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Ask a foreigner

Baseball caps with 2 or 3 letters on - NY, ATL etc, I get they're for a city. But are they just random designs that each city seems to have or are they affiliated to baseball or summat?

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Which shops / supermarkets/ markets do you get your groceries from?
Here in NZ we have three major supermarket chains: Pak'n'Save (where, as the name suggests you pack your own bags and save; it's actually on average the cheapest of the three), Countdown "you can count on us to keep prices down" (part of the Woolworths brand), and New World (on average the most expensive of the three).

There are also weekly/monthly farmer's markets in most towns/cities, as well as specialty stores, green grocers, butchers (there's a chain here called the Mad Butcher, whose founder Sir Peter Leitch is a knight of the NZ Order of Merit for his charity).

@Teasel we've done it again on having like minds -- first was when I went to post a photo of my namesake on the photography thread and saw you'd just done that, and second was me coming here to ask people what your favourite fresh produce is from your region/ country (mine is probably NZ oranges) only to find you'd just asked where people get their groceries from! :D
 
Funny things to sync on hey ?

Thanks for telling me bout the shops in New Zealand. I just read this too

https://newinnewzealand.com/new-zealand-supermarkets-explained/

What happens in the "Full Service Supermarket"?

Interested that pak n save has you save money because you pak your own groceries. And though it used to be true that sometimes you'd get help packing your groceries here, it pretty much never is the case now and has been so for many years.

And self checkout machines are more popular even that having a person checkout your shop now too. And self scanning your shopping as you walk round the supermarket too.

Which of the supermarkets do you like best?

Supermarkets here - on the luxury end is Waitrose and Marks and Spencers

Middle range often giant superstores
Tesco, Sainsbury's, Morrisons, Asda

And inexpensive with a smaller range - Lidl and Aldi

And 2 smaller cheap chains selling mostly frozen stuff Iceland and Farm Foods

I tend to do most of shop in Sainsbury's, which is slightly posher than the other giants, but also get a lot of my basics at Lidl. Also visit Morrisins quite a bit because there are 2 of em nearby.

There are a few market stalls near us too - they buy up the fruit n veg that is already ripe for cheap and sell em a geek of a lot cheaper than the supermarkets. Get my berries from there, taste so much better.

Favourite fresh produce ~prolly strawberries n raspberries & Jersey Royal new potatoes :)
 
What happens in the "Full Service Supermarket"?
I'm guessing it is meaning the supermarkets where someone at the check-out will pack your bags for you.
I can't think of what else it would be.

At New World there's often a second person at the check-out specifically to bag groceries.
Countdown there is just one cashier and they pack your bags themselves.
Pak'n'save, the cashier scans the item and then stacks them straight in your trolley for you to pack later yourself.

There are (location-dependent) self service checkouts available across all three major chains, though.
I think all have the self scan-y as you walk around option available too, but I've never used it.
And I think all also have online shopping available, but I've never used that either and especially now during the covid pandemic, those slots are typically given to high-priority shoppers with health conditions/elderly etc.

What colour are the skin and flesh of a Jersey Royal new potato? And what applications - boiling, mashing, roasting, etc, are they best for?
 
What colour are the skin and flesh of a Jersey Royal new potato? And what applications - boiling, mashing, roasting, etc, are they best for?
Jersey Royals are golden skin with white flesh. As New Potatoes they are typically very small potatoes, smaller than a golf ball. They are usually boiled whole, skin on and served whole with butter. They are also good eaten cold.
 
At New World there's often a second person at the check-out specifically to bag groceries.
That’s the norm here...

Since grocery is/was a Union job with Union wages (when I met my ex he was making $30 an hour as a journeyman... I could never understand why people seemed to work grocery their whole lives. Oh. THAT’S why. Next bump as a Senior was $45 & management made $60 or Salaried. // In the “early aughts”...

((hehehe I love that phrase! It’s sooooo pretentious. IDFK why, how the f*ck else to indicate that time period? But the “BUFFY! Go power up the yacht! It’s rush hour! Let’s make the drawbridge go up!” Aspect to it just cracks me the hell up))

... for some reason there were “grocery wars” where most stores started phasing out their Union positions simply by not scheduling them -totally legal- and taking on casual employees.

But it USED to be all the employees except baggers were Union, and high school kids / special needs hires were minimum wage baggers ($3.15-$8.25 depending on what part of the country you were in). After x number of years bagging one could apply for a Union apprentice $10 an hour job. X years after that, $15 journeyman level something all the way up to journeyman level something else @$35, etc. Now, with the Union jobs going away, thehre gettjng minimum wage cashiers, stockers, night crew, etc. There are STILL baggers in most stores, but they’re special needs hires for the most part.

So it USED to be the norm because bagging was how people got their time in to apply for Union jobs, and high school kids made their gas money... and now it’s because companies need the tax breaks for special needs hires.
 
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