Hy-Vee's weirdest business decision yet?

[wenkeej]

How does ALDI stack up?

I left ALDI out originally because of their limited number of stores in Iowa and lack of name brands (I wanted to include that because some people are name brand shoppers).

But, since you asked...

I had to remove a couple items to get a comparison:

1. Deli meat because I don't know if ALDI does their own fresh deli and online didn't show it
2. Digiorno Pizza (not all stores do store brand so I kept it the same across all lists)
3. Ice Cream (I picked Blue Bunny vanilla because it was too hard to get a store brand at the same size)

Here are the updated store brand totals:

	HyVee Store Brand	Fareway Store Brand	Walmart Store Brand	ALDI Store Brand
Total	89.2​	96.06​	73.17​	80.35​

WalMart is still the cheapest, but ALDI is cheaper then HyVee and Fareway.

 

[dmclone]

People overstate or oversimplify things. Typically, my experience for Hy-Vee and Fareway is we spend the same or very little difference either way if we get just what we had on the list.

With that said, we always spend more at Hy-Vee. The reason is because Fareway has what we need but not a lot more that we want. Hy-Vee has a lot more of the wants.

Either way, the meat comes from the same cows and the same butchers - that’s a proven fact by several distributors. The bonus for us is that with Hy-Vee we can get the radiated or alien meat prepackaged so we can eat it when we chose over the next 7-10 days, not just that weekend.

This is really true. I use to do price comparisons in the mid 90's and if you just stuck to the grocery aisles, meat, and produce the prices were always very close. Profit on the dry grocery is single digits among all retailers. This was before Walmart became big in the grocery game.
We never included Aldi because they carried very few big named brands.

 

[carvers4math]

You all are presuming that every store charges the same amount in every town. Not at all the case. When you live in a town with only a Hy-Vee, they charge way more than the town 15 miles away that has a Fareway and Walmart as well as a Hy-Vee. One of my kids actually compared milk prices for a school project. The Hy-Vee in the neighboring town with competition charged $1.27 less than the Hy-Vee in our town. The same gallon of milk cost less at Casey’s than the local Hy-Vee.

Throw in the fact that we no longer have a meat counter but only prepackaged meat, the price gouging, and my perfume allergy to the freaking soap bombs and I haven’t stepped foot in the only grocery store within 15 miles for over three years.

 

[CycloneErik]

You all are presuming that every store charges the same amount in every town. Not at all the case. When you live in a town with only a Hy-Vee, they charge way more than the town 15 miles away that has a Fareway and Walmart as well as a Hy-Vee. One of my kids actually compared milk prices for a school project. The Hy-Vee in the neighboring town with competition charged $1.27 less than the Hy-Vee in our town. The same gallon of milk cost less at Casey’s than the local Hy-Vee.

Throw in the fact that we no longer have a meat counter but only prepackaged meat, the price gouging, and my perfume allergy to the freaking soap bombs and I haven’t stepped foot in the only grocery store within 15 miles for over three years.

That's awful.
Here in Ames, if you use the ordering systems, Walmart actually gets the right items and communicates if they have to sub. Then they check in with you to make sure. With Hy-Vee, it's a crapshoot what happens with online orders.

 

[carvers4math]

That's awful.
Here in Ames, if you use the ordering systems, Walmart actually gets the right items and communicates if they have to sub. Then they check in with you to make sure. With Hy-Vee, it's a crapshoot what happens with online orders.

Fareway and Walmart both notify you of substitutions. I do online with both of them since I have a 15 minute drive both ways. I like the notes section Fareway has, can tell them how many meat items you want wrapped together or how thick to slice a ham from the case.

 

[CyCrazy]

If Ron Pearson were still in charge, he would have those stealing from the company fired. I could be wrong but I'm guessing he wouldn't approve of the majority of stuff they are doing. When he was in charge, I don't remember the company ever losing money overall, some stores yes. I don't remember Hy-Vee paying for actors and athletes sponsors. I saw him a few months ago at one of the WDM stores shopping and I wondered what his thoughts would be about this **** show.

If you have time, read this from when RP was in charge. He had a store manager making more money than he made.

Hy-Vee: where managers can earn more than the president. - Free Online Library

Free Online Library: Hy-Vee: where managers can earn more than the president. by "Progressive Grocer"; Business Food and beverage industries Retail industry Supermarkets Management

www.thefreelibrary.com

Do you work for HYvee?

 

[CyCrazy]

That's awful.
Here in Ames, if you use the ordering systems, Walmart actually gets the right items and communicates if they have to sub. Then they check in with you to make sure. With Hy-Vee, it's a crapshoot what happens with online orders.

Agree we use the North Walmart and have never had an issues.

 

[dmclone]

Do you work for HYvee?

I did in high school, college, and a few years after. I went through the management training program and worked at a few stores across Iowa before leaving. I worked with the current CEO and another that was CIO. It's been a long time but I still want to see them suceed.

 

[Pat]

Doing online grocery shopping at Walmart is a gamechanger. Otherwise I would never go to Walmart. Only downside to doing that is produce.

This is 100% true. I hate going in Walmart (unless I need a self-esteem boost), but we’re feeding 3 kids. My wife compared for a couple weeks, and it will likely be THOUSANDS of dollars saved over a year. Online shopping makes it a no-brainer.

 

[brianhos]

Biggest issue is the kids no longer treating customers appropriately. They wouldn’t last one hour back in my day.

Yeah well, adults treat those kids like **** sometimes too. People used to not be like that.

 

[GMackey32]

Yeah well, adults treat those kids like **** sometimes too. People used to not be like that.

I don't know how many times I've seen adult customers treating teenage employees like garbage over the years. It's embarrassing.

 

[dirtyninety]

SNAP.

 

[CycloneCJ]

I know Target has a pretty decent discount for employees. I think it's like 15% on everything? Plus you get the 5% for the Red Card added on top if you use that. Source: several friends that work there.

Target employees get a 10% discount plus 5% for RedCard. There are also some "wellness" discounts that give you an extra 20% off of fresh groceries and organics.

 

[carvers4math]

Yeah well, adults treat those kids like **** sometimes too. People used to not be like that.

Then there are adults who think old people aren’t allowed to shop after 5:00 because they inconvenience them in some way. Some old people work. Our food pantry is worked solely by old people volunteers. Some old people go to the doctor and need to get medicine. Other old people don’t drive because their vision is poor and they shop when they can get a ride. People huff and puff and give them dirty looks when they block the aisle or move too slowly. Or else they ***** about it on CF.

 

[AirWalke]

If Ron Pearson were still in charge, the person who shared the video would be found and fired immediately. He hated leaks within the organization.

If Randy Edeker was at least half the man Ron Pearson was, Hy-Vee would be in much better shape.

 

[MuskieCy]

Just the two of us now.

Two, three times a year, especially for excellent frozen selections,......

TRADER JOE'S!!!!!!

 

[CycloneDaddy]

I thought this was a thread discussing why they sell Florida International University cups at the Grimes HyVee.

 

[urb1]

Hy-Vee ends use of Scan & Go cashierless checkout app

Hy-Vee didn't say why it was shutting down the system. Previously, another grocery chain dumped its scan-and-go app, citing losses.

www.desmoinesregister.com

 

[BillBrasky4Cy]

Dang I definitely never got that in my Fareway days. Loved working there otherwise.

I worked at Hy-Vee when I was a kid and they didn't have a discount then.

 

[dmclone]

Hy-Vee ends use of Scan & Go cashierless checkout app

Hy-Vee didn't say why it was shutting down the system. Previously, another grocery chain dumped its scan-and-go app, citing losses.

www.desmoinesregister.com

I'm fine with the self check but I found this Scan N Go to be kind of dumb. I remember going to a store somewhere in Europe where they had something like this but it was an actual scanning device instead of using your own phone. With this Scan N Go it's pick up item, scan item, put in cart. Then walk around a while, pick up another item, pull your phone out, hope it unlocks, hope the app hasn't closed, scan item, put in cart. Repeat 50 times. I don't think a lot of people used it.