ICYMI: Coffee shops announce price increases without waiting for GST hike

Singapore — Several  netizens have posted photos online of notices from coffee shops announcing  impending price hikes.

In a photo shared with the Complaint Singapore group   on Facebook, one coffee shop announced that  there would be a flat 10-cent price increase for all the drinks it serves, and that the price hike was effective Feb 3.

Netizen Andrew Yap who shared the photo wrote: “Just saw this notice at a coffee shop. Not sure the increase will apply to Hawker centres also. Can someone enlighten me. Thanks”.

Most of the people who commented on the post said they were not surprised. Several said that in some other coffee shops, there had been even steeper price increases.

In a letter to TISG on Jan 28, a reader shared a picture taken from a stall at Geylang East Food Centre, 117 Aljunied Ave 2 announcing a 10-cent increase ifor each serving of coffee or tea.

“This is the precise problem that officials in Singapore are having — the inability to ascertain nor comprehend the difficulties of the people on the ground.

“Artificially inflating prices to create the impression that Singapore is a rich city is an image that we can forego nor do we need to pay a high price when businesses and the employment situation have hardly recovered from the pandemic,” the netizen wrote.

Coffee & tea price increase at Geylang East Food Centre