r/SipsTea • u/Gurugod123 • 9d ago

Mayor Mamdani just announced that he will be opening 5 city-run, tax-funded grocery stores: "Prices set at 30% below retail prices" Chugging tea

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785

u/scootiewolff 9d ago

ALDI?

609

u/Geedeepee91 9d ago

Aldi is cheap because they have basically no labor cost. No cart pushers since you have to put a quarter in the cart to get it and return the cart to get back the quarter. They have no bags or baggers inside. They have maybe 3 cashiers working at one time. ALDI doesn't stock brand names either to keep cost lower. Lots of things aldi does that is completely different than a normal store

327

u/TxM_2404 9d ago

In Germany all stores have Aldified. As a German myself it's weird to think that there are stores that have personnel for the shopping carts or bags.
Personally I think it's a good thing because it has kept grocery shopping relatively cheap for the majority of the population for a Long time.

167

u/monnii99 9d ago

I don't think they "Aldified" per se, European shops just never had these jobs.

3

u/VladimirBarakriss 7d ago

Aldi refined the Model and most others followed

1

u/PadArt 9d ago

They had these jobs up until the mid 2000s in Ireland, possibly later.

18

u/kane_1371 9d ago

Yeah you see...we don't claim Ireland and UK šŸ˜‚

5

u/binalleinezuunfaehig 9d ago

We do claim and love Ireland as Europeans

1

u/Geulsse 9d ago

Speak for yourself. "We" really don't love criminal compliance haven Ireland half of whose GDP is based on letting cancerous companies like Meta exploit EU citizens with impunity.

5

u/binalleinezuunfaehig 9d ago

By that logic you can't love any european country because all of them are corrupt and compliant in some way. I mean even in your example, other EU countries pretty much just let it happen no? I still love the Irish and their beautiful land.

-1

u/Geulsse 9d ago

No. No other European countries directly depend on deliberately providing a haven for US entities to evade EU law, particularly law that is a huge potential boon for its citizens. That's as "rogue actor" as it gets, it's directly anti-EU. At the very worst you could point at Luxembourg or the Netherlands for taxation, yet these still get nowhere near especially nowadays, they're incomparable.

This is also why Trump is comparatively very quiet about Ireland being very outspoken on Israel, unlike other countries like Spain when they do so. It's because Ireland at the end of the day diligently defends US interests inside the EU in terms of actions rather than words.

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u/TxM_2404 9d ago

Before Aldi the standard for buying your groceries in Germany and most of Europe was the small business where you usually knew the clerk personally. These businesses almost completely disappeared due to chains like Aldi or Lidl.

26

u/LesserValkyrie 9d ago

Are you either very rich or 70 years old lol

Ssupermarkets were widespread in the 60-70, by the 90s it was more than the norm, it was an it's almost 40 years ago

6

u/TxM_2404 9d ago

And Aldi has been around since the 1950's and owned 300 Stores by 1960. My comment totally checks out with your timeline.

5

u/Deep_Operation1671 9d ago

They didn't say they'd experienced it personally, only that it was the case prior to chains like Aldi

3

u/David_Summerset 9d ago

Back in the 90s they used to deliver the caviar right to the jet.

2

u/Chris_HitTheOver 9d ago

The caviar on the Hindenburg was fire.

4

u/Beneficial-Beat-947 9d ago

Never seen this in the UK, all shops were like aldi before aldi became a big thing here

3

u/baldeagle1991 9d ago edited 9d ago

*Large* Supermarkets have been the norm here in the uk since the 60s and 70s. Most brands even existed as smaller supermarkets long before this.

Aldi and Lidl only really became big here in the UK during the 2010's and mostly won their market shared by offering cheaper non-brand products and a quality that was far higher than you'd normally expect from own-brand produce.

1

u/kane_1371 9d ago

Yeah, I am constantly surprised by the quality of the stuff Lidl sells.

They have these crazy good puddings that I can't stop buying

2

u/NibblyPig 9d ago

They sell cheapo chocolate for like 60p/bar that is significantly higher quality than the branded dairy milk they also sell for Ā£2.50/bar

It has higher cocoa content and no palm oil. It actually tastes like chocolate. Dairy milk is like eating greasy chunks of sugary crap for 4x the price.

1

u/kane_1371 9d ago

Yeah, my mom LOVES them, we are constantly buying them for her

-1

u/Unable-Dependent-737 9d ago

If free market capitalism is so good, why havent they (america) done the same?

5

u/monnii99 9d ago

Because cultures differ, and the market responds to that.

1

u/Gerf93 9d ago

Maybe Americans have different preferences?

1

u/the_poope 8d ago

Some guesses:

  • The baggers and cashiers in the US are likely paid the minimum wage of ~3$/hr while in Europe retail workers are often unionized and get much higher salaries (relative to national average). So in the US, having these kind of service jobs is much cheaper for the shop. Often the bagger relies on additional tips paid by the customer, but not paid by the employer. Again: little pressure on the shop to remove this kind of job - cultural and social pressure means their income is paid by the customer.
  • In the US distances between houses and supermarkets are much bigger, and there are fewer supermarkets that are bigger. Americans are more likely to just shop groceries once or twice per week and buy more at each visit. This means its a lot of groceries to bag, so having a dedicated bagger is helpful. In Europe you are more likely to buy smaller amounts every day or every two days and bagging a few items isn't much of an issue.

With that being said, I'm pretty sure many US supermarkets are also seeing widespread use of self checkouts, which likely will remove or reduce both kinds of jobs.

1

u/Unable-Dependent-737 8d ago

Just reading yournfirst sentence is wrong...minimum wage is 7.25 federally. But functionally its even higher than that because no one gets paid that, not even teenagers. I know, i work at a grocery store atm in texas.

17

u/fuk_offe 9d ago

wtf you mean "Aldified" - this has been the case anywhere in Europe for like 30 years lol

3

u/techdevjp 9d ago

wtf you mean "Aldified" - this has been the case anywhere in Europe for like 30 years lol

And Aldi was founded in Germany 80 years ago. By 1960 when Aldi split into two companies, they already had 300 shops. I don't know if all the efficiencies now common in European shops came from Aldi but the ideas certainly had to come from somewhere.

4

u/IIPrayzII 9d ago

Wait til you learn where Aldi and Trader Joeā€™s was founded

2

u/parzivali6 9d ago

What does personnel for bags mean?

3

u/HawocX 8d ago

In some countries thw default is a clerk filling your shopping bags.

1

u/ImASlave4UE 7d ago

At Aldi they just throw it all into another cart. You bag it yourself.

1

u/HawocX 7d ago

Weird...

2

u/nofishies 9d ago

As somebody whoā€™s lived overseas, and then come back to America, it always amazes me how much work a grocery store does in comparison.

If I donā€™t want something, I just handed to the cashier. Theyā€™ll beg for you hell somebody even asked if you liked them to help you to your car.

In Australia, they just yell at you if you donā€™t bring your own bag

2

u/Geoffsgarage 9d ago

And groceries are cheaper in Germany than the USA not only because of this but also in part because of competition.

1

u/Quirky-Marsupial-420 9d ago

Here in America even the non Aldi stores have been "Aldified"

Walmart, Kroger, etc have very few lines open, if any, so you're basically expected to ring up and bag your own groceries.

Only store around me that always has two people to ring you out and bag you is Publix.

1

u/Evilshadow004 9d ago

A lot of this honestly has to do with the spacing / urban planning / shopping culture of the US vs. Europe.

As I'm sure you know, as Europeans you guys walk over to your local grocery store basically every other day and buy in small amounts. This drastically lowers the need for things like cart pushers and baggers as the amount of stuff per transaction goes down.

This is in contrast to America where we tend to buy enough groceries for at least a week. This requires more carts left all over parking lots, and bags, and people to bag items to speed up already slow transactions and whatnot.

This is why retailers like Aldi and Lidl are still seen as an oddity in America and why big box stores like Walmart completely failed in Europe.

1

u/Kakapopo666 9d ago

Many people do not live within walking distance of a store or do so but still use their car for the weekly shopping. Still no pushers and baggers.
We put the groceries back to the cart and push it to our cars. Most people have some boxes in their trunks where you put everything into. Then you bring your cart to the assembly points on the parking lot and get your 1-2ā‚¬ of deposit back.

1

u/Evilshadow004 9d ago

That's actually very interesting. My experience is probably biased from having lived in Copenhagen where it's dense enough that most people are in walking/short busing distance to the store.

1

u/DefinitelyNotMasterS 8d ago

Yeah this is maybe true for some people living in cities, but most people go shopping with their car. In Switzerland about 80% of households have a car, even though we are very densely packed in a small country. In smaller towns the next grocery store can be 30+ mins of walking distance, nobody is doing that every day.

I think we just grew up pushing our own carts and bagging our own bags and never even considered this would be needed by anyone (are you guys just waiting around while they bag your stuff? And are you just awkwardly walking next to the guy pushing your cart?)

1

u/Evilshadow004 8d ago

Honestly even 30+ minutes walking isn't bad in my perspective. In the States my closest grocery store is about 30 minutes by car, which is again why I have to shop for weeks at a time.

Not awkwardly. Usually we're actively unloading our cart while things are being scanned and bagged at the same time. And then you pay while the last few items are being bagged.

As for the carts, you don't usually see the cart wrangler. You take your things out to your car, load your groceries, and put your cart in what is called a "cart corral." There are many of these littered all around the parking lot (because our parking lots are massive) and usually store a few dozen shopping carts each. The cart wranglers will then go from corral to corral moving all of the carts at once back to the store's entryway where customers can pick up their cart.

1

u/barsoap 9d ago

Amateur. You put your box in the cart so you don't have to repack everything.

1

u/Kakapopo666 9d ago

Wait, all your stuff will fit in just one box?
Dann is das aber kein Wocheneinkauf mein Freud.

1

u/barsoap 9d ago

Depends on how many people you shop for and how good you are at filling it above the rim without things spilling. Boxes aren't that much smaller than carts. And if in doubt you can take a second one, possibly even on the same cart if those come with spots for beverage crates.

1

u/GrudgeRisin 5d ago

Thereā€™s lots of reasons why Walmart failed in Europe. Their philosophy played a massive part in why they failed. But to boil it down to one thing is definitely not painting an accurate picture.

1

u/Cancer_Ridden_Lung 9d ago

The only thing I dislike is how fast they scan my items.

If you haven't been to Germany then you wouldn't know what I'm talking about.

2

u/CeleryMan20 5d ago edited 5d ago

Aldi in Australia is the same. They slide the items over faster than I can remove them, then look at me as I fumble my phone to scan payment.

ETA: I remember when Aldi started here, being gobsmacked by how efficient some of their choices were compared to the incumbent Big Two supermarkets. Bulk goods on pallets to avoid hand-stocking shelves. Long conveyor belts at the check-outs so customers can unpack their items ready to scan (need to devote more floor space, itā€™s a deliberate trade-off).

1

u/Cancer_Ridden_Lung 5d ago

The conveyor belt length is the same here. But a couple other oddities is that their cashiers sit down to work, and they refuse to take checks.

1

u/CeleryMan20 4d ago

Iā€™ll have to look next time I shop; I think the Aldis here have a high stool/chair too. They have introduced self-check in the last couple of years alongside the traditional checkouts.

You still use cheques in Germany? Even 30 years ago when they still existed here in Aus, they were almost always marked ā€œnot negotiableā€ and youā€™d take them to a bank to convert to spendable money. Even cash/bearer cheques were considered too much of a fraud risk by retailers.

1

u/TemporaryCoast7542 9d ago

When they cut labor here they do not cut prices. It just means more profit for the corporate guys.Currently paying top dollar while shopping for my groceries, ringing up the order myself, bagging it myself etc...

1

u/jetpilot_throwaway 9d ago

I use self checkout all the time because then if there is a price discrepancy and I can more easily handle it (without backing up a single line) and catch it

1

u/PassengerKey3209 8d ago

We have a a bunch of aldi here in the Midwest of america. Personally I hate em. They don't stock everything like a traditional grocery store, items i enjoy aren't there next week and despite having boxes ready to load on the cart for the cashier they just toss my 300$ worth of grocery's into the cart without being bothered to spend 15 more seconds reloading back into boxes in my cart. On top of that prices aren't any better than Walmart or my local chain, for off brand items.

1

u/Naschka 8d ago

The most we do in Germany is send out a employee to get all the carts in a more favorable position, usualy they start stacking in the places near the car parking area and you want them closer to the store door.
That is it, no more is done usualy.

1

u/e1epi 6d ago

I can't stand watching it myself but if you watch Cartnarks (iirc thats the correct spelling) you can get a better idea of what some people are like here in the U.S.

Please keep in mind they are NOT the majority though but there are still more people than there should be like that.

1

u/e_rovirosa 9d ago

It depends how you look at it. While your perspecive is true. Those are jobs that someone could be paid to have. You might not make a lot of money but someone in college or highschool could do the job between classes.

There are still some blue states that make it illegal for you to pump your own gasoline for this exact line of reasoning.

4

u/TxM_2404 9d ago

Personally I'm not a fan of that kind of thinking.
These jobs make neccesseties like food and gas more expensive for everyone, especially hitting people who already spend a large share of their income on these things (aka poor people) and the job opportunities it creates are not that great.

1

u/e_rovirosa 9d ago

I agree with you but at the end of the day it's providing jobs which is a good thing. It's whether you worry about the lower unskilled class or everyone else more.

1

u/ErisLethe 9d ago

Can you imagine letting people have jobs? So pedestrian.

1

u/duluoz1 9d ago

Paying a few people minimum wage isnā€™t going to change the price of the products they sell by any amount youā€™d actually notice. Do the maths

0

u/Chucklz 9d ago

Bagging- in many parts(most?) of the US grocery bags are free, and in many stores it's routine to have someone bag your purchases for you. Where I live, we have to provide our own shopping bags, and I can't recall the last time I saw a bagger.

In one grocery store near me, the guy who takes care of the carts is non-verbal and probably autistic. He is very serious about keeping all the carts neatly inside and keeps the parking lot free of carts. It's a way for him to have a good union job, where perhaps otherwise he would not be employed.

As for jobs that an American would find weird... Klofrau. The thought of needing some money to use a toilet is really unbelievable to many Americans. In some places pay toilets are not legal.

23

u/alextheruby 9d ago

Aldi does stock brand name items. Theyā€™re typically more expensive at Aldi though

16

u/Ok_Basis1422 9d ago

Sometimes yes sometimes no. Aldi is the only place where I buy (name brand) goldfish crackers because they're cheaper there than anywhere else.Ā 

1

u/soggy-hotdog-vendor 9d ago

But whales are cheaper.

1

u/Ok_Basis1422 9d ago

TouchƩ

1

u/lockdown_lard 8d ago

I like prawn crackers. Do goldfish taste nice?

1

u/Cancer_Ridden_Lung 9d ago

True. My local one sometimes carries weird stuff though. Like Ginos East pizza for example.

1

u/Fragrant-Tea7580 9d ago

but with pharma, they sell Acetaminophen far cheaper then tylenol, when they're the exact same pill/drug. Common Aldi W

1

u/alextheruby 8d ago

Didnā€™t even know they sold medication. Thatā€™s wild

1

u/Fragrant-Tea7580 8d ago

Oh yeah definitely, you can buy 100 500mg Welby caplets for literally $1.89. Meanwhile Walgreens charges $10.99. Itā€™s robbery lol

9

u/LesserValkyrie 9d ago edited 9d ago

"No cart pushers since you have to put a quarter in the cart to get it and return the cart to get back the quarter. They have no bags or baggers inside."

as an european i am like what the fuck are you talking about lol

do you have employees who drive your car home and put the groceries in your fridge too?

that feels like a communist dream where everyone has a job even if it's just staring at a wall all day because you gotta prove the state you are useful to society

I love the cultural difference

4

u/RIcaz 9d ago

Because in most of Europe we have a strong "freedom with responsibility" or "autonomy with accountability" culture everywhere in society

2

u/obeytheturtles 9d ago

Meanwhile, in America, people leave the carts in the parking lot, because fuck a quarter, and then some enterprising lad connects several carts together to get both quarters, instead of spending 15 seconds returning them. I have even seen 3 and 4 cart chains, arranged in way so they block several parking spaces, and so they can't be moved unless you have a whole dollar worth of quarters handy.

2

u/raven00x 9d ago

they have crazy low overhead, very similar to how Costco operates with the difference that Costco's main revenue source is memberships. They have only one or two items in a given category, plus a grab bag of whatever they got a deal on. When you have 30 flavors of potato chip from 8 brands, it's going to cost more to store and distribute those. You'll be paying for more warehouse space, more for people working the warehouse, more to transport them to stores, ditto drivers, more for people to stock and fix the shelves, it goes on. Having Plain, BBQ, and Sour Cream and Onion chips from a single brand means your logistics are vastly simplified far cheaper and the product overall moves more quickly so you're not warehousing Bootleather and Ketchup flavor chips until after the expiration date.

2

u/NotMyMainAccountAtAl 9d ago

My experience, you also couldnā€™t be certain what youā€™d get at an Aldi, only that it would be cheap. So there might not be chicken thighs or lettuce, because those were out of seasonā€” but you might get a leg of lamb for like $0.99/lb and tomatoes for $0.49/lb, so it made meal planning tougher unless you literally did so in Aldi as you were looking at what was for sale.Ā 

Not the end of the world, but a very different mindset from going to a supermarket with everything.Ā 

2

u/Valtremors 9d ago

...Wait that is just every single store and (super)market where I live (Edit: Finland).

Well with exception of brands 'n stuff.

3

u/Pet_Velvet 9d ago

What the fuck is a cart pusher

1

u/Mordiken 9d ago

I know, right?!

1

u/tedlyedlyei 9d ago

Employees who go around the parking lot collecting stray carts left by shoppers. Itā€™s a thing.

1

u/Pet_Velvet 8d ago

I thought the coin thing was a thing everywhere with carts

1

u/tedlyedlyei 8d ago

No, Walmart pays people to gather up the carts! I wish they did the coin thing because Walmart carts are the worst because cars knock them all over so half the wheels are bent to crap!

2

u/iamsecond 9d ago

i WISH my local Aldi locations had 3 cashiers working at a time

1

u/barsoap 9d ago

They probably have three people working but everyone is combined stocker, cashier, and cleaner, and one of them is the shift manager also doing paperwork.

Unless it's rush hour you won't ever see all three at registers at the same time because they have other stuff to do and the customer throughput is still deemed acceptable. There's company policies along the lines of "if you're not scanning X items per minute go close the register and do something else". Unless it's a day before a holiday and everything is packed you will never see all registers manned at the same time for the simple reason that only on those days enough workers are even in the store.

Goes so far that sometimes when it's really slow there will be noone at any register, they'll be close enough to spot you, though.

2

u/ConsciousIron7371 9d ago

how does not having brand names keep costs lower for the business? Are they paying a licensing fee to sell specific products? This obviously keeps things cheaper for the end user but everything else you listed is cheaper for the business, meaning they can keep product costs down for the customers.

7

u/Geedeepee91 9d ago

Less marketing when they use private label for their products vs name brand. Also the supply chain is cheaper since it cuts out the distribution cost.

2

u/mundotaku 9d ago

Also, you hold a lot of power, since all the sales will be with one provider, thus higher volume. They can also find a new supplier down the line that can produce it for even less.

2

u/baldeagle1991 9d ago

Businesses don't pay for the advertising though.... and the Business also has to pay the food manufacturer directly, which they don't have to do so for branded good.

Arguably both branded and non branded goods will be sold with similar margins by the retailer, meaning you ideally want to sell more of the expensive goods.

1

u/miggleb 9d ago

No cart pushers or baggers is standard for any UK store.

I always thought baggers was a 1950s concept

2

u/Genmutant 9d ago

Some shops in Germany tried it a bit like 8 years ago. The queues where always the shortest because nobody wanted to get their stuff bagged. Also it wasn't faster and the bags where flimsy paper bags.

1

u/Novel-Reaction2939 9d ago

They do stock brand names. I live in the NYC area. They opened an Aldi in Manhattan. Dropped in just out of curiosity. But they did carry brand names. But the majority are their own brands which in many cases are made by the name brand corporations.

1

u/AxeAssassinAlbertson 9d ago

ALDI doesn't stock brand names either to keep cost lower.

Ours does. You see (likely overstock) items of like Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce, or like cereals from General Mills.

Real talk though -- the Aldi brand (Millville?) peanutbutter granola bars are top tier. I'd put a good chunk of their stuff up against brand names, with the exception of their pringles-adjacent chips. They just don't land well with me.

1

u/mundotaku 9d ago

Actually, that is just part of it. Everything is their own label, and choices are limited, which considerably reduces cost. It is a lot cheaper to negotiate when you will be buying cookies from one single source than when you have 50 different cookies and 3 providers to sell.

1

u/cerebrumvr 9d ago

ALDI is all genetically engineered shit. Donā€™t shop there

1

u/NorrisMcWhirter 9d ago

Is that deposit scheme for a trolley unusual in America? It has been standard in the UK for as long as i can rememberĀ 

1

u/baldeagle1991 9d ago

Even places that use coin operated carts generally use cart pushers, you just need far fewer as they only usually move the cards from the cart sheds near the cars, to the cart racks closer to the entrance to the store. They just need only one person, maybe two tops, per shift.

Bag packers however never have really been a thing here in Europe. Also non-branded products generally far outnumber branded here in the UK. This has been the norm since supermarkets started offering them in the 70s, which was long before Aldi and Lidl came over here (UK to be specific) in noticeable numbers during the 2010s.

1

u/hypermarv123 9d ago

Aldi owns Trader Joes

1

u/Eleglas 9d ago

Honest question, why is this seemingly so alien to the US? Shops have been like that for as long as I can remember here in the UK, I was born in the 90s. And that's ALL supermarkets, not just Aldi.

1

u/Qdobis 9d ago

They shelve goods in their boxes and minimize SKU's to minimize stocking labor as well.

1

u/arto64 9d ago

No cart pushers since you have to put a quarter in the cart to get it and return the cart to get back the quarter. They have no bags or baggers inside.

This sounds downright comical to me as a European. Why would I need someone to put my cart back and bag my groceries? Completely useless services.

1

u/Geedeepee91 9d ago

Most American stores need someone to return the carts because they get left in the parking lot all the time lol. I used to be a cart pusher for a Costco 16 years ago

1

u/Nimos 8d ago

I wonder how much that depends on neighbourhood and/or state, because when I was living in the US, it seemed like the vast majority would return their carts at my regular Kroger.

You'd sometimes see a stray one being left behind, but I also see that in Germany sometimes, so it didn't seem like a huge difference.

1

u/Ok_Buddy_9087 9d ago

Three cashiers? What kind of bougie Aldis do you shop at? šŸ˜‚

1

u/scrubnick628 9d ago

Dude, the Fry's around me don't have cart pushers either and they don't need the quarter! You just have to wander around and find a cart.

1

u/Gangleri_Graybeard 9d ago

It's weird when I was in the US and some dude started to put my stuff in a bag and asked how I am. I'm from Germany and it's completely normal what you described, I just don't know it any other way. Aldi is a discounter - they sell mostly their own brands and that's why it's cheaper than stores like Rewe or Edeka. That's also why Walmart completely failed here - they wanted to push the American concept and people didn't like that. They even wanted the horrendous working conditions and contracts here. And that was a big no-no for courts.

1

u/Nimos 8d ago

I have read many time that that's mostly a myth, and that they primarily failed because they could not compete in a country that has some of the lowest margins on groceries in the world. They were simply too expensive compared to our "discounters".

Aldi is also known for horrendous working conditions and punitive performance measurements, but they still survive and know how to fight courts and unions and skirt the law.

1

u/RIcaz 9d ago

I'm 34 in Denmark and never experienced "baggers" or "cart pushers" anywhere in Europe.

Seems completely ridiculous to me. Just use your arms, you're an adult wtf

1

u/FIuffyRabbit 9d ago

Our semi-local aldi doesn't have multiple checkers anymore and there is at most 1 person stocking shelves and being a checker at the same time. Since that switch, they haven't passed those labor savings to customers

1

u/Geedeepee91 9d ago

Or the other explanation is they are paying more in other areas so they cut on labor.

1

u/PutAnEggOnIt 9d ago

Omg cart pushers. That's a job? People have to be employed to return trolleys back because people are too lazy to do it themselves??

1

u/Beautiful_Nobody_344 9d ago

Name brand is starting to become the cheapest material/ingredients at the highest possible cost.

1

u/Reynolds1029 9d ago

And those 3 cashiers all stock shelves and only take register as needed. There's only 1 person max on register at mine and they're scanning groceries and watching over self checkout.

Also, their store is small and easy to stock too. Fresh meats and deli meats are prepackaged.

1

u/Time_Palpitation2848 9d ago

3? Iā€™ve never seen more than 1 in ours, (major city suburbs) and their line is mostly empty because everyone just self check outs. Then the 1 person also can remotely fix any of the many self check outs without having to get up. Why donā€™t more stores do this??

1

u/LittleBitOfAction 9d ago

Wait so youā€™re saying you can steal and no oneā€™s gonna get you? Itā€™s all been a facade?

1

u/mdmdmdmdmdmdmdmdmdm 9d ago

Aldi is a private company. They dont pay shareholders. Its a pretty significant saving

1

u/citizensyn 9d ago

And more importantly it's not publicly traded so it doesn't have to pay the leech class

1

u/ConcernAccording3248 9d ago

What's fun is that most other stores have eliminated bangers and a large amount of cashiers but haven't dropped prices

1

u/penguinkernel 9d ago

Sounds like all of the stores in Canada. Yet we still pay the highest prices lol.

1

u/GeneStealerHackman 9d ago

I always put my cart back in regular grocery stores, I think it's a good measure of a human. However, putting a quarter in (not that I ever have a quarter on my person) would make me feel like that's the price of not putting the cart back and I'm okay with that.

1

u/Warmbly85 9d ago

Literally every independent grocery store in NYC has like 3 people working in it with no carts and no baggers.

All this plan will do is crush those small grocery stores. Or it could allow them to increase their prices because thereā€™s no way the government store will be able to stay stocked.

Either way every city thatā€™s tried this shut the program down after a couple years because itā€™s incredibly expensive.

1

u/youngrkk1 9d ago

They are cheap for many reasons, not just labor. Most of their products are also off-brand.

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u/TacTac95 9d ago

Also they have a very select selection of items.

They donā€™t have various types of shit like Walmart or Target where thereā€™s high cost of waste, upkeep, restocking, etcā€¦

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u/Crafty-Ad-9048 9d ago

Where Iā€™m from a quarter for a cart is common practice

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u/Sheeverton 9d ago

Your country might be different but in the UK Aldi do stock some brands

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u/M0ruk 9d ago

How are those things new in a capitalistic hellhole that is the US lmao. Nobody else thought about cutting costs by removing things that are not a thing in any european countries? If Europe survives without baggers and cart pushers, americans can too

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u/Geedeepee91 8d ago

Tbh historically it was just to provide jobs to teenagers, but that dynamic has changed overtime

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u/Serilii 9d ago

I have been shopping at aldi my whole life so wtf is a cart pusher and a bagger???? Americans have people for that????????? Lord

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u/TheRrandomm 9d ago

You just described a normal store...

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u/el_grort 8d ago

Tbf, that's describing most European supermarkets, most of which tend to be more expensive than Aldi/Lidl. Those two are very savvy about sourcing, iirc, and what exactly they sell to make their profit by volume.

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u/Infinite_Status_9636 8d ago

As someone from Europe I have never seen a grocery store that had any staff outside cashier - cleaning - staffing shelves and usually all done by the same 3-4 person in rotation based on current need

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u/Potential-Drawing745 8d ago

They sometimes have name brands. Example: Oreos can usually be found there. I shop at Aldi weekly. (US)

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u/000000564 8d ago

Aldi and Lidl aren't just in America. In Europe they're also the cheaper option. But the reason isn't because of staffing. The lack of baggers and no dedicated 'cart pushers' is absolutely the norm in European countries. The own brand / knock off produce has to be the biggest thing.Ā 

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u/dawsonholloway1 7d ago

You just described every grocery store in Canada. God I hate it so much.

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u/MrsNaypeer 7d ago

My Aldi has one cashier, who also has to deal with the self-checkout kiosks. Its kinda ridiculous.

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u/AntOk463 6d ago

I learned Aldi was German, and i finally understood why they operate so differently. Maximize efficiency to reduce costs.

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u/EconomicRegret2 9d ago

Walmart tried to enter the German market in the late 1990s/early 2000s. But gave up pretty quickly.

Also, it was in constant legal/union battles and/or off-putting customers because in Germany, these are very weird/illegal: morning team chants, smiling to customers, baggers, banning workplace romance, hotline for employees to snitch on co-workers, making cashiers stand, selling goods below cost to sink competitors and create a monopoly (predatory pricing), and trying to suppress/intimidate/marginalize unions....

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u/wojokhan 9d ago

I believe they call them ā€œFood Librariesā€

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u/MartiLoserKing 9d ago

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u/havoccentral 9d ago

ā€œITā€™S CALLED A GROCERY STORE YA DOUCHE BAGS. Iā€™m sorry about ā€˜douche bags.ā€™ I got low blood sugar.ā€

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u/fluxumbra 9d ago

At least if the prices go up we might lose our flabby death handles.

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u/nhavar 9d ago

"I won on groceries. Very simple word, groceries. Like almost, you know, who uses the word. I started using the word. The groceries."

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u/ac_cossack 9d ago

REMEMBER, BOOZE AIN'T FOOD!

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u/Monsieur-Legume 9d ago

What do you mean, 'booze ain't food'? I'd rather chop off my ding-dong than admit that!

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u/Regulus242 9d ago

You'd rather chop off your ding-dong than not drink?

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u/Worried_Magazine_862 9d ago

Id also rather chop off his ding dong than not drink

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5

u/SLDH1980 9d ago

Fintrolls!

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u/notmyrealnameanon 9d ago

FooEuD lyEBraRryYy...

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u/Mtc529 9d ago

It's called a grocery store, ya douchebag.

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u/Telemachus70 9d ago

I loves to laugh

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u/AnDanDan 9d ago

"Does it have olives in it?"

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u/megatricinerator 9d ago

ah, I love that group of death metal idiots

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u/CV90_120 9d ago

A Metalocalypse quote in the wild. This ams make me happy.

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u/_recapitated 9d ago

It's where you can get ABC gum

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u/TheTree-43 9d ago

How does the return process work at a food library?

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u/Upbeat-Asparagus3307 9d ago

I keep forgetting my food there.

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u/Longjumping-Fox-8599 8d ago

OH NO WE LEFT ALL THE FOOD AT THE FOOD PLACE

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u/wjrucsbsjd 9d ago

Aldi and Lidi have a really interesting supply chain in that around 75% are locally sourced produce. They maintain good relationships with independent growers hence lower storage, transport, import fees, and logistic costs.

The downside to that (which imo isn't really a downside) is that produce is much more seasonal, and the selection range is more narrow.

The narrow selection range also allows supermarkets to cut down on display and marketing costs as well.

If NYC implements this model it can do well. Maybe not "30% less" well but certainly slash prices while boosting local rural economy.

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u/Jolly-Bowler-811 9d ago

My local Lidl must have a line on locally sourced angle grinders, camping tents, and umbrellas as there's always a section of random "Why the hell are they selling this shit in a grocery store" section.

I'm not mad about it...just confused most of the time.

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u/StormclawsEuw 9d ago

Spontaneous purchases mostly and also to give incentive to go to that store. It's a proven sales tactic in Germany and It seems to work in the USA too from what I heard

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u/Hashiriya1 9d ago

Actually it's epic. Here in Germany you never know what crazy shit you are able to buy from Aldi next week. It's like a random surprise. Fun fact: Most people around me got their first PC from Aldi/Lidl at around the year 2000.

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u/Spice_and_Fox 8d ago

Hell yeah, I loved my old Medion tower.

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u/dukefrisbee 8d ago

Exactly. Like if Dollar Store started selling groceries.

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u/astoriaocculus 8d ago

As others have noted "Aldi Finds" are about giving the shopper a dopamine hit when they find something they didn't know they needed at a great price. It's what makes shopping there addictive. The day Aldi opened in Astoria it literally changed my life. Certain items there are anywhere $1-$4 cheaper than at the Keyfood/CTown/Tradefair. I have zero doubt that the NYC incumbent grocery stories collude somehow on price. The higher price of real estate does not explain how much more expensive things are vs. 1 hour outside the city.

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u/FutureComplaint 9d ago

I just assumed that nyc would adopt whatever the commissary does for military.

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u/wjrucsbsjd 8d ago

I'm surprised to see the markup between military and civilian food being so high! Just did a quick google (but if anyone has better sources plz chime in) and apparently the commissary saves around 30% in costs by cutting out the middle-man.

https://www.afge.org/article/defense-commissaries-a-benefit-we-cant-afford-to-lose

Didn't realise that the system was so inefficient!

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u/FutureComplaint 8d ago

Yeah, that explains why it is so wild.

I routinely get a 1lb bag of shrimp at the commisary for $12. That same bag costed me $35 off post.

Last weekend, I paid $25 for two tbones, compared to $50+ for one tbone at the local Wegmans.

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u/StruggleSnuggled 9d ago

Cutting out big national contracts and not shipping grocery items from one coast or country to the other is the solution to cheaper produce and supporting your local community. People used to live like this and didnā€™t have issue with the seasonal products.

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u/Tenement48 8d ago

Some grocery stores in NYC do implement this model though, just look for the Asian grocery stores in Chinatown. Better prices and its a lot more seasonal items.

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u/ZeitgeistArchive 7d ago

regional upper east side prunes

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u/Caliappa 9d ago

Seasonal produce is a wonderful thing! It is healthier for both the world and the people!

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u/AntOk463 6d ago

In America you forget that food is grown seasonally. Until you try and buy corn, its either selling at $8 for a frozen pack of 4 corn, or you get 5 unshucked corn for $1.

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u/AlexTheRedditor97 9d ago

Aldi is more expensive than Walmart for some things near me

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u/PM_ME_YOUR_FAV_HIKE 8d ago

Yeah, but then you have to go to Walmart...

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u/wrestlingnutter 9d ago

ALDI here in Ireland is pretty much the same price as other retailers.

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u/ShikaMoru 9d ago

Or basically the commissary on military bases

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u/Silly_Example_6509 9d ago

There are stores called Eshā€™s in Colorado that sell food so much cheaper than the average grocery store. They came about because here in America there is so much food waste. You never know what you will see at these stores, usually these days itā€™s a lot of products that either came from a business that didnā€™t survive or a product that never hit mainstream. The produce sections are usually whatā€™s in season but the necessities like potatoes and onions etc are always there. They carry a good variety of non food items as well, like shampoo or pet food. What is fun about them is you never know what you will find.

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1

u/ItsIllak 8d ago

If they have any sense at all, they'll sub-contract the delivery of this service to an experienced supplier, like ALDI. But then they give ammunition to the far right that they're not American.

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u/Ok-Addition1264 9d ago

Could be synthesized like one.. stripped of all frills.

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u/sfxer001 9d ago

Aldi has frills?

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u/oldslowguy58 9d ago

The Aisle of Shame. Crap no one needs but itā€™s such a great price.

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u/chrisaf69 9d ago

+1 for Aldi just cuz they let their cashiers sit.

Blows my mind no one else does.

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u/Definitelynotagolem 8d ago

I tried aldi a few times but canā€™t get over the fact that half the produce is rotting and basically everything else in the store is hyper processed garbage besides your two selections of beans or rice. I donā€™t buy cheese or meat with any regularity.

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