Good and Bad Buys at Lidl and Aldi stores (***Please don't expire***)

Brie

Interesting conversation at the till at a Lidl's.  Chap was going super fast, too fast for the woman to load her bags/trolley.  I made a jokey comment about it and that he might as well slow down or something.  Not the done thing (which I think we all knew).  Apparently at this branch there's a league table and whomever is at the top each week/month gets a reward.  This chap was aiming for a day off full pay.  

I get this and I do think it's always been a bit of a thing with both Aldi and Lidl.  The more people they can process through the smaller the queues, potentially the less cashiers are required, more savings and therefore profits made.  But the problem with any of these sort of things is that it lessens the buyers' interaction and sometimes their pleasure and therefore their wish to shop there so might be counterproductive.  Also I've never seen a staff competition that didn't get some colleague upset.  Either the same person always wins or they start getting upset with the slower customers and those that like to chat.  

Cornucopia

Aldi Butternut Squash, Basil and Tomato Falafel - very tasty and good VFM at 9x Falafels for £1.35.   

Doc_N

Brie said:

Interesting conversation at the till at a Lidl's.  Chap was going super fast, too fast for the woman to load her bags/trolley.  I made a jokey comment about it and that he might as well slow down or something.  Not the done thing (which I think we all knew).  Apparently at this branch there's a league table and whomever is at the top each week/month gets a reward.  This chap was aiming for a day off full pay.  

I get this and I do think it's always been a bit of a thing with both Aldi and Lidl.  The more people they can process through the smaller the queues, potentially the less cashiers are required, more savings and therefore profits made.  But the problem with any of these sort of things is that it lessens the buyers' interaction and sometimes their pleasure and therefore their wish to shop there so might be counterproductive.  Also I've never seen a staff competition that didn't get some colleague upset.  Either the same person always wins or they start getting upset with the slower customers and those that like to chat.  

An interesting contrast with that at Aldi the other day, admittedly first thing in the morning. I was expecting, and have no problem with, the usual high speed processing. But far from it - the extremely pleasant till operator slowed down, and actually paused at one point, asking whether we’d like her to stop for a bit. We had a particularly large order, so maybe it was that, but it was a surprise!

maman

I don't think that scheme is in Aldi. Just today, the check out person stopped for a moment when I had a build up of items while I was arranging things in my bag. 

It doesn't seem to apply in local Lidl either as they seem to go out of their way to not open staffed checkouts even when there are huge queues for self service. 

In my local Aldi, they have a 20 (IIRC) item maximum on the self service checkouts so not suitable for my weekly shop. 

Brie

I wonder too how they get rated.  Most people through the till?  Most items scanned?  Most money taken??  I mean there's a big difference between a young mom/dad wrangling a couple of toddlers while trying to buy 12 different items and a person who's buying 2 six packs of the premium whisky or champers!

Rosa_Damascena

Aldi's gooey creme egg filling (a bit like a chocolate spread) looks absolutely disgusting but is apparently flying off shelves!!

Cornucopia

New product at Aldi - Lentil Rings.   6 packs for 99p

These are virtually identical to the Calbee Lentil Hoops that are sometimes available in UK discounters.    

Rosa_Damascena

Cornucopia said:

New product at Aldi - Lentil Rings.   6 packs for 99p

These are virtually identical to the Calbee Lentil Hoops that are sometimes available in UK discounters.    

I like these lentil rings although try to avoid buying them because they are UPF.

Back to the tomato ketchup, I did buy another bottle of the Batt's yesterday and opened it just now. There was a good 15ml of liquid on to which I drained off - and then tested it on a slice of cheese on toast. The results were good .

rhcp

Surprised Aldi aren't price matching the veg.  Carrots are 8p, but I had to pay a whopping 15p for the broccoli and potatoes.

Brie

Rosa_Damascena said:

Cornucopia said:

New product at Aldi - Lentil Rings.   6 packs for 99p

These are virtually identical to the Calbee Lentil Hoops that are sometimes available in UK discounters.    

I like these lentil rings although try to avoid buying them because they are UPF.

Back to the tomato ketchup, I did buy another bottle of the Batt's yesterday and opened it just now. There was a good 15ml of liquid on to which I drained off - and then tested it on a slice of cheese on toast. The results were good .

does it have sugar in it or sweetener?  (why do they use sweeteners for "light" versions of things?  why not just make them less sweet??)