I think most have heard of this story where a group of coconut picking monkeys were not satisfied with their "wages" of 3 bananas in the morning and 4 in the evening. So off they went to confront the farmer and demanded a raise. The farmer though deeply for a while and gave the monkeys a "raise" with a wry smile - 4 bananas in the morning and 3 in the evening. The monkeys walked away happy with their "victory". Is this a win-win situation or what! Or is it? When you take public transport - be it buses or MRT - have your noticed that if you divide on a per km basis, you are paying more for shorter trips than for longer journeys? It's the same with taxis. Make a wild guess whether taxi-drivers prefer shorter or longer fares? Not what you expected on first look right? When I was on business trips to China, India, and Indonesia, I found that in 3rd tier cities, I can find detergents and candies being sold on a per sachet basis. Not a big packet of bite-sized candies, but each bite-sized candies being sold individually. I guess marketers have realised the need to keep the absolute price affordable for these markets. But on a gross margin level, these small sachets and bite-sized offerings are much more profitable than the jumbo economy sized packages that are sold in 1st tier cities. Don't believe? Next time you go to the supermarket, do a simple math on which is more economical from consumer point of view - a large 2l bottle of coke or a can of 325ml coke? Your be surprised! Some "investors" think like monkeys when it comes to equities and properties. A $10 big cap stock "expensive"; so they buy into small caps at $0.08 since it's a lot "cheaper". Huh? This condo is so affordable at below $600,000! Cheap! Buy! But on a per sq m or per year of lease basis... Moral of story, monkeys can't count. Salesmen and business owners can.

---

Singapore Man of Leisure (welcome to my blog; just google it!)