Thoughts on Lidl?

Zero_Sum

Carrot007 wrote: »

Whereas my local aldi opens a till if there is anyone who cannot get on the conveyor.


Lidl, whereas I do like it they do not like to open tills even it 3 are queueing at the back. Horrible to go at peak times. I mean like 20 mins to get though a till!


Tesco, not one near. I go to a local but that is different. And TBH I find tesco the most expensive these days (there is one near work). And I mean more expensive than say M&S or Waitrose (which are only expensive becuase they have damn nice things the others do not even stock, go like for like and they are cheaper (especially waitrose)).

But theres 6 people at the conveyor all with full trolly of stuff = big queue

Sainsburys is more expensive than Tesco.

suki1964

Our Lidl is lovely, will be even nicer when it opens its new long awaited store

Our meat and fish is all Northern Irish and I have never as yet had a bit of meat that wasn't good, and a hell of a lot cheaper then Tesco

Most of the Deli goods are from NI as well, along with the Bakery and produce ( obviously not stuff thats not grown here ). Fish is from Eire and a lot of the "specials" are from there

Ours being a small store, it only has 4 checkouts and only ever 4 staff on at a time, but they open tills if theres 3 waiting to load their shopping. We don't have self checkouts here yet so cant respond about those. What I do know is our Sainsburys only ever has 2 checkouts open ( out of 16 manned tills) which forces you to use the 3 self checkouts

I prefer the shopping experience in Lidl, in and out, shopping 90% done, no messing. No spending hours in aisles comparing prices and products, they have what they have, buy it or go elsewhere - simple

Zero_Sum

Doc_N wrote: »

Like the other poster, I never have to queue at Aldi. Unlike Lidl, where they don't give a damn, Aldi always put staff straight into tills if anyone's waiting.

Have you not been back for a while perhaps?

We can do a full Aldi shop inside 15 minutes. Tesco takes three times that and charges 30% more. No thanks.

Went last week. Its always the same.
And when they open another till it takes 10 mins for staff member to actually turn up.
And like for like they dont charge 30% more. Basics like eggs & milk are the same price.

Mr_Singleton

Sharon87 wrote: »

I got free range chicken for much cheaper than the regular supermarkets. I don't know how they can charge so cheaply for it.

You know full well how they do it.... chickens are raised in utterly barbaric conditions, workers are are abused etc etc.

Cornucopia

Mr_Singleton wrote: »

You know full well how they do it.... chickens are raised in utterly barbaric conditions, workers are are abused etc etc.

Unless you have evidence I'd prefer that you don't make accusations like that.

Doc_N

Mr_Singleton wrote: »

You know full well how they do it.... chickens are raised in utterly barbaric conditions, workers are are abused etc etc.

Presumably you're yet another Tesco worker hacked off by the impact of Aldi and Lidl.

For the record though that's not how they do it. Highly efficient retailing and a much smaller range of goods is how they do it. And much lower margins.

[Deleted User]

Julio72 wrote: »

decided that I would switch supermarket

Supermarkets aren't like energy suppliers where you switch from one exclusive supplier to another, the savviest shopping comes from using a range of several supermarket for their individual strengths rather than exclusively using just a single supermarket.

I use Tesco, Iceland, Asda, Morrisons Sainsburys, M&S, Aldi and Lidl when required and rotate around 2-3 different ones per week to get different products and different deals.

I find the small range of goods and short BB dates in Aldi and Lidl a problem sometimes along with the lack of brand name goods but there are some savings to be made.

Not everything is as it seems though, last week for example I picked up a 6 pack of apples in Aldi that were cheaper than the same type in Tesco and quickly put them back when I saw how small they were in comparison.

Having a prepared shopping list and and a good memory for prices is my best tool for saving money on the weekly shop - in particular understanding £/kg rather than pack price which can be misleading when comparing goods across the supermarkets.

My current favourites:
Tesco - most convenient for shop and scan and stuffing the till with random coupons to save money and 10p off a litre of fuel which saves another £10 a month.
Iceland warehouse - bulk buys and brand name frozen goods
Morrisons - had 10% cashback recently through Nat West

I'm fortunate to get a discount at all except Aldi/Lidl through my employer, 4% at Tesco then clubcard points make it up to 7% off. Asda 4%, Sainsbury 5% and both Iceland /M&S 7.5% off so Lidl and Aldi are usually bottom of my list.

Zero_Sum

Doc_N wrote: »

Presumably you're yet another Tesco worker hacked off by the impact of Aldi and Lidl.

For the record though that's not how they do it. Highly efficient retailing and a much smaller range of goods is how they do it. And much lower margins.

Im not sure. They have less staff so do save on that, but they also have more (and smaller) stores. Where I live Tesco have a metro store in city centre, and big store on retail park. In the same area Aldi have 4 stores. Is that efficient?
Also self service, why dont Aldi have these? Surely theyre more efficient?
And if they did, people like me who only go in for bits & bobs who dont wish to stand in big queues might go in more often. As their cattle market approach puts me off from going there.

Zero_Sum

[Deleted User] wrote:

Supermarkets aren't like energy suppliers where you switch from one exclusive supplier to another, the savviest shopping comes from using a range of several supermarket for their individual strengths rather than exclusively using just a single supermarket.

I use Tesco, Iceland, Asda, Morrisons Sainsburys, M&S, Aldi and Lidl when required and rotate around 2-3 different ones per week to get different products and different deals.

I find the small range of goods and short BB dates in Aldi and Lidl a problem sometimes along with the lack of brand name goods but there are some savings to be made.

Not everything is as it seems though, last week for example I picked up a 6 pack of apples in Aldi that were cheaper than the same type in Tesco and quickly put them back when I saw how small they were in comparison.

Having a prepared shopping list and and a good memory for prices is my best tool for saving money on the weekly shop - in particular understanding £/kg rather than pack price which can be misleading when comparing goods across the supermarkets.

My current favourites:
Tesco - most convenient for shop and scan and stuffing the till with random coupons to save money and 10p off a litre of fuel which saves another £10 a month.
Iceland warehouse - bulk buys and brand name frozen goods
Morrisons - had 10% cashback recently through Nat West

I'm fortunate to get a discount at all except Aldi/Lidl through my employer, 4% at Tesco then clubcard points make it up to 7% off. Asda 4%, Sainsbury 5% and both Iceland /M&S 7.5% off so Lidl and Aldi are usually bottom of my list.

Similar for me.
Although if its the same savings scheme i have, the iceland one isnt available for me???
Tesco seems to fluctuate between 4 & 5%. On top of that i can generate free clubcard points from cash recycling via their current account
And occasionally have had 10% for morrisons via Halifax

I honestly dont think Aldi/Lidl are anywhere as cheap as they/people make out.
There are some decent bargains to be had, but the quality is hit & miss (especially with longevity on fresh stuff). And to prove it, if you ever watch programmes like shop well for less, on the blind taste tests their products generally get voted in the middle. So not really anything special.

worried_jim

Zero_Sum wrote: »

Also self service, why dont Aldi have these? Surely theyre more efficient?

Because they don't want to be robbed blind by a nation of shoplifters!

https://www.theguardian.com/global/2018/may/20/nation-of-shoplifters-supermarket-self-checkout