Sewn twice holds better. A German proverb about redundancy, said approvingly. Alongside auf Nummer sicher gehen, to go on the safe number, and sicher ist sicher, safe is safe — which is a tautology, offered as a reason.
The spare parts store
Das Ersatzteillager. German manufacturers commit to spare parts availability for long periods after a product line ends, and hold the inventory to do it. The obligation extends decades past the sale. The stock is held against a failure that has not occurred in a machine that may already have been scrapped.
The savings rate
Sparquote. German household saving rates run consistently high by international comparison and rose further during periods of uncertainty rather than falling. The reserve grows when it looks most likely to be needed.
Saving before borrowing
Der Bausparvertrag. A German savings contract taken out years before a house is bought: you save to a fixed target, and only then does the loan become available. The instrument requires the saving phase before the borrowing phase. The contingency is built into the sequence.
Insured against everything
Germans carry insurance that has no obvious equivalent elsewhere. Haftpflichtversicherung, personal liability, held by a large majority of households. Rechtsschutzversicherung, legal expenses. Berufsunfähigkeitsversicherung, occupational disability. None of these is compulsory. All of them are normal.
The household stockpile
Vorratshaltung. The German Federal Office of Civil Protection publishes a recommendation that households keep supplies of food and water for a period of days, with a checklist of what and how much. The state issues a stockpiling guide to ordinary citizens as standing advice, not in response to any particular threat.
Buffer time
Buffer time. German project planning builds slack into the schedule itself, allocated to specific stages and carried in the plan. It is not contingency held to one side. It is time that was planned, for events that were not.
The safety factor
Sicherheitsfaktor. German engineering practice works with generous safety factors, specified in DIN standards and in the professional codes of the engineering chambers. The structure is built to carry loads it will never meet. The margin is the contingency, and it sits in the design rather than in a separate plan.
The equity ratio
Eigenkapitalquote. German Mittelstand companies carry notably high equity ratios by international standards, and treat it as a matter of prudence rather than inefficiency. Debt is capacity you have already spent. Equity is the buffer that lets a firm survive a year it did not plan for.
Provisions
Rückstellungen. German firms are required to make provisions for uncertain future obligations — pensions, warranties, litigation, maintenance not yet carried out. The money is set aside against a thing that has not happened yet and may not. The obligation to reserve arises from the possibility.