Are the prices of Teh Tarik and Diesel related?

You know, come to think of it, I fail to see why the stalls are charging higher for a cup of teh tarik (pulled tea). Is it because that a cup of teh tarik costs more to deliver nowadays?

There's this restaurant in Lucky Gardens called Mahbub. I'm sure most of the Bangsar people have heard about it as it used to charge reasonable prices. A cup of teh tarik cost me RM 1.00. A cup of teh ais(Iced tea)on the other hand was only RM 1.10. Ever since the price increase of petrol in October, the restaurant has been increasing the prices of drinks with ice an extra 10 cents. After the New Year, they charged another 10 cents extra. So now the prices of cold drinks increased to RM 1.20. Worst if it's Milo (chocolate drink by Nestle), it'll set you back RM 1.60 for a cold one. Usually when one goes to a restaurant and doesn't know what to drink, Iced tea is the first choice. I won't even go into the food, as a plate of nasi lemak (a local delicacy of rice made with coconut milk)now costs RM 2.00 per plate. That's a rip-off of another 50 cents from the old prices!

The Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister in today's The Star newspaper questions the relation between a rise in the price of the drinks and that of diesel. It definitely has no direct relation to the price increase! We're talking an increase of 10 cents per cup, for every 10 customers, that's an additional profit of RM 1.00. Imagine if a hundred people order that in a day? How does that justify the price increase of the iced drinks?

Does it really cost that much more to deliver the same amount of tea leaves or bags of to the restaurant operators? These buggers are really out to make a quick profit!

It has officially started, the truckers are ready to increase the prices for transportation charges by 25%. By all means, it's only fair that they do so. How do you expect these truck operators to absorb the costs? According to the Selangor and Kuala Lumpur Lorry Operators Association, a two-way trip from Kuala Lumpur to Ipoh used to cost about RM 240, is now RM 320. The distance between Kuala Lumpur to Ipoh is about 200 kms. How does the ministry expect the prices to hold firm?

So in the end, who will absorb the costs? The truckers push it on to the wholesellers, the wholesellers push it to the middlemen and hence the increased prices will eventually end up to burden the consumers. What is the government trying to do? It's like they've opened up a can of worms and blamed it on others.

It's no secret that it's the perfect excuse to increase prices of goods. As one member of the public was quoted saying on the Astro Channel 19's news, "The prices of fuel keeps increasing, but my pay is still the same. How to survive?"