[nzjames]

I'm from New Zealand but have travelled in the US and lived in the UK. The difference is service.

You get it in the US. I remember it in every store. Initially I thought it was intimidating because I was not used to it. But after a few months and some great experiences I really enjoyed it.

You don't get it in the UK. High street stores, especially noticeable in places like shoe stores where you need service to complete a transaction. You could easily wait 10 minutes until someone was available to help you. And it could take another 10 minutes per pair of shoes you wanted to try on. So painful.

[lostlogin]

I never got into the helpful staff thing. I dislike being helped when in shops. Clearly I have been in New Zealand too long. Something that really irked me in the US was the way taxes worked. I never knew what I was going to pay, as taxes weren't included in the label price. It wasn't a large percentage, but I never could quite understand why anyone would take the time to make a price label which showed a price different to what I would pay. Does anywhere else do this? i have travelled a fair bit and have never encountered it before (My US experience was limited to California I should note).

[henrikschroder]

(Completely off-topic here, but my understanding is that sales tax in the US can vary from county to county, and definitely varies from state to state, so it's simpler in the case of labelling, and impossible in the case of national advertising, to show the final price. Contrast with Europe where sales tax is nationally fixed, which makes it easy to show the final price. (and in some places illegal not to!))

[weaksauce]

In California it definitely varies county by county.

[rdl]

It also varies by product, including how the product is consumed. It is quite complex.

[olliesaunders]

It's like this in Canada too. Very irritating. Especially because somethings are subject to tax and some aren't so it isn't even as simple as just adding a percentage to every price.

[navs]

I'm curious what you think of New Zealand stores. I too live here and I have yet to find a store comparable to Apple's. Then again I don't get out much.