Osterhase? Nur solange der Vorrat reicht

“Nur solange der Vorrat reicht” is one of those standard German sentences that you often see on any type of special offer that a shop or online vendor advertises for.  Quite simply it means “while stocks last”.

So, as in the English equivalent, you might find that an offer is particularly popular and goes out of stock.

However, this being Germany there are rules on how long a product has to be “in stock” for a shop to be able to claim this, so that they do not purposely have very few available and just use the offer to get people to enter the store.  In the event that they do run out without a certain amount of time, they have to offer the consumers who want to take advantage of it the chance to receive the product later at the advertised price. [Read more…]

Will you be the “Palmesel” on Sunday?

A donkey - ©iStockphoto.com/GlobalPWith this Sunday being Palmsonntag – Palm Sunday, one of the questions in many German families this weekend will be: “wer wird der Palmesel sein?” (who is going to be the “Palmesel”?)

The Palmesel – literally the “palm donkey” – is a nickname given to the last person to get out of bed on Palm Sunday.

The tradition is not new, but it has mutated over time as it was originally used to refer to the last boy to enter the Church on that day.

Of course, the term refers to the donkey ridden by Christ into Jerusalem prior to his crucifixion, and since the middle ages German towns have held Palm Sunday processions – some with live donkeys, others with wooden ones.

Using cashpoints in Germany: Bank Charges

Card being inserted into Cashpoint - ©Can Stock Photo Inc. / Mik122I’ve talked before about the different payment methods available in Germany, although the acceptance of credit cards is slowly growing – even our local supermarket now accepts them.

But for many smaller shops in town centres, cash remains the method of choice which means that at some point visitors and ex-pats alike will need to visit a cashpoint.

Cashpoints are located in the branches of most banks and often at petrol stations, but the charge for using them varies depending on where your bank account is. [Read more…]

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