Bir! Diskon! Cheap Beer, Jakarta, till 14th February!

Just another public service announcement, nice discounts on beer at Lotte Mart. After last night’s party, it’s only now, mid-evening, that my thoughts feel like straying towards the amber nectar! But on the way to the party, I did a quick bit of shopping and saw the deal at Ratu Plaza, but I assume other branches too have the same discounts.

WARNING – it expires this Sunday, 14th. 

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 Ratu Plaza

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• Of course you need to buy 48 cans to get the 25% discount, so hauling that home on public transport might be a challenging chore. Best buy 480 and find a friendly kopaja driver!

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But there are smaller discounts on a minimum purchase of four bottles – of most brands – and that can’t be bad!

Regular price for a big bottle of Bintang is under Rp.28K – cheaper than most, including Prost, which had good inaugural prices, but has now become dearer than Bintang!

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‘The Broker’ – A Good Grisham Book, Bought in LotteMart, Jakarta

I thought I had read all of John Grisham’s books, until last week, when I picked up The Broker in LotteMart at Ratu Plaza.

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For only Rp.30,000 – three bucks!

I have reported before on the bargains available in discounted paperbacks at these stores. I don’t know if every Lotte in Jakarta is selling them, but Ratu and Gandaria City Mall branches are, and I expect more.

Grisham usually sets his yarns in a legal context, but this one is a good old-fashioned spy story, though lawyers do appear in it.

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Apart from the basic plot (intriguing) and how he handles it (very well) one of the most enjoyable aspects of the book is his intimate knowledge of one of the main scenes of action, Bologna.

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He describes so much of this big Italian city, so well, that you could draw a street-plan.

It made me wonder which of my favourite cities I’d use for such a story.

Easy to choose one of those I have lived in over the years, like London, or Jakarta. But would I be able to do justice to others, visited but not dwelt in?

Prague? Budapest? Berlin? Paris? 

Must think about that – maybe it’s time to dust off that novel I began a year or more ago and use my heaps of free time creatively, instead of, as some critics have unfairly put it, hedonistically… 

 

Getting High? The Price of Coke in Jakarta!

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Not a post about drug dealing, but about a strange situation with regard to pricing of certain soft drinks in two Jakarta superstores.

I think mention was previously made of the time limit placed on the cheap price of Coke and Sprite, first of all till the end of August, then till the end of October.

Over the weekend, whilst wandering around this fine city, I made two shopping stops, one in Lotte Mart, the other in Hypermart.

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 In the former, Coke and Sprite were even cheaper than last time I was there, under Rp.9000 for a big bottle.

In the latter, the price had shot up to over Rp.14,000!

Why?

Usually, competing stores charge a little bit more or a little bit less than their rivals. 

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 This picture of the gorgeous Anggun has nothing to do with this post. I just like it!

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But after the recent coverage given to the vast gap in the cost of Diamond milk cartons…

Berapa Sapi Mogok? Harga Gila Di Hero Puri! 

…I am becoming ever more curious about pricing policy.