Show HN: Aldi Price Map • Hacker News Board

Re: Show HN: Aldi Price Map

#181

Post by chirau » Thu, Feb 15, 2024, 2:02 PM UTC

ayocado wrote: post #94

gordon_freeman wrote: post #91

Would it not be better and more insightful to take an aggregate price of 50 items (picked from various categories) at each Aldi store and create a map like this to understand how Aldis in different regions have different pricing and the difference etc? I am saying this because currently, some items like 'Navel Orange' are cheaper on the West Coast vs the East whereas items like 'Veggie Burger' are cheaper on the East…

I only have data for the advertised products in this week flyer, very limited product range in that unfortunately

Why are spaghetti and butternut squash grouped together?

Re: Show HN: Aldi Price Map

#182

Post by coev » Thu, Feb 15, 2024, 2:03 PM UTC

Beijinger wrote: post #173

das_keyboard wrote: post #120

How naive of me to ecpect anything else than an us-only map when this is about a german supermarket chain with most of its stores in europe...

Aldi (and Lidl) are okay. But I wish Europe had Trader Joe's (owned by Aldi) and Costco.

Lidl expanding into the US makes my european wife very happy.

Re: Show HN: Aldi Price Map

#183

Post by francisofascii » Thu, Feb 15, 2024, 2:04 PM UTC

oniony wrote: post #106

Do Americans find it difficult to slice their own mushrooms?

I looked up the price difference locally on Instacart. $1.65 for 8 oz mushrooms, $1.75 for 8 oz sliced. The "sliced" version is labeled a "best seller".

Re: Show HN: Aldi Price Map

#184

Post by BlackLotus89 » Thu, Feb 15, 2024, 2:05 PM UTC

nwatson wrote: post #162

jimmySixDOF wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't forget there are two Aldi (Aldie?) the yellow South and the Blue North and they both have a different international footprint just to complicate things

Aldi North is called Trader Joe's in the USA.

It's not the same. Aldi Nord just owns Trader Joe's

https://www.aldireviewer.com/aldi-and-trader-joes-are-they-t...

Re: Show HN: Aldi Price Map

#185

Post by notaustinpowers » Thu, Feb 15, 2024, 2:09 PM UTC

pjot wrote: post #11

The way I’m interpreting the charts, the least expensive (green dot) clusters are indicative of which port received a given item. The stores furthest from the port also have the highest cost.

I'm not entirely sure on that but I have no data to back it up, just personal experience. The south (GA, SC, FL, etc) has the Port of Savannah which is the 3rd busiest in the US (right behind Los Angeles and New York). Yet we have some of the most expensive food items, especially in Atlanta which is a massive nationwide distribution hub due to our railways and highways.

EDIT: Makes sense for fruits and vegetables mainly, due to California's agriculture. But shelf-stable and prepackaged goods still maintain a very high price even over in the South.

Re: Show HN: Aldi Price Map

#186

Post by Abimelex » Thu, Feb 15, 2024, 2:09 PM UTC

Shrezzing wrote: post #79

ayocado wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I will check if I can find data for Australia or China. Fixed the grammar :)

Where did you find the data source for the USA? It'd be amazing to see this data mapped across time, as it'd be a relatively good indicator of grocery inflation.

I would be also interested in the data source. I work in european food retail business and I am not aware of any data sources like this.

Re: Show HN: Aldi Price Map

#187

Post by jjice » Thu, Feb 15, 2024, 2:09 PM UTC

For those disappointed about limitations of the data, I assume it's because aldi.us has a minimal web presence that comes down to pretty much only weekly fliers when it comes to food pricing data (locally at least).

When I was in college (within the last 10 years), Aldi was a god send. We could get a load of whole wheat bread for 70 cents. A one pound bag of pretzels was like a dollar. A dozen bagels was $1.25. A pound of turkey lunch meat was $3. I had a semester where my food spend averages $23 dollars a week, all thanks to Aldi's insane prices (I let it go up a bit after that).

While everyone has been affected by food price increases, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Aldi is still notably cheaper for a lot of things about two weeks ago. The bad part is now when I see a can of beans for $1.50, it seems like a rip off since it's about _twice_ as much as the Aldi equivalent. The ingredients are the same: beans and salt.

I love Aldi for their raw efficiency that they generally take up. I know quite a few people who hate the structure of an Aldi, but I absolutely love it.

Re: Show HN: Aldi Price Map

#188

Post by Navarr » Thu, Feb 15, 2024, 2:15 PM UTC

jjice wrote: post #187

For those disappointed about limitations of the data, I assume it's because aldi.us has a minimal web presence that comes down to pretty much only weekly fliers when it comes to food pricing data (locally at least). When I was in college (within the last 10 years), Aldi was a god send. We could get a load of whole wheat bread for 70 cents. A one pound bag of pretzels was like a dollar. A dozen bagels was $1.25. A pou…

Aldi does pickup through Instacart, and while I know the prices wouldn't be 1:1 - it might be a great source of data for price deltas

Re: Show HN: Aldi Price Map

#189

Post by whythre » Thu, Feb 15, 2024, 2:21 PM UTC

mlrtime wrote: post #166

das_keyboard wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, this was more of a tongue in cheek response and not really directed at you or your project directly. For me Aldi is just such a european thing that I was genuinely surprised by this.

Maybe I read too much reddit and I've been primed [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priming_(psychology) ] But I read this as another anti-American comment which seems to be very fashionable recently.

As an American, I can understand the European internet user’s chagrin at our seeming total cultural ubiquity. It seems like almost every piece of media is about American concerns unless explicitly stated otherwise.

Re: Show HN: Aldi Price Map

#190

Post by boxed » Thu, Feb 15, 2024, 2:26 PM UTC

whythre wrote: post #189

mlrtime wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe I read too much reddit and I've been primed [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priming_(psychology) ] But I read this as another anti-American comment which seems to be very fashionable recently.

As an American, I can understand the European internet user’s chagrin at our seeming total cultural ubiquity. It seems like almost every piece of media is about American concerns unless explicitly stated otherwise.

Just the other day the US news were all ablaze about how the Super Bowl was the biggest viewed program on television since Apollo 11. Except of course, the Eurovision Song Contest is way bigger.