Panic buying

[spikey]

9 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

Why didn’t she move then?

 

Ill put that down to bone idle youth rather than anything else.  

 

As you wish.  But when I asked her the same question, she said she would if she could, but there was a long waiting list for jobs at Lidl.

 

Whatever, we all shop where it suits us.  FWIW as late as 10 years ago we still shopped at Waitrose (and Sainsbury's), being of the opinion that it was worth paying a bit more for the better quality.  Then over time we discovered by following up recommendations that where what we eat is concerned, we were still paying a bit more but were no longer getting better quality.

Edited May 16, 2020 by spikey
emphasis

[Enterprisingwestern]

4 hours ago, spikey said:

I said to the bored-looking Sunday girl on the till "Cheer up, could be worse.  You could be in Lidl".  "At least I'd be earning more" says she, then went on to explain that she was on minimum wage.  If she was in Lidl, she'd be on a quid an hour more.

 

In Lidl she'd be running round like a blue arsed fly doing every job available, that's why they pay extra, there are less staff doing more work, she's probably happy being bored for a pound an hour less.

Youth of today, pah!!

 

Mike.

[jjb1970]

Whether a job is right for you is about much more than the rate of pay. Of course pay is important but so is being happy at work, career potential, employer policies on things like sickness, compassionate leave etc, pension etc. 

Although I have to say that an old friend of mine who is now rather high up the pecking order in one of the big electricity companies still says that the toughest job he ever had and the one with the highest pressure to perform was working as a graduate trainee in a Sainsbury's store.

[Reorte]

6 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

Whether a job is right for you is about much more than the rate of pay. Of course pay is important but so is being happy at work, career potential, employer policies on things like sickness, compassionate leave etc, pension etc.

 

Just what matters for an individual is a point various people don't seem to get, including a couple of my bosses. "You should be going for promotion..." I've had a couple of times. The previous guy especially didn't seem to grasp "Why?" as an answer, that the process sounded a faff and that it doesn't sound like it offers anything I want. A bit more pay, sure, and whilst I'd never say no to that on its own it's very low down the motivation scale (all that would change that would be extremes - either struggling to get by, or ridiculously life-changing millions). The more senior job just involves more of the sort of faff I hate having to do. But some don't even seem to understand why I'd ask the question, and why they'd have to sell the idea to me.

[jjb1970]

We shop at Aldi quite a lot as the quality of many of their goods is excellent,  and some of their prices are very good. However not everything in Aldi is a bargain and we also go to Tesco and Morrisons (both can be cheaper for some things) and I will admit to sometimes going to M&S for luxuries. 

 

The thing that does annoy me about Aldi is the way they copy brand styles for packaging to piggyback on other companies marketing. They maintain enough difference to stay on the right side of the law but it's rather underhand I think.

[jjb1970]

4 minutes ago, Reorte said:

 

Just what matters for an individual is a point various people don't seem to get, including a couple of my bosses. "You should be going for promotion..." I've had a couple of times. The previous guy especially didn't seem to grasp "Why?" as an answer, that the process sounded a faff and that it doesn't sound like it offers anything I want. A bit more pay, sure, and whilst I'd never say no to that on its own it's very low down the motivation scale (all that would change that would be extremes - either struggling to get by, or ridiculously life-changing millions). The more senior job just involves more of the sort of faff I hate having to do. But some don't even seem to understand why I'd ask the question, and why they'd have to sell the idea to me.

 

It's something many don't grasp. Both when I worked at sea and in electricity generation I knew lots of people who were excellent at their jobs and who could have been promoted but who preferred to remain where they were. The pay was sufficient,  they were happy and didn't want more paperwork,  managerial responsibilities,  pressure etc. And it is a perfectly valid choice, businesses rely on these people who do their job and do it well, contentedly. 

[cctransuk]

8 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

The thing that does annoy me about Aldi is the way they copy brand styles for packaging to piggyback on other companies marketing. They maintain enough difference to stay on the right side of the law but it's rather underhand I think.

 

Why? Few, if any, customers are fooled - it just subconsciously helps them find the product.

 

If they are fooled, and find they don't like the 'copycat' product, they won't make the same mistake again.

 

On the other hand, if they do like the product, they'll keep buying the own brand item and save money.

 

The extra marketing of branded products is funded by the higher price - that's a market-placement decision by the manufacturer.

 

All's fair in love and marketing!

 

John Isherwood.

[62613]

32 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

 

It's something many don't grasp. Both when I worked at sea and in electricity generation I knew lots of people who were excellent at their jobs and who could have been promoted but who preferred to remain where they were. The pay was sufficient,  they were happy and didn't want more paperwork,  managerial responsibilities,  pressure etc. And it is a perfectly valid choice, businesses rely on these people who do their job and do it well, contentedly. 

That sounds similar to the "Professional" third and second engineers that I sailed with, when I was at sea. Either didn't want the responsibility of the next step up, or couldn't be faffed with trying to pass their tickets, for whatever reason. They were, however, goldmines of "job" information. By the time I finished, given the shrinkage in the fleet, they had all gone.

[spamcan61]

Had a little shopping expedition into the outskirts of Christchurch yesterday, needed a new tyre for the babe magnet and a riser rail for a shower (handily Screwfix is 2 doors down from the tyre fitter). Especially as the tip is just literally round the corner from these establishments I was expecting all round mayhem; but although there was quite a queue for the tip, the tyre shop was deserted, and nobody queuing at the Screwfix collection point. Result! I was back at Spamcan towers within 40 minutes :-) Clearly this isn't good for anybody's business but it was at least convenient for me.

[boxbrownie]

51 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

We shop at Aldi quite a lot as the quality of many of their goods is excellent,  and some of their prices are very good. However not everything in Aldi is a bargain and we also go to Tesco and Morrisons (both can be cheaper for some things) and I will admit to sometimes going to M&S for luxuries. 

 

 

We shop at Aldi, but almost never for veg/fruit as we find it goes off far too quickly compared with the same items from Morrisons or Waitrose, not sure why but that's been or experience both here and back in Essex, maybe the Aldi supply chain just isn't "as fast" for fresh goods?

[jjb1970]

6 minutes ago, 62613 said:

That sounds similar to the "Professional" third and second engineers that I sailed with, when I was at sea. Either didn't want the responsibility of the next step up, or couldn't be faffed with trying to pass their tickets, for whatever reason. They were, however, goldmines of "job" information. By the time I finished, given the shrinkage in the fleet, they had all gone.

 

I knew quite a few professional thirds who had chief's tickets but were happy working in the engine room and had no interest in budgets, fighting with superintendents, all the man management issues etc. It was a fair choice, the big downside was indeed employability as crew sizes decreased, companies went to cheaper countries for crews etc. And even with a chief's ticket, if you're applying for chief's jobs and going against people with good experience in rank it's a difficult sell.

 

The big problem in electricity was twofold. The first one was the quantum leap in responsibility and accountability when being promoted to shift charge engineer and having to sign safety documents and be the name blamed if electricity export or plant efficiency wasn't up to spec. The second was that when going from shift charge engineer to operations manager there was another big jump in responsibility, having to manage budgets, people issues etc and generally longer hours but because you lost shift pay there was generally no pay rise (although other benefits and pension improved).

[rockershovel]

My daughter makes the same pint about Aldi; go in there, buy what’s cheap at the moment, then stop at Tesco on the way back.

 

I go in them occasionally on my travels and the variety is amazing. There was one in Plymouth which was populated with derelicts and ne’er-do-wells of all descriptions; another, where I saw not one, but two Bentleys in the car-park. 

 

They seem the complete antithesis of the Waitrose “shopping experience” but it clearly works for them. 

[rockershovel]

6 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

We shop at Aldi, but almost never for veg/fruit as we find it goes off far too quickly compared with the same items from Morrisons or Waitrose, not sure why but that's been or experience both here and back in Essex, maybe the Aldi supply chain just isn't "as fast" for fresh goods?

 

Oddly enough, I find Morrison’s in Peterborough to be very good for veg, also pies for some reason..

 

[jjb1970]

I find Aldi do some excellent cheese and cooked meats which are quite cheap. And some of the chocolate really is superb and bargain priced. I don't find their regular meat to be cheaper than alternatives and I agree some of their fruit and veg doesn't seem to last long. Not a problem if you buy to cook quickly, but it can be an issue if you shop less frequently. Oddly, the exception is bean sprouts , we find their bean sprouts much better than Morrisons or Tesco.

[jjb1970]

12 minutes ago, rockershovel said:

My daughter makes the same pint about Aldi; go in there, buy what’s cheap at the moment, then stop at Tesco on the way back.

 

I go in them occasionally on my travels and the variety is amazing. There was one in Plymouth which was populated with derelicts and ne’er-do-wells of all descriptions; another, where I saw not one, but two Bentleys in the car-park. 

 

They seem the complete antithesis of the Waitrose “shopping experience” but it clearly works for them. 

 

Aldi still have a stigma in some quarters, yet where we are their customers include GPs and dentists (I know because I see my doctors and dentist in there) and judging from the car park many of those shopping are an awful long way from the minimum wage. But you do see the full spectrum. Ditto Lidl.

[woodenhead]

19 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

We shop at Aldi, but almost never for veg/fruit as we find it goes off far too quickly compared with the same items from Morrisons or Waitrose, not sure why but that's been or experience both here and back in Essex, maybe the Aldi supply chain just isn't "as fast" for fresh goods?

 

3 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

I find Aldi do some excellent cheese and cooked meats which are quite cheap. And some of the chocolate really is superb and bargain priced. I don't find their regular meat to be cheaper than alternatives and I agree some of their fruit and veg doesn't seem to last long. Not a problem if you buy to cook quickly, but it can be an issue if you shop less frequently. Oddly, the exception is bean sprouts , we find their bean sprouts much better than Morrisons or Tesco.

 

I tend to shop in Sainsburys so most of my stuff comes from there but it is always followed up immediately with a drop in to Aldi which is over the road - fruit, salad, chocolate, milk and those lovely ready to drink coffees.   I am currently also shopping for my in laws and they have a different pallette so I see other veg and I have noticed that cauliflower from Sainsburys is a lovely white colour, but in Aldi it is yellower.   But overall the veg in Aldi is fine, in the early days it was a bit more European but it has developed its product lines now to suit the local market and it does what it does very well.

[Joseph_Pestell]

20 minutes ago, rockershovel said:

 

Oddly enough, I find Morrison’s in Peterborough to be very good for veg, also pies for some reason..

 

 

Only in the last week that Morrison's in Hereford has got supply level back to normal for fruit and veg. Lots of empty shelf space since lockdown.

 

They are still low on pies and similar products.

 

My experience of fruit and veg in Aldi and Lidl matches others here.

[rockershovel]

Is “European veg” a euphemism for “pickled cabbage with carroway seeds”?

 

One thing I’ve always appreciated on my travels, is coming back to the U.K. and having green veg, roast potatoes and most of all, parsnips and garden peas. 

 

[jjb1970]

There is a big Chinese supermarket in Milton Keynes which is excellent for Asian foods. Actually there is a smaller Chinese supermarket which is less good but which does have a fantastic cafe which serves restaurant quality food at takeaway prices if you don't mind the very basic environment. We buy things like rise in bulk sacks and various Asian fruit and veg, imported sauce, spices and such like and the larger Chinese supermarket is excellent. Great wasabi peas too, proper wasabi and not the diluted stuff the other shops sell. 

[kevinlms]

Thread now seems to have gone away from panic buying to supermarket choice or even what vehicles are in the car park.

 

Does that mean that shortages are almost over in the UK?

[Gwiwer]

8 minutes ago, kevinlms said:

Does that mean that shortages are almost over in the UK?

We are short of shortages. 

[Reorte]

20 minutes ago, kevinlms said:

Thread now seems to have gone away from panic buying to supermarket choice or even what vehicles are in the car park.

 

Does that mean that shortages are almost over in the UK?

There were one or two slightly sparse-looking areas of shelving in the supermarket yesterday (I ended up with one of the last two tubes of tomato puree, no choice in brands, and there was a gap where I think flour goes) but other than that it looked pretty much business as normal as far as what's on the shelves goes.

Edited May 17, 2020 by Reorte

[kevinlms]

1 minute ago, Reorte said:

There were one or two slightly sparse-looking areas of shelving in the supermarket yesterday (I ended up with one of the last two tubes of tomato puree, no choice in brands, and there was a gap where I think flour goes) but other than that it looked pretty much business as normal as far as what's on the shelves goes.

That pretty well describes my local Woolworths supermarkets, in outer eastern suburbs of Melbourne.

[Enterprisingwestern]

44 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

We are short of shortages. 

 

They'll be back shortly!

 

Mike.

[rockershovel]

We are still getting substitutions and Not Available in the deliveries, own brands seem largely absent, as do large size packages. There was NO pasta in Tesco last week, very little rice... I wouldn’t say shortages were over, by any means.