Woolies and Coles: How can we compete if we’re not allowed to overcharge our customers?
I fucking love Aldi. I shopped there when I was poor as hell in college and I’d still go there now if they had any nearby. Sure their selection is limited but what they have is legit and their deals are phenomenal.
@DontMakeMoreBabies @zero_gravitas I can get all I need bar some spices/herbs at about 50% of Coles cost
Yo half of the US would be starving if it wasn’t for Aldi.
Another thing I like about aldi is it doesn’t have inane music and ads blasting at you over a P.A. If I go there when it’s not peak time it’s nearly silent which makes shopping feel very peaceful and makes me want to spend longer in the place.
Also much faster to navigate than colesworth due to less aisles of stuff I mostly have no interest in.
The Aldi near us recently added self serve checkouts. They work, they don’t nag and they still have an attendant to happily make small-talk and help customers.
@zero_gravitas @MorpheusB I noticed “The Aldi near us recently added self serve checkouts.” If my Aldi did that, I’d definitely shop there. Mine has the slowest checkouts in the world (tested by monkeys) and tries to make me late for my bus. It’s not unknown for me to dump my stuff and walk out.
@treleanor @zero_gravitas I do not like the self-serve checkouts. Prefer human.
@MorpheusB @zero_gravitas I generally prefer human-served checkouts. But Aldi closest to me, in busy shopping centre, has the worst checkouts I’ve encountered anywhere. So slow. Plus when you’re in a queue, an announcement will come, “Checkout number whatever is closing, go to another,” and everyone shuffles over and enrages people in that queue. My blood pressure is quite high enough without that.
I can go either way, however I do prefer self-serve if I am in a hurry and only have a few things. That said, the sluggishness of the Woolworths ones, and the Twenty Questions whenever I try to use them (and the inference from them that I am a thief) means that I will go to the service desk instead.
The friendliness of other Aldi customers is also refreshing. I have had other customers wave me through because i only have a couple of things; I usually buy a few Chupa Chups when I am checking out for those other customers, as a thankyou.
Safeway and Coles customers are typically more self-absorbed and militant about the queue.