To the point: Best Practice
The “stinginess is cool” mentality—which originally spilled over into Switzerland from our northern neighbor—has now become the norm here. Okay, it was around to some extent even before that.
If one was on vacation in Ticino, visited the markets in Luino to buy cheap shoes, clothes and bags.
Today, everything is simply happening on a larger scale. Thousands of Swiss shopping tourists flood the city center of Constance every Saturday and bring a bomb business to the local trade. The cash registers are glowing, the credit card readers are in constant use, and on Monday everyone tries to show off their oh-so-cheap purchases over coffee during the break. We find a further increase further north. There, it is the markets in Poland near the German border that attract thousands and thousands of consumers. Huge selection, poor quality, copies instead of originals - the main thing is cheap. But even in the south, shoppers don't have to go hungry. Now in summer, there are regular bus shopping trips from the French Riviera over to Italy. Fake branded goods at unbeatable prices can be found there. If you are clever, you can push the low price down even further. The only problem is that French customs regularly carry out extremely strict checks. Entire busloads of fake Louis Vuitton bags, Hermes scarves, Gucci shoes and Rolex watches then disappear into a large dustbin and are publicly destroyed with great publicity.
The need to get something at a lower price (than advertised, than in the price list, than the colleague paid, etc.) seems to be a deeply human need. However, this private bargain mentality has unfortunately been spreading in the business world for some time now. Even more discounts, even more additional services, something free on top, haggling has become a professional hobby. For years, the Swiss media industry prided itself on being true to its rates. Tempi passati. At the latest with the success of electronic media, the print media also had to learn that their rates were negotiable. The advent of digital advertising then accelerated the whole thing.
Now there is a new scam. Imagine you go to a good restaurant, ask for the menu, then choose the menu for 200 francs and a wine for 180 francs. The whole thing with intensive advice from the maître. After all, the customer is king. When the poor guy finally wants to take the order, they say, but they only have 100 francs in their pocket. What would happen? They would probably be kicked out without a word.
Fictional history? In the restaurant business, perhaps. In the media industry, reality, or as the smart guys and girls say: best practice.
Pierre C. Meier, Editor-in-Chief
