News / Why no reprivatisation in Poland? Holocaust-era property ownership. [119]

Germany did pay heavy reparations to Poland - extensive machinery and raw materials were given in exchange plus some cash. In the 50s the Polish commie govt let the East Germans off but the West Germans did pay some more in trhe 70s.

Real Estate / Sweeping powers? What rights do chimney sweeps have when inspecting rented properties in Poland? [8]

He just wants a tip - its bad luck not to tip them according to custom in some parts of Poland.

Either give hin 20 zlots or give him the bum rush and tell him you dont want to see him again.

News / SKM and surcharges - Fast Local Trains in Tri-City, Poland [25]

Doug you seem to have an unreasonable problem with authority.

When I first came to Poland it was 5 zloty extra to buy a ticket on the train (intercity) and I often did it because the line was longer than 15 minutes in the station ticket counter. It was not posted anywhere in the train - somebody told me and I remembered it and thought it was fair. I would normally tell the conductor as I was running to the train that I would buy on the train.

I cant understand why you are making such a fuss about 2.50 zloty

Yes of course its inefficient, its a public business in Eastern Europe - what's the alternative ? cast all those people onto the street with no other jobs or wait patiently for a few years until they retire or die from a life of smoking Mocne ?

Work / Typical Post - A good salary in Rybnik - 3000 for part time in finance? [16]

Here we go again. I expect Dom will be along presently to tell you to stay home and become a geophysicist.

Without kids you will be fine but work out your transport cost to Gliwice - relative to earnings then gas is expensive in Poland. You will have plenty of days in watching TV and only spending a few zlots on food so there should be plenty left to treat yourself.

Work / Advice on attending business professionals events? Warsaw, Poland [4]

Which town ? Warsaw or somewhere where the other 35 million live.

If you have misspelled and mean "nothing fancy" then suggest the Professionals in Warsaw group which is on linkedin - normally something on every two weeks, mixed crowd of people, not pretentious and you can come late and leave early if you want.

If you mean "something fancy" then all the chambers of commerce have regular do's - some informal and usually a ball once per year - the British and French balls are pretty good. Best parties by sector are in real estate like the CEE awards, or the Shopping Center forum awards.

Work / What is the salary of a cleaner in queen boutique hotel in Krakow or in any other restaurant or hotel? [17]

I doubt it - that is the minimum wage and with unemployment in krakow around 7 percent then why pay more for an entry level job ? 13 zloty if you are lucky would be the maximum.

No i am not in krakow so i might have underestimated the riches available

Work / What is the salary of a cleaner in queen boutique hotel in Krakow or in any other restaurant or hotel? [17]

About 11 zloty per hour

Love / My Pole bf is flirting with an old friend from high school [12]

So you called her a ***** when basically your bf is at fault, and then get sensitive when she calls you names back ?

Work / Do workers in Poland have to pay ZUS, social security and other salary deductions? Brutto Netto exceptions [10]

if you are a director of the company then you can receive your salary without these deductions. But you would not be entitled to any benefits and also you can be fired/removed without notice.

There are various other ways like having your own enterprise - but it will not totally avoid those charges, in fact often they can be higher.

If you are a regular employee then forget it.

Life / Are there any grey markets in Poland where you can convert currency for a better rate? [4]

No - this is not the 1980s. There are hundreds of kantors in central Warsaw so the free market does its job pretty well

Life / Whats with going to sauna naked in Poland? [41]

Pigsy what i meant is that you would bring the dirt from outside into the sauna.

Life / Whats with going to sauna naked in Poland? [41]

Its really weird - i take a sauna twice a week for 20 years and i never saw that.

Live and let live - except going in their with your shoes, thats unhygeinic and a discourtesy to fellow users.

On the nudity question i follow local custom - in poland that tends to be naked in a mens locker room or use a towel in a coed sauna. In other countries like germany then fully naked.

Law / Online kantory in Poland [14]

Strong warning that your money is at risk with no insurance if it goes wrong. A lot of people lost serious cash two weeks ago during the swiss franc shock

Work / About taxes ("Umowa o dzielo") and minimum wage in Poland [30]

I think it is more - its 1750 per month - divided by 168 hours that is 10.41.

But maybe there are some special rates for new hires ?

Real Estate / Swiss Francs Mortgages in Poland [71]

Doing that would make a lot of them bankrupt and either close or leave Poland.

So you could do that but if you ever wanted to borrow money in the future you would not have many places to go.

Real Estate / How to get back money? I paid one-month rent + deposit for a room in Poland which I don't like. [5]

Forget it - contract is against you and i can think of any country where your complaint would be upheld, except maybe France

Real Estate / Swiss Francs Mortgages in Poland [71]

Ring your bank and explain - they might give you a few months breathing space. If so then use those few months to work as much overtimevas you can and try and get level while the franc falls back a bit. In the meantime put one of them on the market if it has positive equity. If all 3 are negative then tough titty

Work / Working in Warsaw as a Oracle DBA / IT manager - what's the best salary that I can get? [48]

Amazing some of these IT salaries at the moment - seem to be getting the same as surgeons, pilots, top lawyers nut without any of the responsibility and liability issues. i know what line I will make my kids do at college.

i suppose the market will adjust though - dont be surprised to see people start outsourcing to Morocco, Egypt etc once Poland prices itself out. whatever I invest in IT i rarely seem to get a measurable payback on it.

Law / My chef salary not paid yet - Poland's National Labour Inspectorate can help? [6]

Unless you have signed contract they are very unlikely to get involved. If younhave a signed contract it might be worth it but speak to your boss before you take that step and try and find a solution

Law / Setting up a manufacturing business in Poland (grants and process involved); available channels of investment? [10]

I think if you already have manufacturing experience and a clear business plan plus about 70 percent your own funding then you have a good chance of grants, especially for employment. in that region we got those before in krakpowice and kedzierzyn but it was a few years ago.

start with PAIZ and there are also plenty of consultants in Warsaw whp would help you on a success fee Basis which might leave you more time to run your business.

Get your funding locally - will reduce your currency risk and British banks will not want Polish assets as collateral.

Life / Want to become an expat to Poland? Consider your options before going abroad. [18]

I did not join in the other debate as it was just so bizarre even by PF standards.

as i understand the main symptoms of this bad self serving Polish attitude are

- real estate deals gone bad rather than providing guaranteed upside for you
- not giving work to people who dont speak the language

Law / Agricultural business. Registering as self employed in Poland. [18]

They dont get zero taxation - they merely avoid the upfront zus cost which for an average cabbie they probably need about 100 punters to cover it. If that loophole is now closed i am sure they will either find a new one or keep some of those falling gas price for themselves

Law / Agricultural business. Registering as self employed in Poland. [18]

You might spend so mch time and cost pursuing this status that it would have been easier to pay your 1200 per month zus. I know lots of cab drivers buy farmland to avoid zus but they are Polish citizens.

I didnt realise those farmland restrictions stayed until 2016. i thought they expired in 2011. If thats true its a bit hypocritical of the Polish govt to get so upset about the Brits trying to restrict free movement of labor as I thought that was part of the same deal in 2004.

News / Why is Amazon not present in Poland? [57]

With Amazon I have only two real issues - that our tax money goes to fund their start up - I don't understand why it should ? And my other issue is with their VAT avoidance - again a bricks and mortar store has no way to avoid that tax and thus has to pass it to customers.

On the 11km per hour then I reckon in the days when I worked in a warehouse then I was walking at least 7km - it was a 20.000 sqm warehouse - up and down the length of it 4x per hour would be 7km. Back from the till to the kitchen in McD 30 times an hour would also be 6-7km per shift. So is it really extreme ? Farm work is much harder physically than warehouse work and that is the alternative for many of the Amazon workers.

And as I said before I think they pay more than many entry level jobs in Poland.

News / Why is Amazon not present in Poland? [57]


Yes - countries that are democracies almost invariably have higher living standards than dictatorships by any measure - either GDP but also health, education, amount of free time etc etc

News / Why is Amazon not present in Poland? [57]

They are working there out of their own choice. And customers use Amazon also out of their own choice. this is a democracy thank god.

you dont like it so you dont shop there and that is fine. I would never work there but its also my choice.

In terms of pay then I think they are comparable or even better to other entry level employers in the area and they certainly,pay more than farm work.

They are still a business that makes heavy losses and actually I dont see how they can ever fix that model - their price advantage seems to come from avoiding state taxes in the US and VAT in europe - once those loophopes are closed then I think Walmart, Auchan etc will take a lot of their business.

Law / Consumer credit rating from US to PL/EU [12]

Yes normally it would.

Work / Salaries in corporations vs elsewhere in Poland; interview procedures [8]

But Dominic if you are interviewing 4 or 5 people for the same job then of course you must either ask them what they expect or you will not be able to make a decision. i do that all the time. If someone refused to answer i would politely push them for a fugure and if they still didnt answer i would take them out the process.

Travel / Travel - the towns Stars Tom & Mwawa are located in Poland? Susz. [4]

Could be Strzegom ?

Susz - Gdańsk 89km
Susz - Warszawa 197km

Take train from Gdańsk.

Real Estate / Ideas how to invest sum of 500,000ZL in Warsaw - real estate is recommended? [20]

Be very wary of putting any large amount in any SKOK. The government is working on a bailout an at the moment - basically asking solvent banks like Pekao and PKO to create a special fund to prop up the SKOKs.

in any case you should read the small print on those deals - normally you can high interest only up to about 50k of savings, above that it will be very low.