Metropol

rdobbie wrote: Sat 03 May, 2025 08.28 This issue has been bugging me for 20+ years. Aldi have a system of putting variants (e.g. flavours) of the same item under the same barcode and shelf space.

So how do they gauge supply/demand of each variant?

Recently they launched a range of Subway-inspired sauces: Sweet Onion, Chipotle Mayo and Marinara. Almost immediately, the Sweet Onion and Chipotle Mayo sold out (probably due to TikTok shenanigans), leaving the shelf full of Marinara. It's remained that way in my branch for the last 2 weeks.

How does this method benefit Aldi or its customers? Is the data on unsold variants fed back into the system?

It's just one of the many weird ways they do things.

I imagine it's something to do with the fact they didn't have barcode scanners at all until much later than all their competitors, and instead their checkout operators would rapidly mash 5 digit codes in at incredible velocity. There was some arbitrary number of these codes their staff had to memorise, and having mixed SKUs helped with that.

But yeah that hasn't been the case for 25 years at this point; you'd have thought even if they are mixing them through supply chain to shelf they'd still like to know which variant has actually been purchased so they can modify the case makeup.

Contrast with other retailers who are now moving to 2D codes/QRs so they can track datecodes passing through the till...

I've always assumed the reason why they have a mixed case is down to the fact they probably get some sort of discount for having both variants from the supplier.
I'm also convinced that the reason why suppliers get a shout out on the packaging of a lot of products in Lidl and are not entirely white label are again cost, the suppplier gets a bit of free advertising, and Lidl chip away at the cost even if ever so slightly.

Out of nowhere my local big tesco has £1 locks on the trolleys. Apparently they'd lost £8,000 of trolleys and that is the threshold for head office to snap.

The fact there was no posters in advance to give notice of this change, and no freebie tokens to give away, probably lost them thousands in lost sales as people struggled around with baskets because who on earth has cash on them any more?

Pete wrote: Fri 04 Jul, 2025 11.38 Out of nowhere my local big tesco has £1 locks on the trolleys. Apparently they'd lost £8,000 of trolleys and that is the threshold for head office to snap.

The fact there was no posters in advance to give notice of this change, and no freebie tokens to give away, probably lost them thousands in lost sales as people struggled around with baskets because who on earth has cash on them any more?

I always keep at least £2 in change for exactly this issue.

There's a lot of crappy plastic tokens around, but every now and again... 😀



https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/157147290086

Pete wrote: Fri 04 Jul, 2025 11.38 Out of nowhere my local big tesco has £1 locks on the trolleys. Apparently they'd lost £8,000 of trolleys and that is the threshold for head office to snap.

The fact there was no posters in advance to give notice of this change, and no freebie tokens to give away, probably lost them thousands in lost sales as people struggled around with baskets because who on earth has cash on them any more?

I find that Tesco's blue charity tokens usually fit their trolley locks.

Charlie Wells wrote: Sun 06 Jul, 2025 20.13 I find that Tesco's blue charity tokens usually fit their trolley locks.

I did wonder this, although was unsure with the new style £1 coins

I popped into AmazonFresh for lunch today - the standard meal deal is now £3.60 for Prime members (or £4 for everyone else), and they've dropped some of the fancier baked goods from the snack selection - the £3 cinnamon buns used to offer fantastic arbitrage.

I'm baffled by the products in the chilled section - they've slimmed down the 'by Amazon' range again, and now have Co-op Irresistible pizzas, and Morrisons The Best and Booths ready meals.

Sorry I can’t remember/find which thread we discussed the M&S cyber incident but I note that digital receipts have started appearing again in the app - 17th July is the first one since April anyway.

However the click and collect screen in the M&S Simply Food (ok technically now an “M&S Foodhall” but that’s just confusing calling it that) I visit remains turned off with an A4 notice stuck to it.

Click and collect - as well as in-store returns for online purchases - has returned today, as it happens.

Seen more and more of the Tesco signs brandishing "Est. XXXX" and it got me thinking, what's the earliest year anyones been able to find on these signs? They seem to mostly be on the Express stores but I think a few superstores have them.

If memory serves me, I recall seeing a sign brandishing a year in the 80's but I can't recall what year or what store, though it could be plenty of them as many of them are old enough!