That old “inelastic demand” argument again! /s
At one point, the solution was finding alternative brands or store brands.
I’ve been shopping at one Aldi or another for over a decade, and going to outlets, and that usually saves me a lot of money compared to going to more traditional Grocery Stores, but even my Food Bill has been going up. The saving grace is that my recent promotion far exceeds the increased cost of food, so it hasn’t been a problem.
Anyway, I assume everyone here has already looked at alternatives and started showing in stores like Aldi or Lidl. Even now, they usually come in at 2/3 the price of many grocery stores in my area (even taking into account Store Brands), but if you haven’t, you can try those out.
Honestly, I would be much more upset about everything, if people didn’t keep telling me the margins at Grocery stores are super thin. Not sure what the solution to all this is, but I usually think it starts with paying people at the lower income levels better and ends with Eating the Rich. Go figure.
The question then is, who are “The Rich”? I mean, its starts out with people like Bezos, but where does it end? Is this a slippery slope fallacy? Probably, but if it is a Fallacy, where does that end?
Companies are still trying to make up for pandemic shortfalls. The gouging will continue until demand subsides.
How much do you make, Lego? And, asking for a friend, how do you think you would taste? Are you well marinated?
Well, my salary is public knowledge as a US Government employer. I’m a GS-11 in the Washington DC Locality.
So, I think I’m safe from the first dozen rounds or so.
Last year at this time, I was a GS-9.
Yum Yum.
So possible marinated, but likely not well-marbled.
Yay grocery store discussion again. Despite the people here who think any profit is price gouging and believe just seizing the means of production will solve all inflation, it doesn’t seem like even the examples of absurd grocery store price gouging are all that high, profit margin wise. BUT, grocery stores are just the consumer facing end of some big supply chains. A whole lot of price gouging can be happening throughout the chain without grocery stores being the main culprit. Aldi is always a fascinating example because their secret to keeping their prices so low seems to have always been about keeping costs low in any conceivable way. And a lot of that is by cutting down on labor costs by having customers do things that employees do in other stores. Not sure what kind of profit margins they end up with, but would be a good comparison vs something like Kroger.
Aldi prices have gone up with everything else. It just still is below what you see in other grocery stores.
Right. Their prices are generally low compared to other stores. Their formerly super cheap eggs are much less so now. But I’m still always amazed when I do a full shop with my wife at Aldi when the total comes up.
I actually went to Aldi’s after taking to you guys. It’s out of the way but not far, so it was worth checking out. There definitely seen to be deals you can get, but you need to dig a little more (like, they have perfectly good produce, but you need to be willing to move crates around and find the good stuff).
Also, while I was there, no less than three different people spilled blueberries all over the floor, in completely different locations in the store.
I once dropped a watermelon on the floor at Aldi (I always shop there). I was soooooo embarrassed. It splattered all over the place.
Never seen spilled blueberries though. Those are usually in that plastic clam container.
Aldi certainly has good prices, but the highlight of my trips to Aldi is visiting the ‘fun stuff’ aisle. It’s the aisle where they put all the strange and weird stuff that didn’t sell. They start marking it down and the discounts get furiouser and furiouser over time. You see stuff like gluten-free Oreo cookies, birthday cake chex mix, pouches of ‘mashed potatoes’ made from hearts of palm, and blueberry/strawberry cheerios. Last week I got super discounted Mio equivalents for $1.59 for a double-sized bottle (this is stuff I use a lot and the same size bottle is $6+ in regular stores). Of course it was some brand I’d never heard of and was ‘tropical fruit’ flavor but it was really really cheap!
I’m a huge fan of that aisle. My dad bought me a bicycle in that aisle. I used to go riding that with my friends in a state park with a 10 mile bike track. They were so jealous. Their bikes were about the same price (dirt cheap) but with really uncomfortable seats, my Aldi bike was super comfortable.
I also bought a kid’s gate there when we had a toddler, way, way cheaper than an equivalent one at Target. My dad bought two mobile countertops on wheels, essentially, there. And we put them together like an ikea project, it was easy. And my mom from then on had more counter space, plus it could be moved around as needed. And so on. I love the kinds of stuff they bring over from Germany in that aisle, just random wonderful stuff.
My wife says it’s called the Aisle of Shame on the Facebook Groups.
Turns out, if you drop those containers, they spill all the blueberries.
3 different people dropped those containers while I was at the store like 30 minutes.
ALDIs has tried to move into Texas. Here they moved directly across the street from H‑E‑B. “They tried and failed?” “No, they tried and died.”
Not only is their selection total crap by comparison, it’s lower quality and more expensive. They get a few low end Euro candies and some different frozen foods.
It’s basically empty while the H‑E‑B parking lot next door is full.
ALDI does have a limited selection. It’s a small store and it’s all part of them trying to keep prices down. I have a hard time believing HEB is actually cheaper though. And as far as quality there are certainly some duds, but most of their knockoffs are solid, most of their produce is good, and the aforementioned Aldi Finds are always fun.
These are amazing at Aldi and hard to find a similar product anywhere else for $3.
That’s an awesome happy dad story @Rock8man. Now you’re making me want to find an Aldi — looks like they don’t have any in Northern California though.