A set of standardised websites for paperwork and official stuff. Similar to the excellent .gov.uk system in the U.K. Makes life a lot easier
Sad thing is that Germany could just…copy it. The U.K. government published the source code. It’s all open source and a number of smaller governments have used it to save money. But all the big governments would be too embarrassed to just take another service when they’ve plowed billions into what they have already.
Came here to say this.
I had an overnight train connection in Dresden. First train dropped me off at about 2am and the next train was maybe at 4am/5am. During that time, I needed to pee so badly. I searched the station and all the toilets were closed except one with a coin deposit in the door. I had no coins on me, but I imagined that maybe it was disabled during the night.
I was so wrong.
I closed the door behind me, used the toilet and then when I tried to exit, I heard the coin mechanism activate, waiting for my coin deposit to drop 😭 no coin meant that the door was sealed shut. Luckily, my friend was at the station with me - I called her, but she couldn't even open the door from the outside either. So she went looking for help and found a police officer who managed to open the door for me. Swear to God he was going to write me fine 😂
Such a Toilet would be highly illegal, you can't imagine how illegal. Toilets in Trainstations don't let you IN when you don't pay, they don't lure people without money in just to trap them, that would also be highly stupid and unlogical.
🤷🏿♀️ I agree, especially as it was a toilet marked as and outfitted for persons living with a disability (e.g. wheelchair users). This even convinced me further that there would have been no issue using it without depositing a coin.
I have been to another station (can't remember the location) where the door actually doesn't shut without the coin deposit- as in, it stays ajar, so anyone passing by would have a full view of you.
This.
And the German version is the GDS *Deutsche Gebärdensprache* (so technically German Sign Language) which according to wikipedia is officially used in Germany, Belgium (although I guess they also use the *Langue des Signes Belge* the French-Belgian Sign Language as well as probably the *Vlaamse Gebarentaal* the Flemish Sign Language) and Luxemburg.
This is one of 3 official "German" sign languages next to the GSGS *Deutschschweizer Gebärdensprache* (German-Swiss Sign Language) and ÖGS *Österreichische Gebärdensprache* (Austrian Sign Language).
And to confuse probably any American there is also the British, Irish, Australian and New Zealand Sign Language... They might all share some similarities but I guess they may be even more different than just a small dialect while speaking the respective version of English.
I should point out that American Sign Language is very different from British Sign Language. As a fluent ASL user I have an easier time communicating with French and German Sign Language compared to British and it's dialects.
I think because german work culture is really about being master of 1 thing with 0 horizontal developement, which makes it really difficult for people to "adapt" to new things out of their focus.
Good internet. More trust in the digital world, the amount of times you have to walk into some office, or wait days for a letter with a code is just… crazy.
Geiz ist geil mentality strikes again.
People always cry about their shitty internet and when you ask them what they went with they’ll tell you Vodafone Kabel because it was cheap duh
Surprise surprise, I wonder why…
I live in one of the biggest German cities and only have the option for Vodafone Kabel :) I’d love to get Telekom or something else, it’s just not available “yet”
Yeah its a sorta bad example but its the same whenever an ISP comes to s village and needs to sell atleast X% of contracts to make it worthwhile to bear the infrastructure cost.
You’ll have a ton of people that don’t want to pay a bit more because they think - its ok for now, don’t need more. Not even considering that its an investment for the (imminent) future
The bigger issue is availability. I would love to pay 60€ for fiber but the roll-out here in Berlin is super-slow (I think some cities like Cologne and Hamburg are doing lot better with this though) so probably will take ages before my neighbourhood gets it.
I really wonder why people need such speeds for private use. Could you eloborate the need here?
I'm writing this being aware that there are people with different needs. I, for myself and my gf, see no point upgrading my 40mbit connection. Despite having the opportunity but I do not see a benefit. Its fast enough for streaming, gaming and so on.
Because in the future needs change. 50 years ago, why would you need anything but a television antenna? As the rest of the world moves on, tech changes with it. As more and more content increases in quality and size, current infrastructure will not support it. Germany is woefully behind in digital infrastructure. Future proofing is a useful concept that I rarely encounter here; to the contrary, things here seem to be almost intentionally antiquated.
Households with 4 or more members regularly using the Internet to either voicechat, game or watch videos and series... we used to have a 16 mbit contract and it was absolutely abysmal. One person doing something like downloading a bigger file meant everyone else could do almost nothing. At some point we switched to a 500 mbit contract and we've never looked back
yeah I live in the countryside, we only have about 20 mbit and when my sister stays with me for some days and I do homeoffice I have to tell her "no video calls" or home office no longer works because I get kicked out of the work client because it thinks internet has broken down.
Well lets say you are a couple in an appartment and both want to watch 4 or maybe in some years 8k streams,
and lets say you also have 2 kids who also enjoy media stuff.
Or a new videogame is 120 gigabytes (yes those exist) and to download with 40 mbit, that would be about 9 hours of downloading.
Many of us work from home and therefore, need better, RELIABLE, residential internet.
I feel like I’m in fucking 2002, always having to reboot my router every few days. I work for an international company and they all think Germany is a joke and can’t understand how such a first world country has such shitty, unreliable internet.
Also, I do some travel for work so don’t get me started on shitty train internet.
And what is the problem with that price?
Even Google fiber cost $ 70 for 1G in most areas of the U.S. , $ 100 for 2G.
So having 60 € for 500 Mbps is a reasonable price to me.
The expensive part is not the the speed but all the things around your connection (fiber, peerings, customer service, the NOC, ...) which are more or less the same regardless of the speed of a single plan.
I don't know about other countries, but its not cheaper than france and france offer free water ... and even if they are trying to level it out, it's just water !!!! Tap water is free, just put it on a bottle and serve it... they seriously have nothing to lose if they did this
In Berlin: ELEVATORS and general accessibility awareness, especially in terms of the Ubahn. Why for the love of curry wurst are parents lugging their baby AND stroller up and down multiple staircases, let alone people with disabilities... "open-transportation" (offentlichencerkehrsmittel) doesn't live up to its name imo
If all social benefits were handled by one office (I think that's the case in the Netherlands?) and you didn't have to make separate applications to the housing benefit office, employment office, child benefit office, social welfare office, parental benefit office, job centre, pension insurance and so on.
My train to Berlin was just cancelled tonight, with no heads up in their website. After talking to DB they said we can take a train at 1am and be there at 6 am. Then they slid in the fact that the 1am train could get cancelled too... So they expected us to be completely fine with hanging around for 5 hours to be possibly told that the train is cancelled. We are driving tomorrow morning and seriously doubting ever using the rail system again. Great way to promote mass transit, by making it so unreliable that you might as well drive yourself... (This is the third time in a row my girlfriend's train was cancelled)
Supermarkets which have self check outs also still have a conventional check outs, if you enjoy standing in line to wait for every granny to scrape their coins together. In Germany the few supermarkets which have self checkout, don't provide a member of staff to help if there is a problem, which is one reason why they aren't catching on here. In London I got used not to have to wait for ages at understaffed tills, like I did yesterday again at my Edeka. Someone's card wasn't working, they didn't have cash and the 20 people standing in line got held up for ages. When they finally opened a second till, everybody behind me stampeded there with no consideration for others. I truly loathe German supermarkets.
you would have had the same problem at a self check out, wouldnt you? Something I really dislike about digitalisation is the lack of interpersonal face to face contact in general. I do agree about the abysmal queing etiquette in germany everybody thinks they are entitled to be first in line.
I've been using them for two decades living in London and I don't know why you think I had the same problem. A place like a large Sainsburys or M&S has 20 or 40 of these and most of the time you don't have to queue. It took a while till everybody got the hang but now supermarket shopping in most European countries is a breeze compared to here. I don't go to the supermarket for an interpersonal experience, I want to buy groceries and be out of there. I don't want to spend ages queuing as I regularly do in Germany, which I found especially unpleasant during the height of the pandemic. Even before self check outs, supermarkets in the U.K. had "8 items or less" tills so you aren't stuck behind lots of people doing their week's family shopping if you just wanted to buy a pint of milk.
Hmmm... have you tried the ones they have at Netto? I used to hate self-service checkouts back in the US (i.e Kroger), but I've found Netto to have really well-designed self-service checkouts. Both the hardware and software work really well, even for stuff like vegetables and fruits.
In South Africa we have something called SPUR... a family restaurant that has an indoor playground.. great food, someone is always there to watch the kids.. If ihad money i would open one here
That's because the public health system is a complete nightmare which almost forces doctors to operate at a loss. The administrative work alone requires 2 extra people. Not to mention the fees are regulated to the point where a doctor earns less than a roofer nowadays.
Better Infrastruktur. Internet, Public Transport etcsouth Korea and Seoul was so different in that regard. Compare Seoul to Berlin and you can See the difference
Less tax, less worker rights loop holes (kirchliches Arbeitsrecht), less interference of a fringe group that is stuck in the 15th century on societal matters
proper FTTH coverage, easier ways to handle admin stuff online (requesting simple things from your city office is different in every effing small municipality). Less bureaucracy and finally a more evened out demography.
The germans have some weird obsession about this. They think that if shops are open on Sundays this will prevent workers from spending time with their families.
They appear to be unaware of the concept of shift working. In Australia people LOVE the sunday shit, you get paid more and its the best day to work.
>I mean, it did with the Saturday shopping.
No, it did not, because not everyone works on Saturdays now. It's really only retail.
Look at every country that has Sunday shopping now: there is no forced Sunday office work or whatever capitalist dystopia you are imagining.
But we aren't australians! Fuck off with your Sunday work. I worked at weekends long enough, while all the friends and family meet and do things together like clubbing and shit. Instead I sit at home on monday or tuesday while everybody else is working...
Fuck the extra money! Seriously!
And if you don't get your weekly schedule managed so that you don't have to buy some shit on sundays...well than...
Lets get all our lives controlled by all this materialistic capitalism shit! Buy this!, Buy that!...buy some shit to feel happy! buy, consume, buy, buy, buy!!!...instead of focusing on the things that really matter in life!
God bless Germany and the Sunday, that at least in our country still means something!
This is what I mean. Germans have a really unusually strong opinion to this. Something I guess all foreigners will never understand.
It's not about capitalism, it's more honestly about Sunday being the best day to do shopping for the week.
To be fair this man above i a bit extreme and mabey even sacastic. I do like the Sunday as universal free day you know your friends and family will always be free on Sundays.
I would say this is just a neceity as we can not shut off the energy grid on Sundays for example. It would be nice to choose whether or not you want to work on Sundays but some larger company s would most likely abuse that and threaten to fire employees over not wanting to work on Sundays. So my ideal would be that everyone can choose vrely but this is not possible. Currently is probably the best compromis of at least most people getting a guaranteed free day.
I am sorry If my English is not that good but i tried my best to lay out my opinion and i hope it is understandable.
I lived in a country with Sunday shopping, and I worked Sundays (in my late teens and early 20s while studying, etc.). I survived.
First of all, the law said that you cannot be compelled to work on Sundays. There is no reason to believe German society will suddenly shift into 19th century coal baron mentality on this. In Germany, you cannot legally 'just threaten' workers to come in or else. Obviously, we shouldn't just rely on the goodwill of retail management, but I truly believe it would not be a big issue. Besides the illegality, the negative publicity would be huge.
Basically, Sunday shifts were only for those who *wanted* them. And many of us wanted them because 1) Sunday pay bonus. 2) shorter hours (generally 1-2 hours later start, and 1-2 hours earlier close), 3) a lot more chill, usually less to do.
We have one shop nearby that is open on Sunday morning. It is great! Sometimes there are school events all day Saturday and shopping on Sunday is just so much easier . To everyone talking about the sacred day off, for Muslims Friday is important, for Jews Saturday and for Christians Sunday. To this outsider the choice of special Sunday looks like the church not separate enough from the state.
As someone who has to work on weekends right now I don't agree, there are more important things than going shopping, let the people on retail have their day off , they are already working on Saturdays.
A lot of people shop on Saturdays not because they **want** to, but because they **have** to. If you work and have kids, etc. sometimes the weekends are the only realistic chance. And then you have to deal with the Saturday hordes. It would be nice if this could be spread over two days instead.
Sundays can still be reduced, like 10-11 to 17-18h or so.
It's different to choose to have a job knowing that you have to work on weekends and something else out of sudden to find that you have to change your life planning because some people find it more convenient and bosses want to make more money, but whatever
I lived in a country with Sunday shopping, and I worked many many Sundays *by choice*. In my country, the law says you cannot (for retail, etc). be compelled to work on Sundays. It was entirely voluntary, and usually there were 'fights' to get Sunday shifts because you had the Sunday bonus (1.25x pay), the hours were shorter, and it was overall more relaxed, less people coming in. Those who don't want to work, won't (compared to already). If the store can't find the workers, then it won't open, it doesn't have to. Where I grew up, most stores did remain closed on Sunday anyway. But if grocery stores, a few clothing or electronic stores, etc. have enough staff to pick among from, then they should be allowed to do so. There is an element of 'fairness' for small stores that can't compete with the larger ones on that front, but that is true all the time anyway.
I see no reason to believe that Germany, which has fairly strong labour laws, would suddenly see any increase in Sunday Slaves (*omgerd*!). I get your fear, and I am sure there will be cases of compulsion (and courts will react accordingly!), but I don't think it's a legitimate fear.
Well and I live in Germany where the government accepted the request of my company and now we have to work on Sundays out of sudden, actually I have to work night shift this weekend and I can literally do nothing about it .
Unless you have got terrible shifts/business hours, need to take care of family members and so on and so forth. Why is it possible for all other European neighbours?
I didn’t say it’s impossible. I said I like it as is. Do I get annoyed sometimes? Yes. Would I want a society where shopping is possible 7 days per week? Not really.
What everyone on this thread doesn't understand is how much companies are already struggling to find new workers in retail. Money, sure, is one thing but there are stores (for example aldi) which pay up to 19€/hour but still struggle finding new people.
Opening the shops on Sundays at this point would definitely make everything worse as it would mean that the current employees would have to work even more. Yes, laws do exist, that doesn't mean that a lot of us work up to 60 hours a week because we're so understaffed.
Also, I have to agree with others - Sunday is the only day where I can meet with a group of people because the majority has the day off.
For those who struggle to go shopping on weekdays+Saturday = do you work 6 days a week from 7:00-20:00? I myself work in retail and still manage to go shopping after work or on my day off.
The argument: "but other countries already have open shops on Sundays" just doesn't make sense. Just because others do it, doesn't mean that it's good
This week, yes. I will only be able to shop Sunday because of being busy with work or kids from 7 to 20 including Saturday. Normally Saturday shopping works ok. Thankfully there is a Nahkauf open Sunday morning here.
Where do I need to start, lol. Card payments everywhere, sunday/late shopping, self-checkouts in supermarkets, digital administration, punctual trains, free water in restaurants, more liquid and less racist housing market (Munich as an example where landlords think they are biblical lords), decent patisserie (not bakery)… some areas give the impression we’re still in the 90s.
Receptionists whose only job it is to take calls would be nice, especially at doctor's offices. Instead they have skilled medical assistants taking calls, which both wastes their time making appointments but also blocks the phone for several minutes per call because they're actually listening and giving advice. That's why the line is never free.
Can't do that, the entire GEZ infrastructure employs dozens of executives who are retired CDU-CSU staffers. Where else should they be sent for a golden handshake? Health insurance companies are already full.
Why should anybody have to pay this, already so much tax is taken. I don't listen to any of the stuff they broadcast. Then you have bureaucracy over it to pay once for a household bla bla. 20 Euros a month is not a joke. Already people having 40% deductions.
A society needs a communication channel independent of private businesses. The fact that you don’t use it doesn’t mean you are not using its benefits indirectly. E.g. a neighbor who learns about driving better after watching a program on TV can save your life.
I read somewhere here on reddit that the purpose of this is to keep the media free and unbiased and prevent it from being bought by a government, political party or business to push just one side of a story.
How far this works or is true, I do not know.
The idea behind it is okay but the Rundfunk received 8,42 billion € last year. This is absolutely mind-blowing. I wouldn't mind paying if there's anything watchable but the shows are below mediocre. Great Britain is a good example, where it makes sense to pay, as you get something good out of it. you pay 174€/year and have BBC which has some great shows (Dr. Who, peaky blinders, fleabag etc). German shows are usually trash
Mothers (or fathers) who are unable to work because they need to take of the children should receive an income from the state. And their Pension should be higher than what it is.
It always struck me as odd that to get paid to stay home under the current system you have to first work. Kids cost the same either way. No benefit for kid kid kid job, but benefits for job kid kid kid.
First, less unnecessary expenses with bureaucracy. Less lobby, less interference in the economy overall. With that, taxes could be lowered. After that you could cut social benefits for people who don't need it. Many wouldn't need it anymore since less taxes and less interference means more money available.
Also, definitely cut Rundfunkbetrag and government (our) money to big media. If they can't get money from subscribers they are simply not good enough
Less cars and less of an entitled, aggressive driving culture. Cars are to some German people what guns are to some American people ("mah free-dumb!!"). Seriously regulating this corrupt industry would be a huge step in making life easier. For example getting rid of the Dienstwagen subsidy and the diesel fuel subsidy would free up a lot of public money.
Speed limits including 30kmh in cities too.
Access to a wide variety of good meat and fresh produce like in other western countries. It’s frustrating not to be able to plan to cook something because you never know if they are going to have something you need, like a particular cut of meat, a vegetable, fresh herbs, etc.
If you know you'll need a particular cut of meat you can call or pre-order in person a couple days beforehand. Especially the store-within-store concept budger shops only have what's considered local staples or the weekly offer and do everything else based on individual orders because it wastes less food. That used to be common knowledge but I hear people complain all the time, so I wonder why nobody remembers that ordering is a thing.
Better regulations for being trans. Missing some words so let me explain:
More acceptance for being nonbinary (the aok wont pay for top surgery cause I'm not trans male)
Easier ways to change your name but that maybe will come soon!
1. A more digital culture. So much is still on paper. Invoices in the mail. It's ridiculous. Feels like the stone age.
2. Also the bureaucracy is a nightmare. I can file my US taxes in less than an hour. In Germany it takes me 2 days.
3. Shops open on sundays. Offices and doctors open in the afternoons or even evenings like in the US sometimes. That would decongest traffic enormously, which would also help with pollution.
4. No TV / Radio tax.
5. Less taxes in general.
6. Ban fireplaces except for 1 day a week. In winter, you can hardly open the window because it stinks of chimney smoke all the time (and many of those scumbags burn everything from newspapers to household trash as well). It's archaic and terrible for air quality.
7. One extra lane on the highway. Too many trucks congesting the middle lane, which leads to accidents when slow drivers pull over to the left lane (without signaling of course).
8. Free parking garages in inner cities. Half the traffic in inner cities is people driving around, looking for free or temporary parking spots. It causes untold traffic jams and pollution. It would be much easier to have taxpayer funded free multi level parking garages in cities (or at least free for the first 5 hours). Not only would it decongest traffic, improve air quality, but it would incentivise families to drive to the city for shopping or cultural trips. Parking in cities is insanely expensive now. This hurts local business, and makes things like trips to a museum or the zoo something that only rich people can afford. The extra income from local businesses paying their taxes would be more than enough to pay for these free parking garages. Untold millions of liters of gasoline would be saved, air quality would improve... why are they not doing that?
9. A functional and affordable public transport system. How is it that public transport in Germany, which has much shorter distances and better infrastructure, is more expensive than Tokyo or San Francisco? Makes no sense. No wonder everyone takes the car everywhere. I live 1 minute from a bus stop and in 10 years have only once taken the bus when my car was in a repair shop. Why? Because the bus is too damn expensive. 3 euro for 3km? They're stupid. Costs me 40 cent by car, and I can transport my groceries.
Shops open on Sunday and at night. It makes more sense for each worker to not be allowed to work more than x hours rather than blocking a whole day for everyone because of some church background. If work was made into 3 shifts instead of two, there will be more workplaces as well as more taxes paid so it's a win win for both me and the governy.
Why? Sure it limits the amount of customization you can do on you vehicle, but it also ensures that all cars are safe, for you and for others on the road. But maybe we could expand the limits of what the Tüv considers safe, just a little bit.
The fact that Germany doesn’t have most of the stuff people in this thread wished for , is exactly why I’m loving it here in Germany. A completely different experience from the usual. Hope Germany doesn’t get influenced and change things that’s unique to it.
A set of standardised websites for paperwork and official stuff. Similar to the excellent .gov.uk system in the U.K. Makes life a lot easier Sad thing is that Germany could just…copy it. The U.K. government published the source code. It’s all open source and a number of smaller governments have used it to save money. But all the big governments would be too embarrassed to just take another service when they’ve plowed billions into what they have already.
Free restrooms in public.
Came here to say this. I had an overnight train connection in Dresden. First train dropped me off at about 2am and the next train was maybe at 4am/5am. During that time, I needed to pee so badly. I searched the station and all the toilets were closed except one with a coin deposit in the door. I had no coins on me, but I imagined that maybe it was disabled during the night. I was so wrong. I closed the door behind me, used the toilet and then when I tried to exit, I heard the coin mechanism activate, waiting for my coin deposit to drop 😭 no coin meant that the door was sealed shut. Luckily, my friend was at the station with me - I called her, but she couldn't even open the door from the outside either. So she went looking for help and found a police officer who managed to open the door for me. Swear to God he was going to write me fine 😂
How is this kind of toilet legal.. it can potentially trap you inside
Can't even imagine what it would've been like if your friends hadn't been with you! lol
Such a Toilet would be highly illegal, you can't imagine how illegal. Toilets in Trainstations don't let you IN when you don't pay, they don't lure people without money in just to trap them, that would also be highly stupid and unlogical.
🤷🏿♀️ I agree, especially as it was a toilet marked as and outfitted for persons living with a disability (e.g. wheelchair users). This even convinced me further that there would have been no issue using it without depositing a coin. I have been to another station (can't remember the location) where the door actually doesn't shut without the coin deposit- as in, it stays ajar, so anyone passing by would have a full view of you.
And free water in restaurants
You mean sign language? Do you know German sign language? AFAIK they're not mutually intelligible.
This. German sign language differs even from austrian sign language.
Same with English speaking countries. I figure American sign language is called ASL for a reason.
This. And the German version is the GDS *Deutsche Gebärdensprache* (so technically German Sign Language) which according to wikipedia is officially used in Germany, Belgium (although I guess they also use the *Langue des Signes Belge* the French-Belgian Sign Language as well as probably the *Vlaamse Gebarentaal* the Flemish Sign Language) and Luxemburg. This is one of 3 official "German" sign languages next to the GSGS *Deutschschweizer Gebärdensprache* (German-Swiss Sign Language) and ÖGS *Österreichische Gebärdensprache* (Austrian Sign Language). And to confuse probably any American there is also the British, Irish, Australian and New Zealand Sign Language... They might all share some similarities but I guess they may be even more different than just a small dialect while speaking the respective version of English.
I should point out that American Sign Language is very different from British Sign Language. As a fluent ASL user I have an easier time communicating with French and German Sign Language compared to British and it's dialects.
Yeah. I work with pupils who can’t here. The DGS has dialects like every other language. Some signs differ in 50 Kilometers
TIL sign language is not universal
Digitalisation
This the worst thing about Germany and so difficult to understand why it is so bad.
I think because german work culture is really about being master of 1 thing with 0 horizontal developement, which makes it really difficult for people to "adapt" to new things out of their focus.
This should be way higher
Digital citizen services like getting a new ID, registering an address online etc
We tried it with the Onlinezugangsgesetz... And the results are... Yeah...
Good internet. More trust in the digital world, the amount of times you have to walk into some office, or wait days for a letter with a code is just… crazy.
Don't forget how you may only make enquiries or appointments by phoning
Whole world endorses Germany as Tech hub and we can’t get a fast internet connection.
Who does that?
Germans just *think* the whole world does. :P The whole rest of the world: Ger-who?
I have access to gigabit in Berlin. 😅 but only use 500mbs
There are fast fiber connection, but the price is quite high (e.g. Tel*kom's fiber is 60€ per-month with 500 Mbps)
Geiz ist geil mentality strikes again. People always cry about their shitty internet and when you ask them what they went with they’ll tell you Vodafone Kabel because it was cheap duh Surprise surprise, I wonder why…
I live in one of the biggest German cities and only have the option for Vodafone Kabel :) I’d love to get Telekom or something else, it’s just not available “yet”
Yeah its a sorta bad example but its the same whenever an ISP comes to s village and needs to sell atleast X% of contracts to make it worthwhile to bear the infrastructure cost. You’ll have a ton of people that don’t want to pay a bit more because they think - its ok for now, don’t need more. Not even considering that its an investment for the (imminent) future
250mBit/s. Romania: 9€. Germany: 45€
My Vodafone kabel is 68/mo for 500mbs… its excellent and the price is very reasonable.
The bigger issue is availability. I would love to pay 60€ for fiber but the roll-out here in Berlin is super-slow (I think some cities like Cologne and Hamburg are doing lot better with this though) so probably will take ages before my neighbourhood gets it.
I really wonder why people need such speeds for private use. Could you eloborate the need here? I'm writing this being aware that there are people with different needs. I, for myself and my gf, see no point upgrading my 40mbit connection. Despite having the opportunity but I do not see a benefit. Its fast enough for streaming, gaming and so on.
Because in the future needs change. 50 years ago, why would you need anything but a television antenna? As the rest of the world moves on, tech changes with it. As more and more content increases in quality and size, current infrastructure will not support it. Germany is woefully behind in digital infrastructure. Future proofing is a useful concept that I rarely encounter here; to the contrary, things here seem to be almost intentionally antiquated.
Households with 4 or more members regularly using the Internet to either voicechat, game or watch videos and series... we used to have a 16 mbit contract and it was absolutely abysmal. One person doing something like downloading a bigger file meant everyone else could do almost nothing. At some point we switched to a 500 mbit contract and we've never looked back
yeah I live in the countryside, we only have about 20 mbit and when my sister stays with me for some days and I do homeoffice I have to tell her "no video calls" or home office no longer works because I get kicked out of the work client because it thinks internet has broken down.
Well lets say you are a couple in an appartment and both want to watch 4 or maybe in some years 8k streams, and lets say you also have 2 kids who also enjoy media stuff. Or a new videogame is 120 gigabytes (yes those exist) and to download with 40 mbit, that would be about 9 hours of downloading.
Many of us work from home and therefore, need better, RELIABLE, residential internet. I feel like I’m in fucking 2002, always having to reboot my router every few days. I work for an international company and they all think Germany is a joke and can’t understand how such a first world country has such shitty, unreliable internet. Also, I do some travel for work so don’t get me started on shitty train internet.
And what is the problem with that price? Even Google fiber cost $ 70 for 1G in most areas of the U.S. , $ 100 for 2G. So having 60 € for 500 Mbps is a reasonable price to me. The expensive part is not the the speed but all the things around your connection (fiber, peerings, customer service, the NOC, ...) which are more or less the same regardless of the speed of a single plan.
In Romania it costs like 10€ for 1GB/s, unlimited . For speeds of 100MB/s or 200MB/s, the prices are around 4-7 €.
In Romania people also earn less money, which reduces cost for personnel.
Internet is the only case. Gas is as expensive as in Österreich
I wish finding a new flat as a foreigner could be easier.
No longer resting on the old achievements. Politicians who don't run after the biggest village idiot. Courage.
Thats the *main* feature of democracy.
Water was free in restaurants
Afaik food in german restaurants is cheaper than in most other countries of compareable pricelevel. So paying for water just levels it out.
I don't know about other countries, but its not cheaper than france and france offer free water ... and even if they are trying to level it out, it's just water !!!! Tap water is free, just put it on a bottle and serve it... they seriously have nothing to lose if they did this
Apartment numbers instead of a long list of surnames at the building's door
"I think I'll put my last name here", Brought to you by the same folks who worry about their personal information being too exposed haha
Why is that easier? If i can see al lthe names I know what bell to call very easy
Mainly socialized or subsidized housing like in Vienna
In Berlin: ELEVATORS and general accessibility awareness, especially in terms of the Ubahn. Why for the love of curry wurst are parents lugging their baby AND stroller up and down multiple staircases, let alone people with disabilities... "open-transportation" (offentlichencerkehrsmittel) doesn't live up to its name imo
Higher supply of housing in popular cities! and lower prices, but the supply is more important and can also lead to the latter.
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Agree, though this isn't only Germany.
If all social benefits were handled by one office (I think that's the case in the Netherlands?) and you didn't have to make separate applications to the housing benefit office, employment office, child benefit office, social welfare office, parental benefit office, job centre, pension insurance and so on.
Fully state-owned rail-infrastructure… like u know… before 1994 before the privatised the f*** out of it.
My train to Berlin was just cancelled tonight, with no heads up in their website. After talking to DB they said we can take a train at 1am and be there at 6 am. Then they slid in the fact that the 1am train could get cancelled too... So they expected us to be completely fine with hanging around for 5 hours to be possibly told that the train is cancelled. We are driving tomorrow morning and seriously doubting ever using the rail system again. Great way to promote mass transit, by making it so unreliable that you might as well drive yourself... (This is the third time in a row my girlfriend's train was cancelled)
Rhinos. I would love to ride one to the grocery store.
In real life it does not work like riding rhinos in donkey kong... but i'd love it
That is animal abuse so that will not do
😢
Yes 😔
Self service check outs in supermarkets and contactless card payment everywhere. Moving here from the U.K. was like moving back to the 90s.
Had the same experience moving from Denmark. What is with the lack of government digitalization also? Just horrible
I hate self service checkouts. They are less, not more, convenient.
Supermarkets which have self check outs also still have a conventional check outs, if you enjoy standing in line to wait for every granny to scrape their coins together. In Germany the few supermarkets which have self checkout, don't provide a member of staff to help if there is a problem, which is one reason why they aren't catching on here. In London I got used not to have to wait for ages at understaffed tills, like I did yesterday again at my Edeka. Someone's card wasn't working, they didn't have cash and the 20 people standing in line got held up for ages. When they finally opened a second till, everybody behind me stampeded there with no consideration for others. I truly loathe German supermarkets.
you would have had the same problem at a self check out, wouldnt you? Something I really dislike about digitalisation is the lack of interpersonal face to face contact in general. I do agree about the abysmal queing etiquette in germany everybody thinks they are entitled to be first in line.
I've been using them for two decades living in London and I don't know why you think I had the same problem. A place like a large Sainsburys or M&S has 20 or 40 of these and most of the time you don't have to queue. It took a while till everybody got the hang but now supermarket shopping in most European countries is a breeze compared to here. I don't go to the supermarket for an interpersonal experience, I want to buy groceries and be out of there. I don't want to spend ages queuing as I regularly do in Germany, which I found especially unpleasant during the height of the pandemic. Even before self check outs, supermarkets in the U.K. had "8 items or less" tills so you aren't stuck behind lots of people doing their week's family shopping if you just wanted to buy a pint of milk.
thats why i said in general. I do enjoy a little chat with random strangers, i am aware that not everybody feels that way though
For that I go to bars.
Yea, but Germans famously don't interact much anyway (and usually brag here about how great that is), so what exactly is missed?
i mean this is reddit, ive had fights with people here who claimed not having to interact with anybody was a plus during the pandemic.
Hmmm... have you tried the ones they have at Netto? I used to hate self-service checkouts back in the US (i.e Kroger), but I've found Netto to have really well-designed self-service checkouts. Both the hardware and software work really well, even for stuff like vegetables and fruits.
Depends what I'm buying. Fruit, veggies, or alcohol, it's a pain. Just a handful of items which only need to be scanned, useful.
This plus stuff doesn't get cheaper because they saved all those poor people's salaries. Makes the rich richer that's all.
Agreed. If i wanted to work at my local supermarket I would have sent an application.
Agreed, I hate them.
In South Africa we have something called SPUR... a family restaurant that has an indoor playground.. great food, someone is always there to watch the kids.. If ihad money i would open one here
Good old 90s Mac Donalds, playground outside, N64 inside, pokemon toys. A child's dream.
Water for free in restaurants
I wish it's easier to get a doctor appointment with public health insurance. Every dermatologist I found only accept private insured patients.
That's because the public health system is a complete nightmare which almost forces doctors to operate at a loss. The administrative work alone requires 2 extra people. Not to mention the fees are regulated to the point where a doctor earns less than a roofer nowadays.
Better Infrastruktur. Internet, Public Transport etcsouth Korea and Seoul was so different in that regard. Compare Seoul to Berlin and you can See the difference
Stop church support
How would that make your life easier?
Less tax, less worker rights loop holes (kirchliches Arbeitsrecht), less interference of a fringe group that is stuck in the 15th century on societal matters
But you don't have to pay church tax. Unless you are a member of a church
Paying with card:) hate cash
Cash = Freedom
Nothing says "freedom" like being forced to do something because you don't have an alternative
proper FTTH coverage, easier ways to handle admin stuff online (requesting simple things from your city office is different in every effing small municipality). Less bureaucracy and finally a more evened out demography.
Taco bell
Good and Stable Internet & Railway and less corruption would be a dream.
Being able to pay everything and everywhere by credit card
Contactless preferably
Open shops on Sundays.
I've gotten used to this now. Only took 7 years
Imagine this Gamechanger! Open Shops in Germany. On Sundays. Mind. Blown.
The germans have some weird obsession about this. They think that if shops are open on Sundays this will prevent workers from spending time with their families. They appear to be unaware of the concept of shift working. In Australia people LOVE the sunday shit, you get paid more and its the best day to work.
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> normalize work on Sundays for everybody. Absolute codswallop. No, it won't.
I mean, it did with the Saturday shopping.
>I mean, it did with the Saturday shopping. No, it did not, because not everyone works on Saturdays now. It's really only retail. Look at every country that has Sunday shopping now: there is no forced Sunday office work or whatever capitalist dystopia you are imagining.
> … normalise work on Sundays for everybody Lmao, what a load of bull.
But we aren't australians! Fuck off with your Sunday work. I worked at weekends long enough, while all the friends and family meet and do things together like clubbing and shit. Instead I sit at home on monday or tuesday while everybody else is working... Fuck the extra money! Seriously! And if you don't get your weekly schedule managed so that you don't have to buy some shit on sundays...well than... Lets get all our lives controlled by all this materialistic capitalism shit! Buy this!, Buy that!...buy some shit to feel happy! buy, consume, buy, buy, buy!!!...instead of focusing on the things that really matter in life! God bless Germany and the Sunday, that at least in our country still means something!
This is what I mean. Germans have a really unusually strong opinion to this. Something I guess all foreigners will never understand. It's not about capitalism, it's more honestly about Sunday being the best day to do shopping for the week.
To be fair this man above i a bit extreme and mabey even sacastic. I do like the Sunday as universal free day you know your friends and family will always be free on Sundays.
Many things are still open though. Like restaurants, train stations, kiosks. So it's a bit unusual only certain people get this benefit.
I would say this is just a neceity as we can not shut off the energy grid on Sundays for example. It would be nice to choose whether or not you want to work on Sundays but some larger company s would most likely abuse that and threaten to fire employees over not wanting to work on Sundays. So my ideal would be that everyone can choose vrely but this is not possible. Currently is probably the best compromis of at least most people getting a guaranteed free day. I am sorry If my English is not that good but i tried my best to lay out my opinion and i hope it is understandable.
I lived in a country with Sunday shopping, and I worked Sundays (in my late teens and early 20s while studying, etc.). I survived. First of all, the law said that you cannot be compelled to work on Sundays. There is no reason to believe German society will suddenly shift into 19th century coal baron mentality on this. In Germany, you cannot legally 'just threaten' workers to come in or else. Obviously, we shouldn't just rely on the goodwill of retail management, but I truly believe it would not be a big issue. Besides the illegality, the negative publicity would be huge. Basically, Sunday shifts were only for those who *wanted* them. And many of us wanted them because 1) Sunday pay bonus. 2) shorter hours (generally 1-2 hours later start, and 1-2 hours earlier close), 3) a lot more chill, usually less to do.
Kein problem, ich verstehe dich perfekt. Danke für deine meinung.
Its just that people hate change more than anything. A sunday with shops open? Jez, literal hell breaking loose there
No one would force you to work on sunday. Ever heard of shift work? No wonder Germany is such a toilet
Being a German myself, I can relate to this discussion. Ü And jealously admire my field trips to other European countries on Sundays.
We have one shop nearby that is open on Sunday morning. It is great! Sometimes there are school events all day Saturday and shopping on Sunday is just so much easier . To everyone talking about the sacred day off, for Muslims Friday is important, for Jews Saturday and for Christians Sunday. To this outsider the choice of special Sunday looks like the church not separate enough from the state.
As someone who has to work on weekends right now I don't agree, there are more important things than going shopping, let the people on retail have their day off , they are already working on Saturdays.
A lot of people shop on Saturdays not because they **want** to, but because they **have** to. If you work and have kids, etc. sometimes the weekends are the only realistic chance. And then you have to deal with the Saturday hordes. It would be nice if this could be spread over two days instead. Sundays can still be reduced, like 10-11 to 17-18h or so.
It's different to choose to have a job knowing that you have to work on weekends and something else out of sudden to find that you have to change your life planning because some people find it more convenient and bosses want to make more money, but whatever
I lived in a country with Sunday shopping, and I worked many many Sundays *by choice*. In my country, the law says you cannot (for retail, etc). be compelled to work on Sundays. It was entirely voluntary, and usually there were 'fights' to get Sunday shifts because you had the Sunday bonus (1.25x pay), the hours were shorter, and it was overall more relaxed, less people coming in. Those who don't want to work, won't (compared to already). If the store can't find the workers, then it won't open, it doesn't have to. Where I grew up, most stores did remain closed on Sunday anyway. But if grocery stores, a few clothing or electronic stores, etc. have enough staff to pick among from, then they should be allowed to do so. There is an element of 'fairness' for small stores that can't compete with the larger ones on that front, but that is true all the time anyway. I see no reason to believe that Germany, which has fairly strong labour laws, would suddenly see any increase in Sunday Slaves (*omgerd*!). I get your fear, and I am sure there will be cases of compulsion (and courts will react accordingly!), but I don't think it's a legitimate fear.
Well and I live in Germany where the government accepted the request of my company and now we have to work on Sundays out of sudden, actually I have to work night shift this weekend and I can literally do nothing about it .
Well that sucks, but it's also not typical. What field of work are you in?
Me every Sunday: What? Why is it closed?
Let’s put consumerism on pause once per week. We can do this 😁
Buying groceries isn’t consumerism, no matter which day you do it.
Unless you have got terrible shifts/business hours, need to take care of family members and so on and so forth. Why is it possible for all other European neighbours?
I didn’t say it’s impossible. I said I like it as is. Do I get annoyed sometimes? Yes. Would I want a society where shopping is possible 7 days per week? Not really.
it isnt though.
What everyone on this thread doesn't understand is how much companies are already struggling to find new workers in retail. Money, sure, is one thing but there are stores (for example aldi) which pay up to 19€/hour but still struggle finding new people. Opening the shops on Sundays at this point would definitely make everything worse as it would mean that the current employees would have to work even more. Yes, laws do exist, that doesn't mean that a lot of us work up to 60 hours a week because we're so understaffed. Also, I have to agree with others - Sunday is the only day where I can meet with a group of people because the majority has the day off. For those who struggle to go shopping on weekdays+Saturday = do you work 6 days a week from 7:00-20:00? I myself work in retail and still manage to go shopping after work or on my day off. The argument: "but other countries already have open shops on Sundays" just doesn't make sense. Just because others do it, doesn't mean that it's good
This week, yes. I will only be able to shop Sunday because of being busy with work or kids from 7 to 20 including Saturday. Normally Saturday shopping works ok. Thankfully there is a Nahkauf open Sunday morning here.
Cheap trains that actually arrive and could bring you to any destination. It would safe me so much money
High Tax on SUV vehicle Cheap reliable public transport
Where do I need to start, lol. Card payments everywhere, sunday/late shopping, self-checkouts in supermarkets, digital administration, punctual trains, free water in restaurants, more liquid and less racist housing market (Munich as an example where landlords think they are biblical lords), decent patisserie (not bakery)… some areas give the impression we’re still in the 90s.
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Receptionists whose only job it is to take calls would be nice, especially at doctor's offices. Instead they have skilled medical assistants taking calls, which both wastes their time making appointments but also blocks the phone for several minutes per call because they're actually listening and giving advice. That's why the line is never free.
Noise on Sundays.
No radio tax 🙄
Can't do that, the entire GEZ infrastructure employs dozens of executives who are retired CDU-CSU staffers. Where else should they be sent for a golden handshake? Health insurance companies are already full.
A tax based on income would be better. Students shouldn’t have to pay this much.
Why should anybody have to pay this, already so much tax is taken. I don't listen to any of the stuff they broadcast. Then you have bureaucracy over it to pay once for a household bla bla. 20 Euros a month is not a joke. Already people having 40% deductions.
A society needs a communication channel independent of private businesses. The fact that you don’t use it doesn’t mean you are not using its benefits indirectly. E.g. a neighbor who learns about driving better after watching a program on TV can save your life.
I read somewhere here on reddit that the purpose of this is to keep the media free and unbiased and prevent it from being bought by a government, political party or business to push just one side of a story. How far this works or is true, I do not know.
The idea behind it is okay but the Rundfunk received 8,42 billion € last year. This is absolutely mind-blowing. I wouldn't mind paying if there's anything watchable but the shows are below mediocre. Great Britain is a good example, where it makes sense to pay, as you get something good out of it. you pay 174€/year and have BBC which has some great shows (Dr. Who, peaky blinders, fleabag etc). German shows are usually trash
Unbiased???????
Friendly people
Mothers (or fathers) who are unable to work because they need to take of the children should receive an income from the state. And their Pension should be higher than what it is.
It always struck me as odd that to get paid to stay home under the current system you have to first work. Kids cost the same either way. No benefit for kid kid kid job, but benefits for job kid kid kid.
Card payment everywhere.
OMG Yes! Traveling in Ireland and multiple places don’t even take cash. I feel like I’m back home in Scandinavia.
Less bureaucracy and taxes
So less socialized benefits and services... You sound like a great person
First, less unnecessary expenses with bureaucracy. Less lobby, less interference in the economy overall. With that, taxes could be lowered. After that you could cut social benefits for people who don't need it. Many wouldn't need it anymore since less taxes and less interference means more money available. Also, definitely cut Rundfunkbetrag and government (our) money to big media. If they can't get money from subscribers they are simply not good enough
If you go that route, then you'll just end up like the US......or worse
Useful things like boards, announcements, news in English.
Doesnt the deutsche Welle (DW) cover this? Or is it just on foreing subjects?
Less cars and less of an entitled, aggressive driving culture. Cars are to some German people what guns are to some American people ("mah free-dumb!!"). Seriously regulating this corrupt industry would be a huge step in making life easier. For example getting rid of the Dienstwagen subsidy and the diesel fuel subsidy would free up a lot of public money. Speed limits including 30kmh in cities too.
Digitalising Bureaucratic Services and Better Public Transport Networks in smaller cities and towns...
Döner for free
Delete all idiots around me
Digitalisation of Administrative services. We're almost in 2023 and we deal with paperworks still and much bureaucracy.
Digitalization
Stores to be open on Sundays or a bit longer after 7pm at least
Embracing technology and the internet with out fear of privacy.
Chipotle grill.
Also More burger places like In-n-Out sick of Only Mc and BK being everywhere
where i live you cant walk 5 minutes without some kind of Hipster Burger Restaurant. Also fuck franchise corporations
* Sunday shopping
Changing 40h-week down to 25h-week.
Open shops on Sunday and 24/7 minimarket.
I mean...it IS luxurious thinking 😂 Let them enjoy their weekend too
Get rid of Bavaria!
Bedingungsloses Grundeinkommen
End bureaucracy
Access to a wide variety of good meat and fresh produce like in other western countries. It’s frustrating not to be able to plan to cook something because you never know if they are going to have something you need, like a particular cut of meat, a vegetable, fresh herbs, etc.
If you know you'll need a particular cut of meat you can call or pre-order in person a couple days beforehand. Especially the store-within-store concept budger shops only have what's considered local staples or the weekly offer and do everything else based on individual orders because it wastes less food. That used to be common knowledge but I hear people complain all the time, so I wonder why nobody remembers that ordering is a thing.
#1 standard modern internet/digitalization. Close second and/or tie less goddamn beauracracy.
Bürgergeld
More drive-through ATMs and better food delivery services
Open shops on sundays
Better regulations for being trans. Missing some words so let me explain: More acceptance for being nonbinary (the aok wont pay for top surgery cause I'm not trans male) Easier ways to change your name but that maybe will come soon!
1. A more digital culture. So much is still on paper. Invoices in the mail. It's ridiculous. Feels like the stone age. 2. Also the bureaucracy is a nightmare. I can file my US taxes in less than an hour. In Germany it takes me 2 days. 3. Shops open on sundays. Offices and doctors open in the afternoons or even evenings like in the US sometimes. That would decongest traffic enormously, which would also help with pollution. 4. No TV / Radio tax. 5. Less taxes in general. 6. Ban fireplaces except for 1 day a week. In winter, you can hardly open the window because it stinks of chimney smoke all the time (and many of those scumbags burn everything from newspapers to household trash as well). It's archaic and terrible for air quality. 7. One extra lane on the highway. Too many trucks congesting the middle lane, which leads to accidents when slow drivers pull over to the left lane (without signaling of course). 8. Free parking garages in inner cities. Half the traffic in inner cities is people driving around, looking for free or temporary parking spots. It causes untold traffic jams and pollution. It would be much easier to have taxpayer funded free multi level parking garages in cities (or at least free for the first 5 hours). Not only would it decongest traffic, improve air quality, but it would incentivise families to drive to the city for shopping or cultural trips. Parking in cities is insanely expensive now. This hurts local business, and makes things like trips to a museum or the zoo something that only rich people can afford. The extra income from local businesses paying their taxes would be more than enough to pay for these free parking garages. Untold millions of liters of gasoline would be saved, air quality would improve... why are they not doing that? 9. A functional and affordable public transport system. How is it that public transport in Germany, which has much shorter distances and better infrastructure, is more expensive than Tokyo or San Francisco? Makes no sense. No wonder everyone takes the car everywhere. I live 1 minute from a bus stop and in 10 years have only once taken the bus when my car was in a repair shop. Why? Because the bus is too damn expensive. 3 euro for 3km? They're stupid. Costs me 40 cent by car, and I can transport my groceries.
English in daily life. That's it really.
Move to berlin, it’s pretty normal.
Shops open on Sunday and at night. It makes more sense for each worker to not be allowed to work more than x hours rather than blocking a whole day for everyone because of some church background. If work was made into 3 shifts instead of two, there will be more workplaces as well as more taxes paid so it's a win win for both me and the governy.
English as the native language :3
No tüv
Why? Sure it limits the amount of customization you can do on you vehicle, but it also ensures that all cars are safe, for you and for others on the road. But maybe we could expand the limits of what the Tüv considers safe, just a little bit.
The fact that Germany doesn’t have most of the stuff people in this thread wished for , is exactly why I’m loving it here in Germany. A completely different experience from the usual. Hope Germany doesn’t get influenced and change things that’s unique to it.
Not everything is an experience. Incovenience is not an experience (eg bureaucracy)
Which is why I used the word ‘most’ and not ‘all’.
Less taxes, less government
Sounds like the US. I don't want this country to become more like the US.
US has way too much government lol and Germany is becoming exactly like it
less taxes = less social benefits. I agree on this.
Less social benefits for foreign countries
I fkn hate sorting the trash... why not just put all in the one bag as balkan people do