An Anectode That Speaks Volumes: Dollar Store Puts My Local Hallmark Store Out of Biz

[Mercor]

Aldi and Walmart, non-union employees. They are crushing the grocery workers unions.

The unions are pushing local goverments to use zoning laws to limit non-union growth.

 

[clacy]

Quote from Mercor:

Aldi and Walmart, non-union employees. They are crushing the grocery workers unions.

The unions are pushing local goverments to use zoning laws to limit non-union growth.

That's a good thing. I'm not sure in 2009, that we need 50 year olds making $40k + beny's for sacking groceries.

 

[aegis]

Quote from Mercor:

Aldi and Walmart, non-union employees. They are crushing the grocery workers unions.

The unions are pushing local goverments to use zoning laws to limit non-union growth.

Actually, I believe Aldi pays their workers better than most other stores. Cashiers make $12/hr and don't have to stand or bag groceries.

 

[ByLoSellHi]

Quote from aegis:

Actually, I believe Aldi pays their workers better than most other stores. Cashiers make $12/hr and don't have to stand or bag groceries.

Woo Hoo! $24,000 per year.

That's probably way better than the $14,000 per year Wal-Mart cashiers get (for full time work).

Can anyone really live on that?

 

[Renegen]

Quote from ByLoSellHi:

Most supermarkets use carbon monoxide to keep their meat and fish looking fresh.

Sushi restaurants use massive amounts on their fish. It's a standard practice.

Ever notice that the prepackaged hamburger is red on the outside, but brown or gray on the inside? That's because the meat department takes lumps of discolored hamburger and wraps it in freshly produced burger.

Remind me to throw up. Good thing I like my raw meat red..

If you want to save even more money, don't eat meat! I eat vegetables like peas.

 

[ASusilovic]

Quote from ByLoSellHi:

Do you have any Aldi's in your area?

It's basically a 14,000 square foot mini grocery store that sells stuff for about 1/2 of what Kroger's does.

They don't have everything a full supermarket does, but they have way more than Walgreen's or convenience stores; things like fresh meat, produce, and dairy products. They basically have everything 80% of people buy at the grocery store, and skip the frilly stuff. It's literally a reduced Kroger's.

It was born in Germany in the aftermath of WWII, when Germany was still bombed out.

They cut costs to the bone. If you don't bring your own box or bags, they charge you 10 cents per bag.

Aldi's is absolutely crammed full of customers.

Milk for $1.69 a gallon and eggs for .79 cent per dozen. The meat and produce is about 60% to 70% the cost of supermarket prices, too.

Good for the Aldi brothers...



ALDI (help·info), short for "ALbrecht DIscount", is a discount supermarket chain based in Germany. The chain is made up of two separate groups, ALDI Nord (North - operating as ALDI MARKT) and ALDI Süd (South - operating as ALDI SÜD), which operate independently from each other within specific market boundaries. The individual groups were originally owned and managed by brothers Karl Albrecht and Theo Albrecht; both have since retired. However, they are still Germany's richest men,[2] earning an estimated €1.5 billion per year.

[3] Aldi's German operations currently consist of Aldi Nord's 35 individual regional companies with about 2,500 stores in Northern and Eastern Germany, and Aldi Süd's 31 regional companies with 1,600 stores in Western and Southern Germany. Internationally, Aldi Nord operates in Denmark, France, the Benelux countries, the Iberian peninsula and Poland, while Aldi Süd operates in countries including the United States, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Hungary, Greece, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia (operating as Hofer in Austria and Slovenia) and Australia. According to a survey conducted in 2002 by the German market research institute Forsa, 95% of blue-collar workers, 88% of white-collar workers, 84% of public servants and 80% of self-employed Germans shop at Aldi.[3] Aldi's main competitor, nationally and internationally, is Lidl.

 

[makloda]

Quote from ByLoSellHi:

This explains why dealing with Aldi on a potential land sale was one of the most frustrating experiences in my life, and why the deal didn't go through.

One of Aldi's specialties is to own most of the land and properties they operate on/in. They hate leasing, they shun debt. Supposedly, everything is financed out of cash flow, they use little to no borrowed money if ever.

The land value alone of the properties they have amassed across Europe over the last 50 years must be gigantic. Much of it was likely bought up at rock bottom prices in average to decent (though not grade A downtown, that's not their target audience) urban locales during the 70s and 80s.

 

[FortuneTeller]

There is a Hallmark store (over 20 years) in our area and a Dollar store (a few years). The type of people who go into the Dollar Store would never go into the Hallmark store. IF your local Hallmark store is going out of business, it is because the people in your area have been replaced by a bunch of cheap bums.

 

[Johno]

Quote from Renegen:

Remind me to throw up. Good thing I like my raw meat red..

If you want to save even more money, don't eat meat! I eat vegetables like peas.

Beans do it for me, on the up side I never get crowded out when I go for a coffee, but unfortunately not so popular in church these days!

Regards

Johno

 

[mister_doodi]

Quote from FortuneTeller:

There is a Hallmark store (over 20 years) in our area and a Dollar store (a few years). The type of people who go into the Dollar Store would never go into the Hallmark store. IF your local Hallmark store is going out of business, it is because the people in your area have been replaced by a bunch of cheap bums.

Haven't you gotten the memo. It's okay to be cheap these days. You can ask for discounts and use coupons without shame. I have personally switched to store brand foods.