Part of my post-milkman life now includes just running out get milk. And if it’s only milk that I need, Aldis is my grocery store of choice. Easy parking, fast in, fast out. My shopping trifecta.
Normally at Aldis I do self-checkout; even if I get more than just milk, I don’t have the much so usually can’t get myself in too much trouble. But this past week, I was determined to use some of my surplus quarters (lots leftover from my day at the laundromat) so I parked myself in the regular cashier line. I’m retired – I have time.
The couple in front of me had more groceries in their cart than I have ever seen at Aldis, heck that I’ve ever seen anywhere. The child seat was full, the cart itself was practically overflowing and even the bottom shelf under the card was full of stuff. It was amazing. While they were unloading everything, the guy even went and grabbed a few more things from the freezer section.
The cashier was bound and determined to get everything back into one cart was she was scanning. (I’m not sure why… there were plenty of empty carts next to her station.) She stacked and wiggled and moved stuff around. I was pretty sure things were going to start sliding off the mountain that had been created in that cart. The woman looked at me with my two cartons of milk and gave me a “I’m so sorry” quasi-smile. I laughed and said “it looks like reverse-Jenga”. Everybody, including the cashier thought this was pretty funny.
The total on their order was $312! Considering that Aldis sells pretty much everything at a bargain price, you can imagine how many groceries it takes to hit the $300 mark. And how funny it felt to cough up my $4.98 in coins right afterwards.
Cash or credit card for your groceries?
Trail Baboon 
Credit card for most every purchase. The card company (or someone else) pays me to use it. I always pay it off immediately and for the last 12 to 15 years have never had a balance on which to pay interest. Certain stores charge more for using a card so I avoid those.
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Usually a credit card. Back when I worked freelance, my income stream was irregular, so using a credit card enabled me to smooth out our cash flow. Like Wes, I always pay it off completely at the end of the month.
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Yep, that’s what we do, too.
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That is small time Aldi cart loads. I regularly see groups with 2 or 3 carts. Middle Eastern or African groups or extended families. Hutterites. But I too buys small amounts. Yesterday I spent $38, my second largest amount I think. I often go through the checkout lane because I have become a casual friend with one checkout clerk. She is a sweet saucy character. I am stocking up a bit for my week of not driving.
Clyde
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The Dickinson Big Sticks walloped the Duluth baseball team this week.
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Credit unless it’s just a few dollars, which is rare. I’m usually at the neighborhood Midtown Foods, and avoid the self-checkout lane.
Our Aldi doesn’t have self check-out, but I always make it a point to thank the checkout person in some way – what a job.
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And then there’s this.
The YouTube live version wouldn’t work for sharing purposes but is well worth a look. It’s a few minutes longer but the horn section is great.
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Credit for groceries; cash for incidentals.
We used a car rental company called Sixt in Ireland. Don’t use them if you go. I was searching a lot before finding a car with an automatic transmission and the size we could all agree on. I would have gone with a much smaller car but my friends had bought a lot of stuff, including more luggage to send home as a second checked bag. Anyway, somehow during my search, I must have clicked on something for a car we never rented. When we got to the desk to pick up a car then following day, the clerk said, “It looks like you’ve rented one.” I said, “Well, no. We can only drive one car.” So she proceeded to find us a brand new Toyota RAV4 with all the new bells and whistles and alarm functions and cameras, etc. The charge for this car for 3 nights was $753.81. Crazy. Crazier to find that I had been charged that same amount twice. I didn’t discover it until I got home. I had no paperwork or even a receipt for this transaction. I chose one of the two identical charges and disputed it with my Visa company. They subtracted the charge, and must have taken the issue up with Sixt. Just this morning, I noticed the charge has returned to my credit card without an explanation, which appears to mean that my dispute has failed with Sixt and they say I rented two cars. I don’t know how to proceed now. I guess I am going to pay over $1500 for a rental car. Grrr.
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This is the kind of stuff that makes me want to live in another century.
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Our nearest Aldi is in Fargo.
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We are limited to Walmart, Cashwise, and Family Fare locally. We buy Organic Valley milk. Because we are so remote, prices are higher here. I refuse to pay almost $8.00 a pound for butter, so we stock up on butter at Costco when we are in Bismarck.
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A lot of vendors explicitly won’t accept American Express cards. I’ve always assumed AE must charge more for transactions. I don’t understand why, whatever the sticking point might be, AE hasn’t sorted that out.
Since I only carry one card, AE would never be the one I chose. Any idea what the deal is with American Express?
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Bill
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Debit card. Because we belong to a very small credit union, it’s a long bus ride to any of their ATMs, and while we can use other ATMs, there’s usually a $4 additional fee 😛 . I’m planning to pay off my credit card in full in a few months, so very little is going on that.
–Crow Girl
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I use a debit card for almost everything around town. I carry cash for small incidentals. I have a credit card for shopping online, which I pay off in full each month. I have switched most bills to direct payment. I use checks for some charities and one bill.
Clyde
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Debit card or cash for many of my transactions, credit card for online shopping, streaming services, and travel deposits/insurance. I pay my credit card balance in full every month to avoid interest charges. I still write checks for a few of my monthly bills, charities, and Association fees. It took me a long time to start using debit cards on a more regular basis. It’s too easy to lose track of how much I am actually spending when using cards vs. cash or checks.
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Every so often because of a technical glitch I cannot access my bank account or credit card account online, which makes me nervous. Funny because for years we checked it once a month not 2-4 times a day.
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Bought Sandra two McDonald’s cheeseburgers. They look more like sliders. Is that their latest game?
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Minnesota has sliders?
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Everybody has sliders. Even Arby’s has sliders these days.
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The grocery store I use often has self bagging only.
First off, I always bring in from the parking lot two or three carts. I usually have quite a few items and use the boxes let loose around the store. These most frequently have three sides. So I self-pack my stuff by first using something to block the fourth side. Filling in is a snap. I know that I would have made a top notch grocery boy. Solids on the bottom; crushables on top. Check the eggs for breakage.
And I always return my cart to inside the store.
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We use our Costco credit card for most of our groceries except for farmers’ market season, where I pay for our veggies with cash. We never carry a balance on any of our credit cards, and haven’t for at least twenty-five years.
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Same. I always put everything on credit cards, and the credit cards are set up on autopay for the full balance every month.
My Discover card has a nice feature where if I use it at Aldi or Trader Joe’s, I can get cash back with my purchase. Same grace period, no transaction fees, doesn’t cost anything. I haven’t had to go to an actual ATM to get cash for a couple of years.
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Debit card for groceries. I hardly carry any cash now, and something inside of me rebels at the idea of using a credit card for groceries. I KNOW that this need not be so, but I can’t get around it.
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