Europe is a wonderful place.
It was very weird going to a restaurant for the first time and paying the price listed on the menu, and not 30% more (sales tax + tip)
It was very weird going to a restaurant for the first time and paying the price listed on the menu, and not 30% more (sales tax + tip)
You can buy New Zealand produce around the world for less than it costs us in New Zealand. So going for a meal costs what it says on the menu and no more, but that cost is steep.
Isn't it mostly just economies of scale plus transport costs?
Or are our industrial relations laws really not as good?
Discussion on the European system for this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Agricultural_Policy#Ove...
https://simplenewzealand.com/cost-of-living-in-new-zealand-v....
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/money/2021/09/shopper-s-recei...
https://thespinoff.co.nz/money/12-08-2021/how-do-nz-grocery-...
In France, if you look at your EDF (national electricity company) invoice, you'll see that you pay VAT (a tax) on top of other taxes.
They also levy VAT on the "Greffier"'s fees. That's a clerk at the "commerce tribunal", which is basically a part of the state administration with which you interact whenever you need any administrative changes for a company. Say, you need to declare a change of address.
They don't advertise prices such that you can take the advertised fixed fee, add your consumption times the advertised kWh price, and have your final amount due. No, they add a "tax on energy consumption", a "contribution to the public electricity service", and a "contribution to electricity delivery". And, on all of these, they levy the VAT.
> they would just recalculate the base fees accordingly
And I think this willingly done, to give the impression that taxes are lower than they really are. Which makes the whole thing seem dishonest.
https://switcher.ie/broadband/ireland/dublin/?eircode=&tv_in...
In Cincinnati, the Cr^H^HTime-Warner Cable rate rose every month of every year for as long as you remained a customer. Complaining would get you a story about it being a "billing mistake" and "a credit on your next bill". The credit usually didn't arrive unless you complained again. And even then they might randomly switch tactics to "We're so sorry. We'll give you [1 | 3] months of [HBO | Showtime | Starz | all premium channels.".
I'm still wary of comparing charges across metros. /-:
It’s one thing to have a monopoly and gouge your customers if the product you are providing is unimpeachable but they are far from that.
Japan is better: there's absolutely no tipping, at all. The price you see advertised is the price you pay, and they won't even take your tip. (There are a few exceptions: some American-style cafes have been putting tipping jars at the register; very annoying.) The only caveat is the tax: that's not always counted in the price, so many restaurants show two prices, the pre-tax price and the post-tax price just below it (usually in a smaller font).
The other thing that's MUCH better about Japan vs. Europe is that water is free. In Europe, if you want any drink with your meal at all, you have to ask for it, and if you ask for water, they'll bring a fancy glass bottle of very expensive bottled water. If you ask for tap water they'll give you dirty looks. In Japan, it's more like America: water (tap water, but it's really good) is free, and usually given without asking. Some places put a giant carafe of iced water on your table, which is great during this ridiculously hot summer.
The other thing that's much better about Japan (this isn't really about restaurants, though it does apply to the food court restaurants in malls) is that public bathrooms are free. In Europe, they usually expect you to leave a tip or some kind of fee for the cleaning people. Japan is again more like America: public bathrooms are just that: open to the public, for free. The big differences are that 1) there's a washlet on most toilets, and 2) they're actually clean.
No, it’s not. Europe is more than one country, and there are local differences. And even in several places where it is common, nobody is going to be upset if you don’t tip, because they have their salary regardless.
> The other thing that's MUCH better about Japan vs. Europe is that water is free. In Europe, if you want any drink with your meal at all, you have to ask for it, and if you ask for water, they'll bring a fancy glass bottle of very expensive bottled water.
Depends on the country, I assume, but in most of those I know they are happy to bring you some tap water. In France, they are required by law to offer tap water for free but IIRC that’s not the case in the Netherlands or Germany, for example. So generalisations are not helpful.
I find it very annoying that even have to ask. Especially when in many places they'd just bring you a €3-4 tiny glass bottle (which IMHO might be the most idiotic consumer product to ever exist) if you just asked for water.
You have to explicitly ask for tap, which is just awkward so way to often I just end up ordering a beer.. which is not ideal either.
To be fair that's also the case in New York, California and some other states (and minimum wage in these states is higher than in pretty much any European country).
"Geld" is not gold, its money. "Gold" is gold.
But at least public toilets tend to be free whereas I believe in Sweden these tend to cost money.
Sure, you can say that you aren't "required" to tip in these cases, or that they're taking advantage of tourists who don't know better, but still, they're asking for a tip. To me, "no tipping culture" means that tipping simply does not exist. Europe has a tipping culture; it's just different than the US's.
I haven't seen it in this form in France (yet?). But I do see more and more payment terminals that are asking for a tip when they're presented to you. The amounts usually seem fixed, and you have the option of picking 0. I've mostly seen this in bars and similar situations.
Some stores may also ask you to "round up" to give to some charity. Fun fact: these didn't use to work with Apple Pay, so if you said yes, the assistant would have to cancel and restart the payment process.
It's not exactly common. In Belgium, the behavior is like when they thought it's really good or if people worked on a restaurant before.
But nobody expects that anyone would tip.
Last time I went to Hungary it was added to the bill though
Ps. A bottle of water is free in France and some other places.
Giving 50 cent for a restaurant when only using the bathroom is just a sign of good behavior in my view. Depends if I'm hurried, but I'll usually buy a glass of water. Then I'm a customer ;)
Why? If you're already eating there, why should you pay to use the toilet? And if you're not eating there, then why are you there to use the toilet? Just use a public one. If there aren't sufficient public toilets, that sounds like a failure of the municipal government. Any good city should have lots of public toilets outside, in train stations, or in large shared buildings.
Also, my experience in Germany at a mall food court is that they DO charge you to use the toilet there, even though I was eating there.
If there even are public toilets, if they are open, if they are in a state to be used (and not just an uncleaned mess), if they are free... plenty of reasons to go to a restaurant to use their toilet.
Which might be also paid (assuming they even exist)
I'm not sure I'd say either of those chargeable toilet scenarios is well correlated to clean toilets, but I assume mostly they do that to try to avoid various kinds of mischief.
Also, aforementioned aid doesn't have to be free, the person benefiting from your aid owes you the cost of that aid.