Originally Posted by biggles69

The bit of ecomomics you've all forgotten is that pricing is ultimately determined not by cost of goods, but by supply and demand.

When supply exceeds demand, prices fall, sometimes to below cost . Competitve pressure amongst the boys to earn a living is what has kept the rate of growth of tips well below the rate of inflation within the Thai economy - absolutley nothing to do with cpi ! These guys are entrepreneurs in a grossly oversupplied free market economy, not index linked civil servants.