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by kachurovskiy 1065 days ago
We're definitely huge fans of paperwork here and it hurts a lot.

Want to sell something? Company registration takes months, just getting a business tax ID was 6 weeks for me. To sell electronics, register with Stiftung EAR, then find an intermediary to get you a WEEE-Nummer and report monthly (!) sales figures of all your device types. Just that registration costs 1k and 8 weeks. And don't forget your battery and packaging license!

By comparison, similar WEEE fees in UK are 30 pounds and in Estonia are 12 euros, no wait.

But the real fun starts if you hire someone :) The paperwork there is a magnitude more.

I don't think we're doomed though. The schools are packed with kids, education is free and good, health services are not a concern (looking at you, US), society is healthy. I think we'll manage :) Hopefully no more self-inflicted energy crises in the works.
2 comments
jareklupinski 1065 days ago
> We're definitely huge fans of paperwork here and it hurts a lot.

> society is healthy

no pain, no gain :)

there's probably a terry prachett quote attributing bureaucracy to the stability of a large-scale civilization

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tetris11 1064 days ago
It has a nice, horrifically frustrating, but nice way of slowing things right down. Its inefficiency is one of it's perks in my opinion. It buys people time to think before a piece of legislation is enacted, and when it finally is, people are already over it.
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fxtentacle 1065 days ago
"But the real fun starts if you hire someone :) The paperwork there is a magnitude more."

I've been very happy with Sage, an online SaaS to manage employees and their payments, taxes, and related paperwork.

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