Question for Germans

[Alex Eisenhut]

Germany reunited sometime in 1990, right? For how long did stuff say "Made In West Germany" after that?
I am thinking of prepared food packets and stuff like that.

I found some +-30 year old cake frosting at my Dad's place and I want to know how old it is.

The expiry date is written Aug 92. It says Made in West Germany.

I want to write this information down so when I eat it the coroner will have exact dates...

[MadTux]

You can also see it by the postal code, 4 digit code (D-xxxx) is "West Germany", anything with 5 digits is after it reunited.
Some companies wrote "Made In West Germany" long after they renunited, because anything in the east was more or less known as a shithole.

[pidcon]

Germany reunited sometime in 1990, right? For how long did stuff say "Made In West Germany" after that?
I am thinking of prepared food packets and stuff like that.

I found some +-30 year old cake frosting at my Dad's place and I want to know how old it is.

The expiry date is written Aug 92. It says Made in West Germany.

I want to write this information down so when I eat it the coroner will have exact dates...

Why eat a family heirloom?

[ebastler]

German re-unification became effective October 3rd 1990 (so we have an anniversary coming up). I don't think the transition from "Made in Western Germany" to "Made in Germany" was regulated in any way. Probably up to the manufacturers to use up their packages and tooling as they liked, or continue to point out the "Western" origin if they wanted to.

Transition to the 5-digit post codes happened a bit later, in 1993.

[Ranayna]

I was 9 when the reunification happened. Sorry, I can't really be of help here :p

But yes, 4 digit post codes are a nice approximation for age, though I do not know how long the transitioning period was. I dimly remember the advertisements of the new codes, and i'm sure my parents still have the post code book lying around somewhere...

Mind posting a picture of the package? Maybe there are other clues.

[HwAoRrDk]

Not German, but I recall seeing things marked with "Made in West Germany" in to the early 2000s. No idea about how much time had elapsed between production and sale, of course...

I would postulate that things like packaging, labels and the like would be switched pretty soon, but more enduring things like plastic mouldings, castings, etc. probably took much longer to be changed.

[VK3DRB]

At the time straight after re-unification there would be nothing marked "Made in the GDR". "Made in Germany" would have caught on immediately because communism was (and still is) associated with mediocrity, poor quality and lies. "Made in West Germany" could have hung around for a while because West German goods were associated with high quality, integrity and truth. The company like Gruenenthal is one big exception. These days, Volkswagon is the German company that can't be trusted.

[Cerebus]

... I don't think the transition from "Made in Western Germany" to "Made in Germany" was regulated in any way. ...

What!?! Das ist nicht richtig!. This is chaos. Where is 'Die deutsche Ordnung'? Did someone forget to make a regulation or something?

(Lest anyone get the wrong end of the stick - this is obviously tongue-in-cheek.)

[iMo]

..I want to write this information down so when I eat it the coroner will have exact dates...

Do not eat it. Sell it on ebay as a "Germany Reunification Cake".. 

[Nusa]

And perhaps in the near future, it'll be "Made in EU"? I hear it's in the works.

[HwAoRrDk]

And perhaps in the near future, it'll be "Made in EU"? I hear it's in the works.

You jest, but I do see the occasional product in the supermarket that is labelled "Product of the EU". But, rather than being required to, this is more to do with the fact that the maker sources their main ingredient from a constantly revolving number of countries and they don't want to have to keep changing their packaging.

[Nusa]

And perhaps in the near future, it'll be "Made in EU"? I hear it's in the works.

You jest, but I do see the occasional product in the supermarket that is labelled "Product of the EU". But, rather than being required to, this is more to do with the fact that the maker sources their main ingredient from a constantly revolving number of countries and they don't want to have to keep changing their packaging.

You thought I was jesting? Not this time. Of course the UK isn't in that pot anymore, so you don't have to worry.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Made_in_EU

[asmi]

And perhaps in the near future, it'll be "Made in EU"? I hear it's in the works.

The world paid very high price for their previous attempt at that.

[Cerebus]

And perhaps in the near future, it'll be "Made in EU"? I hear it's in the works.

You jest, but I do see the occasional product in the supermarket that is labelled "Product of the EU". But, rather than being required to, this is more to do with the fact that the maker sources their main ingredient from a constantly revolving number of countries and they don't want to have to keep changing their packaging.

You thought I was jesting? Not this time. Of course the UK isn't in that pot anymore, so you don't have to worry.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Made_in_EU

This is probably the pet project of everyone but Germany. You're probably quite confident if you buy any engineering product that says "Made in Germany", perhaps not so if that says "Made in EU" where the EU includes quite a lot of states that aren't exactly known for their manufacturing prowess. 

[Bud]

In todays political correctness era they would not hesitate to slap "made in EU" to everything giving no shit to quality of manufacturing processes in a particular member country.

[Benta]

In todays political correctness era they would not hesitate to slap "made in EU" to everything giving no shit to quality of manufacturing processes in a particular member country.

I've now read this sentence at least ten times, and it is still indecipherable. What are you on about?

[Domagoj T]

Back to gastronomical archaeology, you may try to find a recent equivalent product (preferably by the same company) and look at the expiration date on that. Shelf lives should be fairly comparable.
Instead of eating it, perhaps you may want to send it to Stuart Ashen. He eats expired crap all the time, on camera (and couch).

[tszaboo]

In todays political correctness era they would not hesitate to slap "made in EU" to everything giving no shit to quality of manufacturing processes in a particular member country.

Well, take cars for example. Everyone knows, that Italian cars spontaneously combust or turn into a pile of rust overnight. French cars fall apart, nobody knows why. German cars lie to you that they are green, and their turbo blows up after 4 years + 1 day and everybody knows why. And all these nations are very proud of what they produce.
So made in EU is used by countries for outside market. It is used, when an average 'merican would have trouble knowing, if that is a name of a country or a type of a shampoo. Even though, they would probably really think about, of the 45ish states the EU is.

[bsfeechannel]

It is used, when an average 'merican would have trouble knowing, if that is a name of a country or a type of a shampoo.

Just slap this on your products and they'll figure it out.

[Ysjoelfir]

Volvo is the best, besides that they are the only ones who got the lockdown right, so now I trust them even more.

Sadly thats not the case anymore, since Ford and then Geely took over.
<-- owns a Volvo 940 with half a million kilometers which runs perfectly fine after 22 years

Also the made in germany thing is sadly (in many, but not all, cases) a thing of the past. many companies who say "made in germany" just don't care about quality anymore. there are a few exceptions though. also I noticed a recent increase in a logo which says "Engineered in Germany". Seems like they noticed that people know that "made in germany" doesn't mean that its actually built here anymore, so more honest companies at least don't claim that any longer.
One example where I personally noticed that recently is Stahlwerk, a companie who builds welders. On my new welder it says Engineered in Germany, but its manufactured in china. the support though is here and when talking to them you instantly noticed that the people knew what they were talking about. So this is kind of a good thing I guess?

Regarding the split in east and west: as many other already said, you can't completely say "everything after XYZ doesn't have made in W.Germany on it". I remember a Grundig (?) television I serviced once, it was from the late 1990s and it still said made in W.Germany.

Also I noticed one strange thing: This prejudice that east german products are crap doesn't always seem to be true. I have acquired many eastern products over the years and even though they are most of the time more simplistic, they seem sturdier than some western counterparts of the same era - and there are still plenty of them around, as many things were made to fit multiple use cases. Like my air compressor. it uses the general purpose compressor HS1-40/70 from VEB Harzer Kompressorenwerke which was used for a wide range of trucks like tie IFA W50, S4000, Robur, several ZT300 series tractors, and in many commercial and homemade shop compressors. That thing still works great.

[tszaboo]

German engineering is not what it used to be, young generations are definitively not the hard working class of the 60s to 90s engineers.

That is not true at all. There is huge amount of engineering going into German products and they are very well enginnered. It is just not going into the parts that they should. To stay with the car example: They know how to make quality, understandable cars, that will go forever. Look at Mercedes W124. Goes forever. And that is a problem.
You see, an VW has a few hundred EUR profit on a car. Something like 5%. It's nothing.

They also have some 50% profit margin on servicing, and 25-30% on parts. Their goal is a broken car, outside the warranty. It takes enormous amount of engineering to make something break exactly when you want it. But they are well made on other aspects. Like have you seen a rusting VW in the last 20 years? Something on the back of a trailer, that goes into the junkyard? Something that breaks and kills you? No, they just break ever slightly so you have to go to the service to get it fixed. Turbocharger for example.

It is reprehensible, but it is todays reality. Hopefully tomorrows reality is different, probably we have to pay huge amounts for infotainment and gadgets.

[jfiresto]

Volvo is the best, besides that they are the only ones who got the lockdown right, so now I trust them even more....

If you ever encountered a Swedish moose up close, you appreciate why old Volvos were built like tanks.

[jfiresto]

... Also the made in Germany thing is sadly (in many, but not all, cases) a thing of the past. many companies who say "made in Germany" just don't care about quality anymore. there are a few exceptions though. also I noticed a recent increase in a logo which says "Engineered in Germany". Seems like they noticed that people know that "made in germany" doesn't mean that its actually built here anymore, so more honest companies at least don't claim that any longer.
One example where I personally noticed that recently is Stahlwerk, a companies who builds welders. On my new welder it says Engineered in Germany, but its manufactured in china....

My friends and I make it something of a sport to spot how German companies feed the wish for "Made in Germany" without denying the reality, for example, by artfully including the national colors. Here is the box for an electric egg cooker I bought a few years back. First the top and then the bottom. Why is the explanation in English?

[Cerebus]

... Also the made in Germany thing is sadly (in many, but not all, cases) a thing of the past. many companies who say "made in Germany" just don't care about quality anymore. there are a few exceptions though. also I noticed a recent increase in a logo which says "Engineered in Germany". Seems like they noticed that people know that "made in germany" doesn't mean that its actually built here anymore, so more honest companies at least don't claim that any longer.
One example where I personally noticed that recently is Stahlwerk, a companies who builds welders. On my new welder it says Engineered in Germany, but its manufactured in china....

My friends and I make it something of a sport to spot how German companies feed the wish for "Made in Germany" without denying the reality, for example, by artfully including the national colors. Here is the box for an electric egg cooker I bought a few years back. First the top and then the bottom. Why is the explanation in English?

Because they hope to sell it to non-german speaking markets? English speakers worldwide: 1.3 biillion, German speakers worldwide: 132 million - a tenfold (originally said hundredfold, I can't count) difference. If you're rhetorically trying to suggest that it's to hide the true origin from German speakers I think that's untenable as an explanation - 56% of Germans also speak English (for comparison, only 38% of Britons are bilingual or better and only 25% of the USA).

[blackbird]

Because they hope to sell it to non-german speaking markets? English speakers worldwide: 1.3 biillion, German speakers worldwide: 132 million - a hundredfold difference. If you're rhetorically trying to suggest that it's to hide the true origin from German speakers I think that's untenable as an explanation - 56% of Germans also speak English (for comparison, only 38% of Britons are bilingual or better and only 25% of the USA).

If you juggle with numbers.... 1.3 billion divided by 132 million is about 10, not hundred.
Or the world has more humans than we know (13 billion) or there are only about 13 million German speaking humans, you are right.