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Somewhat off topic, but switzerland is ludicrously expensive. I recently visited for a week in Zurich/Bern and the best way to describe the prices is like you a
by DanBlake 11y ago
Somewhat off topic, but switzerland is ludicrously expensive. I recently visited for a week in Zurich/Bern and the best way to describe the prices is like you are permanently stuck in a theme park or airport. Starbuck Coffee? $7. Can of soda at a convenience store? $3. Any fine dining for two? $300-400
I asked one of the taxi drivers what a cashier makes and he said $80k. With prices that high, It almost feels like a house of cards. I dont understand why exchange rates dont drastically bring these prices into alignment. Seems like importing goods from other countries would completely destroy this ecosystem.
- rdl 11y agoI don't think it's Swiss manufacturing (high value add, high skill) which is the problem -- it's services. And a lot of that isn't exposed to import substitution. It absolutely does make sense to import high-end high value add products which reduce labor, if you're in an artificially high labor cost environment.
- adventured 11y agoPay is very high, but cashiers are not making $80k. That would nearly qualify as the median household income in Switzerland. "The median wage in the Swiss private sector was 6,118 francs [~$6k] last year. A gas station shop worker in Lucerne is paid 3,570 francs a month" http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-05-18/swiss-reject-world-s-highest-minimum-wage-srf-projection-shows http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-05-18/swiss-reje...
- DanBlake 11y agoIsnt the tax rate 40% ish? That would push 3570 francs a month ( 42840 a year ) to 60k francs/year. Still not 80k, but pretty crazy.