3 ms·

Sounds like 1/3 of it being unprepared (and a bit unwilling to change), 1/3 being a small town and 1/3 being just Germany > Each course in the sanctioned six-c

Sounds like 1/3 of it being unprepared (and a bit unwilling to change), 1/3 being a small town and 1/3 being just Germany > Each course in the sanctioned six-course program can cost upwards of $500 apiece and requires almost as much time as a full-time job. Why are you doing a 'sanctioned' course if you don't intend on staying? Just go with Duolingo? But if it has a high number of hours per week then $500 sounds ok > In-person shopping takes forever because there aren't big-box stores > certain products, such as electronics, cost considerably more than in the US. That's... weird. I never got the 'considerably more' unless you're importing something directly maybe, or maybe it is the kind of Walmart knicknack

xienze 3y ago
> That's... weird. I never got the 'considerably more' unless you're importing something directly maybe You're kidding, right? Just look at literally every time a new Apple product is announced on HN, people complain about how much more expensive it is in than in the US. For example, the base model Macbook Air M2 is $1299+tax (on the HIGH end, that tax could be 10%, so $1429) and 1599 Euros in Germany, which is $1730. $300 difference, that's pretty significant. And Apple isn't the only company that prices things that way.
- plantroon 3y ago
  In EU the store provides 2 years warranty by law. And you can return any product bought online within 14 days. They cannot sell it as new again. That's the reason for the cost. Now when you consider that eastern Europe has these prices too, where salaries barely crossed 1k euros per month (that's gross, in both senses of the word). And generally reading how people make 200k and similar salaries seems just unfathomable to me xD it's not like we have cheaper stuff here, there are cases when groceries are cheaper in Germany and Switzerland than in eastern Europe. Same goes for rent, at least outside big cities.
- raverbashing 3y ago
  Taxes and other factors aside, Apple is happy to price their products in a more profit-oriented way (let's put it like this)
someweirdperson 3y ago
> That's... weird. I never got the 'considerably more' unless you're importing something directly maybe, or maybe it is the kind of Walmart knicknack One random example (randomly choosen manufacturer, first product the shop displayed): https://www.lenovo.com/de/de/p/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpadx1/thinkpad-x1-carbon-gen-11-(14-inch-intel)/len101t0049 https://www.lenovo.com/de/de/p/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpadx1/t... https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpadx1/thinkpad-x1-carbon-gen-11-(14-inch-intel)/len101t0049 https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpadx1/t... Displayed price of 2229 € (includes 19% VAT) vs. $1391.40. Big enough to be called "considerable"?
- raverbashing 3y ago
  That's really weird and a big difference so I decided to look more into it The US site says "Starts at USD1391.00" If you scroll down and see the different modules, see the 1st column, the 2229 EUR and the one in the US site EU model: i7 3.7GHz, 16GB ram, 512GB ssd, Windows PRO US model i5 3.4GHz, 16GB ram, 256GB ssd, Windows HOME It's also mentioning the US site is on sale Est Value $2,319.00 to $1,391.40 So you see this seems to be an exception

xienze 3y ago

> That's... weird. I never got the 'considerably more' unless you're importing something directly maybe You're kidding, right? Just look at literally every time a new Apple product is announced on HN, people complain about how much more expensive it is in than in the US. For example, the base model Macbook Air M2 is $1299+tax (on the HIGH end, that tax could be 10%, so $1429) and 1599 Euros in Germany, which is $1730. $300 difference, that's pretty significant. And Apple isn't the only company that prices things that way.

plantroon 3y ago
In EU the store provides 2 years warranty by law. And you can return any product bought online within 14 days. They cannot sell it as new again. That's the reason for the cost. Now when you consider that eastern Europe has these prices too, where salaries barely crossed 1k euros per month (that's gross, in both senses of the word). And generally reading how people make 200k and similar salaries seems just unfathomable to me xD it's not like we have cheaper stuff here, there are cases when groceries are cheaper in Germany and Switzerland than in eastern Europe. Same goes for rent, at least outside big cities.
raverbashing 3y ago
Taxes and other factors aside, Apple is happy to price their products in a more profit-oriented way (let's put it like this)

someweirdperson 3y ago

> That's... weird. I never got the 'considerably more' unless you're importing something directly maybe, or maybe it is the kind of Walmart knicknack One random example (randomly choosen manufacturer, first product the shop displayed): https://www.lenovo.com/de/de/p/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpadx1/thinkpad-x1-carbon-gen-11-(14-inch-intel)/len101t0049 https://www.lenovo.com/de/de/p/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpadx1/t... https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpadx1/thinkpad-x1-carbon-gen-11-(14-inch-intel)/len101t0049 https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpadx1/t... Displayed price of 2229 € (includes 19% VAT) vs. $1391.40. Big enough to be called "considerable"?

raverbashing 3y ago
That's really weird and a big difference so I decided to look more into it The US site says "Starts at USD1391.00" If you scroll down and see the different modules, see the 1st column, the 2229 EUR and the one in the US site EU model: i7 3.7GHz, 16GB ram, 512GB ssd, Windows PRO US model i5 3.4GHz, 16GB ram, 256GB ssd, Windows HOME It's also mentioning the US site is on sale Est Value $2,319.00 to $1,391.40 So you see this seems to be an exception