German Supermarkt vs American Grocery Store 

Let me just add some information to your very informative video which I have really liked to watch as a German: - tax is 7% for food and 19% for non-food items - the deposit for a shopping cart at REWE can either be 50 cents, 1 €uro, or 2 €uro - cucumbers are wrapped to enable the distinction between organic and commercial produced products based on labelling - H-Milch is processed by being heated up to 300°F for a few seconds and immediately cooled down to 40°F. This enables the product to be abled to store without refrigeration and to be abled to be used for up to 6 month after production. However once you open the package it is required to be refrigerated and you should consume it within 2 - 3 days. I prefer fresh milk. - eggs are naturally protected; they only lose protection by being contaminated by a chemical procedure; we don't do it in Germany, hence eggs can be offered on normal shelfs. It is only adviced to cool them if you want to keep them for more than 2 weeks. - cashiers sit in Germany since it is much more comfortable for them than doing the work standing. Germany has enforced health precaution as part of the general health insurance system; having cashiers seated is one part of it. - you may have seen that most groceries in Germany are cheaper than in the US. This is based on the fact that the staff of a German grocery store is much smaller; no packers, no shopping cart pushers. - some big grocery stores like REAL meanwhile have self check-out lanes. However they are not much appreciated; a typical German has the opinion: why should I do the work of a cashier although I don't have any benefit. I think this will only work in Germany if a discount of at least 1% is offered for self-service. However this is not possibe since the profits of grocery stores in Germany are at ‰ level.

When I was stationed in Germany (courtesy of the Army) the first time, we lived on the economy in a little town called "Kirchheim" and my wife and I would shop at the little grocery store across from our flat. Neither of us spoke German very well so shopping was always interesting. We did in time discover an absolutely delicious beef stew, among other things, that we ate a lot of while we were there. On one of our store trips we picked up several cans of stew and headed for the cashier. After ringing up our purchase, the cashier said in her halting English that we must have an awfully large dog to buy so many cans of that dog food. Like I said, shopping was always interesting LOL.

You missed one big difference between North American and German supermarkets. In Germany the stores carry alcoholic drinks, including hard liquor. There are no 'liquor stores'.

In Finland we also give money back for plastic and glass bottles as well as drink cans. Helps recycling.

Those "doors that open up" only open up in one direction, that way you cant leave the shop (that easy, especially with a full packed cart) without paying. Once you've entered the shop you've to bypass the cashier by any means even if you won't buy anything.

Instead of an 1 € coin people often use little plastic tokens which you often get as little promotion gifts from different companies. Sometimes you can even attach them to your keys so always have one on you.

Pretty much every supermarket does sell peanut butter in Germany but it's usually just one brand and tends to be overpriced. On the other hand every single supermarkets sells at least four different kinds of "hazelnut cream" (AKA fake nutella). I think this is the main cultural difference between Germany and the US ;-)

7:10 First world problems presented in sincere tone. "I'm overwhelmed by the sheer amounts of goods and money shoved towards me, I wish there was another person to my service to overcome those stressful existential episodes". Seriously though, it's also a cultural thing. I wouldn't want anyone to pack my bags. It's my stuff now. Noone else plays grocery Tetris as well as I do.

Unlike in the US, most European countries do not wash the eggs. So the original protective layer on the egg shell, called cuticula, is not washed away and therefore there is no need to refrigerate the eggs. You pay a deposit for your shopping cart in order to bring it back after shopping. Otherwise people just leave them anywhere they want. Cucumbers are wrapped to prolong the freshness. Probably self check out lanes are not common in Germany because most customers pay cash. In The Netherlands where I live, some major grocery stores have self check out lanes.

Just a tip. At the cashier put your buyed stuff back in the bascart after they were scanned while you are paying and after you have payed you can pack your stuff calmy into your bag before you return the bascart.

I love Germany! Lived there a total of 9 years. I want to go back home. Alas Grandma is gone . 😔 I learned to speak German there. So believe you should learn. I still sing Silent Night in German switching to English or vice versatile.

Thank you! In Florida, we have a German store called Aldi's. It's my favorite store! They even have German cashiers! Everything is much like you described, and it all makes sense to me. They carry German brands in most departments, allowing me to sample their foods. The only negative thing I have to say is about their coffee. Not to my taste. Their chocolate is great, beer and wine is very good, and I love German food. Red cabbage is only seasonal though. The quarter deposit for carts I find is a good way to help others, as well as a good idea in general. Bringing your own bag actually helped me. I got an insulated bag and don't have to worry about spoilage now. Danke schoen!

They tried to invent the grocery packers here in Germany too, but German customers didn´t trust them to do it right and avoided the lines with packers.

Eggs in Europe are not refrigerated because they are not washed before selling. You do get the odd feather or streak of poop this way (gross!), but the likelyhood of bacteria penetrating the shell is actually much lower, and the eggs keep for longer. In case you wondered!

We've got ALDI stores here in SoCal that starting poping up for the last 2 years. It's a German owned chain. The layout is similar to this store and the people at the check out & you have to pay a quarter for your shopping cart. At first I found that annoying till you get in your car and appreciate that you don't have to move shopping carts out of the way to leave or park properly. Also, as someone who has a job standing for 7.5 hrs a day I appreciate that employees can have the option to sit or stand on their shift. Standing for long periods of time is bad for the feet, knees and back on the long term.

Again, all this looks identical to the UK, except that self checkout is everywhere. I didn’t expect Germany to be so similar to the UK! Their bread is vastly superior however. We’re starting to catch up though, thanks to the Poles 😁👍

I feel bad for laughing when you explained the "Pfand Automat"😂

The checkout at the grocery store (or most stores forthat matter) is stressful even for me as a German. I always feel like I'm under pressure to do everything as quicky as a can and that I'm being too slow. Which in turn, of course, leads to clumsyness stupid mistakes. You know, you don't want to be the one responsible for the whole line to wait longer than necessary.

Aldi's is a German store chain which has expanded to many cities here in the U.S. In my town, it takes a quarter to release a shopping cart. Cashiers are seated and as they ring up an item, they place it into an empty shopping cart left behind by the previous patron. After you have paid for your items, you leave your empty cart behind with the cashier and move the cart that is now full with your items to a packing area where you place them in whatever bags or containers you brought with you. I visited Berlin back in 2006. I was impressed with the efforts to encourage recycling. As in your video, there were the machines in the larger grocery stores to get credits for returned glass and plastic bottles. Municipal recycling bins were found every few blocks. Most apartment complexes had recycling bins for tenants. Recycling was a very visible part of everyday life.

Why the hell don't they have the recycle thing in the states is beyond me!!!????!!

Not announcing the full price is _really_really_annoying_ to the customer. I want to see the tag say what I'll pay and I'm not really that much interested in how big cut who gets from that price. In Finland we have more belts at the cashier so that after scanning they go to another belt, you pay and then you can go pack in peace. When Lidl came to here they tried to be German about it but had to budge as Finns are _not_ going to pack their groceries while cashier is scanning.

In Canada many of the grocery stores have coin carts. The long English cucumbers are also wrapped, field cucumbers are not. We have one store chain that makes you bag your own groceries, we never seem to have a separate person bagging (not around my area). The self checkouts seem to be going away.

You forgot to say how useful the watch pocket on blue jeans is for keeping the coin you need as a deposit for the shopping cart.

The first time I went to a Swiss grocery store as an American it was like going to a whole new world

H-Milch = UHT milk (ultra high temperature). It is heated until completely germ free and then sealed airtight. Its best before date is usually months ahead, as long as it is not opened (after opening it goes off like any other milk and should go in the fridge). Refrigeration is not needed and does nothing to extend its shelf life, so it isn't done in Germany. According to wikipedia (no idea if what it says is true or not) UHT milk is sold refrigerated in American supermarkets because customers expect any milk to be, but technically it's pointless.

We have some self checkout lanes in Edeka and in Ikea, but it's not realy commond at all in Germany.

It's funny because I'm not from the US neither from Germany and I can relate to both, depending on the issue. Like in the US, we do have packers here, but they're usually multi task employees, and not in sufficient numbers, so it might happen that none come to pack your goods, so when that happens the cashier helps the costumer packing it. And the costumer, whether with a packer or the cashier, usually helps packing, so it's faster. We do have self check-out lanes, but they're not very common. In my town, where around 120.000 people live, out of about ten supermarkets we have one with five self-checkout lanes. Like in Germany, we have pasteurized milk in tetrapack packaging that doesn't need refrigeration before first usage. We also keep our eggs unrefrigerated up to two weeks. Also, like in Germany, our cashiers work sitting. Also like in Germany, you don't need to buy the whole pack of soda, you can pick and take only one out of the pack, or any number less than the whole pack, if you wish. By the way, I forgot to mention, I'm from Brazil.

I have been living 14 years in Switzerland and now 11 years in Germany before that, so i get you, more or less...I am not a big fan of Videos like this, but i stumbled upon this one and for some reason and i watched it till the end...I just wanted to say that i like your humbleness...That you are willing to take advice's, hints etc... i like that....and bagging your own groceries, is just a walk in the park...A German Park as that, witch are usually smaller than Texas...😉😉

Start bagging before you pay and it becomes less stressful and pause bagging when all is scanned. Alternatively when my bags require precision to hold all the grocery, I simply put the stuff back in the cart after it is scanned and find a quiet place where I can get rid of some of the package right there and then and precision pack my bags. You're efficient this way and customers behind you will appreciate your efficiency.

You can buy peanut butter at Rewe, Aldi or Kaufland all the time. Self checkout lines (I hope I spelled that correctly) can be found at some Real markets (Maybe because some of them used to be Walmarts...)

Tax is 7% on “essentials” which includes books, food, cultural events and a couple of other things and 19% on anything else. But for example chocolate or beer are 19% because they are considered luxury food and not essentials.

A couple of things: the plastic bottles is a campaign against waste. When you buy a plastic bottle that can be returned (it is called pfand and is marked as such ) you pay additionally like 25ct which you get back when you return them. It is like that so people don’t throw away those bottles but return them. The store will then send the used bottle to a fabric where they recycle them properly

The difference is between pasteurized milk (heated very shortly to kill off most, but not all, bacteria) and sterilized milk (heated longer so that all bacteria have been killed, then hermetically sealed). That's why sterilised milk only has to be refrigerated after the container has been opened. Sterilising milk affects the taste much more than pasteurization, but personally I prefer the taste of sterilised milk :) Chocolate milk is almost always made from sterilised milk, which is why it doesn't have to be refrigerated before opening.

I'm in Oregon and we have what my husband calls, "shelf milk". It has a much longer "best buy date" than refrigerated milk. I can't remember the name of it but I will edit this comment when I get some again. It tastes great tho (much to my surprise lol)!

Kelly, i have a tip for you about the confusing part of paying and packing your groceries. When the cashier is busy scanning the items put everything back in your shoppingcart. Then, after you have paid, find a quiet spot and pack them in your shopping bag. I even organize the order of my groceries. first the unbreakable things, I shove them directly in the cart. And then the stuff to be more careful with. (I had the same problem as you)

Back when I was a kid in the 70s, in Houston, TX some stores had the automatic entry gates. Mostly drugstores and 5 and dime stores. But I remember our neighborhood supermarket having them too.

love your videos and im not even german/american (im dutch). keep up the good work!

Hey.. I really like the 3.5% milk there.. it's very creamy.. also they have allot more cheese and it's allot cheaper than here.. Not sure if you noticed this or not.. but my wife (who is German) says American cashier's are allot more friendlier than the German cashier's.. I guess I really didn't notice since I don't speak German.. Also stated that have bottle deposits have those bottle machines.. and some places with a big homeless population have those carts with the coins.. but I haven't seen those since I was a kid, back in the early 90s.. You should do one on the restaurants or fast food places.. anyway keep them coming.. I really like this videos.. 😁

In the USA prior to 1916 the grocery clerk would take your list and collect your groceries and bag them. In 1916 Piggly Wiggly opened a new style grocery store that customers could self shop and a bagger would bag them at checkout. Today the baggers also take your groceries to your car and load them in for you. No charge and no tip. So bagging as a service has been going for a very long time in the states. We also have had self service checkout here on the west coast (Oregon) since the early 1990s (maybe sooner but that was when I first used it here).

If you have chickens, you know that you don't have to refrigerate eggs. There is a coating/membrane on egg shells that protects them from contaminants. So if you harvest your own eggs it's ok to keep them on the counter. In the US, eggs are washed (an sometimes irradiated) and the coating is removed along with other contaminants like salmonella, however this leaves the shell more vulnerable to secondary contamination. So refrigeration is then necessary. Also, it's important to note that refrigeration temperature increases shell permeability and can impair the function of the natural membrane on fresh eggs, so if you want to chill your eggs, it's best to wash them.

I see the individually wrapped cucumbers all the time here in the US. Also, this kind of grocery store is not uncommon where I live in the US but we have several Aldi grocery stores and that is a German based store.

You can get good peanut butter in shops like Aldi or Spar. The one with the American flag is crap :D The eggs being left outside is due to salmonella. In USA, eggs are washed with sanitiser to prevent salmonella spread - it in turn destroys th protective layer of the egg and they have to be refrigerated to prolong lifespan. In EU, the law is to vaccinate hens and eggs are not washed (that's why sometimes you get dirt on your eggs, or feathers). This means they can be left outside of the fridge. Just a bit of my random knowledge :D

Probably already mentioned, but yes, I'm originally from Oregon and moved to Tennessee in 98...TN is like 10-15 years behind in current commercial technology depending on which county you live in, which I happen to live in the poorest county in TN...We self pump our gas, just within the last few years had self checkouts in this county Wal-Mart's, and we are at some stores required to insert a quarter to use a grocery cart, bring our own bags or pay for plastic ones at checkout and we still don't have bottle or plastic bag returns for deposits which we definitely need. But it was very interesting to watch what your day is like in Germany. My daughter has the opportunity to go to Germany in 2020, so this would be something fun and informative to share with her. Thank you

In Minnesota we have grocery stores where you bag your own groceries. And organic cucumbers come individually wrapped

Hi, I am also from the U.S. and I lived abroad in South Korea for a couple of years. The grocery cart system is the same in South Korea, too. They sometimes have those gates in store. I stayed a little while in Japan as well, and the cashiers also sit while scanning items. You also bring your own bags and put the items in yourself. In the U.S., you can find English cucumbers shrink wrapped in plastic now, but it's only the English cucumbers. There are more grocery stores here (at least on the West Coast) where you have to bag your own items. California is a state where you have to bring your own bags or pay for reusable grocery bags (10 cents per bag). My mom is having a hard time adjusting to this since she always forgets to bring bags - lol. For me, it is very familiar.

The milk which is not cooled is specially treated that you don't have to cool it if you store it. But you must store open containers of this milk in the refrigerator. Eggs have an outer protective layer against bacteria if they're fresh. If you wash them the protective layer is removed so the eggs must be refrigerated. In most european contries the eggs are not washed. You'll find some self-checkouts in newer grocery stores. A REWE market next to my work got self-checkout.

My first contact with the deposit on water bottles machine. Interesting concept. Love the deposit on buggies. I saw this on Mallorca. Keeps the buggies in the corral as opposed to gouging your car, or walking away at considerable expense to the store. The check out ques. Keeps down the races to a cashier, and avoids rowes over who is next in line. I'm enjoying your videos.

In Argentina we don't use plastic bags at supermarkets any more, for ecological reasons. We also have that kind of milk which is not refrigerated, eggs are not refrigerated either, we also have self check outs and cashiers are sitting too.

We do have Aldi in the states and you have the carts with the coin system.

We now have Aldi stores in southern california where you insert a quarter to get your trolly, just like this vid. It's a good way to get the customer to return the cart to the store rather than abandon it in the car park (parking lot)

I *love* to visit grocery stores, when visiting other countries! It's so interesting to see what's similar, and what is completely different. Even a trip to a grocery store in an adjacent country (in my case, Canada) can result in seeing products, brands, and taste preferences/flavors you won't find here in the United States. Aldi Stores here in the States also have the "coin deposit" (one quarter) for their carts, just like their European counterparts. Just like their German branches, at Aldi you must either bring your own bags, or buy them at the checkout. The plastic bottle deposits also exist here in some States, but are on most/all beverage containers (Bottle Deposit Laws vary greatly from State to State, with some States having none). The milk is UHT/Ultrapasteurized, and therefore considered to be "shelf -stable". It has been around in the States for a while, but is not very popular as compared with traditional, refrigerated milk. Most of the rest of the world does not refrigerate their eggs. It is safe to do so because the eggs have not been washed of their natural protective coating, or "bloom", which keeps the porous eggshells' surfaces sealed/not let in bacteria which promotes spoilage. Eggs commercially produced in the States must, by law, be washed. This rinses away the coating, which necessitates their refrigeration.

All those daily little things we‘re not thinking about any more... thanks for highlighting 😀

thanks for watching guys! Check out my video comparing German ALDIs to US ALDIs! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-a0m83-EEVpI.html

Aldi brought the German grocery experience to the US

A REWE store, that opened a few months ago has self check-outs. The store opens early (7 am) ...most other groceries opens not before 9 am, because we are a tourist city. Who want to buy this early has to use the self check-outs, because the normal check-outs are closed, only a few staffmember and a security is in the store this early. But i like it....its useful if you need something after a Nightshift, before you go sleeping :)

Here in Canada we have alot of the same things. Some stores require a quarter to get a cart (so you will return it), milk in tetra boxes (not alot of stores carry it), wrapped cucumbers, bring your own bags or pay for plastic and recycling machines for cans and bottles. I have a friend from europe who adored peanut butter once here in Canada. She never had it before. Not as popular there as here. Every country has their own items that you may never find anywhere but home. Fun to watch your videos. Very interesting learning about other countries. Keep it up!

Not every kind of food has 19% taxes, some of them has 7%. It depens on the item. If you look later on your sales check, you will see on the ride side behinde the price the letter "A" or the letter "B" which shows you what has 7% or 19% taxes.

For peanut butter make a short trip to the Netherlands. You can find so many different brands and variants there.

Enjoyed your video. Something that really stood out to me at grocery stores (and convenience stores) in Germany was that the beverages from the refrigerated section were not as cold as in the U.S. They are barely below room temperature. Whereas in the U.S. the water and soda that come from the refrigerated section are always quite cold. Maybe that's not all places in Germany though -- in Sweden the refrigerated beverages were cold just like in the U.S. Another thing I noticed in Germany and elsewhere in Europe was the very limited varieties of diet sodas. They seem to have plenty of brands of regular, but very few diet versions..just the colas and maybe a Fanta flavor. I went through Diet Dr. Pepper withdrawals in Europe! There was definitely self-checkout in Poland (at the Tesco stores). But I never encountered it anywhere else in Europe. :)

Hi Kelly! I'm from the South-West of Germany (and German) and stumbled over some Amerca/Germany-comparison-videos of you; also over this one here. You talked about self-checkout-lanes that you missed in Germany. They were already available in April 2018 (the time you loaded up this videoclip). I saw the first self-checkout-lanes sometime in 2017 here in my home-country. On one hand there are not many of those lanes but there are more and more and more as time passes. On the other hand most of the time no-one is forced to use this lanes. You can also pay at the cashier if you like that more instead of "feeding" a machine with money. There are a also some stores where paying via self-checkout-lanes are the only available option. But in that case there is still a person (working for the store) standing close to that paying-machine to assist people (seniors for example who are not familiar enough with technical things) when they are struggling with that method of payment... If you were in Germany in April of 2018 there was at least the chance to find a store with such a self-checkout-lane. You were at REWE as I could see in the video. Close to where I live is also a REWE and as I remember a self-checkout-lane was istalled there sometime in the second half of 2017. Since then up to now people can find more of these lanes in different stores... Greetings from Germany to the place where you are living at the moment.German Supermarkt vs American Grocery StoreKelly does her thing • 207.908 AufrufeLive9:40Playlist ()Mix (5

I'm sure the deposit is so the stores don't have to hire cart wranglers. If you don't return your cart you don't get your deposit back. It won't matter, someone else will gladly do it and take your Euro.

In my town there is an Aldi's, and their carts require quarters to release the chain. That franchise is in many States of the US. (Later after reading through the comments) She didn't include Aldi's because they run the store the same way in all locations.

Usually the cucumbers that are wrapped are the organic ones. Sounds weird at first but considering that less people buy organic ones it still produces less waste than wrapping the non organic ones. The reason why you would want to wrap either of them is that the customers as well as the cashiers are able to tell them apart and they can't get mixed up.

We have been using the bottle return machines here in Michigan for more than 20 years, and ALDI's here have always used the coin release and self bagging.

the main problem for alot of people is that h-milch rly tastes REALLY different to normal milk if you juts drink it and not use it :) so its something to get used to :)

I tried peanut butter once and will not do that again. UGH!!

We have bottle returns in the US. Also, a lot of stores in the States DO have you put a deposit coin for the cart those are generally the same grocery stores that charge you for bags.

Shelf-stable milk is carried in US supermarkets in addition to powdered milk. It's an Italian brand called Parmalat. I used to send it to my daughter in care packages when she was in college so she could have it with cereal. She didn't have a fridge in her dorm.

No Kelly, we also have shelf stable milk in USA

Switzerland actually does have self checkout... not only that, they also have self scan hand held devices, where you scan your own groceries as you put them in your cart and pay via credit card in the end through the device. While advanced, I certainly dont approve, as it destroys jobs.

Fun to see that every country has their differences in shopping. Here in the Netherlands in some stores you take a handscanner when you enter the store and scan every item you need en put it in the bag then you go to the checkout the store employé takesthe scanner scans a barcode and the computer tells the employé if he or she has to do a random check of a number of products or if you can just pay and go without a check.

Hi, just a tip for the end of your shopping trip: Just put everything back into the shopping cart, instead of bagging it right away. This way, you can concentrate on paying for everything and can take your time packing everything afterwards (There are often tables behind the checkout, sometimes with garbage cans for paper and stuff integrated. You can use those to help you pack your bags)

Why do you want to communicate with the cashier? We don't do that. Checking out should be efficient, and anytime people stops to talk to the cashier (if they are friends or whatever) people behind will get annoyed for that person holding up the queue. That's also why you have to bag your own groceries, because it is more effecient (exceptions are often made for handicapped or very old customers so they don't hold up the queue for too long).

Please make a Video about the deutsche Bahn.

The 1 euro for the cart thing is to nudge people to bring the cart back. Don't forget that in the US virtually everyone drives by car to a supermarket. In Germany, people often live within walking distance or surrounding a supermarket. What happened was, that many people who shopped by foot moved their cart all the way back to home and never returned it or just dropped it somewhere in the hood. In the USA, those carts are mostly left behind on the parking lot, easily retrieved by the shopping center employees I guess? Since the 1 euro nudge thing does not always work well, most Europe (or at least the Dutch ones) carts have GPS tracking devices, blocking the wheels once they go past a certain distance. The boundaries are often displayed by huge iron markers on the ground around the supermarket. Self check out lanes are appearing more and more in Europe as well, particularly in the A-type supermarkets. The one where you went is Lidl, a discount supermarket (although of good quality)

There are doors in the grocery stores to make it harder to steal something. They only open in one direction. That way you have to walk past a cashier to get out.

Really interesting video! Well done. :-)The Cucumber packaging also really annoys me every time i go to the grocery store. I think we should definitely come up with some other idea to manage that Cucumber-freshness-issue. :-D And, the eggs don't have to be refridgerated as they haven't been washed before shipping. This way the eggs keep their natural coating which prevents the inside from harmful bacteria.

She's never been to Aldi's. English cucumbers are individually wrapped.

We have wrapped cucumbers here in the states and shelf stable milk which tastes just like the regular. The un-refrigerated eggs are because they're fresh. As long as fresh eggs are never refrigerated straight from the chicken, they don't have to be cooled to stay fresh.

those cucumbers are probably BIO, means there were no chemicals/pesticides used during growing. To prevent that they will be contamined with chemicals in the store, while laying there, they are wrapped up in plastics.

I notice Rewe is much expensive than other markets..we call Rewe market for rich people😁..we buy in Kaufland and Penny..they always have lots of actions..and you can get more for your money..in Rewe banana's are always 2,50 e and in other stores you can find for 1,09 e..and in Kaufland all eggs are in frige😀

Weirdly that looks exactly like Australian supermarkets except for the language. Even down to the individually wrapped cucumbers (which I refuse to buy). Not all have that auto gate but many do. Only diff is the poor checkout op does have to stand, that's one definite advantage for the employees in all European supermarkets I've been in (not just Germany). I am clearly certifiable because I love foreign supermarkets more than anything, such a fascinating insight into a culture. Terrible travelling companion for that reason, have to go solo.

There are self check out supermarkets in Germany. Also, you can buy peanut butter in EVERY supermarket here!

I live on the east coast in Pennsylvania and we do have a store in which you put in a quarter for your cart to shop. And they also sit when checking you out and you bag your own groceries. It a store called Aldi's

I never quite understood the tax-exclusive thing with US labelling - while a chain might have stores in many states, surely each store branch is in one state only? Are they shipping out millions of shelf price labels from the corporate HQ rather than printing ones on-site?

Loads of Germans go over the boarder to the Netherlands to do groceries because some things are much cheaper. Peanut butter is super common in the Netherlands, try the Albert Hein store for "100% pindakaas" it's sooooooooooo good! It does tend to split and the oil will be on the top but it's easy enough to mix back in. Calve is also good. Belgium is more expensive for groceries but they do have great bread and meat. Germany has more American products in the grocery store so that's what we get when we visit. Last time i found something that is basically an English muffin, we don't have them in NL.

Your experience is very much like my experience at grocery stores living in Ostrava, Czech Republic. Thanks for sharing. We also have a very good selection of beer, as well as hard liquor and wines, in the grocery store.

i live in belgium and we wouldn't like it if the cashier put the stuff in the bags , it's like let me just decide how i stack stuff in my bag

So funny story I actually go the same Rewe u go to and from what I‘ve seen from the house u live in I think we live in the same house 😂 wtf ...

They are supposed to go to church, not home to their families on Sunday. If it were for families it could be any day of the week.

I've lived in NY all my life and there are definitely individually wrapped cucumbers - have been for as long as I can remember.

I live in Philadelphia and we had the carts that you put coins into back in the 90's. Most customers did not like them and there was a lot of push back on the stores that used them. Personally I liked them because it forced people to return their carts and not just leave them everywhere in the lot. Also boxed milk has been around for a long time here in the US. I remember seeing it in the 80's. I love ALDI and it's my main place to shop. I love that they have chairs for their cashiers.

Here in michigan (U.S.A.) we have the carts that you put a coin in, the single packaged cucumbers, and the milk that does not need refrigeration until opened.

I really love your open attitude of wanting to learn new insights and for documenting your discoveries to share with others. I hope the soup was good and you didn't end up getting that cold. :) As far as that entry gate into the store, the only reason I can think of is they want to control and guide the flow of how people enter and leave, perhaps to make it harder to run in and steal something and run right out. or something. At the Aldi in upstate NY where I lived the store was laid out with shelves and aisles forcing customers to walk like in a maze past everything. The shelves didn't have a break in the middle to cut over to another aisle. You had to walk the length of it before being able to turn a corner. I thought that was different, maybe unique to that particular store, either for layout purposes or to maximize on space. I now live in San Diego and work in a school kitchen and some of our vendors have the cucumbers shrinkwrapped like that too. To preserve from bumps and scratches, i guess.

One profound difference that I noted from my visits to Philadelphia and Chicago is this. In German cities there are grocery stores/supermarkets everywhere. In downtown Chicago I struggled to more than one or two stores within a mile of the Hancock building. And they're not cheap to boot. In Berlin, where I am, you'll struggle to find less than a dozen within one square kilometer of the city.

I have also been to a few stores where you bag your own groceries. I actually prefer it, because I like to use my own bags and I like to pack it up the way I want to.

The idea behind the deposit is that customers put their shopping cart back to where it belongs instead of just letting it stand around somewhere on the parking lot, like I've seen in the states ;)

In Canada, there are some stores where you have to put in a loonie to get a cart at a grocery store and then when you return the cart, you get your money back.

Yes, we have the same kind of milk here in Florida at any supermarket or dollar store. Usually are next to the evaporated milk and condensed milk.

We have ultrahomogenized milk here in the US and have for about the last 15 years. You may have missed it because not many stores keep it near the regular refrigerated dairy. Cucumbers of that type are often plastic wrapped at least here in Texas and I've been seeing this for about the last 10 years or about the same amount of time I've been seeing that type of cucumber which is often signed as "English Cucumber". Regular Cucs aren't wrapped. Aldi's is a growing chain in the US that requires a deposit for grocery carts. Self bagging groceries is becoming more common in the last couple of years in the US, too.