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Lidl to Launch Rival to AWS

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Re: Lidl to Launch Rival to AWS

#351

Post by VHRanger »

wolfgke wrote: post #339
paganel wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Salaries are off the charts Just to add another data point, Lidl is also the retailer that pays the best market salaries in the Eastern-European country where I live in (they actually included that in several of their hiring ads), and I'm talking about shop people like cashiers and the people that put things on the shelves. > They are getting into the car sales and recycle business as well. In here they've also ope…

> I agree though about the big difference between the German and US management. I have a close friend that works at the regional Lidl HQ and she got reprimanded just after being hired for having used the singular "you" (less formal) instead of the plural "you" (I'm not sure how it translates into German) when addressing herself to her bosses on the company's hallways Using "du" instead of "Sie" for adressing people c…

I'm French Canadian and that sounds insane.

In France, there's a soft tendency to use the plural you ("vous") a lot more because of the more rigid French class system. In Quebec it's seen as a snobby thing to do due to the more working ass culture.

That said, in neither country would anyone ever get a monetary fine for using one over the other. That's crazytown

Re: Lidl to Launch Rival to AWS

#352

Post by collyw »

eru wrote: post #333
collyw wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's Wallmart shopping culture? I seem to remember them from spending time in Mexico 20 years ago. It was just a large supermarket from what I remember. Nothing especially unusual that I can remember.

Fish and water I guess? Look up any of scores of articles that come up when you search for 'How to shop at Aldi?' (like eg https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/aldi-101-how-to-shop-at-aldi/ ) to see how German shopping culture works. Oh, and Germans don't like greeters nor people to bag their groceries for them. When they see them, they suspect they could have saved 10 cents going to shop that doesn't have them instead. (An…

I am still confused. We have Aldi and Lidl here, they have an unusual selection, but good value for money. I am still missing from what happens at Wallmart that is unusual. I don't remember greeters in the ones I went to in Mexico.

Re: Lidl to Launch Rival to AWS

#353

Post by IshKebab »

benjohnson1707 wrote: post #96

Former Schwarz employee here: The company made SO much money in the past 4 decades with big box / discount retailing, you won't believe it. Salaries are off the charts (it would make senior software engineers in SV look pale). Hubris is as well. The only thing that drives reasoning are statements like 'we're not just some random company, we're Schwarz Group'. It's the poster child Corp described by Andy Gorves statem…

> The whole corporation is basically a 2-person-empire (the only two people that own shares and have taken the thing from 1 store to ~13k stores globally). They make every major call, and even random minor calls. It should be mentioned that they are 72 and 80 years old, respectively.

Sounds very similar to Dyson. The biggest problem is that nobody wants to make decisions because what's the point when James Dyson is just going to come along and casually overruled it? Especially frustrating if it's something he isn't interested in.

Re: Lidl to Launch Rival to AWS

#354

Post by dubcanada »

TulliusCicero wrote: post #223
benjohnson1707 wrote: post #96

Former Schwarz employee here: The company made SO much money in the past 4 decades with big box / discount retailing, you won't believe it. Salaries are off the charts (it would make senior software engineers in SV look pale). Hubris is as well. The only thing that drives reasoning are statements like 'we're not just some random company, we're Schwarz Group'. It's the poster child Corp described by Andy Gorves statem…

> Salaries are off the charts (it would make senior software engineers in SV look pale). I have a hard time believing this, given that senior engineers at places like Google or Facebook are making 300k+.

According to https://www.comparably.com/companies/lidl/salaries/software-... and glassdoor senior software engineers are around 150k to 200k and directors are around 200k to 300k.

So they are largely comparable to SV salaries at Google/Facebook. Which means since Google/Facebook pay more than average, they are above average for SV.

And that's at places like Berlin which are cheaper to live than SV.

Re: Lidl to Launch Rival to AWS

#355

Post by eru »

redis_mlc wrote: post #129
ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>building fancy pilots all day, but refuse roll them out because it will cannibalize their core business That's the big difference I've noticed between German and US companies. In German companies if you are an exec that brought success to the company in the past then your word is the law and focus is on keeping the status quo and make sure that any new ventures don't make existing higher ups obsolete. Whereas in US…

> Famous examples being how Netflix pivoted from DVD rentals Not to nitpick your overall post, but let me explain the context better. Netflix is named "Net flix" because the original plan was to offer a streaming product ASAP, but investors and end-users weren't ready at the time. So mailing DVDs was done initially, and because of a loophole in USPS pricing rules, was a genius move when looking at cost. (Netflix hist…

Do you have a link to a write-up on the loophole in the USPS pricing rules somewhere?

Edit: I found a few articles. Seems mostly a lesson on how you shouldn't have a government monopoly on the postal service in your country..

Re: Lidl to Launch Rival to AWS

#356

Post by mrep »

eru wrote: post #326
jawns wrote: post #311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Many of the AWS guys are life timers, do not care about money I've heard, anecdotally, that Amazon/AWS engineers tend to be more money-driven than others in the same tier, or at least they're willing to put up with a lot more headaches because of the money. Is that a misconception? If not money, then what keeps them there?

I used to work for Google and have friends at Amazon. Google definitely seems to have the better working conditions. The impact on the world you have is probably similar. So relatively speaking, I'd expect people at Amazon to be into it for the money more.

Google pays better than amazon though and if you really want money, you go to facebook as they are known for top pay and promoting you really fast if you are willing to put in the hours.

Granted, this is assuming you can get into each one and there is some luck in that so a lot of people are just where they could get in.

Re: Lidl to Launch Rival to AWS

#357

Post by stereolambda »

chx wrote: post #179
occamrazor wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess you mean the 2nd person form (du or ihr fir singular or plural) instead of the 3rd person plural (Sie), which is the courtesy form fir singular and plural. Yes, in German it’s a big deal, roughly the same as saying “Hey dude” instead of “Good morning Mr Smith”.

Parent says Eastern European country, well, I had the bad luck to be born in Hungary (am Canadian now), and I fully understand what happened. It's a generation divide. I am 45 and I am one of the oldest for whom it doesn't matter and looks downright outdated but even to many in my age cohort and especially older it's exceptionally offensive, irrespectful to use the familiar form of "you". https://en.wikipedia.org/wik…

In Polish the polite way is not plural you, but Sir/Madam in third person. (Which is an interesting artifact of social history, with lots of petty nobility and other classes partly adapting that style even long ago.) There was also the toast, which is still performed in some conservative circles, I think.

I am in my late 20s and did find it excessive when university students from former Soviet Union (not knowing Polish well) use the polite form "pan"/"pani" for fellow students. I think there was some mis-mapping of forms. But otherwise it should be used in any situation when there is a hint of power imbalance or transactional relation. Informal to people at parties, formal to a store attendant and such. For example, I think that the fact that high school students are addressed by teachers with informal "ty", but are required to address them with "pan" is very demeaning and adds to the soul-warping, prison-like atmosphere of schools. At the university level, removing this felt like fresh air.

Recently there is a push in corporate/"hip" circles to use the informal way everywhere and even many young people don't like it. Many want to be able to hide behind "pan"/"pani" from your sales, marketing or otherwise pushy BS. I think that "ty" has to come with some expectation of sincerity and equality.

On the other hand, I find random French or German websites addressing their users with vous/Sie hilarious for some reason. It makes the relation seem businessy. Which okay, it often is in the modern internet.

Re: Lidl to Launch Rival to AWS

#358

Post by [deleted] »

dna_polymerase wrote: post #93
barbecue_sauce wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've only been to Lidls in the US, but their stores seem pretty streamlined to me.

In Germany, their store managers do inventory manually, which means they have to order items they run low on, no tech insight. Their attempt at setting up SAP failed after burning 500 million on it. Delivery robots, Amazon-style prototypes for cashier-less systems, heck, even Instacart like delivery are nowhere to be found. If Amazon decided to enter the German supermarket landscape, Lidl (also, Aldi and others) woul…

[deleted]

Re: Lidl to Launch Rival to AWS

#359

Post by Chris2048 »

bigiain wrote: post #296
ido wrote: post #290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would guess they misspelled "hasst" ("she hates me")?

I guess 23 year old industrial metal songs aren't shared cultural references on HN the way I'd assumed... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3q8Od5qJio

I'm only really familiar with it b/c it's on the matrix soundtrack

Re: Lidl to Launch Rival to AWS

#360

Post by t0mas88 »

brummm wrote: post #344
occamrazor wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess you mean the 2nd person form (du or ihr fir singular or plural) instead of the 3rd person plural (Sie), which is the courtesy form fir singular and plural. Yes, in German it’s a big deal, roughly the same as saying “Hey dude” instead of “Good morning Mr Smith”.

A lot of the comments below indicate that that the Du/Sie distinction is something old fashioned and young people don't do this anymore. This is arguably false. Even though it might not be at the same level as it was 70 or 80 years ago, this distinction is still very much part of the German language and society. With people my age I would probably always use the informal Du, but only in informal situations. In case o…

It's a cultural thing that's subject to change. The Netherlands technically has two forms as well, but the use of the formal one in practice has greatly reduced and people don't put much weight on the distinction anymore. Certainly wouldn't get offended if you used the informal one. Used to be different 50 years ago.
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