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Comment by imnotlost | Hacker News Reader

Van prices and van build prices are nuts in the US. Meanwhile in Europe you get a pretty nice van for about EUR 65K (including VAT and TUF).

https://www.hymer.com/de/en/models/hymer-free

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A new Mercedes Sprinter is around EUR 40K. If you are handy you can outfit it for living with another EUR 15K. Put in a wood stove and you have yourself a home.

Yet almost every other consumer good is more expensive in Europe. Especially now with the Euro tanking vs the dollar.

No one ever adds VAT. Consumer goods mostly come from China. You would expect them to be 23% more expensive across the board than the US where sales tax is always lower and added at time of purchase.

Things produced within the EU can be a better deal if it’s not too labor intensive. Camper bands are a good example of something being built within the EU and able to have a price advantage, even after factoring in taxes.

I do.

Take, for example, an iphone 14 pro, base model. Prices are from apple.com and apple.com/fr as of today. I choose this because it's the exact same model that's available from the same retailer, so easy to compare. But this happens with many other products.

US: 999 USD FR: 1329 EUR

That's way more than 23% (999 * 1.03 * 1.2 = 1235).

1 USD = 1.03 EUR (according to google)

French VAT: 20%

French import tax: 0% on phones (surprising, but there you have it: https://www.douane.gouv.fr/fiche/calcul-des-droits-et-taxes-...)

1457 EUR in Croatia (VAT 25%, import duty also seems to be 0% for smartphones).

Sure, add on a little extra for the depreciating currency and currency risk (euro has been losing value vs USD) and likely at the time Apple was setting the price it was close to parity with the dollar.

Sure, I can see Apple trying to set a price high enough to account for this, so they don't have to change it every other day. But boy did Apple (and others) see this situation coming since five years ago (when I started following this). Electronics (and related products) have always been more expensive here than in the US, even years ago, even accounting for VAT and other taxes.

Hell, when I was in college, (~2010, in France), I used to be really into photography. Bought a tripod and head. Italian brand, made in Italy. It was cheaper for me to order it from B&H in NY, pay for conversion charges, shipping, import duties, VAT, etc on top of the shipping, than it was to buy it local. Both Italy and France had the Euro at the time.

Food, cheese, wine are cheaper in Europe. Decent furniture is as well. And you do buy a lot more good cheese than you buy furniture.

Huh? I was in California and food is not expensive at all in the supermarket there. And I'm not talking about Aldi quality food but organic. Especially when you consider how much richer Californians are VS Europeans.

Maybe it's because California has got a performant agriculture.

Mostly housing, healthcare and education are more expensive in the US but consumer prices are generally significantly lower. Check numbeo.

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