• came_apart_at_Kmart [he/him, comrade/them]
    ·
    2 months ago

    affluent Americans pay a membership fee and drive out of their way to shop at Costco, whose entire model is based on having less brand choices, but minimum quality standards. and they love this lack of choice, because decision fatigue is real.

    it turns out having too many choices in consumer goods sucks, actually.

    • Des [she/her, they/them]
      ·
      2 months ago

      i get a lesser version of this from Aldi. for a while i was calling it grocery store socialism. just grab "the thing" and the thing is relatively inexpensive and decent. not institutional grade store brand but ok

      in and out

      then go home and cook whatever you want there are literally hundreds of variations of recipes for all one's choice paralysis needs

        • Des [she/her, they/them]
          ·
          2 months ago

          yeah. i work for a different co same business. no union. they work us to the bone too mostly by keeping stores at permanent skeleton crew.

          so i do look upon the little advantages the eurostores have with some envy. chairs. little powered pallet jacks with a cargo bed. the efficient stocking.

          the grocery industry is kind of having a moment now not sure where it's going but it's being hollowed out bad.

          the experienced people are leaving in droves, the young ones aren't replacing them. and everyone else is aging out

          • uSSRI [he/him]
            ·
            2 months ago

            I worked in a union grocery warehouse and I can't say it sounds better. They still treated us like shit, and when covid hit? Mandatory 12 hour shifts of timed physical labor. Those places churn through people and bodies like it's nothing.

    • Frank [he/him, he/him]
      ·
      2 months ago

      Costco is awesome and the membership is totally worth it if you can use it. The groceries are vastly less expensive than the grocery stores around me. Like 1/3 or less sometimes.

    • zod000@lemmy.ml
      ·
      2 months ago

      I 100% do not like the lack of choice at CostCo, but I do like the prices (usually) and consistent decent quality.

      • REgon [they/them]
        ·
        2 months ago

        It's all made at the same factory any way, so who cares about the branding?

        • zod000@lemmy.ml
          ·
          2 months ago

          If their food items are coming from the same factory, they really screwed something up in transit.

      • came_apart_at_Kmart [he/him, comrade/them]
        ·
        edit-2
        2 months ago

        i apologize that you do not know how to CostCo correctly. you may return to the Kroger-Publix at anytime for a life spent in the aisle deciding between 86 permutations of jelly, foreclosed dreams and sandwiches of wistful regret. or, accept the invitation to meta-cognitive executive function.

        Statistically speaking, these regular grocery stores – such as Kroger, for instance – have between 30,000 and 50,000 individual products, or stock keeping units (SKUs). A Walmart has about 100,000 SKUs. A typical Costco, on the other hand, has only about 3,800. And the increasingly popular Aldi cuts down on choice even more by carrying only about 1,400 SKUs.

        Show

        join the Kirkland Signature Cult and come home to the freedom of commitment.

        • zod000@lemmy.ml
          ·
          edit-2
          2 months ago

          I shop at Aldi primarily and their prices are significantly lower than CostCo. I'd go to CostCo more if they were actually cheaper.

          And just to be clear, many of the Kirkland food options are terrible. I have had enough poor tasting food items that I don't buy much actual food there anymore. I find that my biggest reason to go to CostCo are the home goods since they are good quality and they have an excellent return policy.

          • came_apart_at_Kmart [he/him, comrade/them]
            ·
            2 months ago

            aldi carries less selection choices than even costco... all you've done is proven my thesis: you don't want more choices, you want less.

            if you want to learn more about yourself, I'll be here all week.

            • zod000@lemmy.ml
              ·
              2 months ago

              Absolutely want choice, I would only buy staples at CostCo or Aldi. I should at higher end grocery stores for everything where I do get the options I'd like. You're smarmy dickishness was wonderful though, keep up the good work.

  • Awoo [she/her]
    ·
    2 months ago

    A choice between 6 peanut butters with different branding that all come from the same factory.

    • WhatDoYouMeanPodcast [comrade/them]
      ·
      edit-2
      2 months ago

      You'd quickly find yourself arguing a weird and difficult position if your defense of capitalism is the quality of the pre-packaged foods. I'm sure a manifold of packagers can take tomatoes and make a version of pasta sauce you don't think is yucky. You would also be equipped with the time, energy, and purchasing power to make your own pasta sauce if you're so particular. You would also be part of a superstructure that doesn't have basic life skills locked behind some sort of gender role.

      I have never felt relief while checking the nutrition info, price/oz, and ingredient list of the 6 pasta sauces for 5 minutes to see which brand is cheap but not a slurry of corn syrup. If I felt confident that the pasta sauce was basically good, it came in mild, regular, spicy, and two avant garde versions I'm sure I'd be spoiled for choice. Even better if the pasta sauce union had a forum where they would take into account what sauce heads think about the state of pasta sauce. This, of course, would be instead of the board of Kellogs and Hersheys (who are probably the same people) that control all food in the US unilaterally deciding that working class families need a subscription to saw dust laden pasta sauce on the Kellogs app in order to summon a muzzled grocery store worker to unlock the locked cabinets for a tip.

  • regul [any]
    ·
    2 months ago

    Correct me if I'm wrong, but peanut butter is generally not very common in Europe. It's usually in the "American food" section at European supermarkets.

    • Frank [he/him, he/him]
      ·
      2 months ago

      One of Europe's many failures.

      It's so simple. You roast peanuts, grind them, add salt to taste, bam, a rich, thick, tasty spread you can put on everything, or just eat with a spoon if you're terminally sad.

      • miz [any, any]
        ·
        2 months ago

        Europe: "how about some overly sweet hazelnut paste with chocolate added??!?"

      • ChicagoCommunist [none/use name]
        ·
        2 months ago

        Nah also got to add a terminal amount of high fructose corn syrup

        I'm sooo bitter that most stores near me don't carry actual real peanut butter, and the ones that do charge $9 a jar

        • Frank [he/him, he/him]
          ·
          2 months ago

          Word. It's so silly. I used to live near a fancy hippy store that had a bin of roast peanuts and you'd pour as much as you wanted in to a grinder and it'd poop out fresh peanut butter. Never did it because it was kinda $$$ but i thought it was funny.

          I used to know a guy who knew a food scientist and sometimes he'd show up at work and be like "my buddy had to make 20lbs of peanut butter for an experiment and he gave me the leftovers who wants some?" It was usually sooooo good.

        • reverendz@lemmygrad.ml
          ·
          2 months ago

          They used to have these in regular grocery stores like A&P and Kroger. My mom used to use these exclusively since I was ADHD and wasn’t allowed anything with sugar or artificial color. It would have been fine except SHE KEPT THE PEANUT BUTTER IN THE FRIDGE 😭

          Source: am old and remember when cigarettes were sold on a regular aisle.

      • Meh [comrade/them]
        ·
        edit-2
        2 months ago

        or just eat with a spoon if you're terminally sad.

        Now what have I done that you come after me personally?

        Edit: yea

        • Frank [he/him, he/him]
          ·
          2 months ago

          It comes from a place of love. I have a jar of peanut butter on my bedroom table right now.

    • REgon [they/them]
      ·
      2 months ago

      I'd say you're wrong because I've been able to find it in most supermarkets in the countries in Europe I've visited. And it's actual peanutbutter instead of peanutbutter + a bunch of sugar or weird supplements.

        • REgon [they/them]
          ·
          2 months ago

          No I'm pretty sure my wide generalisation of an entire nations consumption habits is correct

          tone clarifier

          not trying to be dismissive. Trying to admit fault in a cheeky way.

      • AcidSmiley [she/her]
        ·
        2 months ago

        Just checked my kitchen, the store brand peanut butter from German Aldis has around 9% of additives (sugar, palm oil and salt) and it's the only one they stock. This whole comment chain made me look up where to find 100% peanut butter and that ratio of additives unfortunately seems to be fairly common. There are brands that are 100% peanut, but for some reason these are almost exclusively sold in 1kg jars, i guess people who look for that are really into peanut butter. I mean, i am as well, and this stuff keeps good forever, so i may just go big next time i have to restock.

        • REgon [they/them]
          ·
          edit-2
          2 months ago

          Neat! The one I bought in Germany was just peanuts and salt. Bought it in a Netto

      • Flyberius [comrade/them]
        ·
        edit-2
        2 months ago

        Better than keeping a picture of a drunk looking at peanut butter.

        You stupid bastard

      • InappropriateEmote [comrade/them, undecided]
        cake
        ·
        2 months ago

        Leave it to a liberal to come up with the take: "knowing what you're talking about and having the corroborative evidence to support it is 'hilarious' and 'kinda sad.'" Right, it's so much better to be utterly clueless about the world and only ever have conversations by talking out your ass with shit you made up on the fly. What a pathetic way to navigate life.

      • frauddogg [they/them, null/void]
        ·
        edit-2
        2 months ago

        You are a disgrace to the name you chose, you ignorant fuck. Imagine naming yourself after a scholar of scholars while knowing nothing and being unwilling to learn anything

        • UlyssesT
          ·
          edit-2
          8 days ago

          deleted by creator

          • frauddogg [they/them, null/void]
            ·
            1 month ago

            "I never thought the Coeurls that eat Aan faces would eat MY face!" ass. (I genuinely love that we're just. Continuing the string of Garlemald/Amaurot slander that started because I cursedly linked the concept of AGI to techno-Zodiark)

            • UlyssesT
              ·
              edit-2
              8 days ago

              deleted by creator

              • frauddogg [they/them, null/void]
                ·
                1 month ago

                While you're not wrong, everybody perennially forgets about Quickthinx Allthoughts and his merry band of fuckups. As it is, I consider techbros of Elon's ilk to be just as servile and pathetic as the Ancients begging to be delivered from the Final Days after a quite literal halving of their population, hence why I went there instead.

                • UlyssesT
                  ·
                  edit-2
                  8 days ago

                  deleted by creator

      • UlyssesT
        ·
        edit-2
        8 days ago

        deleted by creator

  • darkmode [comrade/them]
    ·
    2 months ago

    this argument doesn't hold water bc China's treat technology is so far ahead of the rest of the world that I don't think it can be matched.

    source: just enjoyed some huang fei hong spicy peanuts mario-thumbs-up

    • Krem [he/him, they/them]
      ·
      2 months ago

      huang fei hong is incredible. there's no match. regular grocery store jiugiui huasheng (drinker's nuts) in those little vaccuum bricks is acceptable but not the same

      • darkmode [comrade/them]
        ·
        2 months ago

        I knew i was dealing with the finest snack purveyors when i got to the bottom of the small bag and there were actual dried sichuan peppercorns and chiles. Amerikan snack jockeys won’t give you anything beyond a red 40 laced powder with “natural flavors”

  • Adkml [he/him]
    ·
    2 months ago

    I would happily take 1 good brand of peanut butter or pasta sauce over our current situation of 1 decent brand that's 3x the price it should be or a bunch of total dogshit that costs what a decent product should.

    The fucking store brand canned veggies are like $3. Fucking name brand Ramen is like $4 a pack.

  • TechnoUnionTypeBeat [he/him, they/them]
    ·
    2 months ago

    Meanwhile there's a store chain in Britain that only sells its own brand without any choice beyond that and it is incredibly fucking popular because it turns out people just like buying the thing and not caring about 12 different brands with no difference

  • UlyssesT
    ·
    edit-2
    8 days ago

    deleted by creator

    • DragonBallZinn [he/him]
      ·
      2 months ago

      I don’t have the heart to tell them about the inevitability of monopolization. pika-cousin-suffering

  • DragonBallZinn [he/him]
    ·
    2 months ago

    “Having choices is awesome, actually.”

    I agree, so if we must live under capitalism can we at least abolish tariffs? If workers cannot benefit from protectionism, neither should porky.

  • PKMKII [none/use name]
    ·
    2 months ago

    See, Americans would be perfectly fine with production being socialized, controlled and operated by the workers, as long as there’s still 10 brands of toilet paper at the store.

    • NuraShiny [any]
      ·
      2 months ago

      It's like the classic Simpsons episode where homer visits the Duff brewery and being impressed seeing how they are filling up barrels of Duff, Duff Lite and Duff Dry from the same pipe.

  • vovchik_ilich [he/him]
    ·
    2 months ago

    Having a choice over my consumption goods is ideal, that's why I support the system that would let me democratically decide where I want the economy to focus and what goods to manufacture, instead of letting "the invisible hand" decide what's profitable.