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Why are the Swiss so keen on trust when paying bills?

Many Swiss businesses still adhere to the old-fashioned belief in the honesty and integrity of their customers, writes Helena Bachmann. Share you own experiences below.

Published: 17 November 2023 17:07 CET
Updated: 23 April 2024 16:58 CEST
Why are the Swiss so keen on trust when paying bills?
Many businesses will trust you to pay your bills. Photo: Claudio Schwarz on Unsplash

Several years ago, I went to a shop to purchase a rug.

I found one I thought would fit into my living room but wasn’t sure whether it would match the décor.

No problem, the salesperson said. Take it home and see how it looks. If you like it, call and we will send you a bill. If not, bring it back.

The salesperson didn’t know me from Adam, but the only thing he asked for, aside from my ID, was my address and phone number.

For all he knew, he might not see the likes of me, or the rug, ever again.

But since this time, others have shared similar stories with me — the kind of stories that show that the Swiss are — rightly or wrongly— inherently trusting people.

Paying bills

If you come from a country where you must immediately pay for a service provided — for example, for a plumber or electrician — than the Swiss system may seem strange to you.

While some such people may ask for outright payment, the vast majority won’t.

Instead, they or their company will send you an invoice — typically within 30 days — and you will then have another 30 days to pay it.
 
READ ALSO: What you should know about Switzerland’s new slips for paying bills online

Why are the Swiss so trusting?

Part of this may be that the Swiss like rules and expect everyone to live by them.

A study carried out in 2019, which compared ‘civic honesty’ of people around the world, revealed that Switzerland’s population is the most “morally correct.” 

How did the researchers know this?

The experiment they conducted in 355 cities in 40 countries involved finding out how many people would return a wallet full of money to its rightful owner.

Switzerland easily topped the honesty scale, with more than 70 percent of people returning the found wallets (Norway also did well in this survey).

“On the whole, countries which are more democratic and where citizens feel they are a part of the decision-making process tend to score higher on civic honesty,” the study’s authors reported. 

This doesn’t mean, of course, that everyone in Switzerland is trusting and everyone is trustworthy.

The service provider (such as the above-mentioned plumber or electrician, but it could be any professional), inherently trusts you to pay the bill when you get it.

They will not say “pay now because I don’t trust you.” That is just not the Swiss way.

What happens if you don’t pay?

When you receive your bill by mail or electronically, you have 30 days to pay.

Most people will stick to this timeline. If they don’t, it’s often the case of forgetting to pay rather than not paying intentionally.

Once a reminder arrives (usually after another 30 days), they will settle the bill at that time.

But if you still don’t pay despite reminders to so, you are opening yourself up to debt collection proceedings.

The debt enforcement office can order your assets and income to be seized to pay the creditor’s claims.

In such a case, authorities will instruct your employer to transfer the portion of your future salary directly to the debt enforcement office. They can also seize valuables that you own so that they can be auctioned off.

Obviously, this is the absolute worst-case scenario that you want to avoid at all costs (pun intended).

READ ALSO : What happens if I don’t pay my Swiss bills on time

Do the Swiss seem so reliant on trust to you? Share your own views and experiences in the comments section below.

Member comments

  1. Was walking in the mountains and found a restaurant, had lunch with friends and when it came to paying, the waitress said that they didn’t accept cards – just cash. None of us had that amount, the bill was around 150CHF. Not to worry, the waitress said, we will send you an invoice, just give us your name and address. But you don’t know us we replied. That’s ok, we trust people in Switzerland was her breezy reply. Details provided the invoice received through the post and promptly paid!

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OPINION AND ANALYSIS

OPINION: Switzerland is a better place than 20 years ago, but much can still improve

From attitudes towards foreigners and improvements in work-life balance, Clare O'Dea examines how Switzerland has changed over the last 20 years and how it hasn't ('the Swiss still don't know how to queue'). Her new book All About Switzerland is now available - details below.

Published: 18 May 2024 10:49 CEST
Updated: 18 May 2024 14:45 CEST
OPINION: Switzerland is a better place than 20 years ago, but much can still improve

In the 20 years that I’ve been writing about Switzerland, I’ve tended to focus on one part of the picture at a time. Standing back from the canvas, I can see that there has been a pretty positive evolution in the country over that time.

The change has happened in measurable ways – an extra 1.6 million inhabitants, for one thing – but also in ways that are difficult to define. What I notice is more tolerance, more questioning of the norm, and more focus on fairness.

Some of this has come about through facing up to the wrongs of the past, whether that’s the historical abuse of children in the care system, the denial of the vote to women for so long (until 1971!), or the seizing of dictators’ assets.

Although it takes a painfully long time, mistakes and injustices do eventually come to light and there has been an appropriate reaction of self-recrimination and reflection towards these wrongs, and a willingness to make amends. All this has made Switzerland a better place.

READ ALSO: Are foreigners to blame if they find the Swiss unfriendly?

The foreign factor

When it comes to foreigners, there has definitely been in a positive change in attitudes towards immigrants from the countries of the former Yugoslavia. I detected very strong prejudice against this group in my early years in Switzerland. The second generation has now grown up here and found their place in all walks of Swiss life.

Unfortunately, asylum seekers have borne the brunt of xenophobia in recent years, with the notable exception of Ukrainians fleeing Russia’s war of aggression, who were granted special treatment. Switzerland has welcomed more than 80,000 Ukrainians since 2022, about a quarter of whom have since left the country.

Several cantons, notably Neuchâtel, have led the way in extending more rights to foreign residents and making it easier for them to integrate or obtain Swiss nationality. But naturalisation rates are still low, which is a pity for the Swiss, if only they would realise that.

When I first came to live in Switzerland from Ireland, I benefitted from the newly-valid agreement on the free movement of persons with the EU and EFTA countries. Since then, hundreds of thousands of Swiss and EU/EFTA nationals have been free to move countries for work, adventure, love or retirement.

Those immigrant workers have been a boon to the Swiss economy, which has one of the highest levels of GDP per capita in the world. Travel wise, Switzerland is well and truly integrated into Europe, joining the Schengen Area in 2008.

OPINION: The true signs you are becoming more Swiss than the Swiss

Family matters

Just this week, my twin daughters, who are Swiss citizens, received their first ever ballots for the next federal and cantonal votes on June 9th. Apart from reminding me of the fact that foreigners in Switzerland are largely excluded from the democratic process, this landmark also reminds me of how times have changed in relation to maternity rights.

It is hard to believe that Swiss women did not have statutory paid maternity leave until 2005. Voters had rejected the notion that women should have guaranteed paid leave after giving birth on four previous occasions – 1974, 1984, 1987 and again in 1999.

For all those years, maternity benefits were left up to employers to dictate, which was clearly not enough protection for all mothers. Today, new mothers are entitled to 14 weeks statutory leave but most employers offer more than that. Since 2021, fathers in Switzerland have been entitled to two weeks paternity leave.

There’s definitely room for improvement in the area of work-life balance for families, and there are some ideas in the pipeline, including state subsidies for childcare. With a fertility rate of 1.39 births per woman in 2022, Swiss-born babies is not where population growth is coming from.

Taking turns

One issue that seems almost unfixable in Switzerland is the high cost of healthcare. The country has the second most expensive system in the world, after the United States. Most of the cost is shouldered by households, directly or indirectly.

Whatever about the cost, the care itself is excellent and relatively well staffed. With one in three healthcare workers holding a foreign diploma, including a large proportion of cross-border workers the system is heavily reliant on non-nationals.

On June 9th, Swiss voters will get to decide on two people’s initiatives, both of which aim to curb the cost to consumers. My impression in the past was that the Swiss were reluctant to vote for freebies for themselves. But this may be the right timing for these proposals, considering that voters accepted an initiative in March of this year to increase the state pension by 8 per cent.

When it comes to daily life in Switzerland, politeness and order is the rule, with one exception – the Swiss still don’t know how to queue! I had this experience just the other day waiting outside a small museum that was only letting in a few people at a time. If you can cope with that fundamental flaw, the rest is easy.

All About Switzerland

A dynamic, up-to-date guide to Swiss society and current affairs, All About Switzerland ebook features a selection of 29 articles by Clare O’Dea. The articles were first published by The Local Switzerland from 2022 to 2024. The ebook is available on Amazon, Kobo and other retailers.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Photo: Charly Rappo

Originally from Dublin, Clare O’Dea has lived in Switzerland for two decades. Author of fiction and non-fiction, Clare has had a varied media career in Ireland and Switzerland, with a stint in Russia. She has contributed articles to The Local Switzerland since 2022. Her new book All About Switzerland: Selected articles from The Local Switzerland is Clare’s fourth and is available as an e-book online.

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