- Chinese restaurants, in all over the world (generalizing of course) chinese restaurants are dirt cheap, but in Switzerland they are really expensive.

- Fast food restaurants are way too overpriced...

- What I don't understand in e.g. COOP; one cola 1.5l costs 2CHF, and if you buy a 6-pack it cost 11.90CHF, usually the global rule of thumb is that the more you buy the cheaper it will get, but it doesn't apply here in Switzerland, especially not in COOP

- Health insurance costs VS the expected quality...WAY too expensive for what you get, and dental is not even covered, and you have take several additional insurances + HUGE franchise...etc.

- The Swiss quality myth makes almost everything overpriced...very few Swiss articles can charge their actual price...

Staff costs are high so fast food will be expensive, those workers have to live too!

Basic medical insurance is the cost of paying the claims, it's not profit making.

Swiss have upgraded from rip-offers to thieves since the franc got higher....+40% in the pocket at least and no reductions on anything whatsoever

- The staff are paid a higher wage. The restaurant rent is higher. The cost of ingredients is higher - especially meat.

- See above

- Missed the special offers did you?

- I pay 170chf a month. 2,500chf franchise - no extras. Never needed anything more. And all the Swiss people I know have the same structure!

- Yeah - Swiss Watches are crap - and should be sold for 50chf

Do you get paid in CHF or EUR?

I get paid in CHF and they import their merchandise in Euro...then sell it on the same price in CHF......So we pay 40% more for what costs less to them now....isn't this theft?

No it's business , the Market is small 3 languages & high salaries, it's not a profitable Market . No economies of scale.

I don't see many new business coming here, if it was easy money they would.

Yesterday evening the Swiss consumer TV show KassenSturz interviewed a lady from the Swiss marketing association. She tried to explain why the prices were higher here, but she did not convince me that they are justified.

There are several examples on the KassenSturz web page: use Google to translate them for you: http://www.kassensturz.sf.tv/

As you can see there are heavy mark ups for SWISS products when comparing Edeka in Germany with Coop in Switzerland. You can see that Swiss Elmex (Owned by US Colgate Palmolive) makes an 81% price increase on their toothpaste here.

Denner can buy Swiss products cheaper in a German shop than from a Swiss wholesaler. They had a big bust up with Elmex toothpaste, and took Elmex to court. (I can't remember the outcome: I buy Prix Guarentee toothpaste)

I have been campaigning for years against higher prices here. I am not greedy, I just don't like to know that some fat wholesaler is screwing me.

If you have enough money, and don't need to look twice at every CHF 100 franc note you give to Swiss shops, please don't write a load of rubbish about higher Swiss labour costs, higher rents etc. We have very low taxes here. We have very poor labour laws here. We have very short distribution distances here. We also have no minimum wage laws, truck drivers and shop workers are very poorly paid.

Whilst shop workers maybe badly paid they still earn 2 or more times than in France. French ave take home pay is 1250 euro a month, try lo live on that in CH

No - that is capitalism!

Have prices risen in Switzerland? No. So we are paying the same as we did 12mths ago. You can't look at it from the currency point of view.

Furthermore, there is no guarantee that the company doesn't have an extended purchase agreement denominated in CHF - that is valid for another X years.

Do the maths on Swiss wages - 20chf per hour (supermarket wages) might not be huge - but it is (at current FX) double what a similar worker in Germany/UK would earn.

I am not denying that companies that are IMPORTING are make profits on the currency - but they are not obligated to lower their prices.

I will go back to the original point - if you earn in CHF and prices haven't increased what is the problem?

Welcome to Capitalism!

Consider barriers to entry, which seems to be missing from your analysis.

AYB

This sounds like a swiss statement - completely failing to address what most people see as obvious.

One of the major forces of competition is customer pressure. When you have people that not only tolerate distorted prices, but don't see the need to pay less then you will have retailers with enormous markups putting up barriers to entry and protecting their market. Mostly legal in the current regulatory environment in Switzerland, but not in the interests of the consumer.

A better question would be "do you consider the pricing fair and reasonable ?"

AYB

I wouldn't complain about the cost if the service was accordingly...

Not wanting to take the risk is the only barrier! As a Brit I can set up a business here, I can't even live In the USA!

Your free to go elsewhere, what's the problem.

Is Switzerland expensive?
Yes

Has it always been expensive?
Yes

Is it anymore expensive now?
No

But it is half the price in Germany/UK/US?
Then you to Germany/UK/US and buy (and then import) it. 3 years ago something in Switzerland costing 100chf might have cost £40 (90chf at the time). Prices in both countries have moved a little but not much - suddenly the same item in the UK costs 55chf.

If you earn in CHF and live in Switzerland your view of how much things cost here becomes distorted by the currency movement of the last 3 years (and 3 months in particular).

1) It doesn't cost them less until they sell off all the old stock, and start buying new.

2) If the merchandise is 40% less wholesale, it will never be 40% less retail. The overhead is still the same.

3) Most meat, cheese, beer, and wine I buy is Swiss, so no cost reduction due to the Euro (on the other hand, Barbera (which we buy often) prices have been going down).

Tom

Well, compared to the US, the costs are less and the service is better.

Tom

One example of the cost inequity is chewing gum. In DE, a pack costs .55eur. In CH, the same pack costs 3.40CHF. Considering that this isn't a swiss-made product and not a controlled substance taxed to curb abuse the markup doesn't make any sense to me at all. There are no organic chiclet trees living a better life in der Schweiz.

This happens on a lot of products so there is definitely substance to the meat of the complaint. It borders on usury at times. Sure, yes, we can all go live somewhere else but that's dodging an explanation to why so many things, including swiss-made things, are so very much cheaper just across the border - much cheaper than merely explaining retail margins, etc., covers.

Swiss rip offs?

Almost everything found at Schubiger or Pfister.

Currency rip-offs aren't limited to Switzerland.

A look on the Superdry website reveals some staggering markups compared with store prices - around 40% higher online (using the EUR site).