I'd even accept a Morrisons hell I'd even take Nisa!

Double post.....

You know 'The Line' ?
It's way behind you.

I take it you've never been pregnant before! This is a very common opinion among pregnant women. Chances are I'd feel feel the same way in Trader Joe's or Whole Foods, but somehow I doubt is as they're better ventilated, get more natural light and the doors open to the outside.

In order to get any selection here it's necessary to go to a "big" coop or Migros and they tend to be in malls or shopping centers and tucked so far inside the windowless maze that it really is intolerable how stuffy and disgusting it is. It's so bad I order online or just send my husband. I do wonder how good that is for all of that overpriced wilting produce, too...

I spent a few days last week with a Swiss friend of mine who's a real history buff. I was telling him about some booklets and time sheets I had found from factories in the '40s and '50s- folks worked a lot more and the pay, when adjusted to current levels, was dismal.

What was interesting was that he added: they also spent roughly 50% of their net pay on food. That's how expensive it was. So considering how slow Switzerland is in catching up with the rest of the modern world, I can see how to the average citizen life is super peachy with a Coop and Migros nearby, with their Deals and Points and all that fun- and for sheer decadence a little Denner (just wear a hat and sunglasses when you go there!).

No...it's much, much higher. People in the middle wages don't earn appreciably more than elsewhere. They get stung hard with food prices.


Well that's your choice. It isn't mine. And thinking high prices/markups mean higher wages is unbelievably naive. The cashiers get paid 4k because they can't live on less.


Really? Do you work for either of them? I see fresh fruit and veg unrefrigerated and rotting in the aisles. And everyone I've spoken to says the same.

Rubbish! The whole point of a cartel, which Cogros certainly is (as with almost every industry here) is that you can pricefix and collude (tacitly or otherwise) with your competition and churn out any old crap and there is no appreciable alternative.


Again, I didn't invent "Cogros" I'm not that clever. It's a cartel. There is no appreciable choice.

Yeah, my granny can move with the times better than you. Here you get products from the 1980s like toothpastes that don't stand up and scrubbing brushes without a hollow handle for the soap. In the UK you get huge supermarkets full of high quality products at great prices. It's not magic, it's competition.

No! But the Soviet Union fell because of it.



This isn't true. Subsidies hurt us all. Switzerland shouldn't be producing crops and livestock if it can't do so at a reasonable price. Tarifs that keep Swiss farmers in business at the expensive of German farmers, help one group of people at the expense of the other while costing everyone else more money. It's insane.

No, I just want this one particular brand. Which they usually don't have unless they stock at least 20..

Poll added.

Where's the "meh" option?

Some statistics on average household revenues & expenses in Switzerland (2008).

If Switzerland had to source 100% of its crops & livestock from EU, we would be very dependent from provider and easily put under pressure. Having the ability to produce own food is also important strategically even if it comes at a certain price.

Ta. Although I did ask for "meh" rather than "me".

Thanks for the data. Two issues with this sort of data here:

1.Expensive stuff means people buy less of it to maintain their percentage expenditure which sort of misses the point.

2. The earnings bell curve is flatter here than elsewhere which means people in the middle get screwed slightly.



A common argument but made primarily from farmers lobby groups. There is a vibrant world soft commodities market out there - Switzerland isn't forced to buy from the EU.

There's three five six of me?

Maybe for a cosmopolitan icicle (to continue the snow theme) like you.

But to the Swiss, there's
Swiss-made
EU-bearable
and...

...well that's pretty much it.

Could you imagine the taxes charged on anything "foreign"... no wait... we don't need to answer that, we just need to look around in the shops.

Did you notice the sweeping generalisations I made there? Did you?

Why do people have this imaginary belief that food in Migros/Coop is somehow 'much better' regardless of the price than elsewhere? I don't see it. I think people make up this crap just so that they can feel better about spending 20 CHF for a chicken breast.

What I find even more amazing is that not even "Made in Germany" or "Made in China" on the package shatters these beliefs.

I never thought that someone would claim another country was a better, modern technological superpower because they had toothpaste tubes that stood up!

I think I have to rename myself as Carlos as well. (meh category)

I shopped in Tesco's, Waitrose, Sainsbury's, Auchan, Carrefour, Safeway, Kroger's,... They are not much better or worse than the Swiss duopoly. As for quality of produce, the stores are individually managed. So it isn't surprising to find spoiled goods at an occasional badly-managed store.

It would be nice to see another competitor coming in (Carrefour tried, but pulled out). But even so, there will only be modest changes. I don't foresee a huge rise in quality or an incredible drop in prices.

It pisses me off when they make inferior copies of classic board games.

Well, there I things I prefer to get at Migros, such as raclette and sour-cream, plastic bags, and Saran-Wrap. And my kids prefer their iced-tea. For other things, I often shop at Manor (Coop much less), or in Italy.

I buy a lot at Denner (mainly because it's on my walk home from work, and I like their stuff), which belongs to Migros.

But, even my girlfriend who is an EXTREME spendthrift, only buys a few things at Aldi, Lidl, Ottos, etc. (wine, bread mainly)

At Migros, I know what I'm getting. And if I want a large chunk of prosciutto, a t-bone steak, olive-oil, etc., I go to Italy.

Tom

That's where you're going wrong (and not just you) - it's not a 'see thing' but a 'taste thing'.