For someone earnig 4000CHF a month it could hardly be called “cheap”!
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Someone earning CHF 4k a month shouldn’t own a car?
Oh really. They don’t have a right to own a car?
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I guess you haven’t traveled much between ZH-TI by train, but note that those just crossing the country would like to only use a direct EC train, not a questionable train jump journey with expensive AVEC snack in between
Immigrants tend to be like that indeed.
Maybe you were sarcastic in which case you should ignore my reply (which I should – but you don’t have the right to – delete subsequently).
Hey kitty, Never Wrestle with a Pig. You Both Get Dirty and the Pig Likes It.
To be clear: I’m the pig in this setup, actually even a bore boar as I learned yesterday. 
Oooh, did I say that? Naughty Goofy! Slap on the wrist.
Let me break it down for you:
Someone earning CHF 4k a month
This meant to suggest that the person lives in Switzerland and earns CHF 4k a month, so around CHF 3.3k to 3.5k (tax, social security deductions, etc) netto …
shouldn’t
It’s a linguistic detail, I understand, lots of nuance to be explored for the uninitiated, but …
"shouldn’t* ≠ “don’t have the right to”
own a car
Owning a car that’s roadworthy in Switzerland costs you (just to buy) maybe about half that monthly salary of CHF 4k?
You have every right to do this, but if your monthly salary is CHF 4k, and you support your family on that low budget, taking them on holiday to Italy in your car that costs you ½ francs per kilometer and wanting to spend CHF 60 extra (because of that potential increase in the vignette): it’s a choice that you make.
Not saying it’s right or wrong. Just saying passing judgement on if CHF 60 is an issue for you, maybe you should not own a car which comes with somewhat fixed costs of probably at least CHF 100 per month if you own it in Switzerland and do not even drive it one kilometer.
?
This was meant to indicate that it’s a suggestion to think about this choice.
We’re slighty off topic … or are we?
My own experience is the other way around: immigrants scoffed at the way and attitude that the Swiss (more well off) spend money.
I’m a little older, so maybe it’s a generational perspective that is no longer true for younger people.
Generalisations are probably not useful anyhow, maybe we should stick to the specifics and numbers.
Nah, we good.
Speaking of expensive travel; the German Tankrabatt came to an end today, that means with the fuel subventions gone the price for petrol shot up from 1,85 to 2,55 p.l. this afternoon.
4000 CHuffs a month…? I got so ripped of at that company in Widnau.
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It used to be that salaries were high and expectation was to give into the high prices to support locals etc and in return the quality and service was guaranteed.
But ever since the border was made more prorous, shops like aldi, denner, lidl, etc popped up, availability of labour at lower cost went up and it drove salaries started going down with corporate justifications of ‘cost of living is not so high’, ‘employees are willing to accept lower wages’, yady, yady, ya …
but seriously only labor costs are high, everything else is only little more expensive making cost-cut trips over the border rather personal thing than being driven by financial calculation
That is only a part of thr dilemma I would say, producing something in CH and selling it outside the country at Swiss prices is absurd.
The Swiss big three (in my line of work) Lüscher, Zünd and Signtronic are only able to compete internationally with the help of subsidies or manufacturing in China and slapping the brand name on the casing.
Imagine the surprise when I saw Agfa devices built by Cron, for instance.
lookin gback, i would, respectfully, agree to disagree. it was not just labour. Material costs were high too. TCO was too high. smaller businesses were charging willy-nilly prices as they chose to. That is why i went across the border to get triple/paned/thermally/isolated windows for my property (see another thread).
same applied to groceries and normal cost of day/to/day living. it was only after the ‘border was opened’ that german grocery stores drove coop and migros prices down. there is a reason migros CEO was clamoring for ‘only CHF 50 tax free’ sale from across the border. prices in CH were horrible
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It depends.
Young apprentice without economic dependents, that works on the car (lower maintenance costs) and a long life ahead to save later, why not?
Family man getting child allowance, receiving health insurance subsidies, getting a parking badge from the municipality (other subsidy) and choosing to spend whatever is left of the income in a car…it’s legal, that’s how the system works. But shouldn’t expect an applause for it. I do my best impression of a Bünzli in this case 
Denner were around long before Switzerland’s treaties with the EU.
Lidl and Aldi actually pay slightly better than Migros or Coop.
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You must be very rich if you think Switzerland is cheap. It’s very expensive here. Cost of living is very high and for people who live by what the EL pays it’s a shame.
I believe “too cheap” was referring only to the price of motorway vignettes.
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