Zurich is expensive.
Research from the Economist Intelligence Unit confirms this, recently naming Zurich the most expensive place to live in the world.
However, according to a recent editorial by Thomas Widmer, a journalist with the Tages-Anzeiger, most people calling Zurich expensive are expats who go to Sprüngli.
Well, I’m a Sprüngli-going expat, but actually, there’s a different reason most foreigners call Zurich expensive. It’s not our “Luxemburgerli lifestyle.”
It’s just that we have another place in the world with which to compare Zurich. (Also: We did not grow up expecting to pay a small fortune for a plate of kung pao chicken.)
I can proudly say that I’ve tried to penny-pinch in Switzerland.
But this is a country that has no pennies. So naturally, I’ve failed. But I will say that nothing demonstrates the expense of a place more than the price of its second-hand goods.
Unlike the second-hand scene in United States, at flea markets and Brockis in Switzerland, there are no used books for a ten cents or baby clothes for a dollar.
Here, people enjoy high prices too much to consider paying for anything with mere pocket change.
This is a world where flea market sellers won’t bargain, where the Salvation Army has change for a thousand-franc bill, and where sellers on the Swiss version of eBay start the bidding for their three-year-old strollers at SFr350 ($382).
An island unto itself, normal rules of economics need not apply in Switzerland.
While the high prices of everything can be as frustrating as the non-existent line at the cheese counter, I’ve decided it’s high time to make them work in my favour. So I’m cleaning out my closet to see what I can sell.
Oh, a pair of Levi’s. They only cost me $10 in the U.S., but because I’m pretty sure I’ll make money on this pair, possibly a fortune big enough to afford a plate of Chinese food.
So here we go. I’m starting the bidding at SFr20. Anyone?
Tags: cost of living, expats, Life in Switzerland, Swiss, Zurich
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It is expensive for Americans, especially since your central bank does print money at an alarming rate, flushing the dollar down the toilet. For Swiss people it still is more or less affordable.
Hilarious… and so true (even in southern sister Geneva)! Where do you sell your “overpriced” stuff here? My German stinks too much to go on Ricardo, plus shipping is absurd.
@Pete: I agree that if you live and work in Switzerland, the high prices of things tend to eventually become normal. I was just in the U.S. and prices have gone way up on things like grocery items. But Switzerland’s prices for things like restaurant meals, movie tickets, and yes, second-hand items, are still completely out of proportion.
@Cat: I’ve sold a few items on expat forums (but expats know the truth of both high Swiss prices and low foreign ones so you kind of end up somewhere in the middle). However, I plan to sell at a Swiss flea market before I leave Switzerland or move within Switzerland. Selling my old junk should bring in enough income for at least a month’s rent!