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Zurich15357 Posts
Things that are cheap / expensive in Germany
A couple of years ago Chill asked me about the cost of living in Germany compared to say Canada. When I thought about it I figured total cost of living will probably be very similar - only that you pay for different things a lot more and for others a lot less. So, here is my list of what is comparatively cheap and what is expensive in Germany.
Things that are cheap in Germany
Food. Especially groceries and your usual supermarket basket. It's almost embarrassing how cheap food is in Germany. Or better, how content Germans are with cheap food. It's all a demand thing: Food is about the last thing Germans want to spent money on. You'll find people feeding their family car with ultimate 102 octane race sport gas, but stuffing their face with €5 a kilo meat. When I was in the US I was kind of shocked that the cheapest frozen pizza was something like $8. I am used to getting 3 pizza for €1 from the local discount store. "Discounter" has become a commonly used term in Germany for cheap stores. And when it comes to groceries in many areas discounters have largely replaced traditional supermarkets. I actually have to drive to the next city to go shopping in one of the better ones.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/B5Ron.jpg) German bread - outstanding and affordable
Alcohol. Even though taxed, alcohol is ridiculously cheap in Germany. Even the very best beer costs only about €0.75 a bottle. Cheap "discount" beer is €0.25 a can. And we are talking 0.5l cans here. There is absolutely no point of ever buying whiskey or vodka at an airport duty free shop in Germany: Just outside the door you will get the same stuff for less! Germany is probably the cheapest place on earth for brand liquors.
Rent. This is a difficult one to assess, since there are huge differences in rent pricing within Germany. But even the by far most expensive city in Germany, Munich, is still considerably cheaper than say Paris or London. Our capital, Berlin, is actually famous for its very low rents ("poor, but sexy"), although that is changing currently and prices are rapidly rising as Berlin is in an economic upswing.
Still, unless you live in one of the rather expensive spots like the entire Munich or Stuttgart area, rent will be considerably lower than in other high income countries.
Fast food. Well duh, fast food is cheap everywhere. However I am not talking only about the big American burger chains. If you include the range of Asian, Italian, and Turkish "fast restaurants", you'll actually get decent, tasty food at cheap prices (all in the €3 to €8 category for a simple meal).
Dining in a quality restaurant is not cheap obviously - but also not really more expensive than in other countries. One difference that I have noticed though is that you are expected to order drinks with every meal.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/wPaRt.jpg) Munich - beautiful and pricy
Tips. You basically only have to tip in restaurants and bars. Most people are dirt cheap and just round up, or tip to something like 5%. 10% is considered a generous tip, for anything more the waiter might ask you if you are sure about leaving so much money. It's slightly higher in upscale places, but again 10% is a perfectly good tip. Other service personnel like cab drivers, hair dressers, or hotel staff won't expect tips (although it is customary to at least round up).
Nightlife. This goes mostly along with the cheap alcohol prices. Bars and clubs are really affordable for the most part. Sure there are expensive upscale places too, but your average night out in Germany is most likely far less than in other countries. €5 to €10 is a standard cover, and €5 for a drink is considered expensive.
Things that are expensive in Germany
Gas. Holy shit is gas expensive. Standard euro 95 gas was €1.78 yesterday. That is $8.5 on the gallon. Since it's subsidized (or rather, less heavily taxed), diesel fuel is actually less expensive than regular gas - but it's still at something like €1.65 a liter. That is the prime reason why so many people drive diesel engines though in Germany, and why German car makes are at the front when it comes to developing efficient diesel engines.
Water. This is a pet peeve of mine, especially bottled water on the go. Carbonated or not, a small bottle of water on the go will cost €2 or more. Drinking water fountains in public places are non existent. Also beware of ordering water in a restaurant: You will likely get charged more than for beer, unless you specifically ask for tap water. Even worse in clubs: Ask for water and they'll give you a tiny glass bottle for €4. Often enough they'll even refuse to give out tap water for free and insist you buy expensive bottled water.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/OQ0p4.jpg) German trains - Highly efficient, but not cheap
Transportation. I already mentioned gas, but unfortunately if you want to take other means of transportation it's likely not going to be cheaper. Taxis are just stupidly expensive. For the price of a 5 minute cab ride in my tiny home town I can cross the entirety of Seoul.
Trains, subway, and trams too are rather expensive. Sure, for everyone of those you can get discounted monthly tickets, loyalty cards, buy way in advance, etc to lower the price. But if you just get a single one way ticket you might as well blow that $8.5 on gas and drive yourself.
Drugs. Medical drugs, prescription or not, are ridiculously expensive. One of the usual items Germans bring back home from a foreign trip is a box of aspirin. That's because original Aspirin in Germany is almost €1 a pop. Practically all medication, prescription or not, can only be sold at specialized, licensed drug stores - one of the more outrageously obvious examples of lack of free market hurting customers. The pharmacy lobby is pretty powerful though, and have successfully blocked all attempts to liberalize drug sales; And obviously big pharma is happy with the prices.
Craftsmen. Hiring anyone from electricians, plumbers to carpenters can really set you back. Most notorious are locksmiths, who like to charge you several hundred Euro for a 10 minute door opening job should you have locked yourself out of your apartment. Of course, it should also be said that the quality you get is probably the best in the world. But still, the very high prices contribute to many Germans becoming do-it-yourself handymen as a hobby. It's no accident that Germany has the highest rate of hardware and home-improvement stores in the world. Often enough you can find one even right in the center of major cities.
All pictures from one of my favorite places on the internet: http://fuckyeahgermany.tumblr.com/
Random bits of knowledge about Germany
Ep8: Autobahn
Ep7: Barbecue
Ep6: Gun ownership
Ep5: Lines
Ep4: Bild and Fear
Ep3: Stereotypes
Ep2: Sauna
Ep1: Small Talk
 
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I always enjoy your informative blogs Zatic.
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nice blog zatic and i 100 % agree thats germany. i am from stuttgart and rents are stupidly expensive. i also would like to mention that food from discounters are not only cheap its also from rly poor quality at least vegtables and fruits. and i think puplic transportation is way to expensive.
thx for the nice read and for showing tl the real beeing of germany!
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great blog!
although it boggles my mind how you mention transportation and gas prices and miss out on cars. cars are still the number one status symbol and german brands sell for up to 30% higher in their domestic than on foreign markets. there's a big gray and black market with reimports of mercedes, audis, volkswagens etc. where dealers buy up contingents in denmark or the netherlands (legal ~ gray market) or non-eu countries (illegal ~ black market), reimport them to germany and sell them there.
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Yay another zatic Germany blog! As always really accurate and a good read. Bottled water in supermarkets is really cheap as well though. Cheap brand 12x1L with gas = 3 Euro.
I hate the attitude towards food and obsession with expensive cars. It's exactly as zatic says. A BMW 740 in front of the cheapest supermarket (Aldi) is a total normal sight. Just yesterday a guy in front of me in the supermarket bought that terrible 5€ Vodka (0,7L) and drove away with his Porsche Cheyenne. WTF!?
Had a colleague who made something like 1400 euro a month and drove a freaking S600. I thought he was dealer, but in reality he saved all his life to buy it and used nearly all his money to maintain it (living with his mom at the age of forty...) It's crazy. A lot of foreigners will be amazed of the general car standard over here. New BMWs and Mercedes everywhere.
I'm glad my family is different. Cheap car, good food is the way to go. I remember when i was a poor student i told my mom i bought pre packed meat and she was shocked and regularly gave me money for the butcher. Which also isn't that expensive honestly...
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Those photos make Germany look like some kind of elite paradise.... of eliteness.
Urgh, why do I live in the United States?
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On October 11 2012 18:43 Gonzo103 wrote:
nice blog zatic and i 100 % agree thats germany. i am from stuttgart and rents are stupidly expensive. i also would like to mention that food from discounters are not only cheap its also from rly poor quality at least vegtables and fruits. and i think puplic transportation is way to expensive.
thx for the nice read and for showing tl the real beeing of germany!
I can just aggree. Public transportation is stupidly expensive, it depends though. In my rather small town (Kassel) a single drive city ticket is 2,50€. City ticket for the whole day 6,00€. And i got to mention that public transportation is heavily subsidized...
On October 11 2012 18:56 Newbistic wrote:
Those photos make Germany look like some kind of elite paradise.... of eliteness.
Urgh, why do I live in the United States?
And these pics are totaly normal. Every normal bakery looks like this. And Germany is the cleanest country i've lived in or been to, haven't been to Scandinavia though. 50% top tax is the price to pay, which i gladly do. Also as i mentionend high class cars everywhere.
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Germany767 Posts
+ Show Spoiler +Drugs. Medical drugs, prescription or not, are ridiculously expensive. One of the usual items Germans bring back home from a foreign trip is a box of aspirin. That's because original Aspirin in Germany is almost €1 a pop. Practically all medication, prescription or not, can only be sold at specialized, licensed drug stores - one of the more outrageously obvious examples of lack of free market hurting customers. The pharmacy lobby is pretty powerful though, and have successfully blocked all attempts to liberalize drug sales; And obviously big pharma is happy with the prices.
I have to say, eventhough it's because of my number 1 hated, super evil lobbies, the pharmacy companies. I really like that drugs aren't too cheap. People consume way too many drugs for minor aches. And if it's serious, healthcare should cover it.
Good blog as always though.
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Very interesting zatic, keep em coming.
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On October 11 2012 19:10 r00ty wrote:Show nested quote +On October 11 2012 18:43 Gonzo103 wrote:
nice blog zatic and i 100 % agree thats germany. i am from stuttgart and rents are stupidly expensive. i also would like to mention that food from discounters are not only cheap its also from rly poor quality at least vegtables and fruits. and i think puplic transportation is way to expensive.
thx for the nice read and for showing tl the real beeing of germany! I can just aggree. Public transportation is stupidly expensive, it depends though. In my rather small town (Kassel) a single drive city ticket is 2,50€. City ticket for the whole day 6,00€. And i got to mention that public transportation is heavily subsidized...
kassel… that reminds me of the one thing that's outrageously priced and hasn't been mentioned yet: parking. i paid 20 euros for a few hours some weeks ago while visiting the documenta.
the closer you want to park to a POI the higher the fees, culminating in astronomical fares at airport terminals around €2 for 1/4 hour.
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Haha, I moved to Germany for study a week ago and I've noticed all of these already. So true.
I'm paying £20 (€25/$32) a week less for my room (in Hamburg) than I was last year, and it's better equipped and better maintained. I bought a shit tonne of food for €40 that would have cost me probably double that in the UK.
Without a student transport card from my University I'd be paying a lot for travel on public transport, but even then it's not terrible and costs roughly similar to what I'd pay back home for similar travel, and things are way more punctual than in the UK. The only time a train has arrived late, the board on the platform said it'd be 5 minutes and it arrived exactly 5 minutes late.
Germany is awesome.
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On October 11 2012 18:43 Gonzo103 wrote:
nice blog zatic and i 100 % agree thats germany. i am from stuttgart and rents are stupidly expensive. i also would like to mention that food from discounters are not only cheap its also from rly poor quality at least vegtables and fruits. and i think puplic transportation is way to expensive.
thx for the nice read and for showing tl the real beeing of germany!
Uhmmmm actually if I remember correctly Greenpeace did a test of fruit and vegetables in German Supermarkets and Lidl and Aldi got 1st and 2nd place...
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Russian Federation823 Posts
On October 11 2012 19:42 REDBLUEGREEN wrote:Show nested quote +On October 11 2012 18:43 Gonzo103 wrote:
nice blog zatic and i 100 % agree thats germany. i am from stuttgart and rents are stupidly expensive. i also would like to mention that food from discounters are not only cheap its also from rly poor quality at least vegtables and fruits. and i think puplic transportation is way to expensive.
thx for the nice read and for showing tl the real beeing of germany! Uhmmmm actually if I remember correctly Greenpeace did a test of fruit and vegetables in German Supermarkets and Lidl and Aldi got 1st and 2nd place...
I'd like to have a source on that, if possible.
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On October 11 2012 19:46 kusto wrote:Show nested quote +On October 11 2012 19:42 REDBLUEGREEN wrote:On October 11 2012 18:43 Gonzo103 wrote:
nice blog zatic and i 100 % agree thats germany. i am from stuttgart and rents are stupidly expensive. i also would like to mention that food from discounters are not only cheap its also from rly poor quality at least vegtables and fruits. and i think puplic transportation is way to expensive.
thx for the nice read and for showing tl the real beeing of germany! Uhmmmm actually if I remember correctly Greenpeace did a test of fruit and vegetables in German Supermarkets and Lidl and Aldi got 1st and 2nd place... I'd like to have a source on that, if possible.
http://marktcheck.greenpeace.at/4379.98.html
translated with google
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9070 Posts
I think electronics in Germany are very expensive, other than that I pretty much agree on the food and booze stuff. Rents are reasonable too, but night life is absurdly expensive imo, or Im just drinking too much. My first years in Germany I was restricting myself to 20€ for a night out which is fair enough if you are drinking beer, which Im not a big fan of. Going to a decent bar and having a good time sets me back 50€ and I pretty much hate myself in the morning.
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Germany767 Posts
+ Show Spoiler +On October 11 2012 19:48 zuqbu wrote:Show nested quote +On October 11 2012 19:46 kusto wrote:On October 11 2012 19:42 REDBLUEGREEN wrote:On October 11 2012 18:43 Gonzo103 wrote:
nice blog zatic and i 100 % agree thats germany. i am from stuttgart and rents are stupidly expensive. i also would like to mention that food from discounters are not only cheap its also from rly poor quality at least vegtables and fruits. and i think puplic transportation is way to expensive.
thx for the nice read and for showing tl the real beeing of germany! Uhmmmm actually if I remember correctly Greenpeace did a test of fruit and vegetables in German Supermarkets and Lidl and Aldi got 1st and 2nd place... I'd like to have a source on that, if possible. http://marktcheck.greenpeace.at/4379.98.htmltranslated with google
that merely compares pesticides,which isn't really enough for a general statement about quality.
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On October 11 2012 19:46 kusto wrote:Show nested quote +On October 11 2012 19:42 REDBLUEGREEN wrote:On October 11 2012 18:43 Gonzo103 wrote:
nice blog zatic and i 100 % agree thats germany. i am from stuttgart and rents are stupidly expensive. i also would like to mention that food from discounters are not only cheap its also from rly poor quality at least vegtables and fruits. and i think puplic transportation is way to expensive.
thx for the nice read and for showing tl the real beeing of germany! Uhmmmm actually if I remember correctly Greenpeace did a test of fruit and vegetables in German Supermarkets and Lidl and Aldi got 1st and 2nd place... I'd like to have a source on that, if possible.
The report I read was from 2007, here it is:
http://marktcheck.greenpeace.at/uploads/media/greenpeace_ratgeber_pestizide_2007_01.pdf
Just discovered there is a 2012 edition, have not read through it yet:
http://www.greenpeace.de/fileadmin/gpd/user_upload/themen/chemie/Essen_ohne_Pestizide.pdf
It's in german, but in the 2007 report there is a graphic on page 12 that you can take a look at.
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I love the picture of the bread, it's one of the things I most strongly associate with Germany. I grew up pretty poor in a smallish town in America, so "bread" to me meant Wonderbread until I was in my teens. My first time abroad was to live in Japan for a year, and I was blown away by finding actual bakeries everywhere and ended up going to the panyasan almost every day for rolls and bread. And then I moved to Germany. Holy shit. I've been living here for seven years, and I still can't get over how wonderful the bakeries are. Every bakery has a huge selection of really excellent breads, and I don't know how I ever lived without Brötchen.*
Now if I could just find a deli somewhere in this bloody country where they know what pastrami is...
* fist-sized rolls, usually white bread with a thin, flaky crust and a chewy texture - they're commonly eaten here with meat and cheese for breakfast or dinner.
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Zurich15357 Posts
On October 11 2012 18:50 zuqbu wrote:
great blog!
although it boggles my mind how you mention transportation and gas prices and miss out on cars. cars are still the number one status symbol and german brands sell for up to 30% higher in their domestic than on foreign markets. there's a big gray and black market with reimports of mercedes, audis, volkswagens etc. where dealers buy up contingents in denmark or the netherlands (legal ~ gray market) or non-eu countries (illegal ~ black market), reimport them to germany and sell them there.
Funny enough, the car reimport business was exactly what gave me the idea for this blog. However, after some research, you really can't say that cars are generally more expensive than in most other developed countries.
First is the reason there is car reimporting in the first place: Higher sales and luxury taxes in other countries (Netherlands, Denmark). New German cars are actually not cheaper there at all, the reimporting is only profitable because importers get the luxury tax back.
German cars are equal or more expensive in most Nordic countries, all of Asia, and stupidly bazillion times more expensive in Australia.
The more important reason though is that you get a whole different product when you buy a new car in Germany compared to other countries that sell significantly lower (say, the US). In Germany cars are all order-to-make, meaning the customer configures their car out of a wide variety of options, and the manufacturer will produce that exact individual car a couple of weeks or months later. Obviously that is a different product than just going to a sales rep, looking what's on the parking lot and driving off with your new stock car 1 hour later.
You can see the difference also in used car market prices - here again Germany is not considerably more expensive, because the individually made German cars (that were initially more expensive than stock cars) lose resell value much more rapidly, so it evens out.
Bottom line: German cars are certainly not cheap in Germany, especially compared to stock car markets like the US. But still there are a number of countries were German cars are equally or even more expensive, so that is why I didn't include it in the list.
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Could you write about German cuisine? I've read somewhere that Germans mix Sprite/7-Up with some beer as a refreshment after sports.
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EPT
