On Oct 2 2014 the price of petrol RON95 and diesel went up 20 sen from RM2.10 to RM2.30 for RON95 and RM2.00 to RM2.20 for diesel. Prices of other goods automatically gone up the following day citing increase in transportation cost.
On Jan 1 2015, prices of RON95 and RON97 gone down by 35 sen per litre and diesel by 30 sen per litre. There were no sign of prices of goods going down. With the drop, the price of RON95 was RM1.91 and RON97 was RM2.11 per litre. Price of diesel dropped to RM1.93 per litre. Again none of the eateries are willing to drop the prices of food and drinks.
"Our pricess are increased because the raw stuff prices has increased and nothing to do with fuel price!", said a mamak restaurant manager. Same excuse used by other eateries and shops.
On Feb 1 2015, again the prices of fuel has dropped. RON95 was sold at RM1.70 per litre, RON97 at RM2.00 and diesel at RM2.00 per litre. With Chinese New Year around the corner, again the price charged by most Chinese owned eaterier increased between 10 sen to 50 sen citing extra wages paid to staff working over Chinese New Year period. This is a convenient way of increasing price of food and drinks each year.
Of course Malaysia is a free country and every restaurants, coffee shops, mamak stalls and other shops and suppliers included can charge a price they feel consumers are willing based on the economic formula of demand and supply.
ICW too has the right and obligation to the 750,000 Ipohites by educating them to use their consumer power to force prices down. Thus we are embarking on a month long campaign starting today Feb 7 2015 to go down to meet the people and visit shops and eateries that take proactive approach in lowering the prices of their products or services through creative marketing strategies, or outlets that may not reduce their prices due to the value added service provided which consumers accept as fair. These outlets are then certified by ICW as its Most Preferred Fair Price outlet. With this status, the outlet will be to attract more business as the list of these outlets will be published in ICW blog, website and FB to inform Ipohites to shop at these places for cost savings.
This morning we have started visited many outlets but managed to identify and certified 5 outlets as follows:
Outlet No.1:
Kedai Ubat Yee Sheng located in Desa Tambun Indah. Owner Mr. Lai Kin Siang, a very creative guy in marketing buying in big bulks and pass on the lower price to consumers.
Outlet No. 2:
Autocraft Car Accessories shop located next to Ipoh City Hotel, Jln Dass, Ipoh. Owner Mr. Yeap Ming Choong (or simply Ah Choong) runs a car accessories shop for many years. Very reasonable price for car service and maintenance besides accessories.
Outlet No. 3:
Lalqila Catering & Cafe located behind Telekom and at the junction of Jln Toh Puan Chah and Jln Mahendran in Ipoh. Owner Mr. Dollah, formerly of Pakeeza. Famous Kuey Teow with egg, cockles and prawn at RM5. Good ambience.
Outlet No. 4:
J Ipoh Curry House located at KIA Sports Club Jln Gurdwara. Owner Mdm Jeya is also the Exco Member of ICW. Serving home cook food from 7am to 10pm daily.
Banana leaf chicken rice and vege at RM5.
Simple lunch with fish and vege cost only RM3.
Outlet No. 5:
Restoran Nasi Kandar Sinar Jaya at Jln Silibin near the round about. Owner Mr. Subramaniam is the husband of Mdm Jeya, an Exco Member of ICW.
The list will continue with more outlets as we do more walkabouts and surveys. With this approach, we hope Ipohites will be able to choose outlets that can help provide value for money.
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