Printers at Lidl !

PeterBJ said:

Both Lidl and Aldi are German owned discount supermarket chains, that operate in most EU countries.

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I have shopped in Aldi's in my area. They offer great prices on a number of foods compared to the bigger supermarkets in town. Disappointingly, their breads seem dried out, but their produce and fruits can be magnificent.

When do we get a Lidl's?

Emulator said:

With stores in most European countries. It is setting very competitive retail prices, which is having quite an effect on established native retailers.

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Must be akin to WalMart...

turbguy said:

Must be akin to WalMart...

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Think of them more like a Trader Joes which i think you will find is a known American store (at least on the West Coast) and owned by the people behind Aldi so i imagine (and looking at in store images) they are pretty similar.

Aldi and Lidl are basically a store which normally retails its own brand stuff rather than big brands (though they do sell some big brands like this printer).

For example if you wanted some Cereal like Captain Crunch (I assume thats a real US cereal and not something just seen in films) you are more liekly to find their own brand version than the real thing in store at a reduced price.

Lidl has a very good quality check system (or how do you call it?) Their own brands are priced well below the same quality product which you buy under a different brand name.

I think the proper English term is "quality control"

Lidl has shops in different EU countries and doesn't sells only food

Usually the Lidl-Branded gear is a bargain.

As an example, this week's gardening discounted offers in Italy: http://www.lidl.it/cps/rde/www_lidl_it/hs.xsl/offerte.htm?id=275

Enjoy!

Quality control has nothing to do with quality... I would not let anything coming from Lidl cross my lips...

Dimitris Servis said:

Quality control has nothing to do with quality... I would not let anything coming from Lidl cross my lips...

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Good luck with that because as 2 examples many baked goods (eg bread, cakes, biscuits etc) and frozen meals, especially meat will have all been produced/processed at the same places/factories other stores items are produced. Both store brand items and better known brand names.

Thats why the horse meat scandal in the UK affected such a wide range of products from supermarket own brands right up to stuff from Birdseye and Dalepak. Because much of it was all produced in the same factories and the meat came from the same slaughter houses.

What you are shoving in your mouth no doubt will had been on the same production line, even in some cases the exact same ingredients as in Lidl or any other supermarkets products.

Brand snobbery i always find hilarious even more so when people have no idea about their brands.


My personal biggest gripe with Lidl and Aldi is much of their stuff is not the bargain people believe. It used to be when they first opened in the UK but is not any longer. This printer deal for example you can easily buy at the same price or cheaper elsewhere. It just looks a bargain as the human brain is conditioned to think, bargain superstore must equal bargain item. Clever marketting at its finest.

I can guarantee nearly any "weekly" NON food special you see in Aldi or Lidl you can buy the same or better item elsewhere for the same or cheaper. (Go on someone challenge it ) Its rare their "weekly deals" are a massive bargain, there are some but few and far between.

Poundland and similar do the same thing with many items, quite often on chocolate items such as kitkats, a pack of 4 fingered ones of them in poundland is a pound.... They are 99p in any supermarket in the UK as i speak and have been for a long time. People just assume its cheap because a pound is not a lot of money and a pound + a brand name must equal a bargain...... It doesnt always.

Here's another fallacy: things being made in the same factory are necessarily the same. They may very well not be the same, even if they use the same ingredients. Sometimes I hear people complain about this or that being made in China or even the same factory. A supplier factory has the processes to provide the same product in many different qualities and with very different quality assurance. It depends on the customer.

Getting this out of the way, I hardly see why I should be brand conscious about the inks of my printer but not the things that touch my palate. Whatever I have ever tried from Lidl is of the lowest possible quality... Let alone the dubious management and terrible working conditions. On the other hand you're right that it might not be that different from other discount retailers, which I rarely use anyway.

My personal experience with Lidl gear is indeed pretty good. I will explain better: the overall quality is not top-level of course, I would say between medium and low, but is high if compared to selling price .

The price is the same as no-brand or "Chinese" stuff you usually find in supermarkets or big retail stores, but the average quality is higher and the assistance is pretty good also (I bought a bread machine and it broke, it was substituted under warranty with a new one with no questions)

I would not expect it to last for a life but for the occasional user is fine. For the advanced hobbyist I would look for something else

I agree that the "branded" stuff is not so cheap, has more or less the same prices you find in big supermarkets like Carrefour or Auchan. And working conditions and management are the same also, as heard from friends who worked there.