Duty
Free Shops
A Place to Save?
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 hat does duty-free actually mean?
Free from import/export taxes? Free from VAT tax? Both? Neither?
It means very little these days.
Technically it means, or at least used to, that the goods were available for sale without
having added to them the cost of duty to import into the country in which they're being
sold. One still has to obey of customs regulations of wherever one is going, and VAT is
still charged. That was then, and this is now.
 nce upon a time duty free shops had spectacular
bargains. That was long ago when fire-breathing dragons roamed the countryside seeking
knights to roast, while flying machines whizzed overhead pulled by their spinning
propellers.
Since that time everyone has become
very, very greedy, and it is generally the tourist that gets burned.
 uty free shops, at
least those in developed countries, offer no across-the-board bargains. Airports have
become greedy and gouge the merchants with outrageous rentals, and gouge both merchant and
buyer with outlandish royalties on sales. The merchants, needless to say, don't wear white
hats either. They like profits, too, the bigger the better.
One will occasionally find a decent
buy. Rarely spectacular, and probably not worth the trip by itself, but somewhat
advantageous. Far more often the price will be little different, if at all, from the
prices you'll find "downtown". And quite often the prices will be substantially
higher than one would normally pay.
vhe moral of the story?
Caveat emptor.
Don't save all your planned purchases for the duty free shop on your way home ...
unless you have good G2 that what you want is well-priced there.
And remember, when in the duty free
shop, to keep your eyes open and your ears alert. Those knights? Gone. Gone along with the
flying machines with the spinning propellers. But the dragons? They're still around ...
and hungry as ever. With no knights to munch they'll settle for a tourist any day. Don't
let yourself be singed in the duty free shop.
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Copyright © 2001 E.J. Gehrlein
Published May 14, 2001
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