'Cost for various things worldwide' thread

[only_human]

If oil ever starts being priced in EUR, then the shoe will be on another foot. Rather than the U.S. being essentially able to print money to buy oil, it will be Europe.

[QuintLeo]

J. C. Pennys is not a good comparison - THEY are high-priced by US standards, except occasionally on sales.

I forget offhand if Wal-Mart carries 501s - that would be a better comparison. Even the "outlet store" for a given brand is sometimes a bit higher than some of the *big* discount retailers....

[flava]

Originally posted by TauCeti
I know that it is possible to order some less expensive jeans on the web (if they deliver to germany at all), but the normal price in germany for levis jeans is extremly high.

Another example:

Take the (in my opinion) world's best portable headphones - the Koss Porta Pro. They cost 32.29$ at amazon.com

Try to buy them in germany! amazon.de (afaik the _cheapest_ in germany) charges 70.80$(!). Well, at least not the 102$ i had to pay some month ago for them.

Amen about the Koss. I got mine a year ago and they outperform everything I tried so far. Clear sound, DEEP bass, good design. Payed about $80 though, (retail price, France ).

Cigs are very expencive here in France lately. About $5.5 the pack of Marlboro. Whenever I visit my family in Romania I buy 20-40 of them for $0.75 the pack (regular retail price there). Go figure it out ...

[Fusion_power]

I wear Levi's 517 boot cut jeans and typically pay $27 to $29 at a local Goody's store. Goody's is known for very deep discounts on sale items. I just wait till they put the jeans on sale and buy them.

Its funny, This started out with prices of beer, phone calls, ADSL, cinema, etc. Why did we all settle on comparing prices of jeans?

Adsl $50 month
phone call local free
phone call long distance $.04/minute
cinema $5
beer (haven't the faintest, don't drink)
electricity $.08/kilowatt hour
speeding ticket (16 mph over) $145 plus a ridiculous rise in insurance cost!

Fusion

[eepiccolo]

Originally posted by QuintLeo
J. C. Pennys is not a good comparison - THEY are high-priced by US standards, except occasionally on sales.

FWIT, I used JCPenny because I figured it would be close to the MSRP. I practically always shop at Wal-Mart or Sam's Club

[smh]

- phone call from germany to USA is also about 0.03$/minute

For a call to the US using KPN (our national telecom provider) we pay €0,07 / minute. But using one of the various companies who offer cheaper phone calls i can call for €0,01 a minute.

To compare, calling the US this way is about 70% cheaper than calling my neighbor using KPN during day time (€0,0289).

The last of course i also do using one of the cheap providers for €0,005 a minute)

The internet is a great way to compare prices, and with a little bit of research you can save 50 to 98% compared to the standard costs. (i call Malaysia for €0,01 a minute compared to €0,50)

[optim]

PRICES IN GREECE:

AVERAGE INCOME IN GREECE: 13000eu/year (calculated by the government based on tax reports)

(eu means Euro)

Some salaries:
mature bank employee = 900 eu / month
part time job = 200-250 eu / month
full time job = 500 eu / month
Nurse pension: 375 eu / month

A businessman who owns a clothing shop in Greece may earn 200-300eu per day.

Most greeks have an income of less than 30000 eu / year.

Each Greek person's debt to the banks is about 10-15000 eu (from credit cards, loans, etc). A 30000eu debt is not unusual.

HOUSING EXPENSES:
A typical rent for a house in Athens is 450-500 eu per month.

ELECTRICITY EXPENSES:
Energy cost for the first 800 kWh: 0.06817 eu/kWh
Energy cost for the next 800kWh: 0.08687eu/kWh
Energy cost for the next 400kWh: 0.10662eu/kWh
Energy cost for any remaining kWh: 0.14127eu/kWh

The electricity bill in Greece is issued every 4 months. Prices are without tax.

A typical Greek family may use up to 2000 or 3000 kW per 4-month period.

I did a quick calculation of the monthly cost for running my all of computers on a 7days/24hour basis for GIMPS research: 50 eu per month (200 eu per 4-month period), with a usage of 1-1.5 kWh.

INTERNET EXPENSES:
Since I am in Greece I have to pay about 0.3 euro for each hour of Intenet usage during the day and 0.17 euro in the night, plus the ISDN connection cost (more than 12 euro per month) and the ISP account cost (from 50 to 80 euro every 3 months depending on different ISPs). These prices are for 64kbit ISDN. For 128kbit ISDN the usage prices and the ISP account costs are doubled. Also note that the service is not very good, since we have disconnects every some hours.

Unmeasured ADSL just appeared in Greece, but it costs more than 80 euro per month for 384kbit and the service is awful (the 384kbit speed is not guaranteed). The maximum ADSL connection you can get in Greece is 1-2mbit.

PSTN usage costs are the same as 64k ISDN. A PSTN ISP account may cost 170eu per year. PSTN telephone line cost is 9eu per month. Dialup is not free...

The telephone bill is issued every 2 months.

MOBILE PHONE EXPENSES:
Calls: 0.0055 eu / second
SMS messages: 0.11 eu / message

WATER EXPENSES:
23eu per 2-month period.

FOOD EXPENSES:
Cheese pie (from fast food shop): 1.5-2eu.
Hamburger (from fast food shop): 2eu.
0.5L Water bottle: 0.5eu

A 2-person greek family may have to pay up to 400eu per month to the super markets for food and other every-day expenses (without considering entertainment costs).

TRANSPORTATION EXPENSES:
Taxi: minimum 1.5eu, a typical 8km journey costs 6-7eu. Prices are doubled in the night.
Bus: ticket 0.45eu
Metro (underground city railroad): ticket 0.75eu
Monthly payment for a special "access card" which gives us the right to use buses and Metro without having to buy tickets: 35eu
Old second-hand car: 800eu

ENTERTAINMENT EXPENSES:
Cinema: 6-7eu.
Cafe, having some time out with friends: 3-4eu per coffee/juice-drink/etc.
Music CDs: 15-20eu.

BUSINESS EXPENSES:
You may need 30000eu to open a small clothing shop in Greece.

In many greek families only the man has a job, the wife is at home, usually by her choice. This is starting to change in modern families where both the husband and the wife are working, and they may also decide to have no children or only one child.

All prices are for November 2003 in Athens, Greece, EU.

[optim]

CLOTHING EXPENSES in Athens, Greece, EU:

jeans (Retry brand): normal price is 40eu. But most people dont buy so the shop owners usually give them away for 20eu with "discount".

Levis 501, manufactured in Greece: 60eu

cheap women's jeans: 10eu
cheap women's t-shirt: 10eu

Shirts: prices vary, for good ones you have to pay arround 20-30eu. Other shops sell shirts for 50eu. Cheap ones for 10eu.

All-Star shoes: 55eu
boots: 40-50eu for cheap ones, if you buy them in summer. 100+ eu for good ones if you buy them in winter.
sport shoes: 30-70eu

[optim]

EDUCATION COSTS IN Athens, Greece, EU:

Public school: free
Public university: free, but unofficially you have to pay some money for books etc.

Private college/university: 5000-6500eu per year. Usually you get a British or an American university degree (Bachelor) without having to go to UK or to USA (it's called franchise cooperation). The government is hostile towards this kind of business and their degrees are not recognized.

Do you have university franchises in your countries?

I suggest to post some info for the usual income in each country. Expenses and income are always very interconnected.

[patrik]

I just got a huge electric bill to pay. In Sweden the meter is normally read only once a year. In between you pay a preliminary fee, based on last year's consumption. Last year that consumption was 4015 kWh/yr, but this year it increased to 7000 kWh/yr. (It does not include heating, except for the heating of the bathroom floor which I had installed a few weeks ago.) So this bill turned out to be for 3624 kWh. (I bought three new computers plus a laptop since last reading.)

Prices to compare using exchange rate (of today) SEK 7.60 / USD

Production 1 kWh (fixed price 1 Nov 2003-1 Nov 2006): $0.0420
Transfer 1 kWh: $0.0243
Electricity tax 1 kWh: $0.0317
Electric certificate fee 1 kWh: $0.0029
VAT 1 kWh: $0.0252
Production: $12.60 / yr
Transfer: $95.50 / yr
VAT: $27.02 / yr

Total: $135.12 / yr + $0.1261 / kWh

In Sweden you can buy the power from a different company than the one that has made the local electric installation (just like you can make telephone calls with a different company). Hence the splitting into production and transfer.

A few other prices:
Miller Genuine Draft 0.33 l: $1.70 (including alc. tax $0.30, VAT $0.34)
Starobrno 0.5 l: $1.97 (including alc. tax $0.48, VAT $0.39)
Rebuilding your bathroom with everything new (including electric heating of the floor): $5952

[ixfd64]

3.2 GHz P4 processor: ~ $500
1 GB memory: ~ $120
internet connection: ~ $20/mo
finding a new Mersenne prime: priceless