Random Thoughts XI (Eleven Pipers Piping)

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Someone put flavored coffee in the pot at work.

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apparently it's now policy that we don't have snow days at work anymore. Never communicated, of course. You're supposed to work from home or take ETO. How nice for people without laptops.

All schools in the area are closed so I didn't even try driving in. That's normally one where they'd close because literally all the districts around us are closed. I sent my person home with their laptop last night and things to do, took mine as well and saying screw it. May get more done at home with no interruptions.
 
My hair is solid gray -- used to be blonde, then turned brown as I got older. Lucked out as my maternal uncles all still have a full head of thick gray hair. I do my own hair cutting -- #2 attachment for my clippers, and Wifey-Poo trims up the back.
 
I'm probably in the minority, but I shop Hy-Vee almost exclusively. Ours is huge - well-lit, aisles are wide, they have 12 registers plus the express lines, so hardly ever much of a wait.

As someone who has been in retail for the last 35+ years, I am always impressed by how well they train their employees. I have never had a bad experience with any Hy-Vee employee, plus they will always greet you, giving you a chance to ask a question or start a conversation.

I don't do Hy Vee because of prices and because Fareway is literally a mile away. Friends of mine live close to the west Hy Vee here in town and say it is changing--turning more into a Sam's Club. Pallets of items lining the aisles, oversized products instead of smaller regular size items. Don't think it is a corporate wide thing, but they were not happy with the changes. And for people who coupon/use their fuel saver it sounds like they recently changed the way they do sales and no longer get as great of benefits out of fuel saver. Just outside observations.
 
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Target is closest to us followed by Hy-Vee. We have been using Hy-Vee's online ordering more lately but it is a toss up which one she goes to if she is actually going to the store.
 
I've compared a lot of the items that I normally buy, and Hy-Vee isn't much higher than Fareway. Hy-Vee's selection is much larger - there are many things I regularly buy that I couldn't get at Fareway - and I typically get 30 or 40 cents off a gallon when I fill up from the Fuel Saver thing.

As far as the meat counter - I can't see a huge difference in the meat quality. Both stores cut meat fresh daily (what decent grocery store doesn't?), and both will custom cut on request. Frankly, I don't care for Fareway's fresh ground beef - it seems almost like paste.

I don't mind Fareway - the vixen grew up eating Fareway groceries, and she'd prefer I shop there - but Hy-Vee is much closer, and familiar. Plus they have the pharmacy, which is where we get our dope.
 
I'm probably in the minority, but I shop Hy-Vee almost exclusively. Ours is huge - well-lit, aisles are wide, they have 12 registers plus the express lines, so hardly ever much of a wait.

As someone who has been in retail for the last 35+ years, I am always impressed by how well they train their employees. I have never had a bad experience with any Hy-Vee employee, plus they will always greet you, giving you a chance to ask a question or start a conversation.

I obviously could go on and on about our store but the well trained part is the biggest hoot. I was making Oriental noodle salad and forgot to get a Napa cabbage at Fareway. The Hy-Vee checker, who has a tag that says he has been working there 8 years, rings it up as leaf lettuce. It was almost a three dollar difference. I point it out, he says he thought it was leaf lettuce all along for eight years. No wonder the prices so high to make up for loss from the stupid.

I asked three different people where lime juice was, none knew, only one looked and couldn’t find any.

The time husband went for topsoil on Sunday, they didn’t give him sale price, turns out they had not entered the sale prices for any of the ad that started Wednesday.

The worst is making the old handicapped people stand at the front of the store waiting for someone to help them out with their stuff.

It is what happens when a store has a monopoly in town. They even bullied the Dollar General manager for undercutting them on milk prices. When they opened a pharmacy, they told the two independent pharmacists in town that they would run them out of business so they should just go work for them.
 
I obviously could go on and on about our store but the well trained part is the biggest hoot. I was making Oriental noodle salad and forgot to get a Napa cabbage at Fareway. The Hy-Vee checker, who has a tag that says he has been working there 8 years, rings it up as leaf lettuce. It was almost a three dollar difference. I point it out, he says he thought it was leaf lettuce all along for eight years. No wonder the prices so high to make up for loss from the stupid.

I asked three different people where lime juice was, none knew, only one looked and couldn’t find any.

The time husband went for topsoil on Sunday, they didn’t give him sale price, turns out they had not entered the sale prices for any of the ad that started Wednesday.

The worst is making the old handicapped people stand at the front of the store waiting for someone to help them out with their stuff.

It is what happens when a store has a monopoly in town. They even bullied the Dollar General manager for undercutting them on milk prices. When they opened a pharmacy, they told the two independent pharmacists in town that they would run them out of business so they should just go work for them.

Wow, that's pretty bad. I always felt Hy-Vee was a true "Iowa" business, and they were good neighbors.....but I'm sure success and greed could spoil anyone. Many of the Hy-Vee employees here are good friends of mine, some are fellow church parishioners. They have been smart about growing their business, but if they are going to get pushy and demanding that would probably color my buying choices.

Just out of curiosity, where do you live? I'm in Fort Dodge. (@jcyclonee and @Angie and @NWICY are CFers I know from this area originally.)
 
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The price comparison.

Son did this with a gallon of milk for a school project.

Neighboring town has Hy-Vee, Fareway, and Walmart. Even their Hy-Vee was over a dollar less than ours. Lowest was Fareway, followed by Walmart.

Even a high school checker at Fareway can identify a parsnip. Still waiting for one to figure it out at our HyVee.

I almost wonder if HyVee changed their ad system since Fareway will match any sale.

I asked for a pound of deli meat at our HyVee, the scale said 1.72 and dude asks if it is ok if it is “a little” over. I ask for a pound at Fareway, gonna be well within a tenth.
 
apparently it's now policy that we don't have snow days at work anymore. Never communicated, of course. You're supposed to work from home or take ETO. How nice for people without laptops.

All schools in the area are closed so I didn't even try driving in. That's normally one where they'd close because literally all the districts around us are closed. I sent my person home with their laptop last night and things to do, took mine as well and saying screw it. May get more done at home with no interruptions.
Don't they have a VPN so they can RDP into their desktop at work from their home PC?
I never bring my laptop home. I just RDP into it from home with my personal PC.
 
Wow, that's pretty bad. I always felt Hy-Vee was a true "Iowa" business, and they were good neighbors.....but I'm sure success and greed could spoil anyone. Many of the Hy-Vee employees here are good friends of mine, some are fellow church parishioners. They have been smart about growing their business, but if they are going to get pushy and demanding that would probably color my buying choices.

Just out of curiosity, where do you live? I'm in Fort Dodge. (@jcyclonee and @Angie and @NWICY are CFers I know from this area originally.)

It's been almost four years since I've been to The Diggity! Go to Taco Tico today for me, por favor.
 
Never been to taco tico. Is their taco meat supposed to be special. I was at a meet at St Edmonds and they had signs about using their meat.
 
I've compared a lot of the items that I normally buy, and Hy-Vee isn't much higher than Fareway. Hy-Vee's selection is much larger - there are many things I regularly buy that I couldn't get at Fareway - and I typically get 30 or 40 cents off a gallon when I fill up from the Fuel Saver thing.

As far as the meat counter - I can't see a huge difference in the meat quality. Both stores cut meat fresh daily (what decent grocery store doesn't?), and both will custom cut on request. Frankly, I don't care for Fareway's fresh ground beef - it seems almost like paste.

I don't mind Fareway - the vixen grew up eating Fareway groceries, and she'd prefer I shop there - but Hy-Vee is much closer, and familiar. Plus they have the pharmacy, which is where we get our dope.

A couple of staples like milk and eggs are actually cheapest at Target for me. Milk has been under $1.90 a gallon forever at Target, plus with their Carwheel app it is another 5% off. Eggs at Target just went over $1, they used to be .89 cents.

We have been spoiled with ground beef from a locker for 20 years now. Used to be beef raised by my dad, now that he is retired they still buy their ground beef from the same locker when they have their big meat sales. Then they are generous enough to share. :)
 
A couple of staples like milk and eggs are actually cheapest at Target for me. Milk has been under $1.90 a gallon forever at Target, plus with their Carwheel app it is another 5% off. Eggs at Target just went over $1, they used to be .89 cents.

We have been spoiled with ground beef from a locker for 20 years now. Used to be beef raised by my dad, now that he is retired they still buy their ground beef from the same locker when they have their big meat sales. Then they are generous enough to share. :)

Yeah I would shop some at Target when we lived in WDM, but don’t have one anywhere close now.

Right after I bought two of the ten pound tubes of 93% at Fareway for $2.99 a pound, those peeps gave us a quarter side for our boys helping their kid raise his math ACT from 23 to 32, so I got beef for a while lol.
 
Yeah I would shop some at Target when we lived in WDM, but don’t have one anywhere close now.

Right after I bought two of the ten pound tubes of 93% at Fareway for $2.99 a pound, those peeps gave us a quarter side for our boys helping their kid raise his math ACT from 23 to 32, so I got beef for a while lol.

This will show my cheapness. I was at target getting the 90% ground beef. 85 is too fat and 93 was more expensive for what I wanted. I then looked at the price of 85 - way cheap, and 93 - not much more than 90. So I bought a pound of each to make 89 for way less than the 90%. Biggest problem was explaining it to the wife and the reasoning behind it. She doesn’t look at prices, takes the first she sees that is the same she wants.
 
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