even an old onigiri from a sketchy conbini was preferable.

Are there people who eat there regularly? Sure. There are people who eat Burger King every day, too.

The OP’s broader point about Tokyo not being a magical 24/7 wonderland is extremely well-taken. Tourists spend some time in Shibuya or Shinjuku and extrapolate incorrectly. Hell...even Shinjuku can be a hard place to get a good bite at 3am on a weekday night. Most places there close shortly after the last train (~midnight).

Re: The realities of 'owning' a Japanese convenience store

#139

Post by majos »

redact207 wrote: post #135
CydeWeys wrote: post #16

I was just in Japan two weeks ago, and convenience stores were omnipresent. I'll admit, it was incredibly convenient, as I never went for lack of food or water, and I got into habit of grabbing a beer and a snack every night to take back to my hotel room before bed. I was relying on them (and vending machines) pretty heavily for coffee and green tea throughout the day as well. There were way too many convenience stor…

I studied this as part of my degree. It's mostly the ice cream vendors problem, where apparently the franchises would prefer to saturate a smaller area with competitors than a larger area with no competition. It's probably an oversimplification but it is painfully evident when walking around metro areas of Japan.

Why would ice cream vendors want to all compete in the same place? It seems economically counter-intuitive.

Re: The realities of 'owning' a Japanese convenience store

#140

Post by skohan »

icebraining wrote: post #85
ako wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you really sure that capitalism will reduce global poverty? The core of capitalism is competition. This may result in higher quality and larger choice, but if these are sufficient enough it will in the end result in lower prices. This has to be done through efficiency but will also result in lower wages. I think unconstrained, uncontrolled capitalism will result in 90% of the global population working very low in…

> I think unconstrained, uncontrolled capitalism will result in 90% of the global population working very low income, replaceable jobs, or being completely replaced by automation. I think that's likely; after all, capitalism already replaced the jobs of 90% of the developed world population with automation and other efficiencies: that's why most of us no longer work in agriculture. Now, was that a net negative develo…

Mercantilism was also a pretty good economic system until it wasn't. It's not sound reasoning to say that capitalism had a net positive impact (at least in North America and Europe) through much of the 19th and 20th centuries and conclude that it is and will forever be the optimal system.

I think there's a compelling argument to be made that in this century, with forces like globalization and automation removing a lot of the leverage which labor had, modern capitalism is going to result in a net negative economic state for a vast majority of people.

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