Originally Posted by ovbg:
“Fair enough.
Although my own tests have shown slightly higher bitrates for US Amazon Prime, they were not significant enough over Lovefilm UK for me to consider it that much better. Visually I couldn't notice any difference.
As for buffering of Lovefilm, I have not experienced that yet. Nor have I for that matter with Amazon Prime in the US.
No, not according this this list. Germany is higher, though only slightly on Net wages since income tax is also higher in Germany. But it doesn't show the figures you provided, and most other reports I have seen concur with these ones. So it's not wages.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...y_average_wage
The recent rise in first class stamps have made postage for envelopes more expensive in the UK than Germany. But parcel delivery prices are not much different. Amazon deals in parcels, so it's not this either.
Now this sounds like it could have something to do with it.
Keep in mind that prices in Germany are normally higher than the UK. Media is a classic example. I can buy books, DVD's or Blu-Rays from Amazon UK, and send to Germany cheaper than buying locally with free delivery. So this is one of the odd ones where it is the other way around.
I think your last point is the answer and they are trying to grab people before the dreaded Netflix arrives.”
“Fair enough.
Although my own tests have shown slightly higher bitrates for US Amazon Prime, they were not significant enough over Lovefilm UK for me to consider it that much better. Visually I couldn't notice any difference.
As for buffering of Lovefilm, I have not experienced that yet. Nor have I for that matter with Amazon Prime in the US.
No, not according this this list. Germany is higher, though only slightly on Net wages since income tax is also higher in Germany. But it doesn't show the figures you provided, and most other reports I have seen concur with these ones. So it's not wages.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...y_average_wage
The recent rise in first class stamps have made postage for envelopes more expensive in the UK than Germany. But parcel delivery prices are not much different. Amazon deals in parcels, so it's not this either.
Now this sounds like it could have something to do with it.
Keep in mind that prices in Germany are normally higher than the UK. Media is a classic example. I can buy books, DVD's or Blu-Rays from Amazon UK, and send to Germany cheaper than buying locally with free delivery. So this is one of the odd ones where it is the other way around.
I think your last point is the answer and they are trying to grab people before the dreaded Netflix arrives.”
The problem with Wikipedia is they have about 12 different pages of wage comparisons and all give vastly different results.
The accepted method however for comparing wages across borders is the PPP method and this is what I used.
These are the same figures that the BBC recently used in an article they published about the matter http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17543356
You can also check the cost of living between the two countries at http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living...United+Kingdom which shows that things like rent are more expensive here and how this also results in higher wages
You can also look at wages by job. For example computer programmer
http://www.worldsalaries.org/computerprogrammer.shtml
There are some areas of work where Germany is better paid although on average Germans pay more tax on their wages and work on a Average 2 hours a week more than the UK which makes pay in Germany even lower in real terms.
This is also backed up by a study into domestic workers hourly rates which can be seen at http://www.paywizard.co.uk/main/pay/...age-comparison showing that due to the lack of minimum wage hourly workers get paid less.
As for postage as staffing costs are lower I would be surprised if even parcel postage wasn't relatively cheaper due to wages of the staff at the delivery. But more importantly Amazons staffing to supply the service is cheaper as the warehouse workers are paid less



