Earlier quoted context omitted.
I do like my plastic bags.
You should stop that.
Or at least bring last trip's plastic bags into the store with you.
Aldi, a brutally efficient grocery chain, is upending America's supermarkets
221–230 of 653 posts
Re: Aldi, a brutally efficient grocery chain, is upending America's supermarkets
#222Earlier quoted context omitted.
> -they have barcode on 5 or 6 sides of their products, and they're typically huge! They nearly never need to orient a product to scan it. Their scan speed is far faster than any other supermarket I've been at. On a historical note (I am old enough to have shopped before bar codes existed): Generally stores had little price tags attached to every single item. Which was labour intensive twice: First someone has to att…
There's a store called Bulk Barn here in Canada where cashiers still do this. Everything is sold in bulk (flour, nuts, candy, etc.) out of giant tubs with scoops, that customers use to fill clear, unlabelled bags. The cashiers have this spinning cylinder thing that lists all the prices, but I've never seen them use it. Instead, they plop each bag on the scale and type in the code, which takes two seconds each. I don'…
You’re supposed to write the bin code on the tag you use to close the bag!
Re: Aldi, a brutally efficient grocery chain, is upending America's supermarkets
#223Earlier quoted context omitted.
As an admitted traditionalist concerned more about consumer comfort than company, some of these are the reason I don't and wont shop at Aldi. It's funny because depending on who you talk to, some of the same things that are seen as inconveniences to some are seen as beneficial to others. It's also funny to watch some of the same people laud inconveniences in one company and bemoan some of the same inconveniences in a…
I find it hard to shop at Aldi because of the almost brutal aesthetic. No signage, no colors, no nice lighting, just industrial meta shelves on an industrial floor with bare fluorescent lights overhead and everything jammed together. It gives me a headache just thinking about it. I will however still occasionally run in because although they run out quick almost every day, when they have grass-fed meat and some organ…
I've found that groceries run for and by immigrants have a similar approach. The "experience" Americans crave is revealed to be so vacuous.
Re: Aldi, a brutally efficient grocery chain, is upending America's supermarkets
#224Earlier quoted context omitted.
> -they combine varieties (like flavors of granola bars) of product in the same box. This greatly reduces the shelf space required. This is the only thing that fails about Aldi. Let's say you want their Chicken Tikka sauce. The mixed boxes mean good chance you won't see it as Tikka always goes first. You go through the whole 6 boxes of inventory, and yep, all sold - the three spaces in every box. Same for pizza - one…
I wonder does that lead to a lot of waste? Eg. the 30% of the box thats the flavour that no-one (at this shop) buys, goes off and is dumped, for every box. Maybe the ratios are determined by their global sales, who knows. You would think that it would be advantageous for each shop to tweak its own ratios.
Good question - mostly I guess no as they sometimes seem intent not to refill until other levels drop too.
Mostly this averages well enough. Yet for a few things - like tikka where ratios seem consistently wrong. As Britain's favourite curry, you'd expect a few extra jars of that in every box. Or Cumberland sausages up here in former Cumberland - just forget about whatever the other things in the box are. :)
Probably means going the other way that when they drop something there's a chance 1 of the 2 or 3 actually sold well.
Re: Aldi, a brutally efficient grocery chain, is upending America's supermarkets
#225Earlier quoted context omitted.
TIL you can call American stores. Why do people do that?
For example to check inventory/stock before going there.
Even with online checks, I’ve had to call the store.
Walmart always lists under 6 inventory counts as « low stock » with no guarantee.
Since I was looking for a particular auto battery that never has more than a few units in stock, I had to call for them to check.
Re: Aldi, a brutally efficient grocery chain, is upending America's supermarkets
#226Earlier quoted context omitted.
I find it hard to shop at Aldi because of the almost brutal aesthetic. No signage, no colors, no nice lighting, just industrial meta shelves on an industrial floor with bare fluorescent lights overhead and everything jammed together. It gives me a headache just thinking about it. I will however still occasionally run in because although they run out quick almost every day, when they have grass-fed meat and some organ…
I've found that groceries run for and by immigrants have a similar approach. The "experience" Americans crave is revealed to be so vacuous.
Depending on where you’re from and how impoverished you were, being able to go to a store full of food, putting one or more of a large sample in your cart, and only pay at the very end, can be quite an “experience”.
I’ve observed that this effect can last for decades if your formative years didn’t involve enough food.
Re: Aldi, a brutally efficient grocery chain, is upending America's supermarkets
#227Most of the stuff they're doing seems to be entirely commonplace for the supermarket chains we have here in Norway. The coins for the carts. Stacking crates instead of individual items. Training every employee for everything (it's not uncommon to see a store manager operating the cash register). Expecting customers to fill their own bags and charging for those bags. Smaller selection. The only unique part seems to be…
Seems like most of the points you listed are a deterioration from the customer's perspective.
> most of the points you listed are a deterioration from the customer's perspective
Sure, just like flights are not as cushy as they used to be. The "deterioration" is more than compensated for by the drop in price.
Re: Aldi, a brutally efficient grocery chain, is upending America's supermarkets
#228It's quite impressive how things have turned. Not long ago Walmart was about to disrupt the German supermarket landscape. They even tried to cut prices to below market cost to conquer Aldi, Lidl, and the other big discount supermarket chains. After a couple of years they gave up and left. Now Aldi appears to be "fighting back" successfully in the US. The history of Aldi's efficiency [0] is pretty impressive. It actua…
On some level I rather like the idea that Aldi, after fending off Walmart on their home turf are now making successful inroads in America in an effort to take Walmart's lunch.
Re: Aldi, a brutally efficient grocery chain, is upending America's supermarkets
#229It's quite impressive how things have turned. Not long ago Walmart was about to disrupt the German supermarket landscape. They even tried to cut prices to below market cost to conquer Aldi, Lidl, and the other big discount supermarket chains. After a couple of years they gave up and left. Now Aldi appears to be "fighting back" successfully in the US. The history of Aldi's efficiency [0] is pretty impressive. It actua…
It's not uncommon in Germany to go to Aldi first, then buy everything that you could't get at the "full service" more expensive super market next door.
Re: Aldi, a brutally efficient grocery chain, is upending America's supermarkets
#230Wait untill you get Aldi mobile provider. In my country i pay 10eur a month for unlimited calls+sms and 20gb of data. For 15eur you get same but 50gb data. Simplest cell provider, no hiden costs, and everything is resolved online. They do not have offices where you register. You just but a sim card. And then they can either charge your bank account or you buy vouchers at Aldi registers - printed on the receipt paper.
Its cheap and awesome!