Most of these comments seem like SWAGs to me, way off the mark. 20+ years ago when I lived in Europe, cars were MUCH more expensive in the UK than on the continent. The excuse usually given was that it was caused by the cost/trouble of producing right-hand drive models. EXCEPT, those same right-hand drive models could be purchased from dealers in the Benelux or France for something like 30% less than in the UK (all prices excluding VAT). Yes, most makes and models, including British manufactured models and brands.
There used to be a law in France that stores could only have special "Sales" twice a year, and there was a maximum percentage that prices could be reduced. I think other countries had/may still have rules like this. In some countries, there were limits on whether and by how much chain stores could offer reduced prices, compared to smaller mom and pop stores. Maybe these are gone by now. OK, now getting away from the retail scene, why do companies charge more in Europe? Because some operating costs are higher, but mostly because they can. Why do prices vary from country to country? Because frequently prices are set by local country management based on assessments of the local market. Also, while macro exchange rates (like Euro vs Dollar vs Yen) change every day, supplier prices usually don't get adjusted more than once or twice a year, at the most, sometimes less often. So someone looking at the price of something over time will ALWAYS be able to say that it is now more expensive or cheaper in X country currency, relative to home, than it was 6 months ago. Always. Local requirements, be they American or European, don't typically add much to the prices in any one place, because most companies make a global model when they can, to comply with all standards everywhere. Some standard testing and clearances get accepted globally. It's too expensive to do otherwise. -- Goodsounds ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Goodsounds's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=14201 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=67398 _______________________________________________ discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/discuss
