[luckydata]

American grocery stores are so comically bad and poorly managed it's hard to imagine for a European until you move here. Trust me, it's a shitshow. The only one that works is Trader Joe's for completely different reasons and personally in my first couple years I was completely obsessed with it, now a little less.

[skrause]

... and Trader Joe's is owned by Aldi.

[luckydata]

holy shit I didn't know that! Makes sense :)

[trophycase]

Trader Joe's is garbage though? The produce and meat are poor or almost nonexistent and afaik they don't even have a bulk section so I can't buy spices, rice, beans, etc

[spinachdippa]

You have obviously never shopped in a HEB or Meijers.

[luckydata]

I lived in Ann Arbor for a couple years and shopped at Meijers. Not good for European standards. The one on Saline Road (just in case you're familiar with the area) had comically large isles that took forever to scan, the vegetable section would be the standout in the store for sure, much better than Safeway / Vons for sure, and the beer / liquor section was something to behold especially thanks to the local craft brew culture but everything else was just done poorly. Checkouts were INSANELY slow and while there were baggers that would look darts at you if you tried to bag your own groceries, they would routinely forget stuff out and I would drive all the way home to discover I wouldn't have my steaks, or something else...

Sorry, before you say "you haven't tried x regional chain in the US", spend some time in Europe. French chains (Auchan especially) have raised the bar for everyone else, it just hasn't happened in the US yet but I suspect someone at Amazon will look very closely at that model and repeat it here.

[stjohnswarts]

I get online, select the stuff I want, and then go pick it up (to save delivery fee) that beats all this efficiency stuff about cashiers and aisles and people and UPC. I don't have to worry about any of that. Just a leisurely drive and then they load up my trunk.

[kzrdude]

What's comically bad about them?