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Re: Eating fox? (Aldi). |
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| message from Alan on 9 May 2004 |
The farmers claim that they get nothing for their produce so the only
difference between the expensive prices you pay at
Tesco/Sainsbury/Waitrose/Adsa and the cheaper prices you pay at
Lidl/Aldi/Farmfoods is down to the operating costs and profit margins.
Expensive doesn't always equate to quality - it's just that the
middleman is taking a larger slice of the price you pay.
With the so called down-market supermarkets you don't free carrier bags.
You don't get 'if there is one in front of you we will open another
till' (over staffing). You don't get in-store bakeries re-heating 'home
made' ingredients that have been mass produced in a factory. You don't
get loyalty cards which must cost much more than the one or two percent
discount the expensive supermarkets give you on your spend. You can't
pay by credit card because that adds a few more percent to the price.
You don't get the choice of 100 different bottled waters as one or two
is enough. You don't get extra staff unpacking the boxes as it's cheaper
to dump the palette of goods on the sales floor and let the customer put
them in the basket. You will not get double size parking spaces reserved
for mothers with their screaming brats.
Many of the cost savings are one or two percent and when added together
you can see why these stores can be substantially cheaper.
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| Jim Ley replied to Alan on 09 May 2004 |
Except my experience is that Lidl/Aldi etc. are only cheaper on brand
name products and for most goods the previous set had own label
products cheaper than those brand-label ones.
Lidl/Aldi/FarmFoods are tiny compared Tesco and Asda, the extra buying
power is probably worth a lot more than a couple of %.
Jim.
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| Ian Stirling replied to Jim Ley on 09 May 2004 |
Lidl/Aldi are bigger on the continent I believe.
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| Jerry. replied to Alan on 9 May 2004 |
<snip>
Not necessarily, it's staff flexibility, rather than have 'Check-out
Operators', Shelf Replenishers' Warehouse Staff' etc. they now seem to have
multi-task trained personnel - when they need more people on the check-out's
they take people away from shelf filling and when it's quite there are more
people filling the shelves IYSWIM.
You don't get in-store bakeries re-heating 'home
That's a bit unfair, most (if not all) don't market the bakery as 'Home made
bread' etc. just as 'Freshly Baked'.
You don't
That is NOT the point of 'loyalty' cards, it's a cheap and highly effective
way of market research and product marketing / placement (anyone ever get
discount coupons for types of products they have never bought ?), they know
were you live and what you buy - that gives marketing people reams of
information for just a few pence rather than the pounds it would cost if
done via the old style market research methods.
You can't
If there was not a demand for the other 95, or so, bottled waters the
supermarket would not have them on their shelves - shelf space is expencive
and products that don't sell simple don't get stocked in the store (even if
it is stocked by the same store 5 miles down the road in the next town).
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| philip cosson replied to Jerry. on 9 May 2004 |
I love aldi because on a Saturday I have better things to do with my
time than wade through 18 different brands of baked beans. And I know
i would not be able to resist calculating if the the "buy one, get one
My wife and I had our very first argument over the brand of peas to
buy in the local sainsburys 15 years ago!
Philip
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| Andy Hall replied to Alan on 09 May 2004 |
It is also the quality and selection of the product and how much is
wasted with some of them.
If I can pay a little more, get a better quality product with less
waste, then that's a good deal.
Which is a pain in the backside.
That's called proper customer service. I don't want to wait 20
minutes in a checkout line.
I make my own bakery items.
I don't use loyalty cards anyway.
I don't like carrying large amounts of cash around and I avoid writing
cheques if at all possible.
That depends on whether you like different types of water. Generally
I have three or four in the cupboard because I prefer different ones
with different foods.
That says it all. I don't like to pick over stuff on the floor.
They are cheaper because they sacrifice quality and customer service
for price. If you want to buy on price, that's fine - it is not my
first criterion.
.andy
To email, substitute .nospam with .gl
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| Jerry. replied to Andy Hall on 9 May 2004 |
<snip>
<snip>
It could simply be down to there being less customers...
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| Craig Graham replied to Andy Hall on 10 May 2004 |
In some ways it's better; firstly because of fewer staff, secondly because
they seem more motivated and thirdly because I think the staff have to be a
bit more intelligent. And before anyone hassles me for that latter comment,
I spent several years working part time in Sainsbury's and know of what I
speak. When I first became aware of Aldi, the staff had to learn all the
prices by heart every week or month (I think week) and were tested. I
wouldn't be able to do that.
I don't shop very often at the Aldi here, yet several of the staff make
comments that indicate they recognise me. Try getting that from the bigger
stores- I rarely registered customer faces at all. And the one time I had a
complaint with an item, it was replaced no hassle. Okay, it's not Asda's
present "200% refund" but a replacement and apology is the main thing- the
money is generally pretty meaningless.
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| Owain replied to Craig Graham on 10 May 2004 |
"Craig Graham" wrote
| When I first became aware of Aldi, the staff had to learn all the
| prices by heart every week or month (I think week) and were tested.
Kwik Save used to do that before barcode scanning tills were introduced -
the saving on not having to put price stickers on every item was about 2-3%
margin.
Owain
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| Andy Hall replied to Andy Hall on 09 May 2004 |
In my view they are part of the service that the store should provide.
I'm aware of that. I just prefer to have the cost included in the
product price.
At present, if a store charges for carrier bags, I vote with my feet
and buy elsewhere. Generally it is only the cheapskate places that
are charging and I don't believe for one moment that it has anything
to do with some environmental high ideal.
It is very simple to make carrier bags recyclable by making them
better quality or biodegradable.
At the point that *all* supermarkets charge for bags then I would
probably take my own cart as well, because I suspect that that would
be a better solution.
The Waitrose store near us had a good idea, which was to provide
regular customers with foldable plastic hampers which fit their
trollies. This was done free of charge and has been a great success.
You wheel the troilley to the car and lift out the hamper and put it
in the back. That makes much more sense.
You're obviously shopping in the wrong places. There is nothing
wrong with proper customer service which addresses what the customer
wants. I don't call waiting 20 minutes in a queue at a checkout
efficiency. OK, the price on the receipt may be slightly less, but
it will have cost me far more in terms of time to wait that 20
minutes. A false economy.
I can understand that there are people who prefer to pare the bill
down to the minimum and have all day. Sorry but I don't.
I haven't noticed that happening at all.
I don't go to them any more because of the free-for-all of goods all
over the mucky floors, non-existent staff and long wait.
Very easily. There are enormous differences between different kinds
of natural mineral water depending on where they are from - e.g.
whether the soil is volcanic, calcium bearing, etc.
Not ones that keep my custom.
It is an education to visit one of the large supermarkets in France
such as Auchan or LeClerc.
They are able to manage superb displays of excellent produce, properly
selected and maintained. The prices are typically less than in the
UK.
The problem is the mentality that people have that if it's piled in a
crate it must be cheap. All that is achieved is piling rubbish in a
crate and selling it cheaply. For some reason people think that that
is good.
I've never had customer service in a Lidl or an Aldi because there is
hardly anyone around.
True. But as in all things you get what you pay for and for the most
part this is true of food as well.
.andy
To email, substitute .nospam with .gl
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| MBQ replied to Andy Hall on 11 May 2004 |
Each to his own.
It's giving you the option to not pay for something you may not want.
Would you rather all electrical stores forced you to pay for an
extended warranty "included in the product price". "It's part of the
service we provide, Sir!"
MBQ
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| Andy Hall replied to MBQ on 11 May 2004 |
This is not the same thing. A carrier bag, if needed, costs a
fraction of a penny.
.andy
To email, substitute .nospam with .gl
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| Ian Stirling replied to Andy Hall on 12 May 2004 |
A variety of sites that I looked at, in quantities of 10000 said around
4 pence, for a unprinted white polythene carrier bag.
And around 1p for thin crinkley bags.
Not a fraction.
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| Mary Fisher replied to Ian Stirling on 15 May 2004 |
I pay less than a penny per bag and I only buy 500 at a time.
Mary
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| Bob replied to Ian Stirling on 12 May 2004 |
If you really want to be pedantic about this, it's reasonable to assume that
a big supermarket chain would buy them in far larger quantities than 10000,
and would therefore get some additional discount. Since even a 1p discount
off your quoted price of £100 per 10000 bags would make them cost a fraction
of a penny (albeit a large fraction), it would seem that Andy was right all
along.
Bob
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| T i m replied to Andy Hall on 09 May 2004 |
FWIW Andy, aren't we supposet to be doing our bit for the environment
and re-using the 'free' carriers we still get given in most places?
If I know I'm going food shopping (Sainsburys) I take some of the
stronger ones you 'lease' (if they break / wear out they give you a
free replacement) and they give you a penny off for each of your own
bags you bring / use (it's not the money but the principal here).
If I haven't planned on shopping I generally keep a few disposable
ones in the car / motorcycle / cycle / jacket pocket just_in_case?
All the best ..
T i m
p.s. We give all of our surplus carrier bags to a local cycle shop.
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| Andy Hall replied to T i m on 09 May 2004 |
Absolutely. I do, and usually take the carriers with me that have
been used before.
However, the crinkly ones seem to disintegrate very quickly,
especially in sunlight, so I am pretty sure they are not a long term
problem with degradation.
I don't mind doing that either. My objection is with the cheapskate
places that try and sell poor quality bags that neither last for
several goes nor are that disposable.
.andy
To email, substitute .nospam with .gl
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| Craig Graham replied to Alan on 10 May 2004 |
Aldi here does. And I've been very grateful for them, although my
perspective would seem to make me somewhat more tolerant than you.
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