I just don't get it. Sure, the EU produces mountains of subsidised food, but that's not enough to explain all of the crazy prices here in Switzerland. Here are just three examples:
1. I needed to get some sort of adapter to make my Aussie BBQ work on Swiss gas bottles (the subject of another post). I went to Coop, Pan Gaz, OBI ... consulted a plumber ... no-one could help me, in fact the plumber wanted CHF 100 to tell me it was impossible to use my BBQ in Switzerland. Then I chanced upon Gutzwiller, a large plumbing company in Hegenheim (in France, near Basel). The guy there took my Coop-purchased gas hose, amputated the Aussie connector from my original gas hose, then performed some surgery to attach this to the Swiss hose (using some new parts as well). Total cost: 0.47 euros. Yep, 47 cents. Including tax of 19.6%. Do you think you'd ever see that in CH?
2. Food shopping! If Migros or Coop bought their stock at retail prices in France or Germany and re-sold it with a 10% mark-up (way above the average profit margin in UK, US or Australian supermarkets), their prices would still be much lower than they are now. If they bought ALL the stock in a typical REWE or Leclerc supermarket, they would actually be able to offer choice to their customers, too! Like everyone else with a fidelity card for Coop or Migros, I'm a shareholder -- can't we all demand fair prices?
3. I went to a "wholesale" tree nursery in Basel-Land and saw an admittedly impressive Japanse maple for sale ... with an exceptionally impressive price tag of CHF 6,550.00! Then I saw a slightly smaller tree in a nursery just over the border in France for 155 euros. Hmmm ... which one should I choose ...
European VAT is more than double that in Switzerland -- 19% in Germany and 19.6% in France, vs 7.6% in Switzerland (VAT on food is at a reduced rate in France and Germany, but it is much more reduced in CH at 2.4%). So what's the excuse for the inflated prices here?
End of rant. And let me close by saying that I absolutely love living in Switzerland -- this is a wonderfully diverse, fascinating country with one of the highest standards of living anywhere. Just a touch pricey.
"Cheapness" is relative, though -- if all Swiss prices came down to a reasonable level, there's no need to avoid buying the most expensive items just because they're cheaper than they used to be!
By the way, I realise this is an old topic, but I just had to offload. And I don't buy the argument (raised in other threads) that prices need to be high to sustain high standards of living -- those same high prices erode the higher salaries in Switzerland disproportiately quickly!
no, what I am saying is that, if certain types of consumer durables are not high enough, the Swiss will not purchase the item as they feel it might be "inferior". This is the case for white goods, for example.
Living near the border means you have choices for certain goods - and that's nice. I am not, however, driving 2 hours each way to go shopping
Variety is also something that has improved since the 90s. Maybe having been here since then, I have become numb to certain higher prices - certainly meat is cheaper "abroad" and veggies are better quality (usually).
Eh, prices are nuts here, true. But your life does not depend on couple of overpriced supermarkets and some lousy services. We just did our groceries in Carrefour in France few minutes away, Casino is nice too. One quits bitching about the prices when one realizes how lucky we are, use both French and Swiss consumer market, the best (or cheapest) options. Just takes a while to find shops, services, etc that you like, on both sides of the border. It's a nice variety.
For situations where you are stuck on a weird hardware or even automotive issue it's worth hunting down mom-and-pop type shops and/or the grungiest looking shops.
I've been pleasantly surprised by the helpfulness and knowledge at the local 'pro' hardware store; they will take 20 minutes to help you find the oddball screws you need and then gladly ring up 1 franc worth of merchandise. I've seen them just stick it in the customer's pocket and wish them a good day when it's a small item .
Last fall I needed to put my winter tires on, so I called a half dozen places from the phone book. The shortest waiting list was 2 weeks . Finally called the tiny shop in the center of town- still has the sign on the front from 1950 or so- guy said bring it by at 4:30 pick it up at 5. He works alone and had at least 5 repair jobs going. Good service.
They are in the Bussigny store - limited range but good prices.
The other place you can try is Aligro - it's a wholesaler but private clients can go. Meat there is SOOOOOOOOO much cheaper and really nice quality, you don't have to buy too much either.
Thanks for the tips. But for meat, I'll stick to Germany or France -- I just bought some steak on the bone from Casino in St Louis at 6 euros per kg (after promotional discount) and it was superbly tender. I've seen similar steak at Coop for CHF64.00 per kilo. CHF9.30 vs CHF64.00 ... no contest!
well, have you been to LIDL or ALDI SUISSE yet? both German competitors have been awaited by COOP, MIGROS n co. close in the state that they have sh!t themselfes. and now that they run a couple of shops in CH, what has happenend? NOTHING! prices still up, some products are cheaper then in the other chain...all in all leveled.
what do you think why?
let me give you some hints:
rent of facilities, wages... does that ring a bell? klingeling? not?
so why dont you open up an "all for 1chf"-shop then when thats all so clear and easy, the rip-off so right "in yo face"? thats what i dont get...
Tell you what, lets all go over the border to shop. That'll show em! While we're at it we might as well rent apartments too as they're so much cheaper! Wait a minute but then we'll have to pay more taxes hmmmmmmm.
Actually, the price difference overall is minimal (in my experience). What motivates us to shop over there is a much wider choice. We go every 6 or 8 weeks. Migros/Coop/Denner/Manor get plenty of our francs . Wish we had an Aldi around here.
i wouldn't be so sure there. yes, aldi didn't change much, but lidl uses completely different strategy, and we actually liked Lidl here more than we did back in germany. (aldi is the same or worse, in terms of variety, but that's normal for aldi of course)
It matters in the sense that some (most?) people are here for the higher salary, but when you realize that most of it goes away due to the absurd prices then you might ask yourself if remaining in this country is still worth it..
And I'm not quite convinced you are all here for the chocolate and the cows ..
PS: which one do you find to be better between Denner, Aldi and LIDL? As for meat choice what would you suggest? Talking about the Zürich area. Coop and Migros have extortionate prices for that...
Just returned from Corsica where we had to pay resort taxes of 45 euros. For what? One road from north to the south of the island, no rubbish bins and no public toilets?
In Swiss resorts you pay less of these taxes and get the infrastructure to go with it.
Compare Carrefour and Casino in Corsica buying a DVD, CD or video games and such, you'll find out who's really being ripped off!
True though that the prices in the restaurants are marginally less and the food in general good. Service pretty much the same, though, some grumpy, some friendly.