It comes down to greed and stupidity. Why buy vegetables in Coop when you can buy the same Swiss food for less in Aldi and Lidl. We are being ripped off, but most Swiss equate high prices with higher value everytime.
Yes agreed. I looked at the prices of Swiss products in France, an incredible difference (without the sales taxes). I remember the price differences of Voltaren pain relieving cream and of Maggi soups, 2 or 3 times the French price here in Switzerland.
This bottle Nubi Lov'n Care is sold here in Switzerland for 13chf at Migros.
The same exact bottle is sold 1.95 $ in the US.
How this swiss market can explained that this same bottle made in China cost 10 times more here then there?
Again: That's not how it works. Imagine you are the product manager at Migros and you get that bottle on the desk. You do not put a price tag based on the shop costs on it. What do you do? You look at Coop and various competitors. Since you are the Migros, you want to be the price leader - so you take the competitions prices and go 10% or so below them... I would make the bet that this bottle is at ten times the US price still cheaper than the Swiss competition.
The guys will happily admit that they could not care less about the US price: No consumer will possibly compare it. The prices in Germany and France are a bit more important, but actually still completely insignificant for a product like a baby bottle... for something over 100 CHF, you might take a short look there.
Great note chippy. Now you can go enjoy your cheap 10 Sfr Bagel and your 12 Sfr Grande.
Hi all,
Pardon the potentially stupid question (Don't know if it has been covered before ).
Using the OP's eurostat link on comparative prices across these states (Indexed). I see a huge gap in meat prices across the states. Why is that? Does Switzerland have particularly high duties on meat imports? And if so, why so much higher than the other categories? For example, the other categories range from , on an indexed level, between 104 and 141, whereas meat is at 197! Yikes! Thats a bit weird.
Cheers,
Mike
Probably local supplier protection.
Because the Swiss protect their own farmers. Swiss farmers are good at producing meat, so the government put a high duty on the imports. Swiss farmers are not that great at producing bananas, so the duty is low.
But then why is Milk, Cheese and Eggs "comparably" moderate? Index of 121...
I think the Swiss do all that, and I see the neighbouring states are below 100.
Or is it more a question of staple foods...
Another interesting report http://www.ubs.com/1/e/wealthmanagem..._earnings.html
From the thread Is Switzerland most expensive country in the world!
Quite simply the volume of the market.
Switzelrand 7.5 mio inhabitants
USA about 300 mio habitants
you missed a number
can we have that carved in stone or brass plate?
precisely that! and therefore you have the morla of the 21.century: internet. if i see that desired snowboard pants costs 50euro more here...fine! i order it online in germany or where ever they have it cheaper. with ch vat i have saved 55euro still, as the VAT is not charged from many shops in the EU now.
i mean...when i was a student, the life was friggin expensive too! i couldnt travel, shop, party, consume like there was no tomorrow! i had to keep house with my money that i worked for. thats life! i had 400dm to spend, but 120 dm trainpass was 3rd the money i had. what could i do? hitch hike, bike, maybe walking? -> nothing but to pay the prize.
i dont know why, especially forum veterans, do complain high prizes over and over again? what does this change? for me its the most annoying rant. its pointless, tedious... just fighting windmills.
Maybe the ridiculous price hike on import goods will change when the consumer advocates finally get their demand for less costly import duties / a higher amount that can be imported duty free for private persons through. I agree that it is beyond the pale to ask us to pay more for something that is made here just because you can. For pharma things, I ALWAYS ask for the generic product but some pharmacists are really uncooperative here, which earns them a very un-Swiss mouthful about how it is their duty to best serve the customer, not themselves.
The baby bottle thing stumps me... On the other hand, I am prepared to pay a lot more for something that was produced in this country, like my hairdryer, made by Solis, three times more expensive than the other ones that did the same thing but I've had it for six years now, dropped it on the floor several times and it still works (it's an excellent dryer by the way, I have very long, thick hair, gets it dry in five to seven minutes ).
About salaries, expat of Swiss:
If you earn more than 3.600 CHF netto monthly (2.700 EUR), you earn more than the average German familly (number includes double income famillies). Do the maths for yourself and you will know if your salary makes up for the average of 20% higher prices in this country.
I know the answer for myself and therefore do not take part in this discussion personnaly, but the answer for you may be different.
It is all depend of the cost of living you have with or without kids. In Germany you can send you kids to a daycare for 400 euros per months 5 days a week, here, it cost you 2500 chf.
Housing is cheaper and food as well.
And indeed your motto is shared by many on this forum, and presumably by many Swiss in general otherwise the market would not sustain these prices.
I do not agree with this outlook since, by extension, one would assume Bill Gates would be happy to pay CHF 3,000,000 for a piece of steak (multiplying his wealth by that of an average Swiss households by the price of a piece of steak) and I am sure he did not get to where he is by adopting such a mentality!
The reason prices are so high here are:
1) Complacent/inert consumers
2) Rapidly appreciating CHF due to the great indebtedness of many other Western nations not being fully reflected in reduced prices on imported goods at the till
3) Limited competition in many sectors
4) Hefty subsidies/duties on e.g. meat
5) Higher salaries - but average Swiss family purchasing power is not nearly as strong as you might assume - yes wages are high and taxes are low but accommodation costs are high as are food/clothing/entertainment/childcare/healthcare etc. costs.
However I concede that to maintain one's sanity and a cheery disposition it is probably best to adopt your motto!
if they were good at producing meat, then they wouldn't need to be protected. rather they produce meat and are less efficient than others and so need to be protected.
Nil, I never implied any conclusion as for Swiss price level. I was giving a number that can be used as an argument for a customer revolution in CH or for a defense of the CH protectionism. The number itself - as I am - is neutral. You are welcome to use it as yet another proof of CH's horribleness.
For my life, the number proves that I am better off in CH than Germany. But I know that your lives are different, I stated so. This is why giving this numbers was an encouragement to explain fully what one means exactly when one critisize or defend. Your message is interesting, because you do exactly that: the kita costs can put the situation in a totally different light. This level of precision, I thought, was needed in the second page of a debate about prices.
I agree with your very interesting post, however the bit at the end about getting angry at the guy who moved to save tax... hmmmm... is not the cantonal system geared towards that? I, myself, ask the question whether I should move from Lausanne to Fribourg to save some money (and apparently the schools are a LITTLE bit better there). Yes, this guy is at the extreme scale of salaries, but if it's legal then it's the system that is at fault, not the rich guy who moves town to save tax...
I consider far worse the Nigel Mansells of this world who purported to be racing for Britain, but then decided to live in an out of the way place (Isle of Man? Not sure of details) to not pay a single bit of tax to the UK economy... (at least I think it was Nigel Mansell, it was some "English" Formula 1 driver of yesteryear...)
Where it becomes interesting is with services on the internet. I remember the UK completely shocked at iTunes selling tracks at I think about 1 pound when the same track was sold in America for $1. I might be wrong in the actual price details, but it was way overpriced for something that comes down the internet!
I am glad that electronics here seems to be cheaper than in Europe...