A poster is thinking Lidl's produce (HEVI) is filled with poisons - and also that they have lousy labor policies.
My last post on the wrongly named topic was this - I thought it might be a place to start a new topic which might be around the subject of Lidl and what I think is a lack of competition in the food trade (among others) in Finland
penelope » Sun Jul 25, 2010 10:59 am
Well, at least Lidl is employing people (and many of those they employ would otherwise be unemployed eg foreign students) and it is a growing chain in Finland opening up proximity stores in places where there is not much else. Any competition is welcome in Finland where there is effectively a quasi-monopoly by S-group (which would probably not be legal in most other European countries), so it is nice to have a choice. And that is what it is, a choice. Whether you choose to shop there or not is your privilege as a customer. I like their pricing, I like the fact that parking is free, I like the fact they don't have loyalty cards, I like the fact that I can get reasonably good fruit and veg and even Freetrade produce (tea, coffee, orange juice, chocolate) and organic food (flour, ketchup) as well as the usual Finnish staples. I can't afford to shop daily for 5 in Ekolo or Ruohojuuri...
What do you mean when you say there are no "proper markings" for organic produce in Finland?
http://www.evira.fi/portal/fi/kasvintuo ... omumerkki/
http://www.hepuli.com/tietopankkidrupal/node/1
penelope
Posts: 7458
Joined: Fri Jan 02, 2004 12:07 am
Location: Espoo
I have to basically agree.
There is the question of Lidl's employment policies - but as far as I know they follow the law and Finland has some of the planet's most employee-favorable laws.
It probably acts as an entry place for young workers - just as McD's - nothing wrong with that. I started life getting 1$ for sharpening 400 knives in the US - I survived.
WalMart also 'exploits' labor - but there are good chances to learn and move on.
As for Lidl's position on the market - one should be pretty thankful they exist. It has been the ONLY SIGN of life in what his supposed to be a competitive market.
Kesko just announced huge profits - S-Group officials get very nice salaries - both think they are God's Gift to the Cionsumer by overcharging 20-40% -- and then giving you back 1-2% if you continue to let yourself be robbed.
There are a lot of not-so-good Lidl products - but they are mostly in the processed category - but that's the same for the traditional junky Finnish processed stuff - be it Saarioinen, Atria, etc.
Some items are dodgy and I wonder about their 'marketing' - they claim Iltalehti has given #1 Taste to their green Belarom coffee - tried it and I can still taste the bitterness.
On the other hand I tried their new (Velbo?) Black Label Emmenthal - and while did not A-B it with Valio it certainly tasted great and was 12€ kilo - not Kesko's 40-50-60% higher for Valio. There are a LOT of products like that - one just has to use their own sense of taste etc. And KNOW HOW TO COUNT!
Lidl's vegetables are on the whole as good as any in the K-S system. CM Sello has a good selection and controls mostly for freshness - they just could drop prices by 50%! Lidl is also fairly adventurous with selling items beyond potatoes and turnips - this is a welcome change to the usual where a 'budget' approach avoids anything outside the mainstream taste of a culture.
I noticed that Aldi has now started in US too - and they are all over Europe - so maybe they start here.
Rather than be concerned with Lidl's employee policies - perhaps a responsible Finnish citizen should more wonder how K and S have managed to keep competition OFF the Finnish market and penalize everyone with high prices! Tesco has been kept out - Lidl had a hell of a fight - and in another field everyone should know about the rotten politics that was used to keep IKEA out! Finland supposedly scores high in anti-corruption numbers - but still SOMEHOW the local big shots prevail!
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