Couple outraged they are paying more in Waitrose than Aldi

[Spitsandspots]

Couple are either outraged, upset or disappointed -depending on which link you read -but do people generally not know that food suppliers/processors/factories make the same food for different supermarkets?

www.independent.co.uk/life-style/christmas/food-drink/aldi-waitrose-label-same-ocado-vegetables-a9208836.html

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7694571/Outraged-couple-Aldi-stickers-covering-Waitrose-Mediterranean-roast-vegetables.html

YABU-I did not know this
YANBU-I already knew this

Lidl do have loos available for shoppers, as do Aldi! Yours must be in the queue for upgrading. I find that staff will slow down if you ask and they are always friendly. I had a car accident last week when someone came out in front of me on a roundabout and went into Lidl afterwards to get the milk I was going for at the time of the accident. The member of staff on the till noticed I was shaky and asked if I was OK so I told her what had happened; this week she came up to me and asked how I was doing after it all. Aldi has just announced that they will be handing over all their fresh food to charities after they close on Christmas Eve. Anything left which is about to go out of date will be available to be picked up by food banks, meal services, etc. Aldi and Lidl also apparently treat their staff well as well as pay well; you often see them advertising for apprentices to train rather than zero hours staff. In addition, all fruit and veg etc is sourced locally so it varies from area to area; here the milk for both Aldi and Lidl comes from the biggest independent family-run dairy even if it's rebranded for Aldi.

@HowlsMovingBungalow really? That's depressing, unless they were genuine ones (as in, the flexibility was sought, and genuinely provided - which was what the loophole was intended to provide before being seized upon as a way to screw over employees). It's tricky trying to be a bit less unethical, isn't it.

Aldi and Lidl also apparently treat their staff well as well as pay well; you often see them advertising for apprentices to train rather than zero hours staff.

Apprentices don't get the normal minimum wage. They're seen as learning a trade so the first year minimum rate is £3.90 an hour.

The Aldi recruitment site proudly states they pay £183 a week in the first year of training. For a full time job. That's less than ten grand a year. They proudly explain that it doubles in the second year - it would need to, because that's when minimum wage kicks in!

You do not need to be apprenticed to learn how to use a till. It's a way to avoid minimum wage legislation.

You do not need to be apprenticed to learn how to use a till. It's a way to avoid minimum wage legislation.

Not defending their practice but there is more to working in Aldi than just using a till. As I understand it all staff are able to do all aspects of the job. No one is just on tills/shelf stacking/warehouse. Everyone can do everything which is how the manage the check out queues.

As an aside do other older MNers remember back in the days before barcodes Aldi used to save money by not putting price tickets on anything? Staff were expected to know the price of every single item.

My husband worked in retail management 20 years ago. He saw the collapse in proper waged roles, and decent hours, with overtime rates to recognise unsocial hours, get hollowed out while he was there. When apprenticeships came in they knocked out people who had, before, been properly paid to do the exact same job. No new roles created whatsover; just halving the pay of new recruits. And they offered one off windfalls to existing staff willing to sign away overtime rates for evenings and weekends, too, while warning them that only people on normal pay rates would get offered those extra hours - so they all signed. Of course they did.

He changed job sector completely and retrained himself. But yes, this is a way to exploit staff, who previously had all the normal rights as employees.

This is an interesting article into the history of Aldi. www.theguardian.com/business/2019/mar/05/long-read-aldi-discount-supermarket-changed-britain-shopping

He didn't work for a supermarket chain, I should say. Retail, but not food.

Obviously it's terrible that one of them was kidnapped - must have been terrifying - and awful that only half the ransom was ever recovered - but the seeking to claim it as a legitimate business expense for tax purposes cracked me up. God loves a trier!

Misleading though. Their new staff, getting paid that headline rate, aren't apprentices. So how many are recruited at that level - and not as apprentices? Do they have to go through the apprenticeships first, so are actually not new at all? Be interesting to know what their definitions actually are, given their own website paints a much less rosy picture.

An apprentice wage is still loads better than being forced to work in other shops to get your benefits of a maximum of around £70 a week.

But not as good as actually getting the national minimum wage the job used to command - no? If we're saying that one form of slave labour is better than another, then we really are on a race to the absolute bottom.

Fair day's wage for a fair day's pay. That used to be the norm.

Incidentally, I was being paid around £3.60 an hour in 1992. To work weekends in a shop.

toodlethenoodle..... About the Moy Park chicken factory at Dungannon providing for many varying brand qualities ..... Even better, I buy at half price or less from their Ballymena 'factory shop'.

@perfectstorm
I've ordered some of their chocolate dipped orange peel for Christmas!

Ooh, now that's a really good idea. Shall do likewise!

It was an old article a few years ago on suppliers to Fortnum & Mason that caught my eye - they said this tiny old family business made all their chocolates from a shop down in Sussex, and I was - hang on, a shop? And lo and behold, it was. A very much CHEAPER shop. Selling the same things. From a pants website, but you don't eat that, so who cares.

That was a good day.

I’ve tried a couple of the Lidl “deluxe” meals for two products. Lasagne being one of them. It is no way as tasty as a Charlie Bigham lasagne!

Slight side track; Sainsburys sell donuts from their deli counter for 60p each and they're the same 'nuts that go into the pack on the bread rack at 65p for 5.

There's an Aldi and m&s on the same retail park and I go to both for my weekly shop. There's no way it's all exactly the same food. M&S meat and fish is far better and it's not the way I'm cooking it. I love Aldi but their meat tends to go bad by the last day of use and their fruit and veg doesn't last half as long. I'm pretty savvy with what I buy from each as some of it isn't worth the extra money but there's no way the quality of every single product is exactly the same just with a different label!

I've never found an issue with use by dates and Aldi meat. Veg can be an issue but the stuff we had was turning quicker in the summer.

It's always the beef mince for me. If I open it on its last day it stinks and is slimy. Happened quite a few times. Haven't had any problems with their other meat to be fair.

Redantsbite... Not a better shopping experience in our high st M&S foodhall. Hardly any tills open, quick tills never manned and self service till queue right down the store. Surly staff on the tills that are manned or ones that like to chat when there's a huge queue. Also why do folks who have stood in a queue for ages not have their bags, payment method and sparks cards ready but insist on ferreting around trying to find any one or all of these once they eventually pack their shopping! I rarely shop in ours now as my patience cannot stand it. I shop in Aldi where tills are opened as queues form and staff are pleasant but quick.

Afraid your wrong. I used to be a taste tester in a well known chicken factory. The chicken goes to all shops. Waitrose m and s aldi the list goes on. Same with everything. Beans are all from one vat. More juice to cheap ones etc

It is im afraid

quality may well be same but longevity isn't. ive bought fruit from most supermarkets and lucky, especially raspberries if still ok next day. if I buy same from Waitrose or M and S ,usually last a week ive had some 2 weeks with no sign of going off. Admitted I pay slightly more, so I split my shopping through 3 different supermarkets, all within walking distance of each other. yes I have/make the time to do this that others cant.

Oh and Lidl avocados are awful! Really hard and soapy tasting. Compared to the Waitrose ones.

Thats fantastic! Its vegetables chopped into bits and put in a roasting tin. What exactly did they think Waitrose would do to them to make them extra waitrose special?