Americans in trouble with Aldi stores? WTF?

Discussion in 'Food and Wine' started by pitbull, Feb 28, 2020.

  1. Texan

    Texan Well-Known Member

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    I like Aldi for the prices. The cart deposit is weird, but no biggie. My only complaint is that I prefer disposable plastic bags. I use them around the house for small trash can liners and for lunch bags.
     
  2. david gullikson

    david gullikson Banned

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    I would like to see lower prices if you self checkout, and self bag, or maybe a buck.
     
  3. Curious Always

    Curious Always Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Are you even reading the thread? You don't pay for it. You get it back when you return the cart. It's a way to keep prices down because they don't need to pay someone to wander the parking lot looking for carts.

    Plus, you think they are selling you a cart for 25 cents? I'm just LOL ing over here.
     
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  4. perotista

    perotista Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    If I have to pay to use one, it's mine. They just sold it to me for a quarter or however much it was. Or you could say they rented to me, when I'm done using it at home, however long that is, then I'll bring it back.
     
    Last edited: Apr 19, 2020
  5. Curious Always

    Curious Always Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    I see. How many hotel rooms do you own now?
     
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  6. BigSteve

    BigSteve Banned

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    I don't necessarily have a problem with paying a quarter to use a shopping cart.

    But I was completely unfamiliar with Aldi, and I had no idea that I needed a quarter for a shopping cart. Furthermore, one of the checkout trolls refused to give me change so I could pay the quarter.

    I had a shopping list with about 60 items on it and, ultimately, not a single one of them was purchased at Aldi, despite my intention to buy ALL of them there if I could.

    Aside from that, having walked around the store a bit, I have to say that I honestly wasn't impressed with the store or their stock. I can go to Publix or the Navy Commissary in Jacksonville and know that I can get everything I want in a bright, clean store. My local Aldi is dark and dirty...
     
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  7. MJ Davies

    MJ Davies Well-Known Member

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    Aldis is good for basics. I usually stock up on canned goods and they seem to always have a fresher produce section over other grocery stores in my area.

    At this time (during COVID-19), carts are free. An employee is stationed outside and he (or she) wipes down each cart as customers return them. All the cleaned carts are on one side as he works to clean the returns and put them back in circulation.

    It's the same way with Walmart's carts except they have a limit on the number of customers in the store simultaneously so there are 4-5 employees managing that part.
     
  8. FreshAir

    FreshAir Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    you're putting a deposit down to use the cart, and you get your deposit back when you are done with the cart

    looting the cart, probably not the best idea
     
    Last edited: Jun 7, 2020
  9. MJ Davies

    MJ Davies Well-Known Member

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    Stopped in really quick this afternoon. Previously, they had an employee stationed outside to wipe down all carts as they were returned. The customer did NOT need to have a quarter.

    Today, there was no attendant, but they supplied disinfectant wipes for customers to wipe down their own carts and they are back to the quarter system. Things feel like they are relaxing a bit. I think it will be gradual and change the way of life we've all known previously.
     
  10. Daggdag

    Daggdag Well-Known Member

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    Costco is fine as long as you're making huge purchases. The savings aren't worth having to pay a membership even if you don't shop if you don't make a lot of purchases.


    for just normal grocery shopping and not huge bulk purchases aldi is much cheaper than Costco.

    I used to never buy meat from Aldi because it was never that good quality, but over the last year or so they've really amped up their quality on their meat and produce
     
  11. Curious Always

    Curious Always Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    I actually went into our Aldi for the first time in three years. It's a dramatic difference. Everything is so clean, now, and the products are of much higher quality. They have a lot more "brand" name foods than they used to at such a discounted price; in some cases, 50% cheaper.

    I was really impressed, so we are going to continue to go there. At least one of the store brand items was not as good, and that was cheddar wurst - the Johnsonville brand is clearly superior and worth the extra money. Quite a lot, though, was as good as the brand name.

    We're going to save a lot of money on groceries.

    Note - they were monitoring the door and only allowing a certain number in at a time. They were wiping down carts; no quarter for now.
     
  12. cristiansoldier

    cristiansoldier Well-Known Member

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  13. CenterField

    CenterField Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Aldi has a few things going for them, which is why they are successful. One, their prices are generally lower than the competition's. Two, they have some special selections every week that are really tasty, usually available for a short time then unfortunately gone, such as some spectacular German cakes and pastries, some interesting seafood, some European chocolates. Three, they have mimicked some popular brands with their own for a fraction of the price, sometimes 4 times less expensive; one example: I Iike Doritos Nacho Chips and Aldi has cloned them and they sell a very similar chip for a fourth of the Doritos price per bag. Five, their cashier lines move very fast.

    I don't mind the cart/quarter thing. I usually only go to Aldi for specific items either because they are great and not available elsewhere (like the German pastries I was talking about) or because they are very significantly cheaper than elsewhere. They are also cheaper in basic stuff that are frequent buys like eggs and milk and ice-cream. But in any case what I get in a trip to Aldi often is not more than what I can carry in a shopping bag so I just take my own bag to the store and bypass the cart problem completely. In the rare occasions when I thought a cart would help me, I got a quarter from my stock I keep in my car for this kind of thing (such as coin-operated air pumps for tires). Not a big deal.

    What is not so good about Aldi - their selection is extremely limited. Their overall quality in terms of gourmet finds and wines is much inferior to Trader Joe's. The two companies are related; Trader Joe's was purchased by one of the two Aldi clones (the company was split in two, from the original German owners; the logos for the two clones feature slightly different color scheme) but Trader Joe's is the much better store.

    I recently moved to my current town, and I'm dismayed that while we have an Aldi, we don't have a Trader Joe's. The closest one is 55 miles away. I am a big enough fan of Trader Joe's that I do shop there from time to time in trips to that store, with a large cooler, and I fill it with the frozen items I like from Trader Joe's, dump a bag of ice on top, and drive back. The cooler pretty much doesn't leave much space for anything else in the trunk so I fill the back seat with the non-frozen items. My wife and I look kind of crazy coming out of Trader Joe's with such a large purchase... we've drawn some surprised looks, from the fact that each of us come out of the store pushing two of their small carts filled to the brink, people smile and say "four carts, are you having a party?" and we say "no, we love Trader Joe's but live far away so we stock up until the next trip."

    We do have a Sam's Club here but not a Costco. The closest Costco is even farther away than the closest Trader Joe's, 81.5 miles. Again, Sam's Club helps, but Costco has a better and more sophisticated selection that Sam's Club. So we do trips to Costco from time to time, too. It sucks when you get very used to certain brands and items and they become part of your lifestyle, and you move to a place where they aren't available. I know, First World problem and all.

    We aren't as crazy as it may seem with these Trader Joe's and Costco trips, because we usually couple them with other reasons to visit the two cities where they are located. We live in a small town and both these cities are great centers for fine dining, shows, and shopping. We often go for a restaurant or a show and spend the night to make of it a weekend, and then on our way back we stop by Trader Joe's or Costco.

    With the pandemic, this has changed, as we're no longer going to restaurants and shows, so yes, we did make some special trips to these stores, with facemasks and all, just to shop and come back; it does sound kind of crazy to drive 163 miles round trip just to go to a specific store.

    Haha, as I typed this, I decided to check and it seems like they opened another Costco a little closer to us, in a still different town, 68 miles away; will save us 27 miles round trip. A little better.
     
  14. CenterField

    CenterField Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Why are people harboring this misconception? You don't have to pay to use a cart. You put your quarter in to release it from the chains, and when you return it you get your quarter back. I'm not one of those inconsiderate people who leave carts everywhere in a parking lot anyway; I always return them after I loaded the car, so the quarter issue is of no consequence to me.
     
  15. Aleksander Ulyanov

    Aleksander Ulyanov Well-Known Member

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    I've just started going to BJ's I like the trashbags and their deli meats are cheaper. I can afford pastrami now
     
  16. perotista

    perotista Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    It's all irrelevant as there's no Aldi's around me. It's just the idea. I suppose it does save the grocery store money in not having to pay someone to go fetch carts. But to each his own. I wonder how Aldi's is handling the coin shortage nowadays?

    Then how in the world did we ever come up with a coin shortage?
     
  17. Creasy Tvedt

    Creasy Tvedt Well-Known Member

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    There's an enterprising bum that works the lot outside my local Aldi, and he's got a good sales pitch and everything. He calls himself the "cart valet", and he politely offers to take your cart back for you, for a mere 25-cent gratuity that he collects when the cart is re-stowed.

    I take him up on the deal every time. I noticed that a lot of people do. He's got himself a tidy little racket going.

    It's refreshing to see a bum with a little drive and work ethic.
     
    Last edited: Jul 26, 2020
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  18. CenterField

    CenterField Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Aldi makes no secret of that: they try to reduce the number of staff they need to run a store, and that's one of the ways they are able to pass on the savings to customers and feature prices that are generally lower than the competition's.

    But I don't want to seem like I'm a hired gun for Aldi, LOL. It's just that I like the store and I saw a documentary on it.

    I read somewhere that we got into a coin shortage because of COVID-19. People are not going out to spend back the coins they got in change or to dump them in those machines that give you a voucher (of slightly lesser value, minus their fee), they are using less often coin-operated businesses like car wash and laundry, so ways to get them back into circulation have been curtailed.
     
  19. perotista

    perotista Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    That possible on the coins. I went to Kroger, Pet Smart, Harbor Freight and all had a sign that they had no coins.
     
  20. Spim

    Spim Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    They likely have coins but are being protective, it's easier for all if we use cards I guess during this time.

    I save all my change normally anyway. Fill up a big jug then buy something nice.
     
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  21. Chrizton

    Chrizton Well-Known Member

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    They have done away with the quarter thing since covid at ours. I was getting somewhat used to them, though I do not favor the location of ours, until covid. The things I have come to expect there haven't been there. I do Lidl more now.
     
  22. Curious Always

    Curious Always Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Tell me a place that will count my coins for less than 9%, and I'll consider trading our $300+ in coins.

    Everyone needs to make a buck, though, so we'll hang onto our change until it's worth face value.
     
  23. MJ Davies

    MJ Davies Well-Known Member

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    Does your bank charge for that? I use a credit union and it's free. Coinstar doesn't charge a fee if you get the money redeemed as a gift card.
     
  24. Curious Always

    Curious Always Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    My credit union is 300 miles away. I felt no need to change after I left the area.

    Every coin star machine here takes 9%. Banks charge a bit less. Banks should do it for free. It used to be free. It costs 5 minutes of teller time and some wear and tear on the machine. That's not 9% of cash in. How about a flat $2 fee?
     
  25. Moonglow

    Moonglow Well-Known Member

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    I buy a few things there but not much.
     

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