La Sirena Yellow Friday... never again!

[the gorgon]

I remember Aldi having no prices and no barcode scanner at the end of the nineties. Cashiers were supposed to know articlecodes by heart and type them in the cash register system.*

One of the better supermarket chains in the Netherlands have fast cashiers , also rated by their speed but without losing a customer friendliness that doesn't look fake. I worked a while for the corporate office of that retailer as a consultant and looked at the procedure manual for cashiers which has details like: when you're dealing with a customer and a new customer arrives behind that customer, look at him/her and nod as a sign of having seen him/her.

Another example, for the shelf fillers: if someone asks you for the place of a product, you never tell them where it is, but walk with them and show it on the shelf.

In DR they mostly say: 'pasillo 3', or 'no hay' without even knowing or checking, since it's easier to say we don't have it than invest time and effort to find out.

yesterday i went to Jose Luis and bought 8 identical 15 peso chocolate bars for the kids in the area. took them to the counter, and the cashier scanned them individually. i would have thought that she would have *realized they were all the same, scanned the first one for price, and multiplied by amount...

optimistic thinking. she scanned them all, and when she got to number 7, the barcode would not take. so, the line in building behind me , while she is entering the code manually, hoping for it to register. after 5 tries, it finally did.*

i wonder how long these people would hold a job in a first world country.

 

[Mauricio]

The male cashiers, even though they're faster than their female counterparts for
Not wasting so much time talking to their colleagues and I find them often more friendly, seem all to be infected with some rhythmic urge. Either with a pencil , their hands or anything they find they will be nervously drumming on the cash drawer. Also some of the bag guys suffer from that. Once I had a can of pringles among my groceries and the bag boy started drumming with the can on the border of the belt. I was too surprised to even say something but from the look on my face it seems he realized he shouldn't do that.

Countless time though I also had to tell the female cashier not to throw the bags of apples or tomatoes down the belt after scanning , their lack of common sense makes funny stories but is annoying at the moment it happens..*

 

[dv8]

in la sirena in POP i prefer to bag my own groceries. sometimes cashiers get kinda cross with me, i just say "prefiero hacerlo yo misma" and leave it at that. we mainly go to la sirena to buy odds and ends so it may be unusual, expensive products cashiers are not familiar with (from health freaks section and so on) and they are unsure what other items to bag it with.

went to la sirena yesterday, it was busy but fast. viernes amarillo offers were extended to saturday so there were enough people buying things to crowd the shop but most checkouts were open, no complains from me.

 

[bob saunders]

Plaza Lama electroDomesticos on Calle del Sol was a madhouse yesterday. Lots of mattresses, washing machines, fridges, and tv's, and bocinas being bought. Bought a 58 inch Samsung Smart TV for 49 K. Same TV at Pricesmart was 69K. Didn't see much in the way of bargains in La Sirena or Plaza Lama in regards to groceries, booze, christmas decorations or toys but still managed to come home with a full Vehicle and an empty wallet.

 

[rubio_higuey]

Black Friday is overrated. No great specials on Amazon either. Just another marketing ploy that the sheep fall for.

32 inch LED Samsung for 147, that is a good deal.

 

[SKY]

It seems like the only real good deals are on TV's. Both here, US stores, and online.

 

[PeterInBrat]

The other day I was in a local chain and found a bag of *real* oatmeal that had been reshelved with the cold cereals. I asked someone where I could find more and they said, "We don't sell that!" Took me about ten more minutes to find where it came from do I could buy more.

I think an ALDIS style store would do well here. Everything on pallets and only one brand/size of most items. Same family owns Trader Joe's.. I dunno if the DR is ready for that yet..

 

[PeterInBrat]

I think the big sales here will start when ppl get their bonus paychecks.

 

[JD Jones]

I've been a "be there when they open" practitioner for years. I don't know what it's like to stand in line.


OK, that's not entirely true, but I do go out of my way to avoid lines. One of the reasons I go to the early afternoon movies, the supermarket when it opens, the electric company at 7 am (opens at 8, always first in line) and drive to work early in the morning to avoid traffic.

It's why I look so young for my age. :nervous:

 

[Xavier_Onassis]

On the plus side, we now have enough canned milk to last a few weeks. Ten cans at 39 pesos instead of 55 at the colmados.




This is a loss leader in Miami, but the 12 oz can of "Daisy" condensed milk was US 55? two weeks ago at the Price Choice. Aldi's regular price is US 59?. Other places charge up to US $1.49. 39 pesos would be about 87?, assuming the same size can. 55 pesos would be about $1.23. Don't they make condensed milk in the DR?