Tolerance Day

It was Tolerance Day yesterday in Germany. The TV channels were all showing movies about racial tolerance, Galileo on Pro7 also had some interesting stories to show, all in the spirit of tolerating people who are different from us.

On Tolerance

I like to think of myself as a quite tolerant person. I have nothing against people who are different from me and I always empathize with disabled people. There are some things, though, that I will never be tolerant of, namely laziness. Pro7 was showing this couple who was living since 6 years in a camping park: he, in his late twenties and she, in her late forties (fifties?). In any case, the fact was that the woman was at the age of her husband's mother! As far as I understood from the programme, they did not work and were walking 5km to the closest grocery store if they needed food. If they had some disability that prevents them from working, I am fine with that, but it did not look that way. That's where the social state Germany comes in and pays them welfare. This money is coming from my pocket as a tax-payer in this country. While they are playing their guitars every evening and enjoying a life without work stress, the rest of us are paying for them. 

This reminds me of another such case: Arno Dübel, 55 years old, jobless since 30 years. He is also called the most hated man in Germany. The problem with this guy is that he does not want to work and lives off welfare money. And he is proud of it! 

In my opinion, such people should not receive welfare support at all. The whole social state philosophy of Germany has to be re-thought, but this takes political will, which will not come in the next couple of years. 

On Taxes and Tolerance

German income taxes are pretty high, going up to 45% for the top earners. Not only that but people who are not married pay higher taxes than married couples. That is more or less fine so far. But just recently, there was a proposition coming from some party to tax also people who have no children and are older than 25. The tax is supposed to be 1% of income! Why are people without children punished for this? This is not the right way to stimulate a population increase. This proposition was probably made by people who have no idea about family planning. 

So, on the one hand, we should be tolerant of people who have chosen to live like social outcasts and pay them support, but the state is not tolerant of people who have chosen not to have children. That is the stark contradiction that I cannot understand...

What is your opinion?

Customer loyalty in Germany

Customer loyalty is something that is quite trendy currently here. There are all possible bonus programmes where one collects points, miles or stamps and then gets discounts, flights or gifts. In this article I will outline the most important things to know.

What programmes are out there?

From Lufthansa's Miles and More to your local cafe's bonus programme, the variety is immense!

Miles and More: every passenger can get the Lufthansa card and collect miles for every flight with Star Alliance. Miles can also be collected with newspaper subscriptions, GSM contracts, online purchases, etc. Once you are a member, you will get an overview of all the partners and partner programmes. The benefit: you can pay flights with miles! Once you have 15.000 miles, you can get a one-way ticket within Europe. You can also achieve the coveted Frequent Flyer status, which grants you access to the business lounges (free food and internet while you wait).

Deutschland Card: with this card you can collect points at food retailers like Edeka, pharmacies, car shops, etc. I used to be a member, but as I was only using it at Edeka, after 2 years, the gift I managed to get was a cheap aroma set. I was so disappointed that I threw this bonus card away. 

Payback: the same as the previous one but with different retail partners. 

Dentists: the latest trend here is to collect stamps at every visit at the dentist, so that if you need a more expensive procedure, you can get a discount. This programme is sponsored and depends on your Krankenkasse. 

Dry cleaning: also there you can collect stamps for every visit and then get a couple of Euros discount once the bonus card is full.

Cafes: Yesterday, I was amazed to see that even cafes have started their stamp cards! Once I collect 10 coffee stamps, the next coffee is free. How ridiculous is that?!

You see, Germans love collecting bonus things with their purchases and making use of the various discounts!

Warning: if you are a privacy freak, avoid the bonus programmes that give you a plastic magnetic card. They track your purchases so that they can offer you targeted advertisement in your post box!

Questions? Ask below

Car service and inspection

As everywhere else, also in Germany there are periodical technical inspections of all vehicles. In this article I will give you a few tips on this topic.

Where to do it?

Avoid private companies like Dekra or the official service providers for your car brand as they themselves are not authorized to do it, but bring in an expert and for that they charge almost double the normal price. The car dealers service will also do "pre-checks" and tell you that unless you repair or exchange some part, you will not pass the inspection. This is often an attempt to sell you unneeded repairs!

The bi-annual inspection is done by TüV experts. Every city has minimum one place where the TüV is doing that. You can easily get an appointment online and even on Saturday!

Costs

The Hauptuntersuchung (technical inspection) will cost you around 55 Euro. The Abgassuntersuchung (emissions inspection) is also done together with the technical one and costs around 30-40 Euro. Depending on the results, you get green, yellow or red Plakette (badge) to indicate how harmful to the environment your car is. The two inspections together should not take more than half an hour.

Car service

Oil change, micro-filter or brake fluid change are some of the most common periodic repairs that you have to do. Also here, you should avoid the official brand repair shops (unless you have a new car with guarantee on it!) and go to other companies like A.T.U. They usually have lower prices: one liter oil can cost up to 22-25 Euro at BMW, but only 8-9 Euros at A.T.U. (same oil in both cases). Getting a couple of offers is also good: just call and ask in advance. Always negotiate and use other prices as leverage to decrease their offer! 

Questions? Leave a comment

The President is out!

In this advertisement, the car-renting company Sixt
says that you can also have fun without rich friends...

As I wrote some time ago, everyone in Germany was waiting for the moment when the President will quit his office. Well, the day has come and he is out!

My personal opinion is that this has taken too long and should have happened already in December 2011. As a foreigner, I have always thought that German politicians have a higher moral than all others and are simply non-corruptible. I was amazed to see, though, how impertinent and obnoxious Wulff could be. 

And what is more surprising is that Merkel expressed her deepest regret and said that Wulff has done a lot for the country. Yes, he did: he made Germany the laughing stock of the world...

The German prosecution will start the investigation already tomorrow. Obviously, they could not do it until now because the guy had immunity.

In his speech, he said that he has made "mistakes", but there was no apology! He also said that the complete scandal and news about it has hurt him and his wife. Well, you should have thought before taking all those advantages. 

What do you think? Comment below

Germans and Piercings/Tattoos

If you have grown up in a slightly conservative environment like me, you will definitely notice that Germans love piercings and tattoos. I have seen ear-rings in all possible places here in Germany:  noses, lips, upper ears, eyebrows, etc. There is also the trend to put those special ear-rings that extend a hole in your ear with time. 

Some Germans put small sparkling pebbles on their teeth. Ok, I admit this is very rare, but you can still see it around.

I heard yesterday on TV that 25% of Germans between 16 and 29 years, have a tattoo. The interesting part is that 50% of them are sorry about it later. 

Another study shows that people aged 14 to 24 have the highest prevalence of piercing and tattooing: females, 41%; males, 27%. 

Apart from being motivated by fashion and peer pressure, the other reasons are negatively perceived conditions of life and reduced social integration.

So, why this drive to pierce or tattoo your body? I think, and this is only my humble opinion, that it has to do with a small Generation Y rebellion against the German order and excellence, as established after 1989. Rebellion against the Germany that allows companies to keep people as temporary low-paid workers for years, against bureaucracy and high society.

And maybe this drive for piercing and tattooing has nothing to do with any rebellion, but is a reflection of the free and independent life that young people here enjoy. As many youngsters sign up for the so-called Ausbildung (practical education), they start earning their own money already at the age of 15-16 and move out of their parents' place either immediately or a couple of years later when they come of age at 18.

Could the divorce rate have a role? According to statistics from 2002, 39% of marriages in Germany end with a divorce. I know this is an old static, but today's young people were children then! 

What do you think? Comment below!

Deutsche Post

The German Postal service is a huge organization. It owns not only the normal postal services, but also DHL. PostBank aslo used to be part of the company, but after several postal reforms that started in 1989 the previous Bundespost was split into Deutsche Telekom, Deutsche Post and Postbank. The Bundespost itself was created in 1950 as the follow-up version of the Reichspost (before the war). 

The beginnings of the German Post were already in 1490. The "creator" was Franz von Taxis. Since then, naturally, there has been a lot of development. In 1969 three Americans grounded DHL; the letters stand for their family names. From 1998 until 2002 the Deutsche Post bought out  DHL completely. In the meantime (2000), the mother-company went public with its Initial Public Offering at the stock exchange.

Enough history. In 2010 the Deutsche Post brought to the market the so-called E-Brief, of which I am also a proud user. You simply sign up online, go to a postal office to verify your identity and from then on, you can send and receive letters via your own Deutsche Post e-mail. The good thing is that you can send it online and the Post will print it and deliver it to the destination! And this at the price of a normal letter. This "e-mail" that you send is accepted as an official letter and can be used to cancel your internet contract, car insurance and so on! 

On top of that you can send and receive fax to your own private DP number! This service is really great! 

The Packstation is another innovation (although 10 years on the market): if you need to send or receive a parcel, but you are working all day and cannot make it in the normal opening hours, you can register for it and conveniently do it when you have the time!

Did you know?

• In 2011, 95% of Deutsche Post customers were happy with the services!
• On average, it takes 1 day for a letter to be delivered in Germany
• While many things go up in price, the normal letter got 2% cheaper from 1997 until 2010
• There are 13.000 branches, 7.000 sales points, 2.500 Packetstations and around 110.000 letterboxes in Germany

Questions? Leave a comment

Germans and cold weather

I was out today in the cold at minus 10 degrees. It seemed I was the only one who found it extremely cold! It was also windy and the felt temperature was definitely below minus 15! After 5 minutes outside, I was already feeling pain from the cold, but the Germans on the street were happily walking around. 

I also saw girls without any scarfs and with unzipped jackets. I could not believe my eyes!

Germans are used to the cold and feel comfortable with it. There was a swimming competition a few weeks ago and some of the swimmers had no heat-preserving swimsuits. They were getting out of the freezing waters of the Danube and calmly drinking tea, after having swam for 20-25 minutes.

An interesting sight in winter are the blankets most cafes put out, so that their clients can wrap themselves and sit in the cold. I would not sit and drink coffee in the cold, no sir! Another way of warming up outside, used by bars or cafes, are the special gas burners, which look like huge metal umbrellas. 

Questions? Leave a comment

The Wulff Affair

Everyone in Germany is currently wondering until when can the President stay in his position. Apparently, Angela Merkel is already looking for a replacement. I give you below a short chronology of the scandal as I read it on Focus.

October 2008

Christian Wulff gets 500.000 Euro as a private credit from an entrepreneur to buy a house.

February 2010

Wulff declares in front of the Parliament of Lower-Saxony (PLS) that he and the entrepreneur have had no business relationships in the past 10 years.

December 2011

Wulff tries to persuade the Chief Editor of Bild not to publish research into how he financed his private house. On the next day, Bild reports that Wulff could have misled the PLS. Nevertheless, Merkel says that she trusts Wulff completely. 

Wulff expresses in a written form that his private credit has created the "wrong impression". The entrepreneur in question states that the credit is between his wife and Wulff. 

Later in November, Bild reports that during his campaign in 2007, Wulff has received donations from another businessman. Wulff says that he didn't know about that. 

Follow accusations about interests conflicts while Wulff was in the Supervisory board of Volkswagen. Other accusations were that the president was using Miles and More bonus miles (acquired during business trips) to pay private Lufthansa flights.

So, the accusations keep piling and everyone wonders until when he can stay in office...

What do you think? Leave a comment

Snowchurch in Mitterfirmiansreut

The people in the village with unpronounceable name have decided to revive the 100-year old snow church!

In 1911, the people there built a church out of snow and ice in protest to the world. They were angry because during the winter it was very difficult for them to visit the church in the nearby village. As the villagers were quite poor, they could not afford to build a normal church so they decided to build one out of snow

So, today again tourists can visit the coldish place of worship. I guess, nowadays in Bavaria they could afford a cathedral, but a snow church is also nice :=)

German internet usage

I was just watching Galileo on Pro7 and here are some interesting statistics on Internet usage in Germany:

- almost 75% of Germans over 14 years use the internet

- most of them are male

- on the average, the German spends 2 hours a day surfing, which is 5 weeks in a year (or one complete vacation)

- 50% of users surf during their working hours; this costs the German state 50 Million Euro per year, because its officials are surfing

- the energy needed for the internet in Germany (including the servers) can supply 2.5 Million one-family houses for a year or 4 coal power stations could be shut down if there were no internet

- 50% of users also use Facebook, most of them in Berlin

- Germans post 3 contents per day and have on the average 130 friends

- Wikipedia has 3.5 Million pages in German

- Germans give around 500 Euro per year for online shopping

- they most buy books, tickets and travels

- Germans send 40 E-mails per day, which would mean 1 Billion Euro for postage costs if that were letters

- 80% of this is spam

- every 7th German is registered in an online dating site

- 1/3 of those find a partner

- 1/3 of separations have as a cause social networks

Pretty interesting! Comments?

Car accidents death toll

According to the latest ADAC Motorwelt issue, the number of people who died in road accidents has climbed up again, 7.2% more than in the previous year. 2011 was the first year since 1991 that saw an increase in this statistic.

The number of injured pedestrians has also increased slightly. The number of total deaths has remained for the second time after 1950 under the 4.000 mark, though. Number of people who have had some kind of traffic accident in 2011 was 390.000.

Germany is one of the few countries in the world without speed limits on its highways. I have to say, though, that there are many light installations that impose temporary speed limits (because of weather, traffic jams, etc.). Nevertheless, Germans love to speed and there are even campaigns to reduce the number of accidents.

According to the Campaign "Runter vom Gas", 60% of all deaths happen on country roads, not on highways. Here is a picture from the campaign: 

Do you support no speed limits on the highways?

Barthelmarkt

In the section "This is Germany" I will post impressions, stories, pictures, videos and comments about the real, sad and comic in the daily life in Germany.

I start with a video, which shows Bavarians shouting and showing signs that are illegal in Germany:

What do you think?