--- Angelus Novus <fuerdenkommunismus at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> Chris Doss:
>
> > why are clothes in Russia so fucking expensive? I
> have > to pay $100 bucks for a pair of jeans or
> shoes
> that I
> > could get in the States for $30. This is an
> > outrage!!!!!!
>
>
> The situation is the same here. I have been taking
> advantage of the weak dollar recently to order
> clothes
> from the United States. A pair of Levi's jeans runs
> close to 100 Euro, whereas in the United States they
> can be had for 30 dollars or so.
>
> Jeans by Carhartt, which in Germany is a streetwear
> brand popular with the post-Autonomist Antifa left
> (among other subcultures) are cheaper in the United
> States where it is a brand of work clothing.
>
> Even with the very high postage costs, it makes more
> sense to order clothing from the U.S.
>
[WS:] It is a good question, indeed. The price difference, especially clothing is baffling. I do not see any good explanation of it - 22% VAT vs. 6-8% sales tax does not explain it: on a $50 garment this woul dcreate a difference of mere $7 (i.e.8% sales tax is $7 and 22% VAT is $11.)
One possible explanation is the variation in the type of stores. In Europe, most stores that I encountered are either department stores or boutiques and the prices there were comparable to the prices in similar types of stores in the US - especially when the Euro was more or less on a par with the USD (e.g. around 2001- 2002).
However, the US also has plenty of factory outlet type of store (such as Burlington Coat Factory or SYMS) in which a garment that costs $200 - $300 in department stores or boutiques is available for $100 - $150. Since I seldom buy clothing in department stores and never in boutiques - I tend to compare US factory outlet prices to European department store or boutique prices, which creates a somewhat misleading picture of betweem country diffrences.
What do others think?
Talking about retail - one real difference between the US and Europe is how cashiers in supermarkets aand deopartment stores are treated. In Europe, all cashiers are SITTING at the cash registers, whereas in teh US - all are STANDING. I would imagine that standing for 8 hours is more tireasome than sitting, so why do the US cashiers have to stand? I do not think that the cost of providing seats is the factor here, because seats are inexpensive and if they they can improve productivity, reduce the risk of injury (and thus employer liablity) - employers would simply provide them in the same way the provide offcie furniture.
Does anyone have any ideas what explains this difference between Europe and the US?
Wojtek
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