“Poor man’s food now becomes so expensive” — Customer says after paying $1.20 for youtiao

SINGAPORE: Sen LY took to the Complaint Singapore Facebook group on Thursday (Jan 18), claiming to have been charged $1.20 for youtiao at a hawker centre. He argued that with the rise in prices all over the country, even “poor man’s food (has now become) so expensive.”

“One per cent GST increase leads to almost ten per cent price increase,” the post read. “Today at Marine Terrace Hawker Centre, I bought youtiao and was informed (that the) price increased 10 cents per piece to $1.20 each since 1 Jan 2024.”

The online user cited the nature of the dish, which only consisted of basic ingredients, saying, “Youtiao is made mainly of flour and some baking powder.” This then led the writer to question the price it was being sold for. “Why so much? Also why so skinny and black?”

The customer added, “This is way too much. Poor man’s food now becomes so expensive.”

One online user responded, “Boon Lay Hawker Food Village increased 10 cents too, now $1.10… can see fewer people buying during the weekend(s).”

As of Jan 1, 2024, Singapore raised the Goods and Services Tax (GST) to nine per cent. Since then, Singaporeans have been attentive to the changes in prices of everyday products, with many sharing their reactions on social media.

In recent news, for example, a customer shared how “Inflation hurts” after seeing Old Chang Kee curry puffs being sold for $2. “Old Chang Kee curry puff increase has been exponential,” he wrote. “So fast hits $2.”

In yet another post, another online user called on Singaporean eateries to consider how hard people are working to be able to buy food, especially nowadays. The post came after the dissatisfied customer allegedly received an order of chicken tom yam fried rice that she claimed to be “very oily” and had “so little rice” that she “couldn’t find (the) chicken.”

She then called on eateries, saying, “Please have some conscience. We pay money and buy food with our hard-earned money. How will you people prosper if cheat money by selling this kind of food. That’s it never going back there again. I am so disappointed.”

Such posts have been getting a lot of responses from other Singaporeans who are also aware of how drastically prices are changing.