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Thread: The OT thread V1

  1. #3821
    Quote Originally Posted by Unfated33 View Post
    About six months ago my wife made the decision to drive past our local grocery store and start shopping at Lidl instead. Lidl is pretty much the same thing as Aldi, only you don't have to pay for your shopping carts and the checkout process is not quite so barbarian or annoying.

    And... we haven't really gone back to our regular grocery much at all since then. We pay somewhere between a quarter to a half of the price of our former shopping bills at Kroger. Proteins in particular are much cheaper, though the selection is also seasonally limited (Halibut and Rack ribs show up for a few weeks and then disappear again). Also seasonally the Lidl franchise seems to do theme offerings - Taco Month or Greek Month or similar where they have an aisle just dedicated to items that fit within the theme. Not just competing on fruits and vegetables, they also sell European brand hardware, tools, clothing, and toys. It's an interesting addition to the original premise of much cheaper groceries.

    I read a newspaper article that said the stores are basically designed around attracting people in upper middle class areas, and it certainly seems like the store is catering to my interests and tastes (specialty coffees and pastries, artisan cheeses, etc.). Has anyone else tried switching to Aldi/Lidl, and what are your thoughts about the good and bad of making a switch like this?

    TLDR: I feel like I'm winning a grocery store game when I buy salmon and prosciutto for a third of the price of my old grocery bills.
    Went to one in Spain when I was there and the Aldi reference is spot on. In Jersey we dont pay for carts at Aldi is that a thing in Carolina?

    They just opened a Lidl by my job and another one is coming in, upper middle class areas seems to be the thing, like by my office, and my town has the Aldi because it is lower-middle class demographic mostly.

    One thing interesting is by me is that the Lidl has been picketed from the grocery workers union (sorry I dont really know anything about that union) since it was under construction, and still now about a year later. I know Aldi pays their few employees that are working well above what the union grocery kids get at a local shoprite, Im not to sure what the Lidl is paying their people, hope it is prevailing wage at least in my area or that is kind of a shithead way to cut the bottom line instead of investing in automation and such to reduce the labor force costs. I might stop in if they offer more European style coffees and beans and such.

  2. #3822
    Insider Unfated33's Avatar
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    Yeah, down here all of the shopping carts at Aldi are locked up together. You have to pay a quarter to unlock a cart and use it. If you return the cart to the spot where you took it, supposedly there is a way to get the quarter back. Mostly I just hand it off to an incoming customer as I'm leaving.

  3. #3823
    Have an Aldi by me. It sucks that there is just 1 register open and only when its really busy does the shift manager take overflow. Otherwise, i like it. I don't really hit their seasonal stuff much, but for a mass of protiens or general foodstuffs, i like it. I even one day, collected about a dozen loose shopping carts and pocketed the quarter it costs to unlock them. But i will go there to stock up on the meat selection. Larger portions but at a less cost than Shop Rite or even Walmart

  4. #3824
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    I like Aldi but there aren?t any close by.

    Our Targets have been converting into super store style and have food at good prices.

    Kroger sucks, but it?s around the corner so we go for convenience.

    We?ve also started using Shipt here and there and it?s cheaper than Kroger, plus I don?t have to haul the kid around the store in the car shaped shopping cart...

  5. #3825
    poly update: have now "come out" to both my parents, and my brother and sister in law.

    it went shockingly well. even my relatively conservative dad was like "oh, yeah, makes sense, you guys are great" my moms comment was "yeah, anyone you guys date is welcome (to family events), if they are dating you guys, then they will be great humans"

    so thats pretty awesome. both partners of mine will be up for road racing, pretty excited about that.
    Last edited by cockerpunk; 05-20-2019 at 04:48 PM.
    social conservatism: the mortal fear that someone, somewhere, might be having fun.

  6. #3826
    Insider Pump Scout's Avatar
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    Wait - you guys mean Aldi isn't SELLING those carts for a quarter apiece? Crap... I've been doing it all wrong, and I should probably take some of these back and apologize.



    I'd shop there more if I was going by there when they're open more. Unfortunately, the big blue necessary evil is right across from work, and their selection is a skosh better. Even there, though, WalMart here has gone from "they have 95% of what you're expecting them to have in stock" to "they have about 75% of what I'd expect them to have in stock". I'm positive there's different tiers and types of WalMarts that get different inventories and allocations of supply.

  7. #3827
    Insider imped4now's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Unfated33 View Post
    Yeah, down here all of the shopping carts at Aldi are locked up together. You have to pay a quarter to unlock a cart and use it. If you return the cart to the spot where you took it, supposedly there is a way to get the quarter back. Mostly I just hand it off to an incoming customer as I'm leaving.
    LOL, you make the process seem so complex....

    *Guys, it's really simple. You *rent* the carts @ Aldi. Put the quarter in to unlock/release chain. When you're done, put the cart back, push the chain clasp back into the lock and out comes your quarter. This is simply an incentive to not steal the carts in order to reduce Aldi's costs so that they can continue to provide excellent pricing. Put the quarter into your cupholder until your next visit to Aldi. Real simple.
    OlllllllO

  8. #3828
    Insider Unfated33's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by cockerpunk View Post
    poly update: have now "come out" to both my parents, and my brother and sister in law.

    it went shockingly well. even my relatively conservative dad was like "oh, yeah, makes sense, you guys are great" my moms comment was "yeah, anyone you guys date is welcome (to family events), if they are dating you guys, then they will be great humans"

    so thats pretty awesome. both partners of mine will be up for road racing, pretty excited about that.
    I can imagine that took stress off you all to be able to show your real selves to your family. Glad to hear it went so well!

  9. #3829
    Insider Pump Scout's Avatar
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    BTW, the other benefit of the quarter-carts at Aldi - they don't have to pay a cart crew to bring the carts back to their spots. Ever watch those guys at WalMart? They bring carts in 40-50 at a time. They're in a line, driven by their little electric pushers, and when they get them to the building, they go to the back of the line and drag them over to line up with the building. That's a big part of why WalMart's carts are always junk, and the Aldi ones are always decent. Plus, the saved payroll. It's really pretty genius.

  10. #3830
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    life hack: shop with 2 hand baskets instead of a cart, doing curls all the while
    "So you've done this before?"
    "Oh, hell no. But I think it's gonna work."

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