Americans are poorly served by their grocery stores • Hacker News Board

Re: Americans are poorly served by their grocery stores

#71

Post by Georgelemental » Fri, Jun 03, 2022, 9:33 PM UTC

assttoasstmgr wrote: post #28

What exactly are the clear conclusions from this over-worded drivel? Inflation aside, if you're paying too much for groceries, you don't know how to shop. Part of the problem is people are willing to pay $6 for bananas at Whole Paycheck, and the obsession with organic foodstuffs. When the same products are available at Walmart or Costco for 1/3 the price. I think we have an entire generation of people who never learn…

If the greatest trick the devil ever played is convincing people he doesn't exist, his second-greatest trick is convincing Americans that eating well is for stuck-up elitist liberals. Yes, While Foods is mega-expensive and not that good for the price. But that's not because good food is a fake consumerist concept, it's because the American agricultural system has been gutted by perverse commercial and regulatory incentives. Go to almost any other developed nation (or many developing ones), get better food for less money

Re: Americans are poorly served by their grocery stores

#72

Post by tthun » Fri, Jun 03, 2022, 9:34 PM UTC

I am not sure how this article got past any editorial checks. First they state prices are too low in the US to make any profit, then on the next paragraph goes on to talk about “yet” Americans getting served less. Finally reverting back complaining Americans are not getting a good deal.

author also use gross profit of Walmart, which sells everything from salt to guns, as a measure of profitability for “grocery” stores.

What are the “peddling” here - dark store as a concept ?

Re: Americans are poorly served by their grocery stores

#73

Post by sdfhdhjdw3 » Fri, Jun 03, 2022, 9:35 PM UTC

fredley wrote: post #32

UK supermarkets are crap, and have got noticeably crapper in recent years. At even large mid-tier supermarkets you will find a paltry range of fruit and veg, and a maeger selection of almost entirely prepackaged meat and fish. I have noticed many things are routinely out of stock and it can be a lottery shopping for a specific recipe. I recently visited Portugal, and in a small city supermarket there was a bakery, me…

I think part of it is that UK standards are lower when it comes to food, yes. I know this might be offensive, but I think there's some truth to it. The reason I think there's truth to it is that it works in the opposite direction too. Standards for food are higher in Italy than in Portugal and guess what? Their grocery stores are better than the Portuguese ones.

Comparing meat specifically in Portugal vs UK, it's generally awful in the UK, but I've never heard anyone there complaining about it. Therefore, the standards must be lower, even if by simple virtue of people not knowing any better.

Re: Americans are poorly served by their grocery stores

#74

Post by floren » Fri, Jun 03, 2022, 9:35 PM UTC

algoatecorn wrote: post #3

With the emergence of dark grocery stores, there will be major opportunity in the space of personalized nutrition. Shoppers will be more connected with a mobile app when it comes to their grocery store experience, and those apps have the potential to steer you toward an optimal diet that saves money and improves health. I strongly believe personalized nutrition and shopping experiences will have major impact on non c…

> Shoppers will be more connected with a mobile app when it comes to their grocery store experience, and those apps have the potential to steer you toward an optimal diet that saves money and improves health.

Apps silently tacking $0.10/lb onto produce because you own an iPhone and have a history of buying "premium" stuff...

Re: Americans are poorly served by their grocery stores

#75

Post by seoaeu » Fri, Jun 03, 2022, 9:35 PM UTC

colpabar wrote: post #45

tengbretson wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their food is whatever, but their long, slow checkout lines that obstruct other shoppers and generally customer-hostile layout often pushes me to the border of rage. The only thing that keeps me level are those dark chocolate peanut butter cups.

I've only been to a handful of their stores, but every single one just feels way too small. It also feels like the majority of the people there are employees restocking shelves and just generally being in the way. They are friendly and it's nice there's always someone I can ask if I need help finding someone, but it can be annoying to always have people in your way.

The small store sizes are all almost surely one of the factors that enables the low prices other comments have mentioned.

Re: Americans are poorly served by their grocery stores

#76

Post by sdfhdhjdw3 » Fri, Jun 03, 2022, 9:35 PM UTC

kube-system wrote: post #66

bowsamic wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

UK supermarkets are far better in terms of fruit and veg selection than anything we have here in Germany. It can be much worse trust me. UK is also way cheaper

That explains the fruit and vegetables we have in the US in Aldi. I buy produce elsewhere.

Weird, I just moved to the US and Aldi is one of my favorite places.

Where do you go for produce? I'm in Chicago if that matters.

Re: Americans are poorly served by their grocery stores

#77

Post by petercooper » Fri, Jun 03, 2022, 9:36 PM UTC

fredley wrote: post #32

UK supermarkets are crap, and have got noticeably crapper in recent years. At even large mid-tier supermarkets you will find a paltry range of fruit and veg, and a maeger selection of almost entirely prepackaged meat and fish. I have noticed many things are routinely out of stock and it can be a lottery shopping for a specific recipe. I recently visited Portugal, and in a small city supermarket there was a bakery, me…

Maybe it's just a coincidence, but since Brexit I've noticed the shelf life of fruit and veg has gone through the floor (I suspect the time the produce takes to reach the shelf has increased). For things that have advisory "best by" dates on (e.g. strawberries), where you used to get a date a week in the future, now you need to take care to not buy something with tomorrow's date.

In semi-related news, The Independent ran a story yesterday about how Brexit is causing less British fruit and veg to be produced: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-britis...

Re: Americans are poorly served by their grocery stores

#78

Post by chrisan » Fri, Jun 03, 2022, 9:36 PM UTC

jordanmorgan10 wrote: post #4

Unless it's Trader Joes, in which case I leave noticeably happier than I was pre-grocery shopping.

I feel like Trader Joes is good for snacks you don't see else where but I can never _just_ go to trader joes and come home with some meals to make.

I realize they sell microwave boxed meals, but yuck. Thankfully they are right next to whole foods so it's not much harm to stop in.

Re: Americans are poorly served by their grocery stores

#79

Post by bragr » Fri, Jun 03, 2022, 9:36 PM UTC

AmericanChopper wrote: post #49

bragr wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I strongly believe personalized nutrition and shopping experiences will have major impact on non communicable diseases. What about all the poor people without smartphones? We have such an unequal distribution of wealth and technology in this county that (particularly on site like this with mostly digital natives) it is easy to loose sight of the fact that the poorest ~20% still don't have basic smart phones, or mayb…

> What about all the poor people without smartphones? Poor people have smartphones. Even poor people in developing nations are likely to have smartphones. Basic smartphones are ultra cheap commodities.

>Poor people have smartphones

Some poor people have smartphones. I guess some will get to eat. Also while there is penatration of smartphones into poorer countries, it is hardly 100%

>However, compared to other markets across the globe, India’s smartphone penetration rate is still relatively low. [1]

[1] https://www.statista.com/topics/4600/smartphone-market-in-in...

Re: Americans are poorly served by their grocery stores

#80

Post by dragonwriter » Fri, Jun 03, 2022, 9:36 PM UTC

robonerd wrote: post #50

lapetitejort wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I concur. I can't find anything other than all purpose and wheat flour. No bread flour, or anything more obscure like rye, spelt, etc. Similarly, they sell a single sea salt, alongside tons of trendy mixed salts. Want iodized salt? Go find a big grocery store. I do find tons of snacks and TV dinners, which I enjoy. But if I'm stocking up on essentials, I'd rather go to a big store. And yes, I do find obscure flours a…

It's not just food either, trader joes is lacking many of the non-food goods that other grocery stores almost universally have. Need aluminum foil or parchment paper? You can't buy those at trader joes.

> trader joes is lacking many of the non-food goods that other grocery stores almost universally have.

It's almost like their business model is “don’t devote lots of floor space to stuff you can get anywhere so price competition drives margins to zero”. .