Shocked! The price of groceries in Nigeria

in LeoFinanceyesterday (edited)

I'm always appreciative of the amount of interesting things I learn here on Hive.

The latest thing to shock me has been the price of groceries in Nigeria. It appears they are the most expensive in the world!

Don't believe me?

Guess how much this 500g of pasta costs?

I'll tell you. $5.07. I know this because it was bought from Judel Supermarket using HBD by @lionsbane earlier in the week as 'reviewed' in this post

I also learned that pasta appears to be very popular over there and varies wildly in price because incredibly, another bag of the same brand was bought by @cofeecafe the following day from Cabofagi shopping centre, but this time cost $8.00 of HBD, although to be fair, he also bought a few boxes of matches too. Still. Bloody expensive!

PROOF OF PASTA

I'm very impressed with @cofeecafe and his personal hygiene because despite the horrendous cost of $14.33HBD, he's happy to spend this on one little bar of soap! This was at the very, obviously upmarket, Eka Mimi provision store, as shown in this post.

Another clue that Eka Mimi Provision store is very posh comes from @chefolivah who spent $10.00 HBD on a bog roll, a sachet of Cadburys hot chocolate and a loaf of bread. Incredible! No wonder she created a review which you can read here

At least it's baby soft! and after blowing all that cash can sing; 'Cup hands, here comes Cadburys'

Can you bloody well believe it, @chefolivah also likes the same brand of pasta!

This time, combined with three sachets of hot chocolate got robbed to the tune of $9.93HBD!

I just did a bit of maths and found @lionsbane had spent over $100HBD on groceries in the last 7 days! Obviously not short of a bob or two! They even spent ... come on, have a guess on the cost of these veggies

...hands-up if you guessed $10.35HBD ?

This fella is healthy and wealthy. A keeper, ladies! This was at Juliet Nnenna Foodstuffs & Provision and there's no mention of whether they were organic or not. I'd hope so at that price.

@lionsbane, also seems to love bitter lemon and corn snacks, they bought the same items twice with an hour at the weekend... first time spending $9.73 and then an hour later again spending $9.73 on a bottle of soda and two packets of snacks. At least the prices hadn't gone up between visits!

Shopping must be a full time occupation for these guys as they haven't had time to follow anyone or engage with anyone else on Hive yet.

Last one, from Judel Supermarket again but this time a user called @preciouz-01, a bottle of Soda and a chocolate biscuit, $6.757HBD.

As I have no life, I actually looked up the cost of these two items on a Nigerian grocery delivery website and they came to 3000Naira, just over $1 USD.

Don't worry though. If the shoppers add a 60% pay-out to @distriator.bene , they will get a really nice vote on their 20-word, two-picture 'review' as well as getting 25% of their spend given back to them directly to their accounts.

Encouraging everyone to use and spend their Hive is the most important project out there I have been told, which it may or may not be, but it seriously looks like a few people are taking the proverbial piss which is very sad considering the amount of effort the creators of this project have put into it. Currently, a quick glance at the website suggests they have 486 businesses signed up! That is seriously impressive work by anyone's standards and I genuinely wish them every success. I do wonder what would happen if the stabiliser system for pegging HBD at $1 USD became broken or lost its funding...

Please note, that these are just a few users of the project. The vast majority of the shops, especially in Venezuela where the project was initially rolled out, charge more reasonable prices for their groceries.

Draw your own conclusions, take a look at the @distriator project at https://distriator.com/ and the #spendhbd community and let me know in the comments what you think. Comment rewarder has been activated!

Newsflash One 350g carton of milk - over $10HBD!

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There are a few things we are considering:

  1. Strong discussion with Trusted Guides in the area to address this directly with the users in question
  2. Temporary bans for the users in question
  3. Temporary bans for the businesses in question
  4. More strict curation requirements (this will come with time, but splitting into two rewards - simple (low) reward, and more complex rewards which involve actions that are harder to game
  5. Only paying full discounts to users who have reached a certain trusted status
  6. Additional tracking of spending patterns and habits in order to more promptly detect potential exploitation
  7. Potential photographing of receipts and higher rewards for those who make the effort to better document their purchases.

(FYI, we have recently released that, with the user's permission some of the data involved in the Distriator process can be kept private and sold to industry shipping, logisitcs, supply chain and wholesale companies, who are very interested in this data and will pay good money for it. This money can then be sent to the users who allowed their data to be sold. This gives users control over their data and the ability to further monetise it by adding more valuable data to their shopping experiences.

All of the above will take a little time, so please bare with the team at Distriator...

Also, please do let us know your thoughts on additional measures here! Much appreciated

I think that's a very well-thought-out response. It's always sad that a very small minority of users create so much additional work for your team, but I guess any scaling project needs checks and balances to combat potential abuse.
I was very surprised at the number of transactions you're handling and the number of stores you have signed up and wonder why it seems, to me at least, this project has flown under the general Hive radar somewhat.
In one of the comments, I mused whether the users I complained about were running a 'cashback' scheme similar to getting cashback on a UK debit card, but perhaps that might actually be a good idea for the future. The more you can remove a link in the transaction chain by bypassing the need for exchanges, the better in my opinion. That type of transaction wouldn't be eligible for the Distriator discount HBD cashback of course, but it may still prove to be a useful and cost-effective on/off ramp service for users.
A couple of really positive things have come from this. Firstly, it made me look deeper and learn more about your project and its positive effects on people's lives and the future potential for HIve, and secondly, I'm really happy to see so many of the Nigerian community show up to offer insight and support by telling what things should cost!

Thanks once again for the replies and for showing transparency and accountability, I wish you nothing but success with everything. Rome wasn't built in a day :-)

Best wishes

we can’t have cool things, because there are always people tricking the system to take advantage. Distriator is a cool idea but needs better due diligence

Appreciate you dropping by. Thank you :-)
On balance, it's a great idea but again, the devil is in the detail which is often the most difficult to uncover and it certainly does need a system of checks and balances in play to thwart attempts of abuse which I suspect this is.
Best wishes mate :-)

Macaroni is not that expensive in Nigeria. That brand is nothing more than 3$,it's saddening how this happening. It's truly saddening with the SPENDHBD stuff

It is a shame mate but luckily just a very tiny minority :-)
I actually think it's a great scheme, especially if people earn a few hbd and can easily spend it on essentials such as groceries. I just worry though that retailers may ramp up the prices.

Hope you and your loved ones are doing well and your year has started better than the last one.

Best wishes to you always, fella :-)

I'm glad many people have showed up, and this things are going to be clarified, to be very honest we need the transparency so it won't ruin things

It's actually less than $3

Ohhh I didn't know

That is a good catch.
In their defense, no matter what they pay for macaroni or plant leaves, any additional money they get will be spent on other things.
This get rich scheme is gonna take some time, and comes with the risk of getting canceled from the program.

Absolutely agree, it just appears to be a few users suddenly fiddling and that's only come about in the last week or so.
I wondered if they are operating some sort of 'cashback' scheme with the shop in which case they'll be getting paid back in local currency, split with the shop and getting extra HBD from 'spending' more? I also wonder how the prices of goods are set in general compared to the local currency and the spread between buy/sell prices of the crypto.
Question everything. Especially when money and human nature are involved!
Best wishes my friend and thank you :-)

definitely looks like an agreement between shop and user. both should be removed from distriator

I'd warn them first, they are just maximizing their returns under crapitalism.
And, them spreading the good word about the app will be worth the few dollars.

I hope it’s that easy, just a warning.
But where I come from, a slap in the hand would probably spread a different message of how easy it is to do this and get away.

This will be coming. We will look at a temp ban for certain users and potential de-listing of businesses involved.

We will implement a 3 strike system and see how that goes.

There will always be leakage from a system such as Distriator, however, i pose that there are also significant leakages in traditional voting and distribution systems which are more significant than even major issues, if they were to arise, on Distriator's distribution system.

you guys are doing a great job, and I think distriator is an amazing idea to create utility and to spread the word about Hive! I'm happy to hear you guys are on it! I wish you didn't have to spend resources fighting scammers, and focus on whats really important. But it's just how everything in life, some people just have to find a way to take advantage.

All one can do is make it as difficult as possible to game until it becomes too expensive to game. The app is growing. it will take time, but in all, these abuses can be minimised

I think a more effective detector and monitoring system should be implemented, this will help distinguish real shoppers from extortioners.

I believe a temporary ban will serve as a good warning to others, they would understand that their activities are actually being monitored....thus reducing the number of scammers and extortioners from the system.

We will find out how worried they are about it.

These people are milking the project, it's more like extorting from the community, I'm a Nigerian and i also purchase groceries with HBD, i can confidently tell that these things are not that expensive.

A pasta twista sold for $10 is really outrageous, those aren't the actual prices 🤦‍♀️ .

Hi and thank you so much for dropping by and giving me some further insight. It's a great scheme and I'm happy you're using it. It just appears to be a very tiny minority who are cheating so no worries. I think it's great that I've learnt a load of new things about Nigeria, especially their love of pasta which is a surprise lol

Thanks once again, have a wonderful weekend, enjoy shopping with HBD and best wishes to you and your loved ones :-)

I'm glad i was able to help 🙂

Enjoy the rest of your weekend ❤️

I do wonder what would happen if the stabiliser system for pegging HBD at $1 USD became broken or lost its funding...

It would still work fine, if the stabilizer lost its funding.
The in-built pegging mechanics are actually good.
It's just another improvised crutch that became a permanent solution for no fucking reason.

(We'll there's one reason, but I'd have to mention their name)

That sounds like the price when you shop at erewhon hahaha. Maybe its the "erewhon" of Nigeria where simple groceries are 3x of its original price.

I'm glad you took time to dig this up, a lot like these has been happening recently, I noticed the hike started from January. When you check this accounts, you would notice they are new accounts, not active except for the #spendhbd project which is their main target, no followers.

I think the account was created for the sole purpose of extorting. I noticed one of such account and I'm surprised it wasn't mentioned in your post. @petesteve has no face to the account, hasn't done anything other than Spendhbd and the account is less than a month. It's really outrageous how people do things without thinking of future benefits.

Hi and thank you for dropping by :-)
I'd noticed @petesteve and a couple of other accounts who were transferring funds about and cashing out. I usually like to follow the transactions. It's sad when just a tiny number of rotten apples try to spoil things for everyone else.
If you do notice anything that looks not quite right, just reach out to one of the big project leaders, they're really approachable, and that's one of the great things about Hive, there aren't any huge egos who won't talk to the little people, like me!
Thanks again and I wish you and your loved ones a wonderful weekend :-)

Prices of groceries varies in Nigeria depending the city you reside, but all the above are just tooo outrageous, they don't even match at all, it's too bad to see this height of dishonesty.

Hi there and thank you so much for dropping by and offering your insight. It is sad to see dishonesty but its just a tiny minority. The project as a whole appears to be working perfectly and it's lovely to see so many people turn up and comment in support of distriator.
Thanks once again and I wish you and your loved ones a happy and healthy weekend :-)

Yes I believe is something that can be tactfully managed, your most welcome with your opinion,, also enjoy your weekend

My gawd... Those prices scared me. I thought prices over here is already expensive, it seems that prices in Nigeria is much more 😁

Kidding aside, you did well catching these activities. Hopefully Distriator team will be able to mitigate it soon.

Hi mate, I was shocked too, until I started digging a little and realised it was just a few dodgy people fiddling!
It looks like a really awesome project that's quickly gaining traction around the world. They have said they'll be putting a few more checks into place to try and mitigate any possible issues in the future as they grow which is really great.
I'll wish you a great weekend but from your posts, I just know it's going to be amazing anyway! You take care mate, and have fun :-)

The same goes to you 😉, enjoy the coming weeknd!

glad to see HBD can be used for transaction there, on my county, the nation fiat is the only legal payment method

Yes, so am I. I think the project is super and doing so well in bringing real use case to HBD and at the same time, bringing it to a wider audience.
Thailand is the same, they outlawed the use of crypto as a means of direct payment a few years back. Before then, my off-ramp could apply it to my payment card, buy phone credit etc etc. A huge backwards step sadly, as especially down here on Koh Samui, which has a huge number of digital nomads etc, I'm sure the ability to spend crypto directly would be very popular.
Thanks for dropping by and have a great weekend :-)

OMG, a package of noodles like that in Argentina can cost between $0.8 and $1.5, depending on which part of our country you are in, but not more than that. How crazy are the economies of each place...

The Distriator project is interesting, I hope that good results are obtained with it and that the exchange of Hive and HBD is encouraged more and more :)

Hi there :-)
I think some dodgy individuals were just testing the system to see how far they could push it to get their cash-back! Very sad as it does look like a superb way to allow people to spend HBD and increase the use of our blockchain.

No doubt you're currently up a mountain in the middle of nowhere in Argentina so enjoy, take care and have a blessed weekend.
Best wishes and thanks for dropping by :-)

Although the prices of groceries here vary from city to city, and shop to shop, but these ones are above the prices. I also bought this same pasta during my shopping on Saturday, and it was no where near what was quoted here.
This act is totally wrong. I wonder what they were thinking, doing that.
Thanks for bringing this up.
I'm sure the project team will take prompt actions against these users and the shop owners too.