Here in Minnesota, USA, I pay $20 for restringing. How much do you pay for restringing?

Also, for those who string racquet for others, how much do you charge?

Ben

Originally posted by benfok
Here in Minnesota, USA, I pay $20 for restringing. How much do you pay for restringing?

Also, for those who string racquet for others, how much do you charge?

Ben

Does that includ string? what kinda string do you get?

same question as reddog, with $20 you should get decent string included, if not, that's kind of a rip-off.

When I string, it depends on the people I guess, cheaper for friends you know. :D Usually it's whatever the string cost me plus ~$10 for labor. So typically the price range from $10(own string)-$20(BG-80,85) with most stringing job at $15.

In NY, it's expensive for everything. Since badminton is not that popular here compare to west coast and Canada, here's my story:

I know this place (about 10 miles away from home) for re-string: $ 26: BG65 + labor, so, there's no need to metion other stuff. The other stringer (about 1 mile away from my club), charges $10 for BG-65 (the string, not labor) already, so, do I need to continue??

That's why I bought myself a string machine for my rackets (1 of them waiting for several months just for re-string), and several of my friends. Currently, I did not "do business" in public yet, however, that will be my next move.

agree with LB from above, stringing places around me all cost $20+ so that's why I got my own machine. Kinda get you closer to your racquet too. :D

Wow ... $26 US for BG-65 ... wish I could charge that even in Cdn $$.

I charge $20 CDN for BG-65 (including labour), in Toronto, and labour only is $12 CDN.

Update:

$26 USD if u r a memeber

$28 USD, I believe, if u r not

While, not too much stringers around, so, ppl have no choice I guess.

Therefore, u know why I would racket just put aside my racket, and wait for my string machine.

ok. kwun is moving to NYC, live in my sis' storage room, and string full time. dude, $26 for bg65? if i can do 10 a day, i will be living a pretty happy life.

i used to have my own machine. i lived in Pittsburgh, there are only one place which does stringing, and those bozos doesn't have a clue, they will string too little and also deform rackets. and they charged $15 for labor only. nowadays, stringing around here is between $10-$13 for labor. if i can, i try to hold my racket till i go to HK. both string and labor is pretty cheap there.

Originally posted by RSX
Wow ... $26 US for BG-65 ... wish I could charge that even in Cdn $$.

I charge $20 CDN for BG-65 (including labour), in Toronto, and labour only is $12 CDN.


Lees charge $17 for bg65 and $27 for bg85, canadian funds, so thats pretty good i guess.

yea i usually get my mp77 strung with bg70, costs $23 CDN altogether, stringing and labor. not a bad price when i see what the stores in the states charge. i'd like to learn how to string, but dont have the cash to buy a machine... darn.

The prices for restringing in the States are extremely expensive!

In Singapore:
(Total Cost including strings and labour)

BG65 : S$11 = US$6.30 = $9.90 CDN

BG66 : S$12 = US6.80 = $10.80 CDN

BG68Ti or BG85 : S$15 = US$8.50 = $13.50 CDN

Bring own strings : S$6 = US$3.40 = $5.40 CDN

Other strings like BG70 Pro, BG80, Gosen, Ashaway, Forten, etc
: Less than (S$18 = US$10.20 = $16.10 CDN)

Originally posted by bigredlemon
Lees charge $17 for bg65 and $27 for bg85, canadian funds, so thats pretty good i guess.

plus GST??

Originally posted by cooler
plus GST??

yep everything

damn, singapore's prices are even better than in canada :eek:

with those prices i wouldnt mind restringing a bit more often

BG85 HK$80-90 - around US$11.

BG65 HK$60-70 - around US$9.

But not all stringers are willing to string in High tension.

For BG65: US $8
For BG80,85, 68TI: US $8.5

But only 2-ends stringing method (instead of 4). Acutally I cannot distinguish their difference, although someone says 4-ends stringing is better.

for Yonex BG68Ti ---> AUD$18
for Yonex BG65 -----> AUD$15

in manila the stringers charges arnd php60 to php80 or US$1.00 to US$1.25 per racket...you bring your own string

Originally posted by cooler
plus GST??

Cooler ... Lee's prices include all taxes ... so it's $17 for BG-65 ... that's the best price I know of in TO. I charge $20 myself.

But as a customer, even at $17, I would never get my racquet strung at Lee's. Enough said.

wow, everything is expensive here in the states, racquets, strings, stringing, etc....:(

Originally posted by jwu
wow, everything is expensive here in the states, racquets, strings, stringing, etc....:(


Agree...


Ai... maybe it's the time that 2 of us considering move to the west coast together... Imagine, badminton 6 days a week, cheaper racket, cheaper accessories...

Sounds like a heaven... :D

Originally posted by mojoe
yep everything

damn, singapore's prices are even better than in canada :eek:

with those prices i wouldnt mind restringing a bit more often

If you factor in the wage/earning potential of the average person divide by the stringing cost, which is the percentage of you wallet you are spending on strings, i think we in Toronto get one incredible deal with Lee's and Yo's, eh

Originally posted by RSX
Cooler ... Lee's prices include all taxes ... so it's $17 for BG-65 ... that's the best price I know of in TO. I charge $20 myself.

But as a customer, even at $17, I would never get my racquet strung at Lee's. Enough said.

There's been a lot of talk about Lee's poor strining service, and a lot of talk about their great strining service, but from the forms, it seems that they are definetly up there in terms of the quality of strining. (At least far above Brown's, or getting it strung at a big store like National Sports)

Is there any reason for me to be mistaken, RSX?

Originally posted by bigredlemon
There's been a lot of talk about Lee's poor strining service, and a lot of talk about their great strining service, but from the forms, it seems that they are definetly up there in terms of the quality of strining. (At least far above Brown's, or getting it strung at a big store like National Sports)

Is there any reason for me to be mistaken, RSX?

well i got my racket strung @ lees for about 5-6 months now and its holding up fine, i dont find any problems. perhaps after that incident shaun had has changed many of our views about lees?? oh well, there'll always be people on either end of the stick about this issue, so just do what u feel.

Originally posted by bigredlemon
There's been a lot of talk about Lee's poor strining service, and a lot of talk about their great strining service, but from the forms, it seems that they are definetly up there in terms of the quality of strining. (At least far above Brown's, or getting it strung at a big store like National Sports)

Is there any reason for me to be mistaken, RSX?

I can't agree with what your say about quality of stringing from Brown's. Even though they might be inexperienced in the badminton field, they are very professional and even use a "State of the Art" stringing machine (that is what they claim).

My reason for this is because my friend bought a new Cab20Muscle strung at 25lbs and it was very good. The thing that amazed me was the Brown's even uses a stencil kit to make a Yonex logo on the strings, even on YELLOW STRINGS!!!....:rolleyes:

Well I guess those services come with a hefty price because it cost him close to $30 for BG80s!!!!.....:eek:

It costs $10 (CAN) at SportChek, not including the cost of strings ($15 for BG-65 I believe).

Originally posted by fadeaway
It costs $10 (CAN) at SportChek, not including the cost of strings ($15 for BG-65 I believe).

Agreed, but the quality of stringing is HORRIBLE!!!
$10 plus tax.....;)

Originally posted by zero
I can't agree with what your say about quality of stringing from Brown's. Even though they might be inexperienced in the badminton field, they are very professional and even use a "State of the Art" stringing machine (that is what they claim).

My reason for this is because my friend bought a new Cab20Muscle strung at 25lbs and it was very good. The thing that amazed me was the Brown's even uses a stencil kit to make a Yonex logo on the strings, even on YELLOW STRINGS!!!....:rolleyes:

Well I guess those services come with a hefty price because it cost him close to $30 for BG80s!!!!.....:eek:

I dont have strining experience with Brown's so i don't know if they are good or not at strining, but the guy i spoke to that does the strinings (the "large" guy) couldn't tell one yonex from another. I'm sure one can still do a good strining job without knowing much about racquets, but he doesn't exactly give me a feeling of confidence in him.

Anyway, i think a stringer's skill is measured by how few racquets he breaks at some tension rather than how well he can stencile.

Originally posted by zero
I can't agree with what your say about quality of stringing from Brown's. Even though they might be inexperienced in the badminton field, they are very professional and even use a "State of the Art" stringing machine (that is what they claim).

My reason for this is because my friend bought a new Cab20Muscle strung at 25lbs and it was very good. The thing that amazed me was the Brown's even uses a stencil kit to make a Yonex logo on the strings, even on YELLOW STRINGS!!!....:rolleyes:

Well I guess those services come with a hefty price because it cost him close to $30 for BG80s!!!!.....:eek:

State of the Art strining machine ?? I think not, unless they have replaced. The last time I was there, they had an old machine, don't recall what brand. I string from home and my Alpha Axis is more state of the art then their machine.

Stencil Ink is easy, it can be done on any colour string ....

Well they "claim", that is what I put right?

And I never said they were skilled stringers, I just said that they are very professional. How many stringers do you know that would stencil your strings after every string job??....;)

Originally posted by zero


My reason for this is because my friend bought a new Cab20Muscle strung at 25lbs and it was very good. The thing that amazed me was the Brown's even uses a stencil kit to make a Yonex logo on the strings, even on YELLOW STRINGS!!!....:rolleyes:

Well I guess those services come with a hefty price because it cost him close to $30 for BG80s!!!!.....:eek:

Well, if I have to pay more $$$ just to have a Logo, I won't even bother to go... hehehehhe... :D

I always have my racquet strung by my coach.
I don't like the bg65 or bg65ti,because it can only endure for only 1 month atmost.
The ashaway raily 21 is tough enough.
I often string my Cab21 to 25 pound with it.

In the Philippines is much much cheaper , i think it cost US$ 6 for BG65 and labour! what about that.

Originally posted by LazyBuddy
Well, if I have to pay more $$$ just to have a Logo, I won't even bother to go... hehehehhe... :D

Do you prefer a logo to none though?
Personally, i'd rather have a blank string bed... it just looks better to me. If some company wants to put their logo on it, they better pitch in a buck or two for my stringing job!

Originally posted by bigredlemon
Do you prefer a logo to none though?
Personally, i'd rather have a blank string bed... it just looks better to me. If some company wants to put their logo on it, they better pitch in a buck or two for my stringing job!

:D Good point there BRL, we should get paid for advertising for them, not the other way around. Thinking of designing my own logo and put it on my string, confuse the heck out of my opponents. :D

put a message on it..
or
name your racquet and spray it on :)

So far my gf made a stencil of a big smiley face, might give that a try. :D

How about easter egg???????:D

Originally posted by forrestyung
How about easter egg???????:D

I think i have green sharpie lying around... maybe i'll make a logo of a Christmas Tree!!! I'll tell people i got sponsored by the local xmas tree supplier.... people will fear my play then!! :D:p

Originally posted by bigredlemon
Do you prefer a logo to none though?
Personally, i'd rather have a blank string bed... it just looks better to me. If some company wants to put their logo on it, they better pitch in a buck or two for my stringing job!

I don't like to do free advertising either. Why should I after already paying
so much for the product itself to help the manufacturer pay for aggressive
advertising and sponsorship? Besides, to me, paint alters the tensile factor
of the strings and makes them feel "harder" and with "uneven" tension
because the painted portions stretch less than the unpainted parts.

Originally posted by jwu
So far my gf made a stencil of a big smiley face, might give that a try. :D

I know a guy who ink his stringbed with this smiley :p , really true

Originally posted by jwu
So far my gf made a stencil of a big smiley face, might give that a try. :D


Maybe my logo should be "Zzzz..." to represent my name user ID? ;)

truly customize ur racquet would be a fun thing to do. :D Perhaps the stringer can design a logo for himself/herself and advertise the stringing job, NOT the string company. :D

Anyone know the price for the bg-88-ti at yo's? Or is it not available in Canada?

as far as i know, i dont think yo's has it yet

heck im not even sure if its available in singapore, i think its only available in japan and hk for now... correct me if im wrong

Originally posted by mojoe
as far as i know, i dont think yo's has it yet

heck im not even sure if its available in singapore, i think its only available in japan and hk for now... correct me if im wrong

you can get them in some places in the states. I know San Diego Badminton supply should have them and the other place in Texas, forgot the name for now, have them too.

Originally posted by Kariya
Anyone know the price for the bg-88-ti at yo's? Or is it not available in Canada?

It was $30 last time I went, which was around 3 months ago.

I am quite wonder the strings in US and Canada are so expensive.

For me, a new BG85 can only alive for 4 to 5 matchs, if I live in US, the burden would be very great..................

Originally posted by forrestyung
I am quite wonder the strings in US and Canada are so expensive.

For me, a new BG85 can only alive for 4 to 5 matchs, if I live in US, the burden would be very great..................

Now, u know why I set myself to be the "setup'' guy, rather than the "smasher"...

hhehehehehe... sounds a good excuse for lack of power...:D

You can buy a stringing machine and I post the string to you...........

You can become an hard hitter..........

Would player in Asian countries more offensive than American and Candian because of string prices???? :p

Originally posted by forrestyung
I am quite wonder the strings in US and Canada are so expensive.

For me, a new BG85 can only alive for 4 to 5 matchs, if I live in US, the burden would be very great..................

The frequency that I had to restring my racquets when using BG85 made me give up using it. It was costing too much and this is in HK. I always had to have four racquets in use; at any one time, at least one would be at the restringer.

£10 for BG65 in UK

I think I am the luckiest. Living in Sri Lanka, it costs only about ($3) 300 Rupees to restring a racquet. The gosen people do it for that price. Mind you, this is without the string. With the string is about 450 - 500 rupees ($5). When you buy the string from them, they wave off the stringing price. For the record, 1 US$ = 96 Rupees (Rs)
And yes, the strings are authentic Gosen strings. They have the whole range.

Cheers

Sean

Originally posted by Cheung
The frequency that I had to restring my racquets when using BG85 made me give up using it. It was costing too much and this is in HK. I always had to have four racquets in use; at any one time, at least one would be at the restringer.

Yea, if you factor in the how much the average US person makes a year, i think it's not that expensive for them.

Originally posted by bigredlemon
Yea, if you factor in the how much the average US person makes a year, i think it's not that expensive for them.

But consider all the factors: racket, shuttle, gear, accessories, membership (some of them charge over $200 a year + $10+ per session), gas (when travel to club, tournament), car, etc. Badminton is not such a cheap sport in US.

By the way, did I metion ppl who works have to pay 30% or more tax???

I know a place in T.O that charges $15 for BG-65 and $20 for BG-70 ... and the service there is fast. The racquet would be done at the end of the day that you drop it off.

Originally posted by Krazie-boi
I know a place in T.O that charges $15 for BG-65 and $20 for BG-70 ... and the service there is fast. The racquet would be done at the end of the day that you drop it off.

where is that? do share!

YES! Hook us up!!....:D

The guy's name is Ken ...

you can give him a call, his number is 416-560-0692 ... he'll give you all the details on when you call him ...

$31.00 canadian includes string and labour and taxes( BG 80).
here in St. Bruno,Quebec a suburb of Montreal.

Originally posted by LazyBuddy
But consider all the factors: racket, shuttle, gear, accessories, membership (some of them charge over $200 a year + $10+ per session), gas (when travel to club, tournament), car, etc. Badminton is not such a cheap sport in US.

By the way, did I metion ppl who works have to pay 30% or more tax???

In Europe and Canada, a lot more tax. Most liberal countries have income tax at around ~50%. If you throw in the various sales taxes, it more than doubles or almost triples it the listed cost.

Originally posted by bigredlemon
In Europe and Canada, a lot more tax. Most liberal countries have income tax at around ~50%. If you throw in the various sales taxes, it more than doubles or almost triples it the listed cost.

I know in Europe, a lot of nations have heavy tax (Germany, etc). However, ppl have benefit, too. Like, good medical coverage, free tuition for shcool, even college. In US, at least new york, I pay 35% tax, 8.25% sales tax, and I still have to spend $$$ on my own medical insurance, grad. school tuition, etc.

Did I just metion, subway ticket price raise 100% in the past ten yrs? (early 90s, $1, now, promoted to be $2)

It is interesting to note that it normally costs more to restring in a more developed and higher cost countries like the US and Canada than in less developed and lower cost countries like Singapore (Modious 11/20/2002), the Philippines and particularly Sri Lanka (Sean 11/27/2002). Seems logical enough. In more developed countries, costs are higher, wages are higher. Compare the average wage in such countries with that of Singapore or even worse, Sri Lanka and you will see a wide gap. Leads me to believe that restringing costs in Indonesia could even be lower. But I can't guarantee the quality of the strings. In Singapore, I think Modious is probably talking about Yonex strings and I'm not sure about the quality of Gosen strings mention by Sean, although the name rings a bell. I do agree that here the restring is relatively cheap and that's why we don't have to buy a machine to do the stringing ourselves.

Originally posted by LazyBuddy
I know in Europe, a lot of nations have heavy tax (Germany, etc). However, ppl have benefit, too. Like, good medical coverage, free tuition for shcool, even college. In US, at least new york, I pay 35% tax, 8.25% sales tax, and I still have to spend $$$ on my own medical insurance, grad. school tuition, etc.

Did I just metion, subway ticket price raise 100% in the past ten yrs? (early 90s, $1, now, promoted to be $2)

The medical insurance doesn't cover much. We still have to pay for supplementry medical insurance if we to be protected from anything that doesn't kill us. Medicine costs are sky-high too, and there's no way we can afford that without supplementry insurance. Going to the dentist and optometrist still cost alot, etc. The wait time for cancer treatment is several months to several years. (Many would not live this long.) The health insurance in the states is slightly worse than Canada, but not by much. BTW, we have to pay GST (7%) plus PST (8%) on all goods, and another 2+% of HST on some goods. Income tax from 27% to 47%. And lets not forget all the other taxes are higher too (capital gains tax, property tax, estates tax, etc.) All things considered, us Canadians are probably paying twice as much tax than most Americans, and seeing very little of it in terms of services.

My local public library has 12 books on world war 2. I'm not kidding. TWELVE!! And this is the main branch for my city (before the city was absorbed into Toronto GTA.) Did I mention my old highschool could only afford 8 steel carlton racquets for its highschool team? And I can't even remember how many years it took them to build up to 8 racquets. They couldn't afford a school bus to send the team anywhere, of course, so people had to pay for trips themselves. Unlike the US, our school boards aren't allowed to accepted sponsorships from corporations, so there is nothing they can do except do fundraising, which they do just about every month. They used to have 2 steel basketball rims that broke 8 years ago. They still don't have the budget to fix it. My old highschool teachers had to buy textbooks themselves because it wasn't in the budget. (They had $500 to buy texts for the entire class. At $100 a book, it doesn't cover many students.) Some schools get bigger budgets than others of course, but in Toronto, only a couple of schools can afford what they need (mainly in Etobicoe.) So my school is hardly an exception of our craptacular educational budget. If you think public services are only bad in the US, think again.

BTW, the bus fare in Toronto has been $2.25 for awhile now, and will be going way up soon too. And not to mention everything else costs alot more in Canada. Computer parts costs about 30% more. Notebook computers about 40% more, for the same model. Did I mention it's cold here most months of the year? The only possible advantage to living in Canada is that our great leader, is not a Bush... Also the parks are nicely kept :)


Btw, although my gradschool tuition is cheaper, the quality is sometimes lacking. The chemistry department is my old university had to "fake" results for undergrads because they couldn't afford accurate equipment. Those students were simply told what results they should have seen. This happened to me in more than 30% of the experiments for almost half my lab courses in Chemistry and Biology.

If your talking about T.O., it's not cold. The winters have gotten warmer and warmer.

Originally posted by Chu Pa
If your talking about T.O., it's not cold. The winters have gotten warmer and warmer.

Its not as bad as 5-10 years ago, but i'd rather be in California (which is pretty much like Canada South.)

Back then, my hair would actually freeze solid, if it was wet, by the time I got to school. Freeze solid, as in I couldn't bend it without risking breakage. With the windchill factor, it easily gets to -40'C in toronto for at least a few weeks a year. Since I ride my bike to school, the extra speed easily bumps it up to -50'C during much of Feburary. If you ever biked in feburary, you'd realize how insane our temperature is. After 10-20 minutes of that, my face is usually too frozen for my to move my mouth or speak at all. If you don't belive me, try it this Feburary.

On some days when the sun is up and there is no wind, its sometimes warm enough to just wear a t-shirt in Toronto. When it does get cold, it gets very very cold.

I remember those winters when I was younger. I won't be biking in those conditions for a very long time as I'm in HK now. Are we off topic again? :)

From the cost of restringing your rackets to high taxation rates, cost of social benefits, etc.

Pure generalization: The more advanced the economy, e.g. first world countries, the higher the cost of living. An example has been given in the cost of restringing - from developed countries to less-developed countries.

In our part of the world i.e. Singapore, a taxation rate of close to 50% is astronomical. However to support an entrenched social system of "free" social and medical benefits, the tax rate has to be high and will go higher in future as the population grows older and less able-bodied, economically active, young people are able to support the elderly. That's why the UK has recently decided to raise the retirement age of pensionable workers to age 65, simply because there isn't enough money in the Treasury to support the ever increasing number of older workers in the form of pension and social security. Try taking away the social benefits by changing the system and the ruling political party will be out of office in no time!

Unlike the older and more advanced countries, Singapore, being a relatively young nation, has learned the lesson well and adopted a different approach to social security. In order to encourage hard work and enterprise, the inflow of foreign capital and to meet the investment competition, Singapore deliberately kept its corporate and personal income tax rate low, currently at 26% and despite this, its coffers kept on increasing year after year to help finance the building up of its infrastructures (roads, flyovers, drainage and sewerage systems, airports, seaports, etc), educational institutions, hospitals, welfare homes, etc. Capital tax is kept to a minimium. Sales tax (GST) is also used as a means of additional income to the government but this is relatively low at 4% (now 3%) for next year, although the government had wanted to increase to 5% initially.

Unlike most advanced countries in the West, our government's intention is to make it the people's responsibility to look after themselves in old age as far as possible. Low cost group medical insurance plans, life-insurance annuity plans, reverse mortgage financing, etc, are readily available. But by far the most important social plan is the policy to make it compulsory for all workers to contribute part of their monthly income to a Central Provident Fund (CPF), matched almost dollar for dollar by their employers, with a maximum limit. The CPF enables workers to own their own homes, invest in shares and other approved financial instruments and a certain percentage retained as savings for their retirement.

Unfortunately, it has been found that most workers may still not have enough cash savings left for their retirement, although they would by then have a house which they can call home. Therefore, the emphasis now is to allow professionals like the Financial Planners to plan for them while they are still young and income-earning.

By this system, the individual learns to look after themselves and not to place additional stress on the government to provide for their retirement. However, for the really needy and destitute, the government has plans to look after them and not leave them in the lurch.

P.S Talking about the weather - most times it is sunny although towards year-end like now, it rains more. Definitely no freezing nights unless you let the aircon do the job. We have so much sunlight that most people try to avoid going out in the open. You need to use sun-screens for swimming, esp in the sea and playing golf.

Originally posted by Loh
From the cost of restringing your rackets to high taxation rates, cost of social benefits, etc.

Pure generalization: The more advanced the economy, e.g. first world countries, the higher the cost of living. An example has been given in the cost of restringing - from developed countries to less-developed countries.

In our part of the world i.e. Singapore, a taxation rate of close to 50% is astronomical. However to support an entrenched social system of "free" social and medical benefits, the tax rate has to be high and will go higher in future as the population grows older and less able-bodied, economically active, young people are able to support the elderly. That's why the UK has recently decided to raise the retirement age of pensionable workers to age 65, simply because there isn't enough money in the Treasury to support the ever increasing number of older workers in the form of pension and social security. Try taking away the social benefits by changing the system and the ruling political party will be out of office in no time!
[/][quote]
It's not that I'm against using a high taxation rate to support greater services. I'm all for that. It's that other countries, such as the US, recieve almost the same service, if not better sometimes, while costing the tax paying only half as much in tax, if not even less.

Note that the guy who did cut services (but rasied taxes!) will be going out soon.
[b][quote]
Unlike the older and more advanced countries, Singapore, being a relatively young nation, has learned the lesson well and adopted a different approach to social security. In order to encourage hard work and enterprise, the inflow of foreign capital and to meet the investment competition, Singapore deliberately kept its corporate and personal income tax rate low, currently at 26% and despite this, its coffers kept on increasing year after year to help finance the building up of its infrastructures (roads, flyovers, drainage and sewerage systems, airports, seaports, etc), educational institutions, hospitals, welfare homes, etc. Capital tax is kept to a minimium. Sales tax (GST) is also used as a means of additional income to the government but this is relatively low at 4% (now 3%) for next year, although the government had wanted to increase to 5% initially.
[/][quote]
Perhaps the fact that singapore is a young country implies it isn't cluttered with beraucratic inefficencies yet.
[b][quote]
Unlike most advanced countries in the West, our government's intention is to make it the people's responsibility to look after themselves in old age as far as possible. Low cost group medical insurance plans, life-insurance annuity plans, reverse mortgage financing, etc, are readily available. But by far the most important social plan is the policy to make it compulsory for all workers to contribute part of their monthly income to a Central Provident Fund (CPF), matched almost dollar for dollar by their employers, with a maximum limit. The CPF enables workers to own their own homes, invest in shares and other approved financial instruments and a certain percentage retained as savings for their retirement.
[/][quote]
We have something like that too, but we are limited in the amount we can contribute to our retirement funds. Some people think even if you contribute at the maximum, you won't have enough for retirement if you account for inflation. The employers don't have to match but can choose to. The last place I worked at contributed something like 5% of what i contributed. I only put in $13 in my retirement fund anyway so it didn't make much difference :D
[b][quote]
Unfortunately, it has been found that most workers may still not have enough cash savings left for their retirement, although they would by then have a house which they can call home. Therefore, the emphasis now is to allow professionals like the Financial Planners to plan for them while they are still young and income-earning.

By this system, the individual learns to look after themselves and not to place additional stress on the government to provide for their retirement. However, for the really needy and destitute, the government has plans to look after them and not leave them in the lurch.

P.S Talking about the weather - most times it is sunny although towards year-end like now, it rains more. Definitely no freezing nights unless you let the aircon do the job. We have so much sunlight that most people try to avoid going out in the open. You need to use sun-screens for swimming, esp in the sea and playing golf.

I wouldn't mind having weather like that. :(
I actually wouldn't mind moving to singapore... i already speak 2 of the 3 main languages anyway, and i'm sure French will come in handy too. :D

Originally posted by bigredlemon
I wouldn't mind having weather like that. :(
I actually wouldn't mind moving to singapore... i already speak 2 of the 3 main languages anyway, and i'm sure French will come in handy too. :D

Big Red Lemon, Welcome to sunny Singapore, with generally fair weather throughout the year.

You'll feel much at home here since you already speak our main language, English. But you've got to get used to our accent and way of speaking English or Singlish! Over the years, despite being colonized by the British, Singapore has learned to be cosmopolitan in outlook. Even the atrocities of the Japanese committed during WW2 have faded into the background - only remembered by those who were directly affected, often those in their sixties and older.

I hope your other main language is Mandarin, since the majority of the population here is Chinese (70%) and we are very interested in doing more business with China. Malay will also be useful as a regional language since Singapore is surrounded by Malay-speaking countries like Malaysia and Indonesia. Your knowledge of French will certainly come in useful and young Singaporeans are beginning to be interested in learning a third language, probably a European language like French, German, Spanish, Italian or Dutch.

Singapore has now adopted an open-door policy to welcome "foreign talent", i.e. such a foreigner must have the knowledge and skills to add value to our economy. In times like these, when unemployment is high, this policy naturally met with some resistance. This is especially true in cases when employers exploited the system by importing cheap labour from the less developed countries like China, which has abundant educated workers, to squeeze out the local, higher-paying workers.

Wonder what skills can you offer? How are your badminton skills? Can you help raise the standard of our national players? You seem to be quite knowledgeable in science. We want to be in the forefront of biomedical research, can you play a part?
Just kidding! Certainly you are welcome to pay us a visit and play lots of badminton here. Badminton courts are aplenty here, many more than tennis courts, since almost every school has a hall big enough for 3 courts. My club has 3 above-average courts solely for badminton - not a multipurpose hall.

Hello everyone,

I want to buy badminton shoe YONEX SHB 99 Limited Edition. i was wondering where can I find it? Ofcource, to answer that question you need more information. I am looking a store in Minneapolis, MN, USA.
I tried the Yellow page but it has 227 sports store and most of them don't carry badminton gears, even if they do they only carry some rackets. It will be really helpful if you could help me out here.

If you could give me some store name and some idea about the price that will be really great.

Thanks

Hello everyone,

I want to buy badminton shoe YONEX SHB 99 Limited Edition. i was wondering where can I find it? Ofcource, to answer that question you need more information. I am looking a store in Minneapolis, MN, USA.
I tried the Yellow page but it has 227 sports store and most of them don't carry badminton gears, even if they do they only carry some rackets. It will be really helpful if you could help me out here.

If you could give me some store name and some idea about the price that will be really great.

Thanks

You should post this question elsewhere.

The prices for restringing in the States are extremely expensive!

In Singapore:
(Total Cost including strings and labour)

BG65 : S$11 = US$6.30 = $9.90 CDN

BG66 : S$12 = US6.80 = $10.80 CDN

BG68Ti or BG85 : S$15 = US$8.50 = $13.50 CDN

Bring own strings : S$6 = US$3.40 = $5.40 CDN

Other strings like BG70 Pro, BG80, Gosen, Ashaway, Forten, etc
: Less than (S$18 = US$10.20 = $16.10 CDN)

tell me your kidding right? in victoria BC canada it costs $25 canadian for BG-65 and labour together, and $13.50 for BG85? I actually wish that was the price here:p

The prices for restringing in the States are extremely expensive!

In Singapore:
(Total Cost including strings and labour)

BG65 : S$11 = US$6.30 = $9.90 CDN

BG66 : S$12 = US6.80 = $10.80 CDN

BG68Ti or BG85 : S$15 = US$8.50 = $13.50 CDN

Bring own strings : S$6 = US$3.40 = $5.40 CDN

Other strings like BG70 Pro, BG80, Gosen, Ashaway, Forten, etc
: Less than (S$18 = US$10.20 = $16.10 CDN)

:) May I know where u string? I stay in Singapore northern part, used to pay
S$15 for Yonex BG65.

tell me your kidding right? in victoria BC canada it costs $25 canadian for BG-65 and labour together, and $13.50 for BG85? I actually wish that was the price here:p

wow, you guys are crazy over there in BC. I charge $15 for BG-65 and the pro-shop here normally charge $17-$18 only.:)

The stringer at our badminton club will string racquets with BG65 for $15 Cdn.

In China, shanghai, The place I restring, the price is as below:

Rmb32, Bg65

Rmb44, Bg80

Rmb45, Bg85

1us$=8.1rmb

BC have a ridiculous price...

stringing cost 10
string cost 10+

Here in VN, stringing is the cheapest service in badminton.

BG66 ~ 4.5USD (string + labor)
BG65 ~ 3.5 USD (string + labor)
Yr own string only 0.3-0.7USD for labor.

Some other string brands cost me only below 3.5USD.

wow, you guys are crazy over there in BC. I charge $15 for BG-65 and the pro-shop here normally charge $17-$18 only.:)

thats a really good price....BG-85+labour is like $35 CAD, its just crazy and i get my racquet restrung every 3 weeks, i could get a brand new racquet if i didnt restring my racquet for a couple months:D

thats a really good price....BG-85+labour is like $35 CAD, its just crazy and i get my racquet restrung every 3 weeks, i could get a brand new racquet if i didnt restring my racquet for a couple months:D

Where do you live?

hmm from where i come from(malaysia) stringing is often free. but u gotta buy the strings from them ..

68ti cost about rm28 that is about USD 8.50 , string inclusive of labor.. aha

cheap yea .. then the comapred other countries. and its originall.. ahaa

thats a really good price....BG-85+labour is like $35 CAD, its just crazy and i get my racquet restrung every 3 weeks, i could get a brand new racquet if i didnt restring my racquet for a couple months:D

don't tell me you go to aberdeen to get your string job...

or special edition...:P

tad's do it for 25ish incl. tax

a friend of mine has stringing machine, he charges me €10 with BG65. with my own String, it costs only €5. This is the cheapest i can get in Germany so far.

i string it for 13 euro's..no matter wich string (bg65, bg65ti, bg80)
5 if they bring there own..

For me.

I pay $10 CDN flat if I provide string (that's it, no GST/PST).
If not it's about $25 using any string the store has.

Here in Minnesota, USA, I pay $20 for restringing. How much do you pay for restringing?

Also, for those who string racquet for others, how much do you charge?

Ben

wow your the first person in this forum i seen from minn. where do you get your racket strunged??? im looking for a place now. and do they do a good job at it?

Restring in UK inc string and labour:

BG 65: £17 = $33 USD

In Finland string + labour is usually 21e BG-85 (=33USD) but I string rackets for 15e (string + labour= 24USD)

UK
string and labour:

Ashaway PowerGut 65 Neon : £10 = $20 USD

I charge CAD15 for BG80, BG85 and CAD18 for NBG95

here in minnesota i just got my new racket strung for $12USD at sportmarts. pretty good quality too. but theres no place to play badminton here.

I get it at $23 USD for bg 80.