Maxwell 21: Deliberately Hiding the Truth Again

[LilMissMetaphor]

5 hours ago, Anonymousguest said:

I have never had to pay to get a shopping cart! The only place I've seen that is at the airport. 

Common here in Ontario.  They need loonies.  (So the Maxwells would feel right at home.)

[freethemall]

7 hours ago, Anonymousguest said:

I have never had to pay to get a shopping cart! The only place I've seen that is at the airport. 

Aldi's has a very different model where they cut costs in certain places (paid grocery carts, less employees, no plastic bags or baggers, no fancy shelves, no overhead music, putting produce out in their boxes, smaller selection) in order to have cheaper retail costs. That's why a lot of people love shopping there, is because they have such a unique model that a lot of people can respect, because it allows for frugality by sacrificing unnecessary expenses. The Maxwell blog of course didn't explain this well beyond explaining the cart quarters.

Here's a blog that explains it MUCH better than Sarah and Terri did: https://www.laurengreutman.com/why-is-aldi-so-cheap/

[PennySycamore]

@freethemall,  I didn't know that Aldi didn't use plastic bags, but good for them!  I always take my own reusable bags to the grocery store, but I do get the plastic bags on my Target run since they make good liners for my bathroom waste basket.  I empty the cat box into that daily.  Plastic bags from the grocery store are too hole-y to make good trash can liners especially when you put dirty cat litter in it.  

[catlady]

Since I have a bad habit of forgetting my reusable bags now and then, I double-bag the plastic grocery ones for cat litter. They’re not ideal, but they work. 

[IReallyAmHopewell]

 

Wow. The Maxwells are sharing the magic of collating, mailing, and writing Mom's newsletter for her! Coffee is seriously an idol in this family though. Time to pull the plug on idolatry, Steve-a-rino!

 

 

[MamaJunebug]

On 6/21/2018 at 9:31 AM, SassyPants said:

OMFG- Yesterday, I hulled and froze several quarts- Can you imagine being so limited? And does this person not know about the www?

Probably scared to go anywhere on the www that isn’t Maxhell. 

[nomoxian]

3 hours ago, LilMissMetaphor said:

Common here in Ontario.  They need loonies.  (So the Maxwells would feel right at home.)

The ones in Ontario also have locks on the wheels, because so many people pay for the cart and then push it home. Cheaper than a taxi.

I was really surprised when I was in the USA and Europe and found the carts don't have wheel locks.

36 minutes ago, PennySycamore said:

@freethemall,  I didn't know that Aldi didn't use plastic bags

They have them, but you just need to pay a few cents for them. They also have more expensive canvass and thick plastic bags, which are good if you're carrying more things or heavy items.

They don't mind if you bring a box to the front full of your items either (like you find a bulk pasta box that is almost empty, and use that to store your items) There's another discount store called No Frills in Canada that actually has a bunch of storage boxes at the front by the cash.

[freethemall]

39 minutes ago, PennySycamore said:

@freethemall,  I didn't know that Aldi didn't use plastic bags, but good for them!  I always take my own reusable bags to the grocery store, but I do get the plastic bags on my Target run since they make good liners for my bathroom waste basket.  I empty the cat box into that daily.  Plastic bags from the grocery store are too hole-y to make good trash can liners especially when you put dirty cat litter in it.  

I should mention they have large plastic reusable bags you can buy, it's cool if they're doing it for the environment but like everything else it's more for cost-savings. They don't offer free paper bags either, you have to pay for any bags or bring your own.

4 minutes ago, nomoxian said:

The ones in Ontario also have locks on the wheels, because so many people pay for the cart and then push it home. Cheaper than a taxi.

I was really surprised when I was in the USA and Europe and found the carts don't have wheel locks.

Many do. At least here in Baltimore where plenty of homeless people take the carts most of the big grocery stores have locks on them.

[catlady]

5 minutes ago, nomoxian said:

The ones in Ontario also have locks on the wheels, because so many people pay for the cart and then push it home. Cheaper than a taxi.

I was really surprised when I was in the USA and Europe and found the carts don't have wheel locks.

around here, stores in pedestrian-friendly locations have the wheel locks, while the bigger suburban stores don't.  and it's really to prevent people without cars from stealing them.  when stores here started using the wheel locks, there was an article in the paper about it.  it turns out, carts are pretty expensive, so if customers are regularly leaving with one and then ditching it somewhere near their destination, the store's replacement expenses can add up pretty quickly.  i just did a quickie google search on carts, and their cost seems to range from $75 to $400 each (presumably USD).

[Palimpsest]

And we are honored by a glimpse into the Titus2 Ministry.

Quote

I wanted to give you a peek into the day-to-day Titus2 ministry details and what’s currently going on.

Weekly, Dad writes and sends out his Seriously Dads e-mail. He’s so faithful (never misses a week!), and his guys are really loyal. 

What happened to the June 13th 2018 Seriously article, Sarah?  He seems to have missed that week.

Quote

We continue to publish the monthly Mom’s Corner. I write the newsy part and do all the formatting, and Mom writes the actual Corner. We usually send it the first Tuesday of the month

Why doesn't Mom write the whole thing?

Quote

Books and CDs continue to ship out to homes worldwide. Mary does quite a bit of the shipping, and while she’s away, Mom and I are doing it. We are so blessed to be able to share with families!

Finally an answer to what Mary does all day.

Quote

Mom is definitely a Titus2 mentor, spending time answering e-mails and helping moms. She’s in a new season of life, without any left in homeschool! She loves to invest in her daughters-in-law, grandchildren, and others whom the Lord brings into her life.

Mom potters around answering e-mails, grocery shopping, and annoying her daughters-in-law.

Quote

Occasionally, we have a little work party and compile kits into the Managers of Their Chores books or Scheduling Kits to the Managers of Their Homes book. We girls can fly through them pretty fast.

I'm astonished that they haven't turned those kits into apps.

Quote

Yes, yes, and YES! I’m writing another children’s book. I’m excited and amazed as I write the first draft. God has been so gracious to me, and I am thrilled to see it taking shape!

Oh, shit.  

Quote

Oh, and I work hard to keep three blog posts coming each week. 

Taking all those photos must be hard work.  The blog posts shouldn't take more that 15 minutes each.

What does Steve do all day?  His Seriously emails can't take much more than half an hour a week.  They are rarely more than 4 paragraphs long these days.

[IReallyAmHopewell]

2 hours ago, Palimpsest said:

Quote

Yes, yes, and YES! I’m writing another children’s book. I’m excited and amazed as I write the first draft. God has been so gracious to me, and I am thrilled to see it taking shape!

Oh, shit.   

I wanted to post a comment with the name and contact information of a good freelance editor I know. She'd have collapsed reading the Maxwell's youngest "published" author's "excellent" work.

[SPHASH]

Back from what some might call a vacation.  Went camping in the woods.  Also did some hiking but no Bataan Death Marches.

[CyborgKin]

There's four Aldi stores within a half hour drive's radius of me, in different directions.  (Most things are half an hour away from me.) the trolleys here are unlocked by a token (Aldi branded) which is worth $2, iirc.  And they have a nook with beer and wine (I think that's all?  I've never looked all that closely) by one of the checkouts.  While the larger supermarkets tend to have a separate (or technically separate) bottle-shop.  I've never seen it called "Aldi's" before though.

There's very few supermarkets left in my area that provide free thin plastic bags, and if there are any I don't think they will for much longer.  Not that the sturdier bags made of more plastic that they sell are more environmentally friendly unless you manage to keep using them for two whole years.  (I haven't seen any other stores require a token/coin deposit for trolley use, only Aldi.  It's a sensible idea I think.  The places some people dump trolleys occasionally... it's bizarre or annoying.  Incentivizing bringing them back is good, and it doesn't cost the people who don't need one.)

Aldi is nice and I used to sometimes stock up on snacks there, but I've cut those out of my diet, plus the last few times I was shopping it was right before seeing a movie and its a better bet to duck in and out of a larger supermarket than Aldi due to the chance of being stuck behind someone doing grocery shopping for five minutes.  The big stores all have self-serve checkouts so you only have to wait when it's really really busy.  With Aldi when it's not busy you still have to wait cos they only have the minimal number of checkouts running to keep the costs low.  You get what you pay for, and you pay for what you get.

(Sadly you don't always keep getting what you've paid for.  Aldi discontinued some absolutely scrumptious gourmet cookies that I bought several times  I'm still sad about that, and thus this is actually the most important paragraph of this whole rambling post.)

I don't remember seeing any Aldi stores during my visit to Germany.  The one I shopped at in the railway station in Berlin was called Kaiser or Kaiser's or something like that.

[TeaELSee]

On 6/21/2018 at 5:56 PM, FloraKitty35 said:

Here in Delaware grocery stores don't sell alcohol.  So, no Two Buck Chuck is available at the only Trader Joe's in the entire state (which is almost in PA).  It still shocks me to go to the Whole Foods or Wegmans which are just up the road from Trader Joe's in PA and they have substantial beer and wine sections

Did they change the liquor laws in PA? I lived there 2006-2012 and you could not buy liquor anywhere but state run liquor stores and beer only at beer stores.  No deals on booze at Costco!  I hated it.

[nastyhobbitses]

17 hours ago, PennySycamore said:

@freethemall,  I didn't know that Aldi didn't use plastic bags, but good for them!  I always take my own reusable bags to the grocery store, but I do get the plastic bags on my Target run since they make good liners for my bathroom waste basket.  I empty the cat box into that daily.  Plastic bags from the grocery store are too hole-y to make good trash can liners especially when you put dirty cat litter in it.  

They charge 5 pence per plastic bag in the UK. I do my best to remember my reusable bags, but sometimes I forget, or I leave them home on purpose so I can get the sturdy "bag for life" plastic bags from Lidl or Sainsbury's, since I use those for the garbage (they're sturdier than most of the bin liners I see on sale...and I have an unfortunate tendency to do the "garbage is almost full...oh look it's half full now that I've stomped on it to compress it down further") and sometimes to wrap up my lunch tupperware if I'm bringing something more liquid, like a curry or a stew, and don't want to risk spilling. 

[Captain Obvious]

19 hours ago, Palimpsest said:

I'm astonished that they haven't turned those kits into apps.

I initially read this as ‘turned those kids into apps’, and I stand by that point.

[OhNoNike]

5 hours ago, TeaELSee said:

Did they change the liquor laws in PA? I lived there 2006-2012 and you could not buy liquor anywhere but state run liquor stores and beer only at beer stores.  No deals on booze at Costco!  I hated it.

Things are changing.  Beer and wine are now sold at many locations like in our local Giant and Weis. They also have beer and wine at the local Rutters.  Not liquor.... yet (?) but beer and wine is a great step. 

[LurkerOverThePond]

On 6/22/2018 at 9:11 AM, Don'tlikekoolaid said:

I sense Daddy has some control issues

Now this is the understatement of the century 

[nomoxian]

10 hours ago, nastyhobbitses said:

I have an unfortunate tendency to do the "garbage is almost full...oh look it's half full now that I've stomped on it to compress it down further"

I do that too, but if you live alone you will have to eventually throw it away, since "he who tops it off drops it off"

[singsingsing]

Needing to use coins to get a cart is definitely not common in my part of Ontario. It used to be, but I haven't visited a single grocery store in my area that uses that system since I'd guess the 90s at least. They definitely have the locking wheels, though.

[SilverBeach]

On 6/22/2018 at 9:57 AM, freethemall said:

Aldi's has a very different model where they cut costs in certain places (paid grocery carts

Just got home from Aldi (and it is Aldi, not Aldi's). No paid carts, just rentals for twenty-five cents. I always leave mine behind or give it to someone coming in when I am leaving, that quarter ain't worth walking back from the parking lot. Aldi also sells sturdy plastic bags for ten cents each. I keep a stash in my car and replenish them every now and then. Large paper bags are three cents each.

[freejugar]

If Sarah were to read about the schedule of a busy 30-ish year old she'd be really  surprised.

her standing desk seet up looks really unconfortable

[Eclipse]

On 6/22/2018 at 8:48 AM, LilMissMetaphor said:

Common here in Ontario.  They need loonies.  (So the Maxwells would feel right at home.)

What stores in Ontario require a coin deposit to get a shopping cart? None of the stores I go to require coins (Loblaws, Farmboy, Longos, Metro, Sobeys, Zehrs).

[LilMissMetaphor]

 

53 minutes ago, Eclipse said:

What stores in Ontario require a coin deposit to get a shopping cart? None of the stores I go to require coins (Loblaws, Farmboy, Longos, Metro, Sobeys, Zehrs).

You must be a southerner...

 

[NeckPunch]

1 hour ago, Eclipse said:

What stores in Ontario require a coin deposit to get a shopping cart? None of the stores I go to require coins (Loblaws, Farmboy, Longos, Metro, Sobeys, Zehrs).

I live in Ontario and you need a deposit for carts at No Frills and the Superstore. I don't really shop at other Loblaws stores, but maybe Independent stores do too. You just need a quarter at No Frills, but a loonie at the Superstore,

I don't recall if Freshco/Foodland require deposits.