Job Discussion Forums

biffinbridge · Joined: 05 May 2003 Posts: 701 Location: Frank's Wild Years

Is it still the case that many things you buy in the shops in Poland look ok but fall to pieces soon after you purchase them?
I bought a 350zl pair of shoes in Poznan in 2006 which fell to pieces the 3rd time I wore them. Clothes shrank. Phones went on the blink and so on and so forth.Has quality got any better now that prices have gone up?
A pint of HSB in my local is 2.50 GBP, a pishy lager in Faxe in Poz is...yep you guessed it 2.50 GBP. 1 is a good brew...the other a gassy soft drink.Don't even get value for money there anymore.

Sgt Bilko · Joined: 28 Jul 2006 Posts: 136 Location: POLAND

2.50 GBP is 12zl. I wouldn't know where to go to spend that much on a (Polish) beer. 7 in a hotel bar/restaurant, 5.50 normally, 3.50 if I was roughing it. Ok, this is Opole, not quite so touristy as Poznan maybe. I could waste more on a Guinness / Weissen beer but still only 8-10zl. Are you sure Faxe is worth it???

As for your question - it's probably better than it was but not perfect. We tend to buy most of our clothes on trips back to England. My wife loves the ladybird clothes for kids in Woolworths! Better quality and often cheaper than the equivalent in Poland.

biffinbridge · Joined: 05 May 2003 Posts: 701 Location: Frank's Wild Years

Basically, because Poznan has so many international business fairs, it's always been expensive. Now that all the budget airlines go there, it's even more expensive....especially in the 'Rynek'. The hotel Mercure was 130zl a couple of years ago, now it's 150 Euros if you include breakfast; it's just frightening and it's a shabby hotel. Just looking at the property prices over the last 2 years, Poznan just seems to be a complete rip off now.
I work on a rotation for an oil company so go there every 6 weeks for a 3 week holiday to see my son but I'm seriously considering going every other trip now....hotels being the biggest factor. I have a bank account in Poz so maybe I could arrange a mortgage....do you need some sort of residency or is that not an issue?
BTW I like the 'George' clothes in Asda...they're good quality and cheap.....almost as nice as somewhere like 'Next Kids' or 'Adams'.

ratsareeatingmybrain · Joined: 19 Jul 2007 Posts: 35 Location: lisbon

those prices are just bizarre. in krakow rynek you can still get a beer for 7zl.

biffinbridge · Joined: 05 May 2003 Posts: 701 Location: Frank's Wild Years

Most of the teachers I know in Poz drink in Dragon, which is a late night old style student venue, just off the Rynek, but it's no good for day time drinking. Stary Kino and Pod Minoga are also of the same ilk, but not as good.
The rynek is full of plush looking bars and restaurants. Back in 96 there were only 2 bars in the square, now it's chock-a-block. A big beer in a dump/restaurant like Sphinx is about 10 and that's for the Polish stuff; a half will cost you about 8 in most others...and that's a Tyskie!! Something like Zeberka, traditional Polish ribs cost over 30Zl. If you're dating and therefore paying, you're looking at 100Zl once you've had a few drinks and left a tip and that's just the beginning of the evening, forget what you've spent in the day....and god forbid your date starts drink gin and tonics etc. Most teachers can't afford that too often especially in the 'short' months.
I don't have to worry because of my job, but house prices there do frighten me as I always planned to settle there eventually. Maybe I should just get the mortgage now:((, but even that's confusing. The Zl has gained on most currencies, which I'm sure has hammered those who took out mortgages in other currencies a few years ago.
I guess my basic point is that I spend the same in Poland and the UK on a night out now.

Big_Cannon · Joined: 31 Dec 2007 Posts: 47

patrykt · Joined: 18 Aug 2004 Posts: 51

I just got done ripping Poland in another posting. That being said, the wife and kids and I are moving back to Poznan in a year or three. We bought a place in an kamienica in June and am not sure if it was a good move. I wanted to get in the market before things really got out of control, but it's hard to see how they could get more out of control.

My work situation and salary aren't so bad, but when I think of people who are nurses, school teachers and policemen it makes me livid. What's the salary for a school teacher these days? Maybe 1200zl a month? That's 14-15,000 a year. You can buy a three-room dump in some rathole block for 350,000, maybe 300,000. You do the math. It's insane!

I better stop here and not blather on anymore.

Nauczyciel · Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2008 1:20 pm Post subject:

The peak in prices has already been reached and all market analysts agree prices must now start declining as the demand subsides and the investments of the previous years improve the supply.

biffinbridge · Joined: 05 May 2003 Posts: 701 Location: Frank's Wild Years

There's another thread about house prices but as people are interested why not continue it here?

I'm not really interested in anywhere outside Poznan and the market there is quite unique. Looking at the market report on Mamdom a real estate website, Poznan topped the big city price rise league in 2007 with a 68% average rise across the board. That is just incredible. The market analysis suggested that the market is strong in the 25-35 age bracket as these are the young professionals taking advantage of the more available credit. So, while it is my wish, I don't think prices have peaked; they've just slowed down for now. In the UK my folks house has gone up 550% in 30 years...that's about 18% per year, (haven't compounded the figures). At some point, Poland will join the Euro and these young couples will start getting divorced and more foreigners will 'find' the place and so on. Prices aren't always just demand lead and the housing market is an ideal candidate for imperfection in the economic sense because of the lags between supply and demand. Point is, house prices will rise proportionally more than your salary. This phenomenon makes it harder for first time buyers and traps most people in their current home. The buy to let market isn't good so it's the institutions and wealthy individuals investing, driving up the prices and so on. Word is that it's houses that are going to get the next boom as demand for them is outstripping supply, especially in Warsaw, which will lead the trend.

I just don't get why everything in Poland has gone up so much in the last couple of years...I simply don't believe that the Poles have suddenly become able to buy like crazy and push demand to those levels. How can the same pair of jeans be more expensive in Poland than England? Shoes are the same...baby stuff, electricals, any spirit off the top shelf...can't blame it on import taxes anymore...it isn't superior quality or snob value. Its' cheaper to rent a car in London than Warsaw, a room in Portsmouth than Poznan and so on. jest bez sensu.

And finally...why is it so feckin expensive to run a mobile phone in Poland?

sparks · Joined: 20 Feb 2008 Posts: 632

No matter what the current trends are I guess the old saying stands true..."Buy land because they aren't making any more of it". Even if market values dip here and there, in the long run (like in 30 years) the value will always go up. It's just that sometimes people get lucky (or unlucky) and the value goes up extremely fast.

Richfilth · Joined: 24 Sep 2007 Posts: 225 Location: Warszawa

I think the rise in salaries is not just fuelling demand, it's causing an almost hedonistic level of spending. The decades-old concept of Polish frugalism is finally being discarded now that the younger generation have a small amount of disposable income, and the shops are getting fat off that.

I just spent miserable morning traipsing around the bigger shopping centres (Blue City and Arkadia, in Warsaw) and was bored out of my skull with the bland array of cheap cottons in identical stripy fashion available. But those shops will easily shift that stock by the next season, and cars, houses and entertainment will be the same too. Remember, every shopping centre also has a multiplex cinema and more than its fair share of overpriced sugary coffee-shops inside. Can anyone recommend some stores in Warsaw that don't leave you walking out like some clone from H&M?

I just hope its not the same overborrowing naivety fuelling the zloty that has also got the US economy where it is today.

patrykt · Joined: 18 Aug 2004 Posts: 51

Oh man when ever I get into a discussion about life in Poland I usually have to bite my tongue because I am usually with Poles. I makes me livid when I think of the piracy that is going on.

My classic example is the kawiarnia. When I moved to Poznan eight years ago, the girl working at my favorite kawiarnia was earning 5 zlots an hour. And today, how much? Five zlots an hour. How much does a new school teacher take home? 800 zlots. How in the F is anybody supposed to have any kind of life on such wages? And why are things so expensive? Why does the girl in the kawiarnia have to work one hour just for a stupid cup of coffee?

My wife and I are out of the country for a couple of years, but I hate the thought of going back there. I love her family, Zywiec, the Stary Rynek, but I hate working for free. I can live in an expensive country, but I want something for it. Live in Denmark and you will pay a load in taxes, but man do you get something for your money. What do you get in Poland? Somebody please tell me.

maniak · Joined: 06 Feb 2008 Posts: 194

patrykt · Joined: 18 Aug 2004 Posts: 51

After living and working in Poland for eight years and having a Polish wife for four, I've come to the conclusion that most Poles live for the here and now. What is under the nose is what's important, not what lies ahead in the future. I've seen it time and time again. As my co-worker once told me, "Poles are allergic to long-term planning."

I better stop here, because if I start I may end up going on like a blathering idiot.