Tag Archives | price

Price of Nintendo Switch in Lebanon

By Rami on March 19, 2017 in Gaming

The Nintendo Switch was released worldwide on Match 3rd 2017, and I got excited to buy one after reading several positive reviews about it with the nicest feature about the console being its portability. I already have a PS4 and my kid sometimes randomly interrupt me to watch his favorite animated series, so instead of stopping my session, with the Switch I could simply just move to playing using the built-in screen. (In case you’re wondering, yes you can be a gamer and a responsible parent at the same time)

Anyway, I asked around yesterday and found that Nino Store in Beirut is selling it along with 2 games for $650 while JouéClub is offering the console alone for $526 while games are starting $75. On the other hand, the official price of the Nintendo Switch in the U.S. is $300 and you can have it shipped to Lebanon with DHL probably for ~$150-200. So if you’re keen on getting one, I recommend you wait a little bit as I believe prices should dramatically drop over the next weeks especially at Nino.

Photo via forbes.com

Where Does The Extra $1 Go?

By Rami on October 14, 2016 in Commerce, Rants, Telecom

If you’re subscribed to one of Touch or Alfa prepaid plans then you definitely buy a recharge card every 1 month or so.

You basically have two ways to pay for these cards, either electronically through mobile carrier websites and bank ATMs, or by physically getting them from mobile phone shops, and I personally always have a problem with the latter!

Everywhere in the world you’re expected to pay the price indicated on the recharge card whenever you buy one, except in Lebanon where you always have to add an extra $1 charge! So you basically pay 39,000L.L ($26) for a $25 recharge card for example, and some shops that feel like being competitive sometimes reduce the price to 38,500 or 38,000L.L.

All the sellers I’ve asked about that extra charge claimed it is their profit margin and that the price on the card is actually their cost price. But this isn’t logic honestly since bank ATMs sell the same cards at the published price and there’s now way they’re not making any profit out of it.

I know that an extra $1 per month is not going to make me poor, but seriously, and out of pure curiosity, who the hell takes it??

What’s All The Fuss About Automotive Inspection Fee Hike?

By Rami on October 7, 2016 in Automotive, Politics

Have you ever been through the horrible experience of taking your car to one of the “mecanique” inspection centers in Hadath or other areas? The last time I went there 2 years ago I spent 6 hours there waiting in endless queues. The whole experience makes you pray for your car to pass the inspection not because you hate going to your mechanic, but rather because you want to avoid wasting another day over such silly task!

A while ago, it was announced that a new company called Autospect won the bid for running the existing inspection centers, and that part of its plan over the next year is to increase the number of inspection centers from 4 to 17 across the country which will help reducing the time needed to go through the inspection to 15 minutes, with the possibility to book your appointment online. This however will be at the cost of increasing the current fees from $22 to $33 out of which $5 are a new government tax.

Next thing we know, public transportation drivers started protesting the price hike by closing vital roads around Beirut every week or so. Disregarding how much I hate it when a group of people start blocking streets to make their points, I found their protests to be utterly weird.

Out of all the fuck ups in our country, this $11 or 16,500L.L increase is seriously the reason why these drivers are wasting their precious time to organize these protests? I bet each and every one of these people earns more than that amount per day, but given how sensitive they are about such increase, how on earth can they afford sacrificing their income by going to such all day protests?

I personally think it must be one of two things, the protesters are either not public drivers but rather people who for some reason believe the new developments are not of their interests, or the transportation unions are simply controlled by some influencing figures/businessmen who didn’t win the bid.

Either ways, whoever is willing to reduce the inspection time to 15 minutes can take my money because I’m tired of finding a “simsar” each time I have to take my car to the Hadath center! Protesting against such progress is ridiculous, and no please don’t demand for the government to handle the inspection process instead!

We Need a Cheaper Version of Souk El Akel

By Rami on July 15, 2016 in Food, Opinions

IMG-20160715-WA0007

Even though Souk El Akel has been up for well more than a year now, I have only managed to go check it out a while ago in Beirut Downtown. And just like almost everybody else, I enjoyed the different flavors each stand was offering and loved how appetizing the food looked on display. The general ambiance also felt pretty nice with joyful people all around.

Raclette Burger in the making

Still, I was surprised with a couple of things, first being the unreasonable prices that are definitely not suitable for street food, and second the fact that no one seems to be bothered about it.

$5.6 Pizza slices

I have the utmost respect for Anthony (the founder of Souk El Akel) and everybody in his team for the effort they’re putting to let people enjoy clean and appetizing street food in a cool ambiance, but if that comes at a high cost like a $10 burger or $3.3 popsicle, then you can no longer call it street food, and for such prices I’d rather be at some restaurant enjoying a seated meal. I’m totally aware though that some items include premium ingredients like salmon and Angus beef, but then again, when I want to go have a street burger or a sandwich, it doesn’t really have to be made of premium stuff, just make me something tasty!

$8 Waffles anyone?

I don’t claim to have toured the world, but I have tried street food in several places like the US, Thailand, Turkey, Singapore, and Malaysia, and the prices were always dirt cheap for some of the best flavors I’ve tasted! So I really don’t understand how people here feel indifferent about $10 quick bites and dessert. It’s either everybody is suddenly better off, or I’m simply a cheap guy (I doubt the latter though :P).

I tried these ice cream rolls in Kuala Lumpur last October for no more than $2. Now available as Frooza at the Souk for $8.

All in all, paying $30 for some appetizer, a sandwich, and a dessert is just too much in my opinion for a street food market. For all I know, the organizers and the vendors are free to set whatever price they want and people will probably keep coming because it’s a new and cool concept to Lebanon, but making room for cheaper bites certainly make Souk El Akel earn its name.

$9 Chicken and pork sandwiches

Is The Government Indirectly Imposing A New Tax on Gas?

By Rami on March 31, 2016 in Lebanon

gas price

Following the huge decrease in gasoline prices during the last year, there has been a lot of talk about the possibility for he government to fix the price at 22,000L.L per 20 liters or introduce a new tax of 5,000L.L to increase the revenue, but it was claimed a couple of months ago that the cabinet is not going to approve such thing and we all got relieved.

However, it seems like the tax is going to be gradually imposed one way or another. Over the past 3 weeks, the price of gasoline has increased by 1,700L.L even though the price of crude oil decreased from $41.5 to $38.3 over the same period.

What’s also worse is that the media is not reaching out to the ministry of energy to inquire about these increases, but you really can’t blame them when Ahlam and Adel Karam are keeping them busy with their nonsense…!

Sorry, but we like to rip you off!

By Rony on September 24, 2014 in Lebanon, What the fuck!

psn plus961

If you are a gamer like me, you might have noticed a not so subtle increase in the price of PSN (PlayStation Network) cards. These were previously priced at 22$ for the 20$ card and 55$ for the 50$ card. Currently the latter is selling for a whooping 65$. So you can forget about the digital purchase of games since the amount you’ll be saving on the game’s price you’ll be paying on the price of the PSN card.

If you know the reason for this increase kindly share in the comment section!

P.S: the prices mentioned above are from Virgin Megastore.

Slashing internet prices in Lebanon is still not enough

By Rami on July 1, 2014 in Lebanon

Following the announcement of the ministry of telecommunications on their plan to lower internet prices and boost speeds last month, we all thought it would now be affordable for us to get the high speed connections we always wanted, and this was proven true after some ISPs started rolling out their plans with 4Mbps subscriptions for as low as $19.

However, it doesn’t seem like this sufficient for us to enjoy the newly offered packages. According to this excellent article by Matt Nash from Executive Magazine, the real problem now lies in the copper wires connecting our homes to the central offices. Apparently, these wires can handle transferring a maximum of 8Mbps given that you live near the central office in your area, and the speed of course decreases as the distance to your home increases.

This is in fact so bad that basically around 1/3 of internet users in Lebanon cannot get more than 2Mbps to their homes since they simply live too far away from a central office!

So I believe the biggest challenge facing the ministry right now is upgrading the existing infrastructure which can cost up to $1 billion if we decided to go for optical fiber. And until then, the maximum speed we are able to get will remain much less than what average users enjoy in other countries of our region.

$1 Hot dogs coming to Beirut

By Rami on October 21, 2011 in Lebanon

This website of Authentic New York Hot Dog is promising a chain of hot dog carts soon to be available in Lebanon offering cheap hot dog sandwiches for $1 only, with combos starting as low as 3,500L.L as well.

I honestly expect the sandwiches to be super tiny since one of these combos includes 5 sandwiches, and I assume it should be a meal for 1 person. Still, I don’t mind it as long as they taste good! Let’s wait and see.

Meanwhile, my favorite place for hot dogs in Beirut remains Charlie’s in Bliss Street.

Thanks @HibaMoujabber

Total Lebanon introduces Total Effimax

By Rami on April 8, 2011 in Lebanon

Have you seen the latest billboard by Total Lebanon?

They claim their new Effimax fuel has additives that reduce fuel consumption and extend the life of a car’s engine. With the current price we’re paying for fuel here, I definitely want to drive more for the same amount I’m paying, and I hope this is not false advertising!

As compared to regular 95 and 98 octane fuels, TOTAL Effimax stands out by its unique proprieties and benefits:

TOTAL Effimax reduces costs
Thanks to its components the TOTAL formula improves combustion properties of fuels and gives them better performance. TOTAL Effimax reduces the fuel consumption and maintenance costs of the vehicle.

Via Zawya