On Sat, 22 Oct 2005 13:19:34 +0100, "carrigman"
wrote:
>A brilliant city and a great place to visit but....
>
>1. Why can't the marked prices on things include the NYC sales tax? It's
>annoying when you
> see something for sale for, say, 9.99 only to find you have to pay an
>additional 8% or whatever
> extra. In Europe the marked price is inclusive of all taxes. NYC should
>catch up.
It is simply not the practice in the U.S. to include the sales tax in the
marked price. States have different sales taxes, or none at all, and I
agree it would be a good idea to include this in the price.
>
>2. How come there are so few internet cafes? I eventually happened on one,
>by sheer chance, in
> West 33rd Street. In European cities they are plentiful. One would have
>thought that with the
> amount of visitors to NYC there would be a ready market for many more of
>them in the city.
New York real estate rental prices are astronomical and the modest Internet
cafes seen in many places in Europe could not make it here. Those that do
exist often are located off the beaten track in areas where rents are not
so high.
There are quite a few in my neighborhood in Astoria, Queens, I'd say
a dozen or so within a 10 block radius of my home. But rents here are
far cheaper than in Manhattan.
One can use the Internet free at public libraries across the entire city,
but you may have to sign up and wait for a slot. And for those with wifi
enabled laptops there are many locations, both in cafes
and parks and such to get free access.
>
>3. What's with all the honking? If traffic is held up for an instant there
>is a cacophany of car horns
> being sounded. Again, not something one hears in most European cities.
Ah yes. There is no rational explanation for this I'm afraid. It is
purely a New York thing and a most annoying one. My daughter recently
bought a car and as we went for the maiden rides she was soon muttering
about the fools who honked incessantly. I told her she had better learn to
live with it now that she was driving again in the city because it has
always been the case and is highly unlikely to change.
>
>John,
>Ireland
>
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