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Our Advertising Is the Low Price

Unsere Werbung liegt im billigen Preis. Our advertising lies in the low price. Karl Albrecht said this in 1953. After the 1948 currency reform he and his brother had rebuilt their mother’s shop around a small range of goods and low prices. The discounter Aldi grew from it. When Aldi cut the price of its cheapest 250-gram pack of butter from 1.45 to 1.39 euros on 1 August 2023, it was national news. Aldi called itself the Preisführer, the price leader. Edeka and Rewe said their supermarkets and discount chains would follow.

The competition over price takes place between the retailers, in public. The customer is not part of it.

Bought Is Bought

Gekauft ist gekauft, bought is bought. The consumer advice center in Hamburg uses the phrase for a basic rule of German shopping. A customer who buys something in a store has no legal right to bring it back because she no longer likes it. Einzelhändler sind beim Kauf in einem Ladengeschäft nicht verpflichtet, Waren zurückzunehmen. Retailers are not obliged to take back goods bought in a store. Many shops take goods back anyway. This is called Kulanz, goodwill, and the shop sets the conditions. It may give a voucher instead of cash, for example. Defective goods are a different matter. For purchases made online, the law gives the buyer 14 days to withdraw.

Penny’s True Prices

For one week from 31 July 2023, the discount supermarket Penny charged wahre Preise, true prices, for nine of its more than 3,000 products. Scientists from the Technische Hochschule Nürnberg and the University of Greifswald had calculated the prices. They added the costs that food production causes for soil, climate, water and health. Maasdamer cheese became 94 percent more expensive. Vienna sausages became 88 percent more expensive. A vegan schnitzel rose by only 5 percent. Penny said it would give the extra revenue to a project for climate protection and family farms in the Alpine region.

What the Car Is Worth

A German who sells a used car often asks first what the car is worth nach Schwacke. The Schwacke list first appeared on 15 November 1957. It gives the residual value of used vehicles by model, year, equipment and mileage, independent of the condition of the single car. People call it simply Schwacke. Banks use it to decide how much they will lend against a car. The Deutsche Automobil Treuhand, the DAT, was founded in 1931 by the associations of the car industry and the car trade. It also publishes used-car valuations and forecasts of residual values.

Fourteen Days to Change Your Mind

A salesman rings the doorbell, and the customer signs a contract in the living room. German law gives the customer 14 days to undo it. The Civil Code grants a right of withdrawal, the Widerrufsrecht, for contracts concluded outside business premises. Die Widerrufsfrist beträgt 14 Tage. The period of withdrawal is 14 days. Der Widerruf muss keine Begründung enthalten. The withdrawal does not need to give a reason. The rule goes back to the law on doorstep sales, which came into force on 1 May 1986 and gave the customer one week. Today the period is set by EU law. Since 2014, the German law also names Kaffeefahrten expressly, the bus outings on which the organizer sells goods to the passengers. The reason for the rule is surprise. The EU directive on doorstep sales of 1985 spoke of an Überrumpelungseffekt, an effect of being taken by surprise. The customer closes the deal ohne ausreichende Überlegung, without enough thought.

Wedding Rebates

Hochzeitsrabatte, wedding rebates, is the German term for the better terms that a buyer demands from its suppliers after a merger. At the end of 2008 the supermarket chain Edeka took over about 2,300 Plus stores from Tengelmann. It compared the purchase prices of the two chains for about 500 suppliers and asked each supplier for the better of the two terms. It also asked for a Partnerschaftsvergütung, a “partnership payment,” to fund the renovation of the Plus stores. On 23 January 2018 the Federal Court of Justice ruled that much of this was an abuse of buying power. A buyer may not pick only the best items from each contract, which the court called Rosinenpicken, picking out the raisins. It may also not ask for payments that give the supplier nothing in return. The law behind the ruling is the Anzapfverbot in Section 19 of the Competition Act. Anzapfen means to tap, as one taps a barrel. A powerful company may not demand advantages from others without an objective reason.

The court also said that hard bargaining remains allowed, even for a dominant company. What the law stops is taking something for nothing.

The Milk Strike and the Fair Milk

In April 2008 German retailers cut the price of fresh milk by 12 cents per liter. On 26 May 2008 the dairy farmers’ association BDM began a delivery boycott with no end date. Farmers stopped delivering milk to the dairies. On 6 June 2008 the boycott was called off, after the discounter Lidl had announced a price increase of ten cents per liter. In 2010 a new brand reached the stores: Die faire Milch, the fair milk. From each liter sold under the brand, 40 cents went to the participating farmers. Its mascot is Faironika, a cow in black, red and gold. In 2010 about 2,000 Rewe stores sold it. Rewe and Tegut stopped at the end of 2012, during a legal dispute. After that, only a few retailers and farm shops still sold it.

The Trained Salesperson

Fachverkäufer im Lebensmittelhandwerk, specialist salesperson in the food trades, is a recognized training occupation. The training takes three years, in one of three branches: butchery, bakery or confectionery. Those who hold it sell by serving and advising customers. In general retail, Verkäufer, salesperson, is itself a training occupation with two years of apprenticeship. A third year leads to the qualification Kaufmann im Einzelhandel, retail merchant. Part of the training is learning about the goods.

Where the Stores Decide

Götz Werner and three partners founded the drugstore chain dm in 1973. Werner’s first store was in Karlsruhe. He gave his stores great independence. The store managers could decide on the product range and the staff schedules, and in part on pay. In a 2018 interview Werner said that a leader today must no longer be a Direktor but an Evokator, one who calls forth. Der Direktor weiß alles besser, gibt die Direktiven. The director knows everything better and gives the directives. Die Kollegin schaut nicht zum Vorgesetzten, sondern zum Kunden. The employee looks not to the superior, but to the customer. Werner died in February 2022, at the age of 78.

The Chancellor at the Supermarket

Throughout her years as chancellor, Angela Merkel was known for doing her own shopping. In March 2020, at the start of the Covid crisis, she was seen shopping in a supermarket in Berlin-Mitte. In February 2022, after she had left office, her wallet was stolen while she was shopping in Berlin.