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Arnes Blog
Arnes Blog

Back to Stone Age

·572 words·3 mins

(English below)

Dieses Jahr sind wir mal wieder über Weihnachten in der Heimat und verbringen Zeit mit der Familie. Da doch das eine oder andere Weihnachtsgeschenk dazu kommt und andere Dinge gekauft wurden, der Platz im Fahrzeug aber nicht größer wurde, verschicken wir ein paar Dinge schonmal vorab per Post. Also gestern Abend alles schön in den Karton gepackt, Versandschild asugefüllt und dann heute morgen zur Post. Eigentlich ist es simpel: Da alles schon ausgefüllt ist, muss das Paket nur gewogen werden, die entsprechende Gebühr bezahlt werden und der Bezahlaufkleber draufgeklebt werden. Punkt 1 ging auch gut, aber bei Punkt 2 (“entsprechende Gebühr bezahlen”) fingen aber die Probleme an. “Wir nehmen Bar oder EC-Karte”. Ich probiere mein iPhone, da der Terminal theoretisch NFC kann. Nix passiert. Dann mit der normalen Karte meiner schwedischen Bank probiert. Zahlung abgelehnt. “Mastercard nehmen wir nicht, nur EC”. Sowas habe ich natürlich nicht, da schon meine letzte Bank in Deutschland nur noch Visa hatte. “im Vorraum ist ein Automat, da können sie Bargeld holen.” … Da auch die Karte der Regierung nicht ging, musste ich wohl oder übel BARGELD abheben - im Jahr 2025. Naja, da die Damen am Schalter auch nichts für die schlechte Ausstattung der Postbank / Deutschen Post Filiale können, also schnell den notwendigen Betrag als BARGELD abgehoben und dann bezahlt. Aufkleber drauf, dann geht das Paket nun auf die Reise nach Schweden. Kleiner Lichtblick: traditionell ist ein Besuch bei Fritz Mitte Pflicht - irgendwas muss man ja auch zum Mittag essen. Und die erste Frage des Verkäufers? “können sie auch mit " (warte …) “Karte zahlen?”. NATÜRLICH!!! :-) Immerhin, dort ist Digitalisierung und modernes Bezahlen angekommen.

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Back to what feels like the Stone Age
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This year, we’re spending Christmas at home again with our family. Since we’ve bought a few Christmas presents and other things, but the space in our car hasn’t gotten any bigger, we’re sending a few things ahead by mail. So yesterday evening, we packed everything nicely into a box, filled out the shipping label, and took it to the post office this morning. It’s actually quite simple: since everything is already filled out, all we have to do is weigh the package, pay the appropriate fee, and stick the payment sticker on it. Step 1 went well, but step 2 (“pay the appropriate fee”) is where the problems began. “We accept cash or EC cards.” I tried my iPhone, as the terminal should theoretically be NFC-enabled. Nothing happened. Then I tried my regular card from my Swedish bank. Payment declined. “We don’t accept Mastercard, only EC.” Of course, I don’t have one of those, as my last bank in Germany only had Visa. “There’s an ATM in the lobby where you can get cash.” … Since the government card didn’t work either, I had no choice but to withdraw CASH – in the year 2025. Well, since the ladies at the counter couldn’t do anything about the poor facilities at the Postbank / Deutsche Post branch, I quickly withdrew the necessary amount in CASH and then paid. Sticker on, and now the package is on its way to Sweden. A small ray of hope: traditionally, a visit to Fritz Mitte is a must—you have to eat something for lunch, after all. And the salesperson’s first question? “Can you also pay with (wait…) a card?” OF COURSE!!! :-) At least digitalization and modern payment methods have arrived there.

Related

first year in Sweden

·1605 words·8 mins
(deutsch steht unten) I was asked to provide a bit of summary of the first months in Sweden. As usual, it turned out to be not just after three months, but after a year. So, here it is. :-) Life # I would say the main difference between Germany and Sweden is that things are not seen as stressful and are better balanced. Typical example: In Sweden, it’s normal to have to pick up your child from (för)skola in the afternoon. And that can sometimes clash with other calls. Well, that’s just the way it is. There’s no discussion about that. And the Swedes are also generally busy, of course, and are sometimes in a bit of a hurry when they go to work or something. But all in all, they’re not as overly stressed as they are in many German cities. And you shouldn’t forget: Gothenburg is the second largest city in Sweden. In general, a lot of emphasis is placed on leisure time, family time and health. I see people jogging or doing sports in the utegym all the time. And taking the kids to school and work by bike? That’s also more ‘normal’. Of course, this is even more pronounced in countries like the Netherlands or Denmark, but it’s nice to see that the city is focussing on sustainable and inclusive infrastructure for everyone. Another big difference to Germany is definitely the high level of digitalisation. Cash? exists in theory and is still used by very few people. But it feels like 95% of life is done entirely via ApplePay/GooglePay, credit card or Swish. And the internet is also very fast. 5G is virtually everywhere and you don’t have to worry about pages taking ages to load. At home there is fibre optic with 1 Gbit/s (both directions! ;-) ).