Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Location: Where Sunday shopping is banned in the USA
334 posts, read 438,443 times
Reputation: 57
Advertisements
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ariete
Consumer Prices in Turku are 7.57% higher than in Calgary
Consumer Prices Including Rent in Turku are 4.60% lower than in Calgary
Rent Prices in Turku are 31.59% lower than in Calgary
Restaurant Prices in Turku are 10.02% higher than in Calgary
Groceries Prices in Turku are 4.43% lower than in Calgary
Local Purchasing Power in Turku is 23.24% lower than in Calgary
Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed
Save on eating out, but pay more for rent. Pay for utilities a lot more (as Finland has one of the lowest prices in Europe). Gas is of course much cheaper in Calgary, but why should you need a car in Turku anyway?
Why compare a small city of Turku with a much larger and well known city of Calgary?
Not sure if that comparison site is accurate, but I did a bunch of comparisons with cities of similar sizes including Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Quebec City, Vancouver, Calgary, Stockholm, Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, Malmo, Dublin, Helsinki, etc. and in all cases the Canadian cities came out cheaper.
that's very interesting. Most goods are actually cheaper in Germany than in other european countries. I am not sure why that so is. They often say the competition is harder in Germany or Germans are mostly bargain hunter. There are german retail chains that have in several european countries stores. Their products have mostly one price tag valid for all countries where the chain has stores but with different prices for the different countries. On the top stands the price for Germany, for example 1 Euro, then comes for example Austria and the Netherlands with 1.15 Euro and then other EURO countries with 1.25 Euro. Different sales taxes can't be the reason, they are quite similiar. It must be very frustrating for the customers in other european countries when they have to determine that the same product from the same retail chain cost 20% less at stores in germany. I find this price discrimination outrageous.
The prices at the numbeo website seems to be mostly accurate. But some data is contradictory. I live in the lower Rhine area not far away from the dutch border. According to the data at the numbeo website grocery prices in Germany and the Netherlands seems to be very similiar. That's not correct in my opinion. Most grocery items are a little bit more expensive in the Netherlands compared to Germany.
It's entirely normal for people in the border area to shop on the other side for items that are cheaper in the bordering country. Even people from Amsterdam drive sometimes to german stores just behind the border to buy alcohol, cigarettes or cosmetics and health care products at dm drug stores. In the other direction, Germans buy medicine, coffee or specific dutch food. Medicine prices in Germany are outrageous. The languages are quite similiar, so there is no language barrier. Many Dutch people have build houses in Germany, because land prices are much lower on this side. They live in Germany but work in the Netherlands. Some german municipal on the border have meanwhile one third dutch inhabitants.
The numbers from Numbeo for Nike shoes differ between Germany and the Netherlands. That is in my opinion incorrect. Prices for branded clothing and shoes are very similiar if not identical between the two countries, at least for Nike shoes. You can get Nike shoes for under 80 Euro in Germany, of course, but they are often very ugly and not that common. The vast majority of Nike shoes cost between 100 and 160 Euro or 150 and 240 CDN-$, and people buy them, I am too ;-). The design of Nike or Adidas shoes in Europe is different from that in North America.
I doubt it that a VW Golf cost so much more in the Netherlands than in Germany. I am sure that every dutch customer would drive max 2 hours to Germany and buy the car in Germany instead of in the Netherlands.
In Germany the discount stores have the biggest market share in the food grocery market, about 44 % vs. about 25% of traditional grocery stores. Therefore the price for bottled water with 0.76 CDN-$ seems really absurd. I guess that 80% of the people buy the normal supermarket water for just 0.19 Euro for a 1.5l bottle. Every store sells his store brand for this price. The prices for potatoes seems way to high. Germans eat a lot of potatoes, but they don't buy them for more than 1 Euro per kg. But the prices for produce vary strongly. The prices for local cheese seems also very high for me. The Netherlands and Germany are typical cheese countries. 1 kg of a piece of cheese normally cost between 5 or 7 Euro. Unless you buy it on the cheese counter, than it's more expensive, but that is not so common any more. The grocery stores have lowerd the prices for eggs at the January the 11. 2014. The prices are normally stable for half a year. Aldi makes normally the first step and all other grocery stores reduce their prices usually on the same day or the next day. 10 free run eggs cost 0.99 Euro, 10 free range eggs cost 1.39 Euro and 10 organic eggs cost 2.29 Euro. It's very nice when the prices for the basics are in almost every grocery store the same. So you don't have to worry about the prices or look in several stores to compare the prices.
Not sure if that comparison site is accurate, but I did a bunch of comparisons with cities of similar sizes including Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Quebec City, Vancouver, Calgary, Stockholm, Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, Malmo, Dublin, Helsinki, etc. and in all cases the Canadian cities came out cheaper.
I think the comparison between different cities are not that accurate, because there are often not that many contributors. And who are all these contributos? Tourists? Why are there so much more contributors in Canada than in Germany? Germany has more than twice the population of Canada. Are they canadian tourists?
For example in Düsseldorf the 1 kg local cheese cost allegedly 19.67 SDN-$, in Berlin it cost 11,04 CDN-$. That's completely nonsense, because grocery prices don't differ that much in Germany. Due to the strong presence of the discount stores and other grocery chains in Germany grocery prices don't differ that much between different regions. A few hundred, the most common, basic grocery products cost in almost every grocery store exactly the same price all over Germany. For example 1 kg of corn flakes costs at Aldi 1.89 Euro. Every grocery store has corn flakes from their store brand for this price. But Lidl don't have a 1 kg package of corn flakes, there store brand weighs only 850g. To match the Aldi price, this 850g package of corn flakes costs only 1.61 Euro. When you see such strange prices like 1.72 or 0.56 or 0.43. All those prices are only to match the Aldi prices. And Aldi prices are extremely stable for a long time. They don't lower prices this week and rise them next week. Grocery shopping in Germany and most european countries is very different from that in North America.
Or look at the prices for Nike shoes. The same Nike shoes cost of course everywhere in Germany the same price. Maybe there is sometimes an offer for 10 or 20 Euro less. Or the prices for cigarettes, they can't differ between different german cities, because the prices for cigarettes are fixed.
Some prices from Numbeo are really accurate, but others are very questionable, completely nonsense or simply impossible.
I can only speak for Germany and maybe the Netherlands. Prices in other european countries are often higher or just completely different.
On the top stands the price for Germany, for example 1 Euro, then comes for example Austria and the Netherlands with 1.15 Euro and then other EURO countries with 1.25 Euro.
It is as it is, though. Our net income is a bit higher, but at the same time our prices are a bit higher. Pretty cool, though, when an Austrian from Vorarlberg can work in Liechtenstein or Switzerland and live in Austria. Holy cow...
After my studies: €1015 pre-tax for "Gerichtspraxis" at some random court in Austria (modern day slavery...), but €2500 pre-tax in Liechtenstein...
I live in the Netherlands now and I can say many of the things on the list are much cheaper in reality. Some things actually cost less than halve of what is listed. So, basing your conclusions on that list does not make any sense. A tourist from Vancouver would typically visit tourist places in the Netherlands which are much more expensive that ordinary places.
I wonder why costs of health care and education are left out, those are usually very expensive in Northern America and rather cheap in Europe.
I not arguing the list has it's flaws, but remember these are AVERAGES for a whole country and when comparing the costs in Canada to The Netherlands it is always going to be difficult, after all Canada is 240 times bigger. The costs of transporting goods and services over such a huge terrain, not to mention infrastructure getting to remote and mountainous places is much more than in The Netherlands. It's amazing that Canada is cheap in anything, since we have only twice The Netherlands population covering such a large area. So price differences across the country probably vary greater than the price differences across The Netherlands.
Hydro ( electricity ) is also very cheap in North America compared to Europe. I also do not have a monthly water bill, although some places in North America do.
The comparison also doesn't include taxes of any kind and as you said education and medical. You lumping medical costs in North America is off. Canada has universal coverage, similar to Europe. The U.S. as you know is most expensive, Mexico medical is cheap. The rest of North America I'm not sure.
Sales Taxes? It varies across Canada but I pay 5 percent provincial sales tax and 5 percent GST ( federal tax ) on certain items. Again it varies if you pay one, or both depending on product or service. In the province of Alberta there is no sales tax, just GST.
Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed
What?? You're comparing the cost of living in Londonderry to Toronto? Londonderry population 211,000 to Toronto 3 million, over 6 million if you count the GTA.
that's very interesting. Most goods are actually cheaper in Germany than in other european countries. I am not sure why that so is. They often say the competition is harder in Germany or Germans are mostly bargain hunter. There are german retail chains that have in several european countries stores. Their products have mostly one price tag valid for all countries where the chain has stores but with different prices for the different countries. On the top stands the price for Germany, for example 1 Euro, then comes for example Austria and the Netherlands with 1.15 Euro and then other EURO countries with 1.25 Euro. Different sales taxes can't be the reason, they are quite similiar. It must be very frustrating for the customers in other european countries when they have to determine that the same product from the same retail chain cost 20% less at stores in germany. I find this price discrimination outrageous.
The prices at the numbeo website seems to be mostly accurate. But some data is contradictory. I live in the lower Rhine area not far away from the dutch border. According to the data at the numbeo website grocery prices in Germany and the Netherlands seems to be very similiar. That's not correct in my opinion. Most grocery items are a little bit more expensive in the Netherlands compared to Germany.
It's entirely normal for people in the border area to shop on the other side for items that are cheaper in the bordering country. Even people from Amsterdam drive sometimes to german stores just behind the border to buy alcohol, cigarettes or cosmetics and health care products at dm drug stores. In the other direction, Germans buy medicine, coffee or specific dutch food. Medicine prices in Germany are outrageous. The languages are quite similiar, so there is no language barrier. Many Dutch people have build houses in Germany, because land prices are much lower on this side. They live in Germany but work in the Netherlands. Some german municipal on the border have meanwhile one third dutch inhabitants.
The numbers from Numbeo for Nike shoes differ between Germany and the Netherlands. That is in my opinion incorrect. Prices for branded clothing and shoes are very similiar if not identical between the two countries, at least for Nike shoes. You can get Nike shoes for under 80 Euro in Germany, of course, but they are often very ugly and not that common. The vast majority of Nike shoes cost between 100 and 160 Euro or 150 and 240 CDN-$, and people buy them, I am too ;-). The design of Nike or Adidas shoes in Europe is different from that in North America.
I doubt it that a VW Golf cost so much more in the Netherlands than in Germany. I am sure that every dutch customer would drive max 2 hours to Germany and buy the car in Germany instead of in the Netherlands.
In Germany the discount stores have the biggest market share in the food grocery market, about 44 % vs. about 25% of traditional grocery stores. Therefore the price for bottled water with 0.76 CDN-$ seems really absurd. I guess that 80% of the people buy the normal supermarket water for just 0.19 Euro for a 1.5l bottle. Every store sells his store brand for this price. The prices for potatoes seems way to high. Germans eat a lot of potatoes, but they don't buy them for more than 1 Euro per kg. But the prices for produce vary strongly. The prices for local cheese seems also very high for me. The Netherlands and Germany are typical cheese countries. 1 kg of a piece of cheese normally cost between 5 or 7 Euro. Unless you buy it on the cheese counter, than it's more expensive, but that is not so common any more. The grocery stores have lowerd the prices for eggs at the January the 11. 2014. The prices are normally stable for half a year. Aldi makes normally the first step and all other grocery stores reduce their prices usually on the same day or the next day. 10 free run eggs cost 0.99 Euro, 10 free range eggs cost 1.39 Euro and 10 organic eggs cost 2.29 Euro. It's very nice when the prices for the basics are in almost every grocery store the same. So you don't have to worry about the prices or look in several stores to compare the prices.
For Canadian tourists Nikes are expensive in Germany, as are clothes. One reason is the exchange rate. I can buy Nikes in Vancouver on sale for as little as $49.99. Of course they also have the Nikes that cost $250.00 but most people wait for a good sale. Same with clothing, I wait for sales. Normal Levi Jeans can be bought for $74.00 here, but they often go on sale of $39.00. More expensive designer jeans for $200.00 I don't' buy.
I knew a couple in Berlin, who would do their clothes shopping when they went on holiday to Asia or North America, mind you, this was 15 years ago. Perhaps there are more discount stores in Germany now?
I understand also that in Germany stores are only allowed two sales a year. Is that still true?
For Canadian tourists Nikes are expensive in Germany, as are clothes. One reason is the exchange rate. I can buy Nikes in Vancouver on sale for as little as $49.99. Of course they also have the Nikes that cost $250.00 but most people wait for a good sale. Same with clothing, I wait for sales. Normal Levi Jeans can be bought for $74.00 here, but they often go on sale of $39.00. More expensive designer jeans for $200.00 I don't' buy.
I knew a couple in Berlin, who would do their clothes shopping when they went on holiday to Asia or North America, mind you, this was 15 years ago. Perhaps there are more discount stores in Germany now?
I understand also that in Germany stores are only allowed two sales a year. Is that still true?
It is the same over here regarding sales. A lot of people wait until there are sales before they buy something. I bought my last jacket for half of half, so 75% lower than the original price. And there are plenty of sales over here if you pay attention.
Concerning cars, I have my doubts if they are really 50% cheaper than over here in Europe like the statistic says. I looked at Canadian car prices once(a long time ago) and although the pre-tax prices are indeed very low, there seemed to be very high sales, luxury or other taxes and fees on cars making them just as expensive as over here in Europe. (That doesn't change the fact that car prices are outrageous over here in Europe. It seems to me only companies and wealthy individuals can still afford new cars in Europe). The good thing is, a car is not a necessity over here.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
