Life / Getting ripped off in Poland! Is it normal? or should it be tolerated? [97]


Given a decently managed currency, a government can not force it to appreciate against major currencies out of thin air even if they "plan" to. As I explained earlier, that will bleed their reserves to death.

Dot not give politicians more credit than they actually deserve.

Economic growth is the key to currency appreciation. Poland has been growing much faster than europe hence the zloty's appreciation.

What the "enlightened leaders" (who pretend to have a plan) did is to basically avoid screwing things up by reining in fiscal deficit and not letting the printing press run loose.

PJ

Life / Getting ripped off in Poland! Is it normal? or should it be tolerated? [97]


Not only is it non nonsensical but suicidal. If the zloty appreciates too much, that will create capital flight in the sense of the locals ditching it for euros and going about buying half of Europe. The central bank would need to hold infinite reserves, which it can’t.

If I recall correctly, Poland wasn’t even sure of being able to guarantee deposits beyond €50K, let alone it being able to afford a zloty at parity with the Euro.

Also, Poland being part of the EU, demand and offer is the sole mechanism setting the general level of prices, regardless of how strong or weak a currency is. This is because Poland can no longer erect any barriers to keep prices artificially high or low. Tweaking the currency basically pits economic agents against one another with no overall gain to the country. Exporters will benefit from a weak currency whereas consumers would benefit from a strong one.

Last but not least, wealth is wealth i.e. tangible and material and a currency is a mere mechanism of exchange of goods and services. Hence even if you set up the zloty to be 10 times the euros, it won’t make Poland richer than Germany.

It will just make foreigners have a good laugh because the country goes bankrupt overnight.

PJ

Life / Getting ripped off in Poland! Is it normal? or should it be tolerated? [97]

Price differentials are usually due to the fact that the local market is not efficient enough. Western markets are efficient in the sense of information being available to everyone who seeks it and therefore price differentials would quickly be seen as a profit making opportunities by professional arbitrageurs and will eventually be wiped out. In simpler terms, a product or service put on the market in the west will always attract the highest bidder, be it local or foreigner, in a more or less transparent manner.

In Poland and elsewhere such market efficiency is lacking in many places and sectors. Some locals wouldn't have a clue on how to sell to foreigners and must thus sell to locals at a price lower that what foreigners would otherwise have paid for. Likewise, many foreigners can not wheel and deal in the local bargains and are therefore restricted to inflated prices that most locals wouldn't pay as they have other alternatives.

Now to the bloke who started the thread, surely if uv been living in Poland for over 6 years, u r more or less considered a local. Or are you one of those expats who can barely master a "Witam" and have no local friends at all?

PJ

Life / Getting ripped off in Poland! Is it normal? or should it be tolerated? [97]

my impression is that u are yet to get used to the new reality in Poland: it is not that you are getting ripped off, prices are rising high and fast all over the country just like in many other places around the world.

The key here, as someone else noted, is that the locals are happy bargain hunting and living on the cheap, which u r probably unlikely to accept as a living standard and hence the rise in ur cost of living.

I tend to agree with sobieski. Real estate wise, if you intend to buy in Mokotow or Nowy Wilanow, for instance, it doesn't matter what nationality u r. Prices are the same (i.e high) for foreigners and locals alike.

Last but not least, real estate prices are still quoted in US $ in most CIS countries (Russia, Ukraine, Kazakstan ..) so the practice is not that unheard of.

PJ

Life / Why there is always around a horrible smell of sweat in Poland [188]


Rubbish. They r not allowed to ingest alcohol (except medical reasons) otherwise all other uses of alcohol are permitted.

PJ

Life / Why there is always around a horrible smell of sweat in Poland [188]

Now that's cruel :-)

PJ

Life / Why there is always around a horrible smell of sweat in Poland [188]


For a number of reasons: cause moving requires scarce resources they might not have, cause although they lack water they would still be better off staying where they are due to better security, cause they cant afford to buy new land close to water sources etc..

PJ

Life / Why there is always around a horrible smell of sweat in Poland [188]


Reminds me of Marie-Antoinette's famous quote "Let them eat cake".

Guess it didn't occur to you that "bathing" requires scarce resources that some people might not or can not have or afford.

Did you know that some people on this planet still have to walk a few miles daily to get access to water? That is any water, not just drinking water.

PJ

Life / Why there is always around a horrible smell of sweat in Poland [188]

In many hot countries, a certain amount of BO is acceptable for various reasons. One is the lack of water and showers, two cause a lot of men do tedious manual work and hardly have time for luxuries such as a shower. They would clean up at the end of the day using water buckets and the like. This would remove the sweat but wont provide the same freshness that a full shower + deodorant would do. Still though. It is acceptable as at worst they will have some residual BO but nothing discomforting.

Not long ago this used to be the case in the west too, its just that the younger generation somehow think that Dove and Axe have always been around.

As anyone whod done any manual work knows, fresh sweat as such is almost odourless and hardly discomforting . The BO is essentially caused by the bacterial breakdown of perspiration. Hence the sweat should be removed as soon as reasonably possible. A shower, or an old fashioned wash up is usualy enough.

Those who stink just dont bathe enough. Nothing to do with deodorants.

Life / Why there is always around a horrible smell of sweat in Poland [188]


Cause a lot of people hate the "mess" of taking a shower: They have to undress, get under the shower, get wet, rub their skin, dry their skin, dress up again..

PJ

Life / Why there is always around a horrible smell of sweat in Poland [188]


ShellyS, we kinda get the idea. You definitely do not like dark skinned guys and you are BIG time into polish blokes ;-)


Nothing to do with that. All deodorants are more or less the same these days: they reduce the body odor and/or reduce sweat produced by parts of the body but they wont last long and are useless on a skin that hasnt been washed.

Its just that some people do not take a daily shower for whatever reason. Simple as that.

PJ

Work / Cost of Living, Average Salaries and Job sites in Poland [263]


I could not agree more.

PJ

Travel / BUS FROM SZCZECIN TO FRANKFURT....HOW MUCH...? [18]


Put the champagne on ice.

Real Estate / Could you recommend a good property management company in Warsaw [41]

Owen

Ive been using a property management company to manage a few furnished properties I own in Warsaw for over a year now and they are brilliant. They also did the furnishing and sourcing out tenants.

PM me if u r interested

PJ

Travel / BUS FROM SZCZECIN TO FRANKFURT....HOW MUCH...? [18]


I trust she is also good at a few other things as well, otherwise u wouldn't bother going to such great lengths to sort her out ;-)

Travel / BUS FROM SZCZECIN TO FRANKFURT....HOW MUCH...? [18]


Eurolines would normally take you from any european city to any other one, its just a matter of how much time you can afford as you might have to wait for a connection bus along the road.

Your friend can buy her Eurolines ticket from Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof. You can also pay for the ticket online, she then picks it up from there upon turning up with a valid ID.

Doesnt your friend speak any english or german at all? Surely she can just turn up at the hauptbahnhof and she will quickly figure out the best way to reach you.

Her journey will start at Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof anyhow as flying is out of the question.

Love / Polish girls vs Ukrainian girls: Who do you think is hotter? [152]

This is a no brainer: Ukrainian girls, by a large mile. Polish girls are just too plain.

My personal favourites are German and Scandinavian girls.

PJ

UK, Ireland / Time to move on... I'm coming back to Poland after 4 years in the UK [29]

Cool. Good luck.

PJ

UK, Ireland / Time to move on... I'm coming back to Poland after 4 years in the UK [29]

Congrats.

Tell us more...

Why are you going back and why now?

What will you be doing in Wroclaw? Is it worthwhile moneywise? Would u be losing, or gaining, in living standards..?

Have you bought a place in there..?

PJ