In article , tim...
wrote:


"charles" wrote in message
...
In article , jim k
wrote:
John Rumm Wrote in message:
On 04/01/2018 11:44, alan_m wrote:
On 04/01/2018 11:18, Huge wrote:

Another reason not to go there, then. What's the point if the
checkout operators go faster than you can pack? #

That's ok - the type of service you expect ****es off a lot of
shoppers in these stores.when delaying the checkout process.

You are not meant to pack at the checkout - you put the items back
in the trolley and then pack at the shelf area set aside for the
purpose.

Which is fine in theory, except you are now lifting stuff in and out
of the trolley twice.

"in your own good time" rather than all others' following....

Shurely if you only have a basket full you have to pack in real time
as there's no basket to put the stuff back in (as you've left it at
the start of the conveyor in the stack)?

You bring your own bags

which makes the piddly small table bigger, how?

you bring a bag with a big mouth so that it's easier to put things
straight in.

--
from KT24 in Surrey, England

On 04/01/2018 16:10, Bob Eager wrote:

I get a lot of stuff at Aldi (it's only a short walk away, and I get a
discount on some purchases). I tried the instant coffee, and
decided...no. I am going to try their beans. We shall see.

I don't like the "own brand" instant coffee from Lidl or Aldi but that
hasn't stopped me from trying a lot of their other offerings in the way
of food and drink and finding it more than acceptable.


--
mailto : news {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

On Thursday, 4 January 2018 16:18:25 UTC, alan_m wrote:
On 04/01/2018 13:22, whisky-dave wrote:


I still use both methods, but cards are prefered by the shops as people keep less track on what they are spending.


It costs more to handle cash as well as in-shop security concerns.

But credit card componies charge for the use of such cards they don't do it for nothing.

One
reason why when paying by debit card they always seem to ask if you also
want cashback.

Tesco express don't give cashback I've asked at a few express outlets.


--
mailto : news {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

On 04/01/18 15:23, Max Demian wrote:

Have they discovered carrier bags with handles yet?

does any supermarket use bags with the handles aligned correctly?

--

Jeff

On 04/01/2018 11:30, Chris Hogg wrote:
On Thu, 4 Jan 2018 11:26:38 +0000, alan_m
wrote:

On 04/01/2018 10:18, wrote:

One thing puzzles me about them: why no self-service checkouts? They are cheaper.


Are they? Possibly only in stores where the check-out staff are so
inefficient. When I use Tesco/Sainsbury/Asda I find their checkout so
slow compared to the no nonsense approach of my local Aldi/Lidl

Always long queues in our local Lidls; never enough tills manned
(womanned? personned?)


One of the ways they keep their costs down. One of the reasons Lidl and
Waitrose have a somewhat different demographic.

No idea whether self-service checkouts are cheaper or not, when you look
at the capital costs and the fact that you need one person per few tills
to sort out the problems.

On 04/01/2018 16:32, alan_m wrote:
On 04/01/2018 14:13, John Rumm wrote:


I just load stuff on to the conveyor in the order I want it packed -
so frozen first, fridge next, etc - that way I can just fill bags in
real time at the other end.


I very much doubt that you can pack in the real time that the checkout
staff at a good Aldi/Lidl can scan.Â* I note in places like Asda the
staff actually slow right down to the rate of the person packing hence
making people in the queue wait even longer.


I reckon I can beat about two thirds of checkout staff. Careful
belt-loading is, as John says, one of the secrets. Having plenty of bags
is another.

On Thu, 4 Jan 2018 02:18:28 -0800 (PST), wrote:

On Thursday, 4 January 2018 09:50:30 UTC, stuart noble wrote:

Why do the media insist on calling Aldi a discount store? I've never seen "discounted" goods in their stores, and they don't try and bamboozle you with BOGOF deals, loyalty cards and all that rubbish. In fact that's probably why they're so successful. That and applying commonsense to their strategy.
The late Andy Hall must be turning in his grave, having predicted that the Lidl/Aldi style of retailing would never catch on.

One thing puzzles me about them: why no self-service checkouts? They are cheaper.

Some of the latest Lidl stores have them , Ringwood is one that does.
Store opened last year.
It was Aldi policy that they did not have any.

G.Harman

On 1/4/2018 10:23 AM, Max Demian wrote:
On 04/01/2018 14:49, Tim Streater wrote:

In the US of A, the checkout ops do the packing too. And it's still
quite quick because they whizz stuff through the scanners at a much
higher rate than here.

I expect they squash the tomatoes and sliced bread that you want to put
in the freezer.

Have they discovered carrier bags with handles yet?

Yes. Both plastic, and in some shops, paper.

Max Demian wrote:

On 04/01/2018 14:04, whisky-dave wrote:
On Thursday, 4 January 2018 13:20:07 UTC, jim wrote:
whisky-dave Wrote in message:

I went to aldi to get some bisto but they didn;t have any, only their
own brand so I left and went to the local corner shop.

Bisto sends hugs.

Well they do put the ingredients on the label, because having a veggie
cooking for you means they don't like to use meat products and the bisto
gravy actually says on the tin(made from carboard) that it is vegatarian
even the red version rather than just the green vegatable gravy which
IMHO isn't as tastey as the red.

What do vegetarians use Bisto for? *Original* Bisto (as opposed to the
gravy granules) is used to brown and thicken the juices from a joint or
chicken to make gravy, the flavour coming from the meat. Do vegetarians
make gravy from spinach water?

I don't suppose vegetarians use the original Bisto, if indeed it still
exists. The gravy granules make what is a apparently an acceptable
gravy without any additional ingredients (I don't eat it myself).
Modern cuts of meat with little fat and modern cooking methods with
little pyrolysis or caramilsation do not yield much to make gravy with.
You may or may not approve.

--

Roger Hayter

On 04/01/2018 11:56, Huge wrote:


Ahh, so I have to take out and put back my stuff *three* times, instead of
twice, as in a "normal" supermarket. So, that's two reasons not to go there.


No-one is forcing you to shop in Aldi/Lidl but until you have seen how
well the system it works in the majority of cases you will continue to
spend longer waiting for service in the bigger supermarket chains.


--
mailto : news {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

On 04/01/2018 13:05, Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article ,
stuart noble writes:
Why do the media insist on calling Aldi a discount store? I've never seen "=
discounted" goods in their stores, and they don't try and bamboozle you wit=
h BOGOF deals, loyalty cards and all that rubbish. In fact that's probably =
why they're so successful. That and applying commonsense to their strategy.=

I think the idea is they only sell discounted products, so generally
there are no bogoffs, or further special reductions. Consequently,
they don't sell premium brands (e.g. you probably won't find Kelloggs
Corn Flakes), and usually have an own brand with similar packaging.

I mainly use them for browsing their limited time hardware products,
and because it's a nice stretch bicycle ride there and back. I do
try food from there occasionally, but I can tell the difference
between theirs and my local Waitrose, even if many people apparently
can't. There are one or two food things they have which I buy
regularly. They have no fast checkouts - if I go in and there are
significant checkout queues (and most people have full trollies),
I do a U-turn and exit immediately. They should probably get that
fixed.

Just mentioned on Radio 4, Aldi are planning to open several hundred
new stores by 2020, mainly in the South East where they are apparently
under-represented, and because their customer base is becoming higher
class, i.e. not just stealing Asda, Tesco, and Sainsbury customers,
this Christmas probably saw them taking share from Waitrose and M&S
too (not all figures are available yet - will be in a few weeks).
Apparently their hardware/clothing/household section stole significant
trade from Debenhams this Christmas too.


I also check the hardware regularly. I use their washing and dishwashing
products, also the "luxury" choc ices are particularly good. If you like
continental type food, they are good for charcuterie, also the fattening
christmas fare like Stollen and other cake/biscuit stuff. The malt
whisky isn't bad either. I find the fruit, vegetables, fish, and meat
pretty competitive although their bacon is not quite as good as the
"taste the difference" stuff. The other thing about varying the shopping
pattern is that Sainsburys and Tesco then regularly come up with offers
like a tenner off a £70 shop.

Jeff Layman wrote :
The whole premise behind modern financial transactions, whether retail or
service, is to make as sure as possible that the "spendee" has a little
knowledge or control as possible over his/her money. And it works...

Maybe not, I find that card only gives me much better control, I always
have a permanent record of what was spent where, without hanging on to
till receipts. I can go back months through my online statements.

alan_m formulated on Thursday :
Irrespective of where you shop you will always find the women who has packed
all of the shopping on top of the purse.

Jean annoys me with that. Even if I deal with the purchases, she leaves
getting a card out until the last second.

On 1/4/2018 12:22 PM, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
Jeff Layman wrote :
The whole premise behind modern financial transactions, whether retail
or service, is to make as sure as possible that the "spendee" has a
little knowledge or control as possible over his/her money. And it
works...

Maybe not, I find that card only gives me much better control, I always
have a permanent record of what was spent where, without hanging on to
till receipts. I can go back months through my online statements.

+1
Yes. Having that record makes it much easier to see if you've been
frittering away your money - cash, on the other hand, can simply
disappear...

In article ,
says...


The idea is all goods are whizzed back into your trolley, and there's an
area set aside for you to pack. I believe you can also remove surplus
packaging and leave it for the store to dispose of.


A Belgian Supermarket chain, Coltuyt, does the same except
that their checkout operators don't even have anywhere to sit!

Intersting - we didn't know what to expect the first time we
used one but a Brit living there recommended them to us.

The floors are plain concrete and the shelves are industrial
racking. Some of their stuff is own brands - we always bring
back large quantities of their ground coffee in 1.5kg packs
and much cheaper because of the large pack size and their
cheese has a long shelf life - we've been caught out in other
stores where it goes mouldy in the fridge long before its best
before date.

We always make a point of stocking up on every trip before
catching the ferry home. The only thing to watch out for is
that the only plastic they accept is a strictly Belgian card
which is not allied to either Visa or Mastercard, so
everything we buy as to be a cash transaction.

Completely unlike any other supermarket either here or in
Europe and ranks joint top of the Belgian supermarket
business.


--

Terry

---
This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
http://www.avg.com

On 04/01/2018 10:18, wrote:
On Thursday, 4 January 2018 09:50:30 UTC, stuart noble wrote:

Why do the media insist on calling Aldi a discount store? I've never seen "discounted" goods in their stores, and they don't try and bamboozle you with BOGOF deals, loyalty cards and all that rubbish. In fact that's probably why they're so successful. That and applying commonsense to their strategy.
The late Andy Hall must be turning in his grave, having predicted that the Lidl/Aldi style of retailing would never catch on.

One thing puzzles me about them: why no self-service checkouts? They are cheaper.


NT

Not when you factor in the increased theft.

"Andrew" wrote in message
news
On 04/01/2018 10:18, wrote:
On Thursday, 4 January 2018 09:50:30 UTC, stuart noble wrote:

Why do the media insist on calling Aldi a discount store? I've never
seen "discounted" goods in their stores, and they don't try and
bamboozle you with BOGOF deals, loyalty cards and all that rubbish. In
fact that's probably why they're so successful. That and applying
commonsense to their strategy.
The late Andy Hall must be turning in his grave, having predicted that
the Lidl/Aldi style of retailing would never catch on.

One thing puzzles me about them: why no self-service checkouts? They are
cheaper.

Not when you factor in the increased theft.

Corse they are when you have one staff person per 6 checkouts, even after
theft.

stuart noble wrote

Why do the media insist on calling Aldi a discount store?

Because that is what they are.

I've never seen "discounted" goods in their stores,

Then you need to get out more. They do that
routinely with their special buys that dont sell.

and they don't try and bamboozle you with
BOGOF deals, loyalty cards and all that rubbish.

But they are generally cheaper with much of the stuff they sell.

In fact that's probably why they're so successful.

Nope, its their prices that are the reason for that.

That and applying commonsense to their strategy.

And being very aggressive indeed about staff costs.

Ours only has quite literally a total of 10 staff and
usually only 4 at most in the store at any one time,
even on the busiest times like mid saturday morning.

And often only have one checkout open too.

The late Andy Hall must be turning in his grave, having predicted
that the Lidl/Aldi style of retailing would never catch on.

wrote
stuart noble wrote

Why do the media insist on calling Aldi a discount store?
I've never seen "discounted" goods in their stores, and
they don't try and bamboozle you with BOGOF deals,
loyalty cards and all that rubbish. In fact that's probably
why they're so successful. That and applying commonsense
to their strategy. The late Andy Hall must be turning in his grave,
having
predicted that the Lidl/Aldi style of retailing would never catch on.

One thing puzzles me about them: why no self-service checkouts? They are
cheaper.

One of them did say they will be adding them, may well have been Lidl.

"Broadback" wrote in message
news
On 04/01/2018 10:39, tim... wrote:


"stuart noble" wrote in message
...
Why do the media insist on calling Aldi a discount store?

because its MO is to sell exclusively no-name "discount" products.

Which is what in Germany is exactly what it does

but here, the UK obsession with "brands" means that they have to stock
some of them

Because it would slow things down, their tills operate at the speed of
light,

Ours has never done for some reason. Quite literally a year old now.

Presumably down to the 'trainer'

and with the queues they need to!

"FMurtz" wrote in message
...
Broadback wrote:
On 04/01/2018 10:39, tim... wrote:


"stuart noble" wrote in message
...
Why do the media insist on calling Aldi a discount store?

because its MO is to sell exclusively no-name "discount" products.

Which is what in Germany is exactly what it does

but here, the UK obsession with "brands" means that they have to stock
some of them

Because it would slow things down, their tills operate at the speed of
light, and with the queues they need to!

They were the first to have barcodes and scanners that worked, Their
barcodes were bigger and longer, things just flew through with no mistakes

Yes.

while other retailers were having to manually enter numbers all the time,

Hardly ever had that. Its a pain to ensure it faces the scanner tho.

now the other retailers have caught up,probably the suppliers gave others
the same size barcodes.

Nope.

critcher Wrote in message:
On 04/01/2018 10:18, wrote:
On Thursday, 4 January 2018 09:50:30 UTC, stuart noble wrote:

Why do the media insist on calling Aldi a discount store? I've never seen "discounted" goods in their stores, and they don't try and bamboozle you with BOGOF deals, loyalty cards and all that rubbish. In fact that's probably why they're so successful. That and applying commonsense to their strategy.
The late Andy Hall must be turning in his grave, having predicted that the Lidl/Aldi style of retailing would never catch on.

One thing puzzles me about them: why no self-service checkouts? They are cheaper.


NT

why would you want to do checkout staff work without being paid.


Cos the queues are too long for you to wait for droid service, &
you can go at your own selfish pace?
--
Jim K


----Android NewsGroup Reader----
http://usenet.sinaapp.com/

charles Wrote in message:
In article ,
jim k wrote:
John Rumm Wrote in message:
On 04/01/2018 11:44, alan_m wrote:
On 04/01/2018 11:18, Huge wrote:

Another reason not to go there, then. What's the point if the checkout
operators go faster than you can pack?
#

That's ok - the type of service you expect ****es off a lot of shoppers
in these stores.when delaying the checkout process.

You are not meant to pack at the checkout - you put the items back in
the trolley and then pack at the shelf area set aside for the purpose.

Which is fine in theory, except you are now lifting stuff in and out of
the trolley twice.

"in your own good time" rather than all others' following....

Shurely if you only have a basket full you have to pack in real
time as there's no basket to put the stuff back in (as you've
left it at the start of the conveyor in the stack)?

You bring your own bags


Yerss. And?
--
Jim K


----Android NewsGroup Reader----
http://usenet.sinaapp.com/

charles Wrote in message:
In article , tim...
wrote:


"charles" wrote in message
...
In article , jim k
wrote:
John Rumm Wrote in message:
On 04/01/2018 11:44, alan_m wrote:
On 04/01/2018 11:18, Huge wrote:

Another reason not to go there, then. What's the point if the
checkout operators go faster than you can pack? #

That's ok - the type of service you expect ****es off a lot of
shoppers in these stores.when delaying the checkout process.

You are not meant to pack at the checkout - you put the items back
in the trolley and then pack at the shelf area set aside for the
purpose.

Which is fine in theory, except you are now lifting stuff in and out
of the trolley twice.

"in your own good time" rather than all others' following....

Shurely if you only have a basket full you have to pack in real time
as there's no basket to put the stuff back in (as you've left it at
the start of the conveyor in the stack)?

You bring your own bags

which makes the piddly small table bigger, how?

you bring a bag with a big mouth so that it's easier to put things
straight in.


You've seen someone do this before :-D
--
Jim K


----Android NewsGroup Reader----
http://usenet.sinaapp.com/

alan_m wrote
wrote

One thing puzzles me about them: why no
self-service checkouts? They are cheaper.

Are they?

Yep, one staff person per 6 checkouts usually.

Possibly only in stores where the check-out staff are so inefficient.

Nope, you can't get around that 6/1 ratio.

When I use Tesco/Sainsbury/Asda I find their checkout so slow
compared to the no nonsense approach of my local Aldi/Lidl

Sure, but still can't get around that 6/1 ratio.

On 04/01/2018 18:59, Rod Speed wrote:
stuart noble wrote

Why do the media insist on calling Aldi a discount store?

Because that is what they are.

I've never seen "discounted" goods in their stores,

Then you need to get out more. They do that
routinely with their special buys that dont sell.

and they don't try and bamboozle you with
BOGOF deals, loyalty cards and all that rubbish.

But they are generally cheaper with much of the stuff they sell.

In fact that's probably why they're so successful.

Nope, its their prices that are the reason for that.

That and applying commonsense to their strategy.

And being very aggressive indeed about staff costs.

Ours only has quite literally a total of 10 staff and
usually only 4 at most in the store at any one time,
even on the busiest times like mid saturday morning.

And often only have one checkout open too.


A new, larger than normal, one opened near us a few months back. It is
well staff, plenty of open check outs, etc. As usual the staff are
always polite/helpful.

They seem to stock a wider range of thinks than the 'normal' Aldi'
stores- we have a smaller one as well in the area- more typical of a
normal sized Aldi store.

We visited the new one today- I've been a fan of Aldi's 'deli' range for
some time but I don't mind admitting we shop there. There some things we
avoid- Yogurt, unbranded (at least brands we don't know) bread. Veg is
fine, ditto meat, fish etc. They used to do some excellent duck breasts
but stopped stocking them. I noticed they had blue eggs today- I didn't
buy any but it caused me to smile. I did buy some truffle flavour
salami, it looks promising.

On 04/01/2018 16:54, Jeff Layman wrote:

Fortunately it wasn't a peak time
for shopping, as it must be chaotic at such a time.


A lot of people re-pack at the car.

--
mailto : news {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

"Huge" wrote in message
...
On 2018-01-04, Andy Burns wrote:
whisky-dave wrote:

The best tills I;ve seen are those where you have a seprators so if
someone is slow at picking up their staff then you juts sent the next
customers stuff to the other side.

Sainsbury's seemed to give up on those by the late 70's ... and the
automatic coin dispensing chutes for your change.

Does anyone pay with cash any more?

Yep, some of our povs do.

"Bob Eager" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 04 Jan 2018 02:18:28 -0800, tabbypurr wrote:

On Thursday, 4 January 2018 09:50:30 UTC, stuart noble wrote:

Why do the media insist on calling Aldi a discount store? I've never
seen "discounted" goods in their stores, and they don't try and
bamboozle you with BOGOF deals, loyalty cards and all that rubbish. In
fact that's probably why they're so successful. That and applying
commonsense to their strategy.
The late Andy Hall must be turning in his grave, having predicted that
the Lidl/Aldi style of retailing would never catch on.

One thing puzzles me about them: why no self-service checkouts? They are
cheaper.

But not quick, thus typing up more space.

That space is only used for stock in our new aldi.

Given that *all* Aldi staff (including managers) are expected to pitch
in and run checkouts as necessary, and that you are expected to pack
*afterwards* and not at the checkout, they make pretty efficient use
of space. If the checkouts are quiet, the staff are redeployed to other
tasks. They are basically trained to do everything.

"whisky-dave" wrote in message
...
On Thursday, 4 January 2018 12:06:00 UTC, Bob Eager wrote:
On Thu, 04 Jan 2018 03:49:09 -0800, whisky-dave wrote:

On Thursday, 4 January 2018 11:36:32 UTC, charles wrote:
In article ,
alan_m wrote:
On 04/01/2018 10:18, wrote:

One thing puzzles me about them: why no self-service checkouts?
They are cheaper.


Are they? Possibly only in stores where the check-out staff are so
inefficient. When I use Tesco/Sainsbury/Asda I find their checkout
so
slow compared to the no nonsense approach of my local Aldi/Lidl.

Possibly, one reason is that the staff at Lidl/Aldi tend to be foreign
and don't have enough english to indulge in conversation. But you
still get the customer who has to wonder where they've put their purse
- this tends to slow things.

Thye biggest slowdown I:ve foind is the small amount of packing space
that you get at the end of the till, hardly enough space for one bag.
The best tills I;ve seen are those where you have a seprators so if
someone is slow at picking up their staff then you juts sent the next
customers stuff to the other side.

Because you're meant to put it back in the trolley and then pack at your
leisure.

I don]t use a trolly I use a basket as most people do

No baskets at all in our Aldi.

and those that do use a trolly there's not enough
space on the counter to empty the trolly

There is with ours.

so you actually need two trollys which take up far to much room.

Never seen anyone do that.

I must admit that I;ve never noticed anyone queuing with
theri shopping on the belt and carrying an empty basket.

Bit hard with ours, no baskets.

"Rod Speed" wrote in message
...
But you still get the customer who has to wonder where they've put
their purse - this tends to slow things.

There seems to be a certain type of person (*) who doesn't anticipate that
they will need to pay for their shopping, and only *starts* to look for
their purse/wallet when they are presented with the bill.

I get my card out of my wallet while I am waiting (and waiting) in the
queue, and put it loose in my shirt pocket (the hardest for anyone to pick),
ready for when I'm asked to pay. I pay immediately so the checkout operator
can get on with processing the next person's shopping while I finish off
loading mine into the trolley or basket - having put a Next Customer Please
divider sign from the belt to keep my shopping separate from theirs.

Come to think of it, checkouts used to have a hinged divider on the "output"
side which the cashier moved one way or the other to allow for one person to
finish packing while the next is just starting. You don't see those any
more. Indeed Lidl and Aldi have virtually no "output" tray so you have to
pack things as fast as the cashier rings them up.


(*) I'm strenuously trying to avoid any hint of their gender.

In article , jim k
wrote:
charles Wrote in message:
In article , tim...
wrote:


"charles" wrote in message
...
In article , jim
k wrote:
John Rumm Wrote in message:
On 04/01/2018 11:44, alan_m wrote:
On 04/01/2018 11:18, Huge wrote:

Another reason not to go there, then. What's the point if the
checkout operators go faster than you can pack? #

That's ok - the type of service you expect ****es off a lot of
shoppers in these stores.when delaying the checkout process.

You are not meant to pack at the checkout - you put the items
back in the trolley and then pack at the shelf area set aside
for the purpose.

Which is fine in theory, except you are now lifting stuff in and
out of the trolley twice.

"in your own good time" rather than all others' following....

Shurely if you only have a basket full you have to pack in real
time as there's no basket to put the stuff back in (as you've left
it at the start of the conveyor in the stack)?

You bring your own bags

which makes the piddly small table bigger, how?

you bring a bag with a big mouth so that it's easier to put things
straight in.


You've seen someone do this before :-D

don't think I have done. But it's what I do.

--
from KT24 in Surrey, England

On 04/01/2018 18:54, Rod Speed wrote:


"Andrew" wrote in message
news
On 04/01/2018 10:18, wrote:
On Thursday, 4 January 2018 09:50:30 UTC, stuart nobleÂ* wrote:

Why do the media insist on calling Aldi a discount store? I've never
seen "discounted" goods in their stores, and they don't try and
bamboozle you with BOGOF deals, loyalty cards and all that rubbish.
In fact that's probably why they're so successful. That and applying
commonsense to their strategy.
The late Andy Hall must be turning in his grave, having predicted
that the Lidl/Aldi style of retailing would never catch on.

One thing puzzles me about them: why no self-service checkouts? They
are cheaper.

Not when you factor in the increased theft.

Corse they are when you have one staff person per 6 checkouts, even
after theft.

I assume the shops which have self-service checkouts 'factor in' the
extra losses- no I'm not condoning theft, anything but, simply pointing
out the stores must have a 'feel' for the amount they lose.

Some stores have the 'scan as you go' system. We've not gone down this
route, no special reason, but I think you need to register. I've no idea
if they run any kind of checks.

We tend to use a couple of places- Tesco and Aldi, although more due to
their being local. Until the new Aldi opened, Tesco did better out of
us. Now we us more of a mix. We actually prefer Waitrose- more for their
range of items- they really aren't that much more expensive, but there
isn't one near us. We travel a lot in the UK and France and compare
supermarkets as cooking is something of a hobby. There are some good,
small chains around the UK. Booths spring to mind.

One thing I've not seen in Aldi- a food bank collection point. Other
supermarkets have them- even for pets- but not Aldi.

--

Suspect someone is claiming a benefit under false pretences? Incapacity
Benefit or Personal Independence Payment when they don't need it? They
are depriving those in real need!

https://www.gov.uk/report-benefit-fraud

On Thu, 04 Jan 2018 16:55:02 +0000, alan_m wrote:

On 04/01/2018 16:10, Bob Eager wrote:

I get a lot of stuff at Aldi (it's only a short walk away, and I get a
discount on some purchases). I tried the instant coffee, and
decided...no. I am going to try their beans. We shall see.

I don't like the "own brand" instant coffee from Lidl or Aldi but that
hasn't stopped me from trying a lot of their other offerings in the way
of food and drink and finding it more than acceptable.

Oh, I quite agree. The coffee has been the major exception!



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On Thu, 04 Jan 2018 20:48:45 +0000, NY wrote:

I get my card out of my wallet while I am waiting (and waiting) in the
queue, and put it loose in my shirt pocket (the hardest for anyone to
pick),

I do the same, but keep it in my hand.

Indeed Lidl and Aldi have virtually no "output" tray so
you have to pack things as fast as the cashier rings them up.

In the Aldi case, the end of the counter is shaped so that the trolley
can be swung round and put up close. That is the output tray!

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"Tim Streater" wrote in message
.. .
In article , Huge
wrote:

On 2018-01-04, Broadback wrote:

Because it would slow things down, their tills operate at the speed of
light,

Another reason not to go there, then. What's the point if the checkout
operators go faster than you can pack?

In the US of A, the checkout ops do the packing too.

They do here too. They have bags that they put stuff into as its scanned.

And it's still quite quick because they whizz stuff through the scanners
at a much higher rate than here.

The problem isnt the scan rate, its the queue.

"Max Demian" wrote in message
.. .
On 04/01/2018 11:44, alan_m wrote:
On 04/01/2018 11:18, Huge wrote:

Another reason not to go there, then. What's the point if the checkout
operators go faster than you can pack?
#

That's ok - the type of service you expect ****es off a lot of shoppers
in these stores.when delaying the checkout process.

You are not meant to pack at the checkout - you put the items back in the
trolley and then pack at the shelf area set aside for the purpose.

I suspect as it reduces staff costs because they need fewer staff that
other supermarkets will soon start adopting the same policies in order to
become more completive. Aldi/Lidl have proved that shoppers are more than
prepared to accept fast checkouts, no loyalty cards, no delays when
handing out useless bits of paper to support schools etc. Judging by the
number of expensive cars in Alsi/Lidl car parks these days its not only
the "poor" that use these stores.

Many years ago Asda had a system where the checkouts had no conveyors or
packing area - the operator just took the items out of one trolley, put
the price into the machine - no bar codes then I think - and put the item
into another trolley waiting, and you wheeled that one away. Your old
trolley was turned around for the next customer.

I don't know why they abandoned such a simple system.

Because conveyors work better for the checkout person
and the customer has nothing to do so may as well put
the stuff from the trolley onto the conveyor.

Ours now scan stuff into bags, so once you have put
the stuff on the conveyor, you move the trolley past
the checkout monkey and put the bags into the trolley
as they are filled by the checkout monkey.

"Max Demian" wrote in message
o.uk...
On 04/01/2018 14:49, Tim Streater wrote:
In article , Huge
wrote:

On 2018-01-04, Broadback wrote:

Because it would slow things down, their tills operate at the speed of
light,

Another reason not to go there, then. What's the point if the checkout
operators go faster than you can pack?

In the US of A, the checkout ops do the packing too. And it's still
quite quick because they whizz stuff through the scanners at a much
higher rate than here.

I expect they squash the tomatoes and sliced bread that you want to put in
the freezer.

Nope, they are selective about what goes in each bag
and put the fragile stuff like eggs aside to go in the bag
last if you only have enough stuff to fill one bag etc.

Have they discovered carrier bags with handles yet?

Yep, ever since we went plastic. The paper sacks didnt have handles.

"critcher" wrote in message
news
On 04/01/2018 10:18, wrote:
On Thursday, 4 January 2018 09:50:30 UTC, stuart noble wrote:

Why do the media insist on calling Aldi a discount store? I've never
seen "discounted" goods in their stores, and they don't try and
bamboozle you with BOGOF deals, loyalty cards and all that rubbish. In
fact that's probably why they're so successful. That and applying
commonsense to their strategy.
The late Andy Hall must be turning in his grave, having predicted that
the Lidl/Aldi style of retailing would never catch on.

One thing puzzles me about them: why no self-service checkouts? They are
cheaper.

why would you want to do checkout staff work without being paid.

Because that sees less spent on wages and so lower prices on the stuff you
buy.

"Harry Bloomfield" wrote in message
news
Huge was thinking very hard :
An idea that would stop me going there. We've only been in the local
Aldi once, in search of decaf coffee, which they didn't have, so
we left.

It works rather well, the checkouts become busy, they put more tills on.
As it quietens, staff are diverted to topping shelves up. All staff wear a
communication system so can quickly help each other out. I find them
usually quicker than Tesco/ASDA/Sainsbury etc..

I don't with the operations with self checkouts.

It's the main thing I don't like about Aldi, no self checkouts.