no surprise given the infomercial running on ACA tonight telling us how successful the campaign has been
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Successful? Or did they just have too many of the toys left over?
Considering Woolworths has blamed declining sales on little shop (and plastic bags), I would assume theyāve done pretty well with it.
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Maybe try reading the article, sales have not declined. Sales growth is softer so far this year compared with last year and that is attributed to four factors not just the two you mentioned.
Iām sure the promotion has achieved what they had hoped but the ACA report and other media coverage has been gushing today. The promotion has been extended āwhile stocks lastā so clearly they still have toys left over and and are trying to get rid of them. It would be a different matter if they had ordered a second run, were launching new products to collect and were pushing on for another 6 weeks.
The popularity has nothing to do with ACA/Project etc doing stories on itā¦ it was already a craze prior to that. The miniās really exploded both on social media and in schools (for both kids and parents). Everywhere I look online people are looking for them. People are even trading them at work. I havnāt seen anything like this before and reminds me of the Tazos/Pog days when I was in primary school.
Extending it I donāt think will make it any bigger as most people I know who are into it have completed or are close to completing the set now. However an extra week will really help some people finish it off. I completed mine last night. I had not originally intended to collect them but after a few shops I had a pile with no repeats so decided I might as well try and finish it off. What Coles really need to do is make more of the cases as they are completely sold out and apparently not making any more of them. Iāve also heard rumours that a new set will come out later in the year (NZ have one with different products so it could be that).
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Good move, champ. Aldi have been charging for bags forever. 
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In Aldi you not only pay for your bags but you pack them yourself. Mind you this is after you have been waiting at the one open checkout for 45 minutes. Itās a very Soviet Union shopping experience.
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If you go right on 8:30am weekdays and after 7:00pm there is usually no waiting. 
Is it true that Aldi change a fee for you to use a credit card in their stores?
I never shop at Aldi as I am too busy to line up in one of those queues. Mind you I suppose I could close my eyes and pretend I was in Disneyland.
Here is a video I took this morning of my local Aldi in Darlinghurst:
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I think they do but Iāve never paid by credit card there. No charge for EFTPOS
Yes, its 0.5% but I just choose Savings and theres no fee
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I have never shopped at Aldi as their brands are an unknown quantity for me.
Similarly, I also rarely buy the āHome Brandā kind of stuff from Coles or Woolies. I prefer to pay a bit extra for a known brand.
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I unashamedly love Aldi. 
My local is not as busy as the other stores, so I can pop in any time, and thereās little to no queue.
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I was just at an Aldi I donāt normally go to, and they didnāt have any bags available to buy. The guy said they had run out. The shelves where the bags should have been were covered in dust, so I wonder if they are using that store as a test to stop supplying bags elsewhere if it works there.
You may be a little confused. I believe that Aldi sell dust and this shelf was not at all empty.
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I was in Aldi yesterday and a guy grabbed a box of biscuit packets, dumped all of the packets on the floor, then threw them back on the shelf and put the box in his trolley. I guess it was his way of getting around buying bags but is that usual Aldi etiquette?
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I think that most of Aldiās products are very decent and certainly good value for money. There are some products that are really dodgy and I refuse to buy (e.g. the āvalueā ice cream tubs), but Iād say that a good 90% of the shop has stuff thatās on par with branded lines.
The problem is that Aldiās opening hours are quite short and the store is not set up in a way that lets you do anything other than a weekly shop without hassle (e.g. there are no shopping baskets).
With regards to that Soviet supermarket comparison youāre making, I donāt think the main complaint about those shops was that the experience was dull and drab - Iām pretty sure the lack of food supply was the problem. If they had every shelf stocked with food not too many people would complain. It really doesnāt look that different to a tired old Franklins or IGA if you removed all the shelving units due to a shortage of food.
Youāre perfectly entitled to use old boxes for shopping, but I donāt think you can just fling all the goods on the floor to grab the box.
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Admittedly most supermarkets Iāve been to seem to have the same problem. Almost like they donāt want to pay for more staff 
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ALDI donāt have those automated checkouts, do they?
thatās half the joy of it. Finding out what sucks and what doesnāt. And finding out what is just as good as the ābrandā names at Coles/Woolies but is half the price 
TBH I find their queues zip through quite quickly. If the queues get too long they will call on other staff to open the other check outs.
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