When buying anything in the United States, I’d recommend subscribing to repair and maintenance plans. Even if you buy new stuff, these plans will save you money in the long run. Welcome to America, the country who conquered the moon but accepts poor quality in daily life.
Two years ago, we decided to change our home furnace. With a new furnace, we expected to improve the house’s warmth during the winter and to stop sweating upstairs during the summer. In short, the new furnace runs as expected, making our house warmer in the winter and not as hot in the summer.
When the installation was completed, I decided to subscribe to a “Platinum Preferred Partner Plan” for $268 per year. With this plan, I get priority service plus parts and labor coverage on the new equipment (we also updated our A/C unit and water heater).
Honestly, I would never subscribe to such a plan in Germany after buying the equivalent of a new car, but here in the States, I learned the hard way that I have to.
Annoyed by the Poor Quality of (Almost) Everything in America
When we remodeled the kitchen, I changed all our appliances. When choosing them, I did it the German way. Who would have guessed that my 20+ years in Germany had such a big impact on my behavior? In true German style, I checked and compared reviews from verified sources like Consumer Reports. I researched their results for fridges, ovens, and cooktops for hours. Then, I spent a couple more hours looking for the best value. In the end, my kitchen got the best new appliances.
But, only one year later, the new $3,000+ LG freezer stopped cooling. At the time, I hadn’t subscribed to any protection plan, so changing the defective parts cost $306. Since then, we’ve always subscribed to offered service plans once my husband and I realized that we can’t expect German quality in the States.
Where does this poor quality come from?
I was (and still am) surprised that America with its 50 million inhabitants with German roots doesn’t care more about quality. Have I been spoiled by German quality while the rest of the world is happy with less? Perhaps I’m biased and shouldn’t expect German standards outside of Germany.
Having lived in Germany for more than 20 years, I am used to top-line engineering and handcrafted quality. Compared to France, German house walls are thicker, switches are more solid, and plumbing fixtures last forever. Nevertheless, French people also complain about thin walls and poor insulation in American houses.
For me, a French-German citizen, a house built in 1963 is not really old. I wouldn’t say it’s new, but I would describe it as a modern house for the 60s. In the States, though, my house is considered old. In my neighborhood, many similar constructions are torn down to make room for fancier, more expensive structures.
Perhaps houses are not the best example for this topic. European house are built with masonry, while North American houses are usually made of wood. This comes from a centuries-old tradition. Forests were cut in Europe a long time ago and never grew back to their original state. In contrast, vast forests are still available in the States, even centuries after the landing of the Mayflower.
Furthermore, compared to Americans, many more Europeans stay near their birthplace. As a result, many people expect their homes to last for more than 50 years.
Equally important is the idea of inheritance. Passing property to their heirs is highly valued in both France and Germany.
Appliances or wooden houses are not the best examples of American quality
Granted, made-in-China appliances or wooden houses are not the best examples of American quality. So, let’s talk about clothes. I have a theory that explains why clothing is cheaper in the US than in Europe.
According to my theory, American washing machines and dryers intentionally damage clothing items so they have to be replaced constantly. Retail business runs around the clock, keeping poorly paid employees busy. These employees have to eat, just like their customers, which leads shopping malls to build extensive food courts.
If clothing items were more expensive, this entire business model would collapse: customers would buy better washing machines and dryers that don’t damage clothing (I wrote extensively about this in another post: “Nightmare Washing Machines in the US”), clothes would last longer, cheap off-brand clothing would disappear, and businesses would close. Then, the unemployment rate would rise, leading to other issues.
I believe that America can do better!
Of course, there are counterexamples, and I believe that America can do better! The Federal Drug Administration is known all over the world for its approval procedures. NASA spaceships are admired while museums fight over their retired space shuttles. Apple has impacted three industries with its innovative, top-quality products. What about Amazon, Facebook, and Google?
This is not the first time that I’ve pointed out how America is a country of paradoxes. On one hand, it sends people to the moon; on the other hand, it’s not uncommon to drive down an interstate full of potholes. I think that America has a market for high-quality products at low prices. The German discount chain Aldi is a perfect example of this.
When Aldi came in the US in 1976, discount stores were unorganized supermarkets with expired products. Aldi is the opposite: The Times praised Aldi for its “exceptional cleanliness and organization.“ German people know that Aldi offers top-quality items at low prices. In fact, “top quality at low prices“ is Aldi’s American slogan.
To read more about Aldi in the US, check out my earlier post!
I will leave the final words to Cecile, a reader who left a perceptive comment:
“Americans don’t make household appliances that are built to last, just like they don’t make houses or cars that are meant to withstand the test of time. It’s a different mentality. Americans like variety and “newness,” so the fact that you are forced to buy something new to replace the old, broken-down one is actually a good thing here! It’s strange, annoying, and frustrating, but it’s a fact of life one has to deal with when living in the US!”
Oh I love how the euros are always comparing themselves to the horrible America, where everything is so awful. Look, Europeans are in a romantic affair with themselves. I can’t imagine being so myopic that generalizations from 50 years ago are still in the forefront of your minds. Europe is trash. Helpless, arrogant, citizens of pointless countries that do nothing but sit around and complain. It’s ok, it’s a form of flattery. People don’t compare themselves to losers, they compare themselves to those who are better. I don’t remember the entire world trying to come to Germany. Weren’t you guys murdering jews? Let’s not forget that.
Whole Europe not only Germany houses are better, even Postsoviet country and even soviet era houses are better(thought ugly). As European who lives in USA over 15 years. I have noticed this not only houses are worst with thin walls they are also much expensive. Common american dont know they are robbed. That why i hired construction firm to build a house exactly by my project and it was cheaper than actually thouse houses you buy in market. And having Built in wood is Not real argument. My home country my family house is Built Full wood and is over 300 years old also Log house of my Aunt is about 180 years old. So the problem is that construction companys build low quality houses and as people dont know anything about housing buy them and think they got good deal. I have helped multiple family friends in USA Get Good quality housing with low cost. So don’t buy ready built, or premade project houses. Lets archidekt do you are project. Find place to buy building materials and find company to build for you or build yourself and you get better. In USA there is Good Houses, but only if you know what you seek.
everything is better outside the USA, even the people are smarter! no one ever outside the USA would have voted for such a creepy retard criminal as Biden! its just facts! Americans are so brainwashed by religion and education system, i mean those folks truly believe in ghosts and angels and stuff like that!
but you can not teach those morons because their feelings get hurt by a butterfly fart! so i believe that they cant do better because they are messed up, proud to be shit, willing to eat shit and not willing to learn shit!!! that’s the situation and i feel bad about it because i am married to a american woman and we have a wonderful son!
“Oh I love how the euros are always comparing themselves to the horrible America, where everything is so awful.”
Keep importing trash form China and marking it up. You sound like one of the “small business owners” that cried when you had to shut down because you didn’t want to pay employees a living wage over greed and artificial inflation that YOU created!
Nice opinion. Based in fairytale land but nice opinion.
Virtually everything you complain about are things that are not MADE in the U.S. but imported from China. After WWII U.S manufacturing and clothing was some of the best in the world. In Russia there was a saying among the common folks, “We don’t want American land, we want their Levis.” Of course, the last Levis plant in the US closed decades ago. Poor quality doesn’t come from the US, but poor, short-sighted decisions do. Unfortunately, in the US, lower prices trump quality every time. So, over the last couple of decades, we’ve outsourced everything in the name of lower prices and higher profits. Don’t think this isn’t happen in Germany. I read constantly about German manufactures like BMW moving assembly to India and China in an effort to reduce costs. While I’ve only traveled to Europe and Germany a couple of times, where you do a better job is roads and an almost complete lack of litter (at least from what I saw) the streets and roads are generally excellent and spotless.
I can relate to you about the poor quality in the USA, coming from a Northern European country as well. I have stopped buying clothes here. In fact, I have stopped buying about anything except for food. But soon I hopefully have time to grow my own vegetables. I love quality and am willing to pay for it but I can’t find it in the USA. From clothes to furniture, manufacturers are cutting corners by using cheap synthetic fabrics and materials and cheap construction methods. When profit is put before people and planet, you end up with a lot of environmentally polluting garbage. You also end up with never ending forrest fires in CA and Australia, lost lives, including the lives of tens of thousands of animals who burned alive, trees dead that took decades to grow. Please with everything you buy, take the devastation to the environment into account. It’s a real cost. If you have kids, the more reason to get educated and stop making environmentally polluting choices.
So right. I’ve been to some of the remaining department stores around here looking for menswear. Macy’s and JC Penney. Dirty carpets and plenty of t-shirts with slogans were found. Many “Champion” branded clothes. I guess, the emblem is the point? Macy’s had the “nice” menswear on wooden tables and most of it was Polo brand with comically large emblems (they always had it, but these were about 5 inches tall) and you could see through the fabric when you held it to the light! the shirt I picked up had about 7-stitches-per-inch on the seams. $100 for that!
Today I picked up the NY Times and the article about a potential negative interest rate being set by the Federal Reserve (mind-boggling) started with something like, “What a topsy-turvy world! Taylor Swift is married and Popeye’s put their chicken on a bun! Oh, and now you might be charged to keep money in the bank. But guess what? IF you get a mortgage, it’ll be like every dollar you pay counts as a buck and change!” What??
Is that all we care about now? Gimmicks and branded goods? And going into debt to get them? I feel like we’re watching the country slide into some sort of destitute poverty wherein the only escape is to salve your feelings with binge-shopping before going home to a bottle of wine…
Sorry, I end up feeling like this every once in awhile. The only place you can get lucky and actually find something nice is at thrift stores now…
I hear you, Steve, I hear you. Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts.
It’s not just material goods! Have you seen the state of publishing? I’m finding that more and more books are just rehashing of poorly written blog posts. Even once quality authors are now comma splicing and BSing their way through another failed attempt at literary genius. And let’s not get started on the Hollywood remake factory. Even the new iPhones are hardly anything to get excited over. I know there are counter examples, as always, but the sheer volume of low quality crap from consumer goods to education (I’m not talking about the accredited stuff neccesarily here, but the junk fluff like trump university. The education debate is hot and I don’t wish to engage there.) is mind boggling.
Good point Jeannie. After the Boeing debacle, I wonder if overconfidence is a possible reason ?
The reason why America has lower quality than some of the European countries is because America is being politically controlled by greedy psychos who don’t know how to use nonrenewable resources in the least wasteful way and who don’t know the meaning of the word nurture because they don’t care. Americans have been taught from the cradle to become toxicly impulsive buyers that accept poor quality because they are being controlled by very corrupt politicians that don’t care about their well-being. Malls in America would shut down if quality of clothes went up that stopped people from going to malls because their clothes would get damaged because they were made with poor quality fabric made by poorly paid employees. Employees get treated like crap in America because they deal with psychopathic business owners and CEOs who keep making poor quality products because they don’t know how to make a justifiable country. Which is why the quality of life is higher in some of the European countries compared to the U.S. The U.S. is not a good country for justice or quality. It only cares about money, power, toxic military, and greed more than quality, health, compassion, and ethics.
well you guys saved them and let them take over the power about the most important, the money system!!! may america learn to keep their dirty hands off other countrys problems or become the problem by itself
Let’s go on to German food. The fresh vegetables and meat are actually good but anything prepared is dreadful… Bread which Germans are famous for tastes like concrete. You get far better artisan bread in America, albeit it is much more expensive in America.
Beer. How on earth does Germany maintain a reputation as a beer country. Thirty years ago, America had poor beer but today the beer craft in America is light years ahead of Germany. Sure we still have Budweiser but we have a zillion. Raft beers that put anything in Germany to shame. Most German beer is schmecklos Pils.
Someone mentioned housing. They couldn’t be more wrong. I’m actually an architect and the construction quality, safety, sound after nation are far better in the US. I’m stunned with what’s allowed to be built here. Fire exiting is abysmal. Fire protection systems are virtually nonexistant. Sound attenuation in apartments is nonexistant.
The house I grew up in is now eighty years old and is still perfect. The house I owned is thirty years old and apart from a little paint has never needed the slightest repair.
German windows are horrible and virtually every building except the old ones suffer from sick building syndrome. Why in earth do Germans think swing in Windows make sense. Now, the wi Dow sills are useless and they slam in the wind…we wedge ours open with a wooden spoon! Furthermore, they’re very dangerous. We used to live in a high apartment and could only “kip” the windows because it was too dangerous with a baby. She could fall right out. Our American windows could open from the top making it baby safe. And they tipped in for easy cleaning. Sorry…the double hung window is vastly superior. It Germans do everything right, so it’s impossible to learn.
How about the autobahn. They’re terribly designed. The exit design is downright stupid. It requires super hard breaking because the deceleration lane is too short then there’s a ridiculously sharp curve and you have opposing traffic creating a danger zone…ive seen a cidents! Plus, all the curving takes extra land and destroys more nature. The acceleration lanes are too short too and unless you’ve got a powerful car, there’s no way to get up to highway speed to feed on safely.
I could go on and on but the point is…no, Germans don’t do this t’s better.
I don’t know how And where you lived while you were in Germany and from where on earth did you get your bread from. Maybe you just don’t like bread, which is okay… somehow… but real German bread tastes way better than every American bread I ever tried. American bread is so wishy-washy. As if all American bread is like toast. You don’t Need tooth for that. Why do you have them then?
Beer… the First American Beer I drank was awful. I was thinking it’s just water with a weird taste. I have to say though when I tried different beers im America some of them actually tasted like beer just Mixed with a lot of water… but German beer is still a lot better. And in Germany there are so many kinds of beer Not only Pils and if you have just bought Pilsener it’s your own fault.
Let’s go on to Housing. It’s a fact that American houses are just really bad. The walls are Thin as paper. You can hear everything from everywhere.
Every Public room or building has escape doors everywhere, exactly like the US and the smoke Alarm as a Fire Protection is required by Law in every room, in every house or arpartment. Maybe the US has more Fire escape ladders on higher buildings. But it doesn’t look save at all but rusty. Does someone check them every year like the TÜV in Germany? (I really don’t know)
Your houses are 8 and 30 years old now?
Well the house I grew up is over 100 years old and we Never die any repairs on it… when I was 15, me and my family moved in a house which is over 500 years old. We Did some renovations before we moved in because nobody took Care of it before we bought it but since then It was great.
I don’t know what you wanna say by this. That American houses are as good as German houses or Better?
German Windows are just bigger and so more fresh air can come in which is healthier
and the Windows are at chest Level so No baby should be able to reach the window on its own. Apart from that shouldn’t you Let your Baby alone, especially Not if there is an Open Window. By the Way can you Buy handles for the windows which you can lock or with a Child proof Lock.
Okay. The Autobahn.
There are a lot of sign before the exit which say in how many metres the exit is coming so if you drive forward looking you won’t have any issues. And the curves are there to force you to Breaking that you can’t exit with to much speed. Because when you drive fast for a long time you might lose your sense for speed. And that is dangerous.
I had Never issues to get up to highway speed on the acceleration line and I have no powerful car at all. The lanes are just fine. Do you have an Automatic or Manual?
I can imagine it takes Maybe a little Bit longer to speed up with an Automatic.
Otherwise I can’t explain why you have issues with it.
I could also tell you a lot more what I’m annoyed by in the US (although I Love to travel the US but I wouldn’t raise my kids here)
Germany is for sure not perfect but they are just more advanced than the US in many things.
Danke Lea. Talking facts, like you did with housing and like, we, Germans, love to do: the mortality rate on American highway is higher than in Germany, even if we drive faster! (If you like, you can check this post: http://howtoguide.org/difference-us-germany-teen-driving-and-road-safety/)
I disagree.
German windows are of superior quality, bread is delicious. When I read your post it seemed to me like you had never lived in Germany, but rather spent a weekend in an apartment of some inferior quality. The majority of windows and patio doors in Germany are tilt-turn – not sure if you know what it means – as I had never seen them in USA. German highways are as good as American ones and perfectly maintained. Public places, train stations and airports are very clean. Quality of residential construction in Germany is superior to American. German homes are very durable being built from reinforced concrete or brick and are very well insulated. However, in general, they are smaller than American homes and lot sizes are much smaller. Commercial structures may have similar qualities in both countries (I am an architect too). And the beer … luckily you can get imported beers in both countries. German beer is excellent, but Sam Adams is very good too..
Anna, believe me, I‘ve lived in the US for a while (after living for 20 years in Germany). German highways are better than American ones. I don’t know where you come from, but many American highways remember me the A6 in Saarland 15-20 years ago or even worse! Potholes are not unusual, and it takes time to get them fixed.
Are you kidding? German houses bad, bread bad and autobahns bad? What planet are you from? The US sucks at all of this. You don’t have a clue. Their fire departments do suck because nothing burns. Last year I once again toured a house under construction. Beats my toothpick house by a mile. Then there is the roads. No comparison to ours….none. Our country is falling apart, and most repairs and replacements of things done well here years ago, don’t cut it. Roads are rough immediately after completion. Poor road bed prep. The list is long. It’s so hard to buy anything of quality here. The expected level of quality is so low, that products that have a higher level of quality are becoming increasingly expensive. Now the reason….people don’t care or are too stupid to know the difference….look at who we have as our leaders….who chose them?
biggest bullshit i have ever read!!!! you must be the dumbest person on earth! billions of people who are not german are going to tell you the opposite! i live in both Countrys and everything you say is just wrong!
you are fueled by your personal opinion that has nothing to do with reality!
the bullshit you write is so colored by your woke half brain cell, i have to laugh so hard!
you dumb shit have not even an idea what beer truly is! the scum piss you praise here is not even beer you clown! you are obviously way to brainwashed to see the truth and even if you are willing to find the truth you are to stupid to understand it!
Nice to see you have the back of German beers! However, may I ask to refrain insulting people you disagree with? Thank you!
I beg to disagree. Virtually everything I buy in Germany is shoddy. My Siemens dishwasher is by far the worst I’ve ever had. German für future is expensive but cheap shoddy fiberboard. German cars are vastly overrated and rank low on quality.
My Miele vacuum is falling apart after two years of light use. I had the same American vacuum cleaner for twenty years with wall to wall carpeting. Here we have tile floors and it gets light use. Sure it’s quiet…because it never gets used!
I e ought far more clothing here that fell apart quickly. We had to return our Bosch washer because it was worthless and constantly broken. E en when it “worked”, it did a lousy job of actually cleaning because Lord knows saving water in a country where it rains everyday is more important than clean clothes. This probably explains why so many Germans smell so horrible. It’s like a hippie festival in August.
All I can smell here is an insecure American.
Me too. It seems to me that as an American, there is this intense level of chest thumping, we are the best at everything, American exceptionalism attitude.
Part of this comes from the simple fact that a large portion of Americans, have very little actual experience traveling and spending more than a week or so in an other country. So we believe most of the hog swill our little tv’s tell us. It must be true, cuz Jimmie Kimmel say’s so! Or worse, OMG Rush Limbaugh just said. . . and I believe him ‘cuz he’s just one of the guys like us!
Just nod your head and smile when you experience this. There is nothing, absolutely nothing you can do or say that will change the mind of died in the wool, dutiful red blooded Walmart shopping American.
Thank you Anthony for your support!
so true, i live in both countrys, i can tell Americans are such wimps! if you tell them the truth they star gasping already, these clowns get in rage so fast it is actually really fun to let them go a little closer to their heart attack every once in awhile! but when you look at the bigger picture i feel bad for them! these clowns are so controlled by religion and education system that you can not blame them! they are just to stupid, you can not put a pig behind a steering wheel and expect it mastering the 24h of lemans! what they need is a society where a life is more worth than whatever amount of money or power! these american idiots are driven by their greed and need for money! while all this is going on they praise and believe that the USA is the greatest country in the world, land of the free, home of the brave witch is such a joke its unbelievable! i can tell you you live more free in every other western country at least! and a tyranical country like the USA, invading peaceful country for no reason other than than their fabricated reasons cant be noticed as a great country at all! well and i would expect that the home of the brave dont need to have the people wearing guns!
the USA and their people are simply jokes with to much power! god bless us all lol
Harsh tone. Thanks for taking the time to share your opinion.
What many of you don’t realize is that countries such as Germany, and Italy DO make lower grade products, which are mostly sent to countries such as the US. Often times German companies are bought up by foreign companies. Guess what they do with them? Yes, get rid of that high cost….Braun, Liebherr, to name a few off the top of my head, but there are many more. I’ve seen lower quality stuff in Germany too, but they require products to have certain standards. You might think German cars are overrated, but they have done things other manufacturers don’t have a clue about. My concern is the huge cost pressures they are under, and their endless cost cutting in the wrong areas. This due in part to competition, and funds needed to steer the world away from fossil fuels. They are the inventors and innovators in this world. Sure we have our innovators as well, but in other areas. I’ve had bad luck with some German products too, like a Krups coffee maker….junk. Why, the name was bastardized as mass market high profit junk was made…like many products these days. It’s just we here in the US are in a cheap junk dumping ground, because we don’t demand and go after these junk makers. You can’t even find a decent dehumidifier these days…they are all junk…lucky if they last one or two years. Maybe a law that manufacturers have to recycle all of their old products when no longer good might make them improve.
that happens when you let the greed rule!!! but hey they have chosen to fight for them and save the greedy bastards and let them take over the most powerful institutions like the money system! so thats the enviroment in what they grow up! they are just scum but you cant blame them, we have to guide them and not let them guide us!!!
It is not simply that things are made in third world countries, it is a matter of government deregulation andcompanies and share holders protecting their bottom line—least amount of money put into production means greater profits.
Believe it or not, but exactly this used to be said of the former Soviet Union: a nation that launched the first satellite and the first man in space, used old newspapers as toiled tissue until the mid-1990’s. 🙂
My late dad used to say, ‘As long as they can afford taxis, they can afford ignoring geography. As long as they can afford anything, they can afford ignoring everything’. 🙂
Thank you for this great life lesson !
Immer wieder dasselbe! I was married for 32 years to a German and have spent much time in Germany (school, business, visits to family in Berlin), and can recall first meeting my wife here in Maine in ’83 and hearing from her and her German hosts (who had moved here) how bad so many things in the US were… the curtains, the bread, the windows, the streets… on and on! Peter S. above made a good point: blanket statements don’t usually hold up under scrutiny. Things are rarely black and white. There are many social and economic factors that led to an American culture of buying cheap. The decline of unions; a society that communicates that a college education is necessary and success is more money and climbing the social ladder, to the detriment of a robust trade school system and society that honors and respects the trades and the middle class. Quality can be had here; one has to seek it out, and be willing to pay more. My wife treasured how “locker” Amis are vs Germans, though!
(Previously posted on LinkedIn)
I heard once from a Romanian woman in her 50’s: we are too poor to buy cheap. She meant that quality last longer.
Being German and having lived in the US for 6 years I totally agree.
The construction quality here sucks – very little noise insulation and very little climate insulation. Buildings heat up quickly in the summer and cool down in the winter. I don’t think there are any energy efficiency requirements in my state.
I am also appalled by the amount of bugs (cockroaches etc) that get inside houses – even in nicer ones. I wonder if this stems from the wood instead of concrete/brick construction.
I do appreciate having screens on windows – but I still really miss German windows – they are just much more solid and you can leave them on “kip” if you want. They are also much easier to clean. I’m Germany, I cleaned my windows every two months (which many would consider not enough). But it was so easy. Here it seems you need to disassemble
Your window or hire someone to clean it from the outside. I also wish there were outside blinds (Rollladen) that could make a room actually completely dark – not just a bit dark as the indoor blinds do.
Don’t get me started on appliances- I hat the dishwashers and washing machines. I used to take my white clothes to Germany to actually have them cleaned once a year. I wash a lot of my clothes – especially nicer ones- by hand in the sink. I’ve just made too bad experiences with the washers. They don’t clean properly, but are very harsh on fabric. Maybe that’s because Americans just buy Cheap new clothing frequently – or maybe it’s the other way round. I prefer to buy high-quality clothing at a higher price that I can wear for 10 years.
There are many other things I don’t get. Why are there bathtubs for example if they are too short to take a bath in and never fill up high enough (either they start draining or the water gets cold). Why do people, especially renters, still accept carpet flooring?
Why are there gaps between the stove and the countertop where food falls in that you can never clean?
I think many American consumers just don’t know better and thus do not demand better quality. And companies have successfully built a high- turnover linear economy, instead of a high-quality circular one (not saying Germany is the latter, there is still H&M and co).
But it goes beyond private companies. Streets have potholes that every German driver would go protest against. They also get flooded after every stronger rain storm – why can’t they be built with better drainage? Most buses and trains look like they are from the 70s or earlier.
Maybe that’s because taxes are too low and the government cannot keep up – but I would greatly prefer paying more taxes in exchange of having smooth road, high-speed trains, sidewalks and real bike lanes everywhere, free universities and affordable universal health care.
I now know that racism is an important reason why the US doesn’t have these – if you provide theses goods as public goods, everyone can use them. If you force people to provide them privately (education, health care, transportation) it’s much easier to segregate and exclude. There’s racism in Germany too – as probably everywhere else. But the history of slavery and segregation in the US just lead to this unique constellation. For example, the main reason the U.S. did not adopt universal healthcare decades ago was because racist politicians and voters feared It would end segregation in hospitals.
There’s two things where the U.S. is better: people and food. Having immigrants from all over the world means that there’s much more diversity and much better food – although it may still be hard to get a good dense Vollkornbrot sometimes.
P.s. I lived in Canada before and think some aspect, such as construction are similar. I do feel clothing quality for example was higher though. Prices were generally higher and people seemed to invest into longer-lasting items. And of course Canada has a better provision of
public goods such as healthcare and education.
Lol. Being a citizen of both, you’re literally just making things up like everyone else on this delusional thread.
FACTS bro, they just dont have any idea whats going on outside their bubble and most of them doesnt even know what is going on inside their bubble
Sadly I have to agree. I have returned to Germany and brought along my colleagues for a number of reasons and on top of the list is exactly what you mentioned. This degradation is not that old, it started the dumming down process of the public to level to allow the Chinese get caught up (Walmart) at that time. We despised the Japanese for flooding our market at one time, instead we accept Walmart quality. It was not by choice but by design put forth by our leaders in Washington DC about 25 years ago. The Chinese has caught up and continue to improve but majority of us have continued sliding. This can stop and take America back to its glory but it require a visionary leader strong enough to do so. Unfortunately, we have the opposite today
Previously posted on LinkedIn
I completely agree with you! But do you think people are ready to pay more for made in America (or made in Germany; made in France, etc)?
When my son was born (2009), I realized that many produces in Germany are imported. Since then, I try to buy local and according to the seasons. It doesn’t always work as I love pineapples and they don’t grow in Germany!
Yes, it has in the last 40 years become a dump with bad roads, no decent health insurance, street violence, and full of gun and religious crazies. Now that it has an unhinged loudmouth madman at the helm, I wish I could get back to Berlin.
Previously posted on LinkedIn
America is still a beautiful, modern country with a strong democracy. I’m with you that the political development is quite scary, and not only in the US.
Thank you for reading my blog and for your comment!
Hallo und danke für den Kommentar, gebe dir wie immer recht. Amerika kommt mir immer öfter vor wie ein drittes-welt-land, die Qualität ist tendenziell schlechter als in Europa und eher für eine Wegwerfgesellschaft konzipiert, egal, ob Kleidung, Hausbau oder eben Geräte. Wo American Standard draufsteht, das ist immer fast wie eine Drohung. 😉
In Zeiten, wo viele sich “Make America great again” wünschen, wäre ein Mentalitätswechsel sicher wünschenswert. Der Verbraucher konsumiert was er angeboten bekommt. Dass er nicht längst rebelliert hat, zeigt doch, dass er mit der Qualität einverstanden ist.
Übrigens, die deutsche Kettensäge Marke Stihl wirbt hoch und laut “Made in America”… weil sie ein Werk in Virginia haben!
Previously posted on LinkedIn:
These blanket statements are usually difficult. After 20 years in Asia and the US, I moved to Germany in 2015 and based on my experience you could complain about the exact same issues over here. We found great handymen in the US and had terrible experiences in Germany. You have to go shopping and find these people. The same goes for products. Yes, German cars are still more reliable than U.S. made cars but it depends on the brand and the old adage applies: you get what you pay for. As for work life balance, you make your choice. Remote work, tele-work, shared work is still far more easy to accomplish in the US than in Germany. They may have more worker protection in Germany but the inflexibility and sticking to rules can have a bigger impact than no rules but more flexibility.
also – what would the price for your freezer be in Germany with all the features – is it this one? http://www.jcpenney.com/lg-32-cu-ft-mega-capacity-3-door-french-door-refrigerator/prod.jump?ppId=pp5006380059&country=US¤cy=USD&selectedSKUId=85403250018&selectedLotId=8540325 as far as I saw the “”french door freezers” were an exceptional item in Germany and most places, e.g. apartments still had tiny half size fridges – since your average German cannot afford to buy a home but is in a rental apartment. see the Spigel story on wages in Germany – even doctors earn about 60K per year….
It looks like Germans don’t agree with you Karen. Check also the Facebook comments.
I have a freezer like this in Germany. You can buy it from Gaggenau or Poggenpohl and pay about 10.000E or you can buy the same freezer from Neff and pay 1240E (believe it, the exact same model) (although mine is prettier it has pannels on the front. I feel I am an average German with a good free high school education and a great free MBA degree from a German University and even as a woman I make a 6 digit salary. I have doctor friends who make way more than 60k a year and still chose to rent. The fact that a lot of Germans live with smaller fridges is not because they cannot afford it , but because they choose to buy their food fresh every other day and they don’t need so much storage. And our milk (tetrapack) stays fresh for months in the pantry and doesn’t go bad within 3 days in the -oh so big- fridge.
Fresh sausage loaded with sodium nitrate. It’s more that Germans don’t cook and eat processed foods and are willing to during burnt tasting ultra pasteurized milk.
You refer to fresh in the same breath as ultra pasteurized milk designed for the third world lacking refrigeration…how ironic.
If you’re someone who actually cooks true meals a dorm fridge isn’t going to fly.
Catherine, I dont know why you keep trolling the old stereotypes for your discussions – LG is not an American brand – Americans tend to choose the cheaper alternative and expect to repair or live with it until built in obsolescense – I remember looking for a gas stove in Germany and finding the same German maker selling the same stove in France for 100 Euro less, when I asked, the explanation was it was due to “sicherheits fragen” – so was the French version less secure? I was also told not to try and import a US Weber grill for half the price as the same one sold in Germany since the propane gas PSI was different in Germany.
Enjoyed the read — sharing with my FB community!!
Great, merci Diane !