Exchange rate con insults shoppers

SHOPPING. It was once such a simple and pleasant pastime — peruse, choose, pay.

But now, thanks to the phenomenon of “dual-pricing”, it has become an exercise in mathematics, complicated currency conversions and utter frustration — for some of us at least.

Although evidence of shoppers crossing the border — or taking a cheap flight to Britain — is growing, the vast majority of us, it seems, are happy to continue paying over the odds.