What's with Swiss prices??!!

Complaints Corner
61
[quote=Richdog;517250]

Lamb is my biggest peeve here though, 50 CHF for a modest sized joint makes me want to reach over the counter and strangle the butcher.quote]

Ouch! I want to make an easy and yummy lamb dish for friends when I'm over in October. Maybe I should bring my pack of lamb from Oz before I leave!!

Pam

62
after 18mnths here, listening to the argument several times, i only 'got it' on our 2 week camping trip through northern france this summer...i stepped into a carrefour and walked around in amazement, realising how completely deprived i've become and feeling completely at home while not understanding a word of anything around me!

the meat was red with bones! the lamb chops looked familiar - there were rows of potato chips in different flavours and even coke light with lemon - i was in paradise!!!

i have been converted to shop over the border at least once a month - just to make me feel rich with choice! would all the seasoned over the boarder shoppers please answer some questions?

1. if you do you monthly shopping there - do you keep the legal limits in mind at all to bring the stuff back into CH?

2. where do you go? i saw a carrefour just outside mulhouse on the way to basel and have now heard about casino, so will investigate - if i live in baden - do you have any other suggestions?

and thanks for feeling with me - i thought i was the only idiot that were not enthralled with coop selection - i feel much less alone...

ps. sorry for not feeling so much for the torture of the animals or the swiss economy...recently retrenced people tend to be selfish!

63
I have to say that I was pleasently surprised when I came to Switzerland though, from the Netherlands. The selection at supermarkets here is a LOT broader. Now you can imagine my face when I got across the border to Germany (tears in my eyes)!!!

64
i can just imagine...

i'm from south africa - so can you imagine how surprised i was by feeling 'at home' in a french store?!?!

65
Because of that I still consider lamb luxury, and I would only get it about once or twice a year back home, the whole family gets a big, juicy lamb steak, pure bliss! It's funny how much meat prices have affected my food consumption, quite often I'd just pass the meat section altogether when shopping.

66
Yes sweetie I can imagine I come from Peru (been living in NL for 6 years though) and was used to humongous supermarkets back there. I am not going to talk about the prices, because they live in another reality.

67
rice, nectarines, writing paper, electronic goods ... I'm sure there are more but I can't remember them now.

Isn't it strange that many people in Switzerland go to Germany or even Hungary for medical treatment, while private clinics in Zurich are full up with German and Hungarian patients. And not all of tem are terribly rich either. Grass on the other side anbody?

Isn't it strange how shops like Lidl and Aldi are welcomed as breaking the strangehold of Coop and Migros, yet go to Germany and the Migros there will be full of likely as not. Yes, even the Frey chocolate gets gobbled up as a special Swiss delicacy. Another case of grass on the other side.

It's human nature to believe that everybody else has struck a better deal than themselves. No, its not just human. My two cats are convinced that the other is being given the tastier food and will try to steal it from them.

68
Lamb is an interesting case

Legs of lamb imported from NZ

Migros price 50chf

Same product in UK

6GBP equiv 11chf at current rates

Since it all comes in containers on ships to Europe there is no difference in transport cost. Maybe Tesco buys more of course and gets a cheaper price but that is a helluva price difference.

69
Rice and nectarines are cheaper in the NL. About paper I would not know, I steal it from work

70
Any suggestions for german or french cities near the borders, with good and cheap choices for shooping? (from meat & groceries to clothes)

71
Well I was down at Switzerlands only dock the other morning looking for a container ship......... There is a huge difference in shipping costs purely because the good HAVE to go through a 3rd country to get here.

Beside we in CH clearly get better quality lamb from NZ than they do in the UK. I mean just look at the price difference.

72
It would depend on where you are going to live

73
The economy of scale does probably kick in as well. The Swiss don't at as much lamb as the English, therefore the retailers aren't in the same position to bargain for the lowest possible price. Probably you'll find the reverse is true for meats that aren't so common in the UK but are eaten a fair bit in Switzerland.

74
Have you been to HMV, Fopp in London or online at Amazon UK recently?

75
Most cities near The Borders are Scottish I believe.

76
Just had a look in Co-Op, natur chicken breast: 5.30 CHF per 100g. Ouch.

77
The price I quoted was for packed Chicken breast that needs cooking. Maybe you misread something or were perusing the cooked meats??

Laurence

78
I forget the name of the town, but there are a few cities over the border near Schaffhausen. There have been a few threads about this, look in this forum for REWE or Ideka. But also be aware the border guards really watch the limits, especially on Saturdays. There is also nice shopping on the German side of lake Kontanz (Bodensea) - you can combine it with a nice daytrip to Insel Mainau which is very pretty any season.

79
Yes, im a complete idiot and mistook those normal looking raw chicken breasts in the packet, the ones next to the entrance as you walk in, seperate to any other meats of a similar nature, that look like ANY other chicken breasts in a packet that I have been buying for 15 years... for something completely different.

Hmm, whats that dripping onto my foot?

It was natur raw chicken breasts, waiting to be cooked, for the price I quoted. Sorry if that somehow hurts the points you were trying to make earlier, but I really can't help that.

80
Sorry but I cannot second this tendency of insulting people making assumptions on which contract someone has or how much do I earn.

I could be earning 150-200k or be totally broke but this is none of your business. You probably have a good paid job but some people here might not so please don't make such allusions and rather beat your tongue before coming off so offensive.

Apart from this, it is perfectly loyal to discuss of prices and exchange information on where this or that is cheaper and where this or that is more expensive but more worth buying it.

For example, I find meat quality to be quite bad here (despite all of the propaganda I hear now and then about swiss meat being the best in the world - I can testify it's a long way from being the best) and I'd really like to know where could I find good meat at reasonable prices, rather than bad / almost expired meat (it happened too frequently to buy stuff for 60-70chf/kg which was already dark) at extortionate prices.

So what? You need to look at my work contract to "allow" me to have such discussion? Or see my tax declaration form before I can be gifted with the freedom of speech?

Come on, let's be serious, this is a normal discussion that happens everywhere. In other countries people are even more insane about prices and bargains (in Italy people drive up to 150km to go to an Outlet only for the sake of finding a bargain) - I don't think we are the same level here, it's just a rather tame discussion about prices. Let's not go more forward than the necessary..