Um, you're at ALDI's!

[alphaboi]

This afternoon I went shopping at out local Aldi's. In case you don't know Aldi's is a hard-discount store. No decorations, $.25 deposit for carts, bag your own order, no free bags, etc. So I was behind this 50-something couple. The cashier starts scanning their order and putting it into the cart. SCM=man, SCW=woman, C=cashier.

SCM: "Um, we'd like them in bags!"
C: "Sir, you do that yourself."
SCM: "What! What do you mean?!"
C: "We don't bag your order for you. There's an area over there for you to bag your groceries."
SCW: "Fine, we'll bag our own order.

So they pay and wheel their cart over to the bagging counter and the cashier starts with mine.

SCW: "Where are the bags?"
SCM: "Damn, they're at the checkstand. What kind of place is this?"
SCW: (comes back at reaches for the bags)
C: "Excuse me ma'am, you need to pay for those."
SCW: "Huh, what do you mean? We already payed for our groceries."
C: "The bags, you need to buy the bags. We don't give them away for free."
SCW: "I have to pay for bags!? I've never heard of such a thing. Nobody does that!"
C: "We do, it's store policy."
SCW: (throws the bag on the floor, goes to her husband, shoves their stuff back into the cart and storms out) "I hope this f_cking store goes out of business!!"
I pick the bags off the floor and put them back.
Me: "What a bitch."
C: (smiles) "Yes, but she's not coming here again!"

[rdp78]

Hmm, I never heard of ALDI's before and I Googled it to see what it was all about. I know there isn't one in my area and the closest one is like forty miles. Anyway I think that's kind of interesting idea by charging for the cart and bags but if the products they are selling are really cheap I mean they have to make up for that. Not to mention if you bring back you cart you get you quarter back (well, that's what I read on the website) and you can always reuse those bags.

[Gurndigarn]

Low prices (usually lower than WallyWorld, if that says anything), food quality from poor to fair, though mostly on the fair side. Very limited selection, mostly store brand.

It's not a bad place, you just have to figure out what to avoid-- and what to really stock up on. Long lines at some checkout stands aren't uncommon. Bring your own bags, or grab some boxes off the floor.

[Linda]

Oh my gosh, I love Aldi and Lidl. You can buy all sorts of continental foods at a fifth of the price of anywhere else. Best time to visit is Christmas when they have all the European chocolates and cakes.
But you're guaranteed that every time I go there there is some SC kicking up a fuss over the price of a carrier bag. When they've just saved a load of cash on the goods they've bought.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Sounds like LIDL over here; that place is like a warehouse and it's a great place to go to stock up on mixers for a party.

[Casino Jockey]

I love aldi - i live in the city, and when i mean city i mean in THE city, ie, office buildings all around and it's the Central Business District.

theres an aldi on the north side of the city i go to, than go to the massive markets we have here. I have saved about %50 off my food bill since i moved here and started gong there.

[blas]

It's just like the people at Goodwill who try and barter or complain about the prices there.

Some people, I swear.

[Fera Festiva]

SCM: "Um, we'd like them in bags!"
C: "Sir, you do that yourself."
SCM: "What! What do you mean?!"

[Snip]

C: "The bags, you need to buy the bags. We don't give them away for free."
SCW: "I have to pay for bags!? I've never heard of such a thing. Nobody does that!"

*Headdesk*

Why don't SCs understand this? The delivery/packing/bags aren't free in other shops - the cost of them is included in the cost of the groceries you buy. Aldi (and Lidl and Ikea and wherever) can charge so little precisely because they aren't hiding the cost of the "free" stuff in anything else.

I guess for SCs, the word "free" means IT'S FREE IT'S MINE GIVE IT and they think of it as an entitlement. It never occurs to them that someone pays for it somewhere along the line. It's the same mentality that makes library SCs think they don't have to pay for lost books, because "library books are free!" Not to us, you moron.

(On another note, I have a great fondness for Aldi. Back in the day, when I was a teenage goth, I and my chums would regularly get hammered on something called "Rakmaninof Orginal Recipe Wodka", purchased from that very emporium. )

[RebeccaOTool]

My family frequesnts Aldi's, and we usually keep bags on hand just for it.

[rdp78]

It's just like the people at Goodwill who try and barter or complain about the prices there.

Some people, I swear.

Are you kidding me people actually bargain at a Goodwill? I guess some think $2.50 is still to high to pay for pants or shirt which could cost what up to ten times as much as in a regular store. There is one near where I work and I've gone there a few times. I've found few really nice things there and the first time was for a Halloween costume.

[lordlundar]

C: (smiles) "Yes, but she's not coming here again!"

Wouldn't bet on that.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Yeah, these darned customers... always raising our hopes with that phrase then cruelly dashing them the next week.

[FloridaLizardQueen]

Sorry, but to me . . . if the prices in the store are so cheap, isn't that why people go there? Not to have to pay for the bags the groceries go in. To me it kinda defeats the whole purpose of the customer saving money. That's just my opinion

[Fera Festiva]

FloridaLizardQueen - it's like I said in my previous post. The reason things are so cheap is because the store doesn't have to hide the cost of the bags, etc in the other things they sell.

Let's say Tesco sells a can of olive oil for £3. They offer "free" bags. Aldi sells an almost identical can of oil for £1, but you have to pay if you want a bag. However, if bring your own bag, you don't have to pay for their bags, so you leave the store having spent less.

The bags are not free to make, so the store has to pay for them (even if the customers don't). Many stores want to be seen to be giving things away for free in order to attract customers who will spend money and make them profits. So, instead of charging for the bags, the store claims they are free. However, in order to cover the money they spend on the bags, they charge slightly more for every product.

So when you buy the oil from Tesco, you are indirectly paying a little towards your own and everyone else's bags. When you buy it from Aldi, you choose whether or not to pay that cost. Because Aldi are not hiding the cost of the bags in the products, they can make the products cheaper.

This is also how Ikea can make furniture cheaper - because they don't deliver for "free", you get your own stuff from the warehouse, etc. It's also how internet bookstores are cheaper (no shop rent to pay, no staff uniforms to provide), internet opticians are cheaper (no eye test equipment to maintain), and so on.

Hope that helps.

[Gurndigarn]

Sorry, but to me . . . if the prices in the store are so cheap, isn't that why people go there? Not to have to pay for the bags the groceries go in. To me it kinda defeats the whole purpose of the customer saving money. That's just my opinion

Bags are, last I checked, five cents each. Maybe ten. That's for paper, by the way; it's one of the few remaining places locally that uses paper. You can usually save at least that amount with each item purchased.