Grrr! Argentine Supermarkets

[nikad]

i'd bet the vast majority of Chinese supermarkets don't turn off the fridges overnight.

This is not a myth. It has been documented and reported hundreds of times. Everybody knows this. I never ever buy anything from their fridges. Every single time they get an inspection they are closed down

 

[nikad]

Also check all products expiration dates... bread goes green within 3 or 4 days, cans that are just a few weeks away from expiring. I finally stopped buying from them when I heard some women screaming as she saw a huge rat walking happily on a shelf, and the store owner looked at it as if they were old pals.

I have not been waiting in lines at supermarkets for well over 10 years. I buy everything online and get it delivered. You can do this from Coto, Disco and Jumbo. You can pay with credit and debit card, but also with cash. If you wait in line, it is because you like it

Also many of their discounts run exclusively online. It was way easier to compare prices, etc.

 

[ElQueso]

It's been awhile since I tried to buy things online at a supermarket. Every time I tried previously, they didn't have half the stuff I ordered. I remember the last time I did it, I received three different calls from the store asking me what I wanted in place of the items they didn't have. They couldn't even get everything missing altogether at once and make one call.

Admittedly, this was some 5-6 years ago, when it seemed they were first starting this kind of service. Maybe I ought to try it again.

And yeah Nikad, that's another thing, the expiration dates in chinos. Our girl that worked there was very conscientious and would clean and straighten things up without having to be told. She was cleaning near something (don't remember what it was she said) that had been expired for nearly a week. When she brought it to the owner's attention she was told to mind her own business and run the cash register. Always look at the expiration dates!

 

[cruizes]

In the US now and really starting to miss the "frost bite" in most of the freezers at the super markets in BA!

 

[sleslie23]

This says more about you than it does about this country and this city.

I gather you've left Buenos Aires. I look forward to you moving to another forum.

LIkewise!

 

[Girino]

LLLLLove is in the air!

 

[Silvie]

Please tell me what is good? That is within the context of modern civilization if you are able to reply it should be interesting. Because to me it was and still is HELL!

Why do you even read this forum?

 

[rickulivi]

I call Argentina "el pais de las colas." Yes, the lines in supermarkets, banks, etc. are long and a big waste of time but they do have a silver lining. When I walk out of the supermarket with my groceries, I feel elated; I feel like my groceries are worth so much more than I paid for; after all, I invested a lot of time in getting them. When I leave my bank, I feel they same way; it's like my money is more valuable because it took soooo long to get to. But there's more: the rare day when I walk into the bank and no one is there, I feel like I won the lottery. I got up to the teller with a smile a mile long.

One more silver lining: in the rare occasion when I am stuck in a line in California, I dare not speak to anyone on the line. I used to and I would get these looks like I was a child molester, like I was trying to pick up the woman next to me, or similar, Instead, in BA, it is easy to talk to whoever is in front of you or behind you.

Still, I hate the "colas of Argentina."

 

[John1017]

I've been in Argentina for over a year now and this is a very frequent topic between myself and my argentine wife, and my English students. I've learned to live with it and have become accustomed to waiting and looking around, lost in meditation. Being from Idaho, I really can't compare the supermarket wait times in Idaho to the wait times in Argentina, it wouldn't be fair since there are only 300,000 or so people in my town. Of course I never had to wait and if I did, my local winco manager would spot me and immediately open a new lane. I would love to compare a Los Angeles or Manhattan supermarket on a busy day to buenos aires supermarkets. Maybe people wait in line in bigger cities.

Some of my hypothesis as to why we have the long lines and waits in Argentina.

* Argentines just like lines
* Checkout employees are not well trained
*. Understaffed and looking to save money don't open enough lanes
*. Slow transaction speeds between bank and supermarket
*. Confusing coupons and deals that clerks do not understand
*. High inflation and having to pay with 100 peso bills
*. Paying in quotas
*. No organization between different checkout lanes ( they should have 5 items lanes, 10 item lanes...)
* Few self checkout stations that no one understands
*. Having to buy plastic bags and bag your own
*. Everyone goes to the supermarket at the same time

It's just another one of those things that makes living in another country interesting...
I also feel like I at disneyworld and I get so excited when I get to the front of the line

 

[johnw100]

It's just another one of those things that makes living in another country interesting...
I also feel like I at disneyworld and I get so excited when I get to the front of the line

Yes true ,in my first year here these things are interesting..
In the second year these things become irritating.
In the third year you just want to grab the supermarket manager by the ear and then repeatedly slap them around the face with a lengua de vaca.