Rushing at the Checkout: Grocery Shopping in Germany

[3:19] I'm looking for the word. Not biweekly, but fortnightly ... Our fortnightly release schedule. Because biweekly has two meanings. It can mean every two weeks, or twice a week, which is ridiculous.

Jae:
[3:29 ] I thought bimonthly was like every ... I thought bimonthly is like twice a month.

Manuel:
[3:34] Biweekly can mean both things, and the unambiguous fortnightly only means every two weeks.

Jae:
[3:40] Why fortnightly?

Manuel:
[3:42] Every fortnight. Every Fortnight.

Jae:
[3:44] What is a fortnight?

Manuel:
[3:46] Well, it's a game you can play! And it also means ... fortnightly ... D o you know vocabulary.com? It's a good dictionary! ... occurring every two weeks. And then we have the word-family. It comes from the word, fortnight, "A fortnight is 14 nights or two weeks."

Jae:
[4:07] Interesting. How did Fortnite get that ... ?

Manuel:
[4:09] "This word isn't used much in American English, but you'll come across it if you travel to England or read a lot of Bri'ish novels!"

Jae:
[4:18] Was that your British accent?! I'm not even going to laugh because I can't do it either. But yes. No, that made a good point: not in the American language. I'm like, What the hell is that? That sounds like a British word too. "Have a cuppa tea." Speaking of British ...

Manuel:
[4:32] So. Yeah!

Jae:
[4:36] It's not funny.

Manuel:
[4:37] I don't think we want to go down that road. I really don't think ...

Jae:
[4:41] Yeah, no, it's not funny. It's not funny.

Manuel:
[4:45 ] What is? What are you ... What are we talking about?

Jae:
[4:47 ] I mean, you know, stuff has happened in the last few weeks. Some people kicked the can, other people got into power.

Manuel:
[4:57] Way to be disrespectful, Justin, honestly!

Jae:
[5:01] How? Some people kicked the can. How is that disrespectful?

Manuel:
[5:06] Just anonymous people. I mean, people die every day. Oh my God, we're just collecting haters now. So biweekly, definition on vocabulary.com: "Things that happen biweekly usually happen once every two weeks. Or twice a week. Just to confuse you." This is ridiculous! This word has two meanings which are kind of almost the exact opposite.

Jae:
[5:31] That's very interesting. I wonder who ... But it makes sense on both sides of things, like I will understand biweekly, but then I also understand biweekly.

Manuel:
[5:40] Oh, so you mean it depends on how you stress the word? Biweekly and biweekly?

Jae:
[5:45] Yeah, also the context of the word, too.

Manuel:
[5:48] But if I tell you, our podcast comes out on a biweekly basis?

Jae:
[5:52] Yeah, that's just ....

Manuel:
[5:54] ... confusing!

Jae:
[5:55] Yeah. But that's obviously bimonthly. Bimonthly means ... Like I would say, bimonthly is like twice a month, biweekly is twice a week.

Manuel:
[6:01] But that's wrong. Bimonthly sounds ridiculous. We have a word for it: it's fortnightly.

Jae:
[6:05] That's such a weird long word that makes zero sense.


Manuel:
[6:18] True. Let us know. We don't get enough feedback. I think, I don't know, maybe we need a comment section on the website or something.

Jae:
[6:24] Yeah, or I mean, just DM us. Some people do that.

Manuel:
[6:27] Right. So today ...

Grocery Shopping

Jae:
[6:31] Actually to our topic of this episode ...

Manuel:
[6:33] We're talking about grocery shopping because it's exciting! It's on everybody's mind because it's getting expensive. Inflation is in full swing.

Jae:
[6:45] We live in such a great world, y'all, a great time to live, a great time to be alive! Inflation, pandemics, gas prices going up. What's next? Actually, I don't want to answer that one.

Manuel:
[6:57] I sense some irony in your voice. No, but honestly, I thought ... I mean, this is ... In a way, it sounds ridiculous to make an episode about grocery shopping, but I just want to go back to the original idea of this podcast, which is you, guys and girls, and ...

Jae:
[7:15] Non-binary they/thems ...

Manuel:
[7:16] ... and non-binary people. You're just our friends, and we just want to tell you as friends, like here's what you need to know when you're coming to Berlin. And this can include philosophical discussions like we had two weeks ago, but it can also be something very practical. And I think it is important to know how grocery shopping in Germany, in Berlin specifically, works, the kinds of different grocery stores that there are, what makes them different, and so on and so on.

Jae:
[7:48] That's actually a good point. I mean, I think our shopping is good. I think also once you live here or ... Answer this for me: do you have like your grocery stores that you will only go to?

Manuel:
[8:02] Yes. Yes.

Jae:
[8:04] I have mine too.

Manuel:
[8:05] More specifically, I have some that I definitely would not go to ...

Jae:
[8:09] Yeah.

Manuel:
[8:10] ... that I would rule out.

Jae:
[8:11] Which ones are that for you?

Manuel:
[8:12] Penny, for example ...

Penny & Netto

[8:13] I've never even been to Penny. It doesn't seem like ... It always, for me, it seems like a hardware store!

Manuel:
[8:15] Don't! And Netto. Penny and Netto are ...

Jae:
[8:21] Netto is ...

Manuel:
[8:22] We'll talk about the discount stores, and there's good ones and bad ones. And I would say Penny and Netto ... Although Penny recently introduced a bunch of vegan options, which I'm obviously interested in, but it's just ... Penny and Netto, like I'm all for discount cheap supermarkets, but they're overdoing ... like I do want to feel like welcomed. Like I do want to feel like someone's cleaning the floor on a fortnightly basis at least, you know! And it's just ... I don't know, I just walk in there, this sounds so snobby, but I just, when I walk into these stores, I just feel like it's dirty, I don't know.

Jae:
[8:59] Yeah. I also feel like every Netto that I've gone into, it's like random. You never know what you're going to be getting in, to that Netto. Like there is never a consistent ... Like, you know, when you go to like a Rewe, like I know exactly they'll always have these products. Every Netto that I've been to has been completely different.

Manuel:
[9:21] Okay. So let's go ... Like, so we started with Penny and Netto, which are basically kind of on the very cheap spectrum discount supermarkets and they ...

Jae:
[9:29] But they're not even that much cheaper.

Manuel:
[9:31] Yeah, well, yes. So it depends. I mean, they also carry, I think, some brand products, but they also have their own products and those are quite cheap.

Lidl & Aldi

Jae:
[9:41] But then Lidl and Aldi, for example, are also discount stores, and they are probably just as cheap, at least for their own products, and they're much nicer. Especially Lidl, it seems nice. Like it's clearly a discount ... like no one works there except for the ...

Jae:
[10:02] Exactly.

Manuel:
[10:03] ... Number One, except for the people that check you out. If you have any question, forget it, there's no one that will help you. And the people that you do see seem very stressed out, and that makes me feel a little sad sometimes. And it's not luxurious islands, like shelves, you know, properly made pretty, it's just the stuff there. But it's good, and especially now if you need to save some money. And Lidl as well has a really good selection of vegetarian/vegan products and I would say, in general, good quality stuff. As you may know from my other podcast, I like to read a monthly magazine where they do product reviews, Stiftung Warentest ... Don't roll your eyes at me!

Jae:
[10:53] Such a bottom-up thing to do!

Manuel:
[10:57] And very often their products come out, like their own brands that they, you know ... they come out on top. It's good quality stuff even though it's cheap.

Jae:
[11:07] Yeah. I would say I do like Aldi's, some of the Aldi's, though, are like weird and they don't have anything ... Like there's an Aldi right by my house and it has no cold beverages, which is such a random thing not to have.

Manuel:
[11:18] No, no, no, no, but no discount store has that, because that would cost more money, like they would have to put fridges and stuff in the store. And the idea is that you go there and you buy everything you need for the next week or two weeks, and you go home and you put it in your refrigerator. Like it's not a store where you go in to buy a cold drink and then go out and consume it immediately. That's the next category that we'll talk about. But Aldi, I just wanted to mention, I don't know if you know the history of Aldi, but Aldi was founded by two brothers and they're some of the richest Germans that exist, and they used to be the richest, I think. And they split the Aldi empire into two different companies, so there's Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd - north and south - and there's even like a word like Aldi Equator, like that's the border in Germany that separates the Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd territories.

Jae:
[12:13] Interesting. But what about the Aldi's in different countries?

Manuel:
[12:16] They split up the different countries among themselves. Like some countries have Aldi Süd and some countries have Aldi Nord.

Jae:
[12:21] So what does Berlin have?

Manuel:
[12:22] Berlin has Aldi Nord. And that's my point. Aldi Nord actually sucks. Aldi Süd is better.

Jae:
[12:28] Okay. I was going to say the Aldi's ... and I would probably guess that the Aldi's in the UK are Aldi Süd, because the Aldi's here don't have really anything, but the Aldi that I was at in Manchester, that one slapped! That one had every single thing that I needed. It was always cheap, every good price, yhey had cold beverages too, y'all, like it was really good. The Aldi's here, I'm like ...

Manuel:
[12:53] aldi.co.uk says: "Everyone at Aldi is saddened by the passing of Her Majesty the Queen as our longest reigning monarch. She left with grace and selfless devotion." How dare you make fun of ... ?!

Jae:
[13:06] I'm just saying I didn't make fun! I'm just saying someone kicked the can!

Manuel:
[13:12] Yeah. Okay, So Aldi, fine. I like Lidl. Aldi's fine. Avoid Netto and Penny, I would say. I mean, try them.

Jae:
[13:26] Okay, but let me say this, let me say this.

Manuel:
[13:25] I think we both haven't really tried them.

Jae:
[13:29] Don't ... If you like and your friends are like trying to get like, you know, drinks or beverages, like you guys are going to the park or whatnot, going to a parade or whatnot, don't go to Netto, don't go to Penny.

Manuel:
[13:38] No, don't go to any discount store. Go to ...

Jae:
[13:40] I mean you could technically go to Lidl and get like some wine or some alcohol or whatnot. You can't get that at Aldi at all. But I would say Lidl ...

Manuel:
[13:50] Lidl actually has great white wine.

Jae:
[13:52] Yes, yes, Lido does. So if you need alcohol or whatnot, I would say, go to Lidl.

Manuel:
[13:56] All right.

Rewe & Edeka

[13:57] Next, we have kind of the regular supermarkets, which there's two big chains which are: Edeka and Rewe. Are you an Edeka or a Rewe kind of guy?

Jae:
[14:06] I'm a Rewe kind of guy.

Manuel:
[14:08] Rewe kind of guy? I'm also a Rewe kind of guy. Why? We don't know.

Jae:
[14:11] I don't know. I mean, like there was one always closer to the first place I lived, and even where I live now in Neukölln, it's still like very ... like it's always very close. There's like two equally distant from me. And they're always very nice, and they always have like really good stuff. And their sushi is really good too, and their ready-to-go meals are actually really good as well.

Manuel:
[14:34] Right. They are like proper, make-you-feel-good supermarkets with nice music, nice layout, people working there that you can grab and ask questions, and ...

Jae:
[14:46] It's organized ...

Manuel:
[14:47] .Very organized ...

Jae:
[14:48] It's not expensive either.

Manuel:
[14:50] Huge selection ... Well, so they have expensive stuff, but then they also always have a cheap alternative, where like Rewe has like their own brand called Rewe Beste Wahl or something, and they have the Ja! products, I think, which are super cheap.

Jae:
[14:56] Yeah.

Manuel:
[15:05] So like they will have the way too expensive sugar, but then they will also have like the regular cheap sugar. So you have to be more careful, I guess, than you have at a discount store, but it doesn't mean that it has to be hugely expensive. I would say though, like vegetables and fruit and stuff are more expensive there than they are at the discount stores. Like sometimes I'm surprised at Lidl how cheap the vegetable there is, while it's still like super good quality.

Jae:
[15:36] Mm hmm. Yes, no, that's very true. But, yeah, I ...

Manuel:
[15:39] And ... Sorry, go ahead.

Jae:
[15:41] I was going to say, I think rather Rewe is just like a good just also, go-to, because you can really like get everything that you need. Like there was a Netto by my house and there was a Rewe by my house, they were very close. But if I went to Netto, I would always need to go to the Rewe, because the Netto would never have everything that I need.

Manuel:
[16:01] There's always like three things that you can't get there, and then you do go to the Rewe.

Jae:
[16:07] Exactly. And the Rewe, depending on the Rewe, they have a good vegan selection as well.

Manuel:
[16:12] Totally.

Jae:
[16:13] And like the ones that I've been to, they also are just pretty cheap, and they also have a good selection. Not a big selection, but some of them have a good selection of non-food products as well, like you can get your toiletries, you can get toilet paper, paper towels, cleaning supplies, deodorant, toothpaste, all that type of stuff there.

Manuel:
[16:31] Yeah, they always have the basics.

Jae:
[16:35] And I'm very impressed.

Manuel:
[16:36] And the big thing that makes me a Rewe kind of guy, is that they have a delivery service. And it is ....

Jae:
[16:43] I've never used the delivery service ...

Manuel:
[16:44] Oh my God, it is the most first-world, privileged kind of thing, like ordering your groceries on an app and then having someone come up your stairs, or in my case, at least I can offer them an elevator that they can use, and just bring you all the stuff. And it costs nothing! Like if it's a big order, it's free. And also it depends on the time window, but I'm usually home so I can put like a four-hour time window and then it's free. And if not, if you need to make it a shorter time window, it's like €2. And then please tip these poor people that do this really crazy job. But it's amazing because I always buy the same things, and in the app I just have the list of all the things that I always buy, and I just tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, and I'm done in 5 minutes. I don't have to go there. I don't have to come back. It is ... I mean, it it feels ridiculous, but it also ... I don't always do it, because I actually also have a big Kaufland near my place which ... Kaufland is like Rewe, but even bigger, it's like one of those bigger ...

Kaufland

[17:55] It's like closer to like a smaller Walmart maybe in the US, like they're quite big. And I like going there and spending half an hour or 45 minutes there and getting all my stuff and looking around. But in a busy week, it's just such a timesaver to not have to do that, and to just have someone coming and bringing everything. Edeka also has a delivery service called Bringmeister. It's like a another company that does their deliveries, it's Bringmeister for some reason. Not such great experiences with them. I don't know, like not terrible, but Rewe is just pretty much, like they come when it when they say they'll come, they usually bring the stuff that you ordered, and the people are nice, if you take into consideration that they have a really shitty job. Like I give them a lot of leeway if they're not so nice ...

Jae:
[18:49] Yeah. That's fair. That's very fair.

Manuel:
[18:50] And so that's pretty, pretty good, I think, if you're able to do this. Any other supermarket chains that we forgot? I mean, Kaufland is ... we mentioned.

Jae:
[19:03] There is a Veganz.

Veganz

Manuel:
[19:06] Oh right, so then there's, yeah, Veganz is like special because it's a completely vegan supermarket chain which ... they used to be in all of Germany but weren't successful.

Jae:
[19:20] Well, they're so expensive.

Manuel:
[19:21] And so now they only have, I think, two or three stores in Berlin, and I think only in Berlin they can do it, like there's not enough vegans in other cities to do it.

Jae:
[19:28] Yeah. And also, they pretty much only sell their products.

Manuel:
[19:32] Right, their products. It's crazy expensive but if you are vegan ... Like I don't go shopping there because it's too expensive, but they are almost the only place that has my favorite vegan butter, and they have some amazing vegan burgers that I just love, and some pizzas that you can't get anywhere else, so for those kinds of things, it's pretty good.

Denns

Jae:
[19:55] Yeah, there's also a Denns Bio.

Manuel:

[19:58] Right. Then there are the BioMärkte, the organic supermarkets, which ... there's Denns, which, they have one at Gesundbrunnen, which is open on Sundays, so this is my Sunday shopping option.

Jae:
[20:08] Really?

Manuel:
[20:17] Yeah, yeah, but it's full on Sunday because everybody does it. But yeah, you can ... like it's a proper supermarket, and they also have a good selection of vegan stuff and organic stuff, and it's also very expensive.

Bio Company

Manuel:
[20:28] And then there's some other Bio supermarkets, which ... Denns is a big one, Bio, I don't know what the ... Yeah they usually have "Bio" like in their name. Bio Company is like one of the other big ones, big chains.

Jae:
[20:44] Yes. Yes, that's the one I was thinking of.

DM & Rossmann

Manuel:
[20:46] Yeah. So, also we should probably mention the ... What would you call these, like DM and Rossman? Those are drugstores?

Jae:
[20:56] Yeah, yeah, I would call them drugstores. Those are like in America we have Walgreens and CVS or whatnot. But these stores you can generally find, I mean, just like your non-food products or like that. So you can get your makeup there, you can get like toilet products there, you can get ... not medication-medication, but like cough syrup and stuff. Yeah, vitamins, toilet paper, paper towels, baby stuff too, dog food, cat food, all that type of stuff.

Manuel:
[21:29] Yeah. And people ... It's really interesting to me, especially DM has like a fan following, and there's even like memes about it. I can put a link in the show notes to one of my favorite YouTubers who made this TikTok or Instagram video, where he was like, "Oh, I'm going to DM to just get toothpaste," and then he stops at all these different aisles because he's discovering ... Okay, I shouldn't ... Just watch the video! It's funny, but it's a thing that happens. Like you go into DM, just to get some toothpaste and then it turns out they have so many cool things that you then want, and they have all these ... They have, for example, organic or vegan scrambled egg alternative powder, which I discovered there and really like. And then sometimes they have ... like before Christmas they have all these Christmas things, and ... I don't know, it's hard to describe. They just ... It's not just toothpaste and toilet paper, like they have ...

Jae:
[22:26] They have a good selection of stuff, a variety of things. Like I was getting stuff because there was like gnats in my apartment or whatnot, and they had a really good selection of like bug stuff, like bug prevention type of stuff too. They have a good selection of air freshener type stuff too.

Manuel:
[22:39] Do you have bugs in your apartment?

Jae:
[22:41] Like gnats, you know, like whenever you have food and stuff like that, they're just like little gnats.

Manuel:
[22:44] Oh, the little fruit flies?

Jae:
[22:47] Yeah. We call them gnats. You guys not call them that?

Manuel:
[22:50] And there's ... Fruit flies. We call them Fruchtfliegen!

Jae:
[22:54] "Tomayto, tomahto!"

Manuel:
[22:55] And what ... ? What ... ? So I've never ... The only way I've ever fought them is by removing the fruit.

Jae:
[23:00] Well, you can get like little traps and stuff like that.

Manuel:
[23:03] Traps for fruit flies?!

Jae:
[23:94] Not traps, but like they have like fruit-fly stuff. Like there's like a Raid one, where you plug it in and they attract them. I guess it stops them, or whatnot, I don't know what it does

Manuel:
[23:16] Hmm. Interesting!

Jae:
[23:24] No, no, there is one for fruit flies, it's this specific type. Yeah, so I got those like at the DM. And also I would say - a very small thing - the DM website actually is very active. Like, you know, like typically, like a Gorsuch store website you would not rely on to like tell you things are in stock or not? The DM one actually will tell you if something is in stock or not.

Manuel:
[23:46] Right! How is it that they can figure this out, and no one else can?

Jae:
[23:48] Yeah! Like I was like: Okay, so I need to go to this specific one and not one that didn't have what I needed, and I'm like: None of the other stories that has that.

Manuel:
[23:51] This shouldn't be something we're surprised by, but it is surprising.

Jae:
[24:00] But it is! Yeah. I mean, like you just, like you never rely on the website to actually give you accurate information, but the DM one actually does. I'm very, very impressed.

Manuel:
[24:10] Sure. They even have an online store, like you can even order on the website.

Jae:
[24:13] Yeah, I noticed that too. What does DM stand for?

Manuel:
[24:16] I have no idea. You know, it's ... When I traveled the world, I traveled through East Europe first, to like a bunch of smaller countries in Eastern Europe, and I was surprised how far the DM empire reaches, because I was in countries where everything was already completely different, like there was nothing German about these countries at all anymore. And then randomly there was just a DM in the ... ! Like they really expanded into a bunch of different cities.

Jae:
[24:45] What's been like your favorite grocery store that you've ever been to in the world? Are, like where ... ?

Manuel:
[24:45] Oh, I will ... I have an answer for you. But first I want to tell you that DM apparently just stands for Drogerie Markt, which is drugstore, which is very boring!

Jae:
[25:00] So original!

Manuel:
[25:01] That is not original ... ! Well, I'm just scanning Wikipedia. Dude, when I went to the US and I went to Whole Foods for the first time: Oh, my God!

Not in Germany: Whole Foods

Jae:
[25:13] Whole Foods - that was actually founded in Austin, Texas. It's very big.

Manuel:
[25:16] My mind was blown. It's like a different universe, like this kind of thing doesn't even exist in Germany. It's like a paradise! Like this is what I always imagined waking up in paradise would be like. You wake up and there's these giant islands of fruit, perfectly arranged, and, I don't know, just every fruit looks perfect. And then they have this amazing sea salt chocolate, and all these different things.

Jae:
[25:43] Yes. So if you guys don't know what Whole Foods is, it's like a Bio, but like on steroids, essentially.

Manuel:
[25:49] Yes. Bio on steroids.

Jae:
[25:51] And like it was founded in Austin, Texas, so we have a lot of big ones there, and there's even one where we have a coffee section in it, and you can go upstairs and sit on the outside of it and literally work at the Bio ... at the Whole Foods, if you want to.

Manuel:
[26:10] It was bought by Amazon, no?

Jae:
[26:11] Yes, yes it was.

Manuel:
[26:12] And then Trader Joe's is also really nice.

Not in Germany: Trader Joe's

[26:14] Trader. Joe's! Oh, I love Trader Joe's. Shout out to Trader Joe's. That is my place! I love Trader Joe's to the max, like I am a loyal Trader Joe's guy.

Manuel:
[26:22] We love capitalism!

Jae:
[26:25] TJ's is just amazing and it has like a nice vibe to it as well, they have this like beach vibe to it. It was like more, like it was like a California thing, but it kind of has spread out. It was always ... it's like ... it's promoted as this cheap yet healthy alternative.

Manuel:
[26:43] Right. It's like Whole Foods, but a little bit cheap and a little bit ...Yeah.

Jae:
[26:45] Cheap and relaxed.

Checking Out at the Supermarket

Jae:
[26:47] And the cashiers always are so nice, they have conversations with you and stuff like that ...

Manuel:
[26:52] We should talk about that, like coming back to German supermarkets. See, this is a different ... I hear this so often from people moving to Berlin, that the checkout at the supermarket is one of their biggest, kind of, cultural shocks, because especially at the discount supermarkets, you are rushed as hell.

Jae:
[27:13] You are. You feel rushed too, and you're doing your own bagging as well.

Manuel:
[27:18] So in the discount supermarkets, the way it works is you don't even have time to put stuff into your backpack or bags or anything.

Jae:
[27:25] I'm so anxious!

Manuel:
[27:27] You just put everything back, like you basically shove it back into the cart, like you just let it drop back into the cart, and then you pay, and you get out of there. And then there's like a different section where you can ...

Jae:
[27:37] ... Put stuff like in your backpack bag. It is honestly one of the most anxious things. And then like ... but though like low-key though, I get anxious but then I'm also rushing the other person who is still packing their bags! I'm like, "Can you not do this over there?" It's like part of me is getting assimilated to the German rushing culture, but then also when I'm in that position, I get anxious. I'm just like, I try to bag my backpack as fast as possible.

Manuel:
[28:06] Yeah. See, yeah, arguably it's not a great system because at the normal supermarkets, the Rewe and stuff, you're not really supposed to put everything back into the cart, you're supposed to put it in your bags that you brought yourself, or otherwise you can buy expensive bags - but there are no one-time-usage bags anymore, or there are the paper bags, but you have to pay for those as well - so you bring your own bags, please. And then, yeah, there's usually like room for two customers at a time, but not really. So essentially it's expected of you to pack everything up as quickly as possible, so that by the time the last item is scanned, you are ready to pay, and everything's already in your bags and you're ready to go.

Jae:
[28:44] But it's so scary because it's like they're scanning ... you're trying to pack your bag, but you're also trying to get your phone out or your wallet out, so you can like tap your card or whatnot, and it's just like it's a lot in those two seconds, and the cashier does not give a fuck. She's just like - or he, she, or they - they're just like going, going, going, going, going ... "Your total is yada, yada," you know ... like, you know ... My card, bitte ... Tap your card or whatnot ... Receipt? ... No! ... and you have to like run! It is like ...

Manuel:
[29:08] Good summary! Good summary!

Jae:
[29:09] It's like Hunger Games!

Manuel:
[29:12] Yeah. I will say like the cashiers at Rewe and Edeka are more relaxed. Like if they notice you need more time, they will just wait. Whereas at Aldi or Lidl they could look at you or potentially even tell you like: Hurry the fuck up, we don't have forever!

Jae:
[29:27] Like we got to go. Yes.

Manuel:
[29:29] "Don't you see the line? Don't you see that I'm the only person working in this giant store?"

Jae:
[29:33] And everyone else is subconsciously rushing you as well. They may not say it, but they're ... Because I've done the same thing, you know, I've been on both sides of things. You know, another culture shock that was different, and this is not just in Germany but like a lot of just non-American countries, they get to sit down at the cashier spot. In America, people do not sit. Like did they have chairs whenever they like are doing ... like ringing up your order, whatnot? In America? No. Everyone is standing. You do not get to sit down while you are like ...

Manuel:
[30:05] But it makes no sense to be standing because, first of all, why? And second of all, it's even counter-intuitive because ... Ah, well, actually, yeah, no, it is intuitive, because maybe they want people to be on the same high level, because you are standing.

Jae:
[30:18] No, no. It makes no sense. It makes no sense for us, you can't justify that. It's just American culture.

Manuel:
[30:25] It's pretty bad.

Jae:
[30:26] And I'm just like: Why can't they sit? I mean, like, I don't have the problem like: I'm not working in that position, but I just thought it was so interesting, because like every other country I've seen here, they have seats.

Manuel:
[30:36] So self-checkout computers aren't like a huge thing in Germany yet, but the bigger supermarkets will have them.

Self-Checkout

Jae:
[30:43] Yeah, there's a Rewe like close to where I am at Hermannstraße, and they have a self-checkout little thing.

Manuel:
[30:50] And do you use it, or do you go to the person?

Jae:
[30:52] Yeah. Yeah, I ... If there's a self-checkout option I will always try to go to the self-checkout option.

Manuel:
[30:58] Yeah. See, it depends. If I have a good feeling about the self-checkout computers, in the sense that I believe that they'll be working, then I will do it.

Jae:
[31:06] Have they been broken?

Manuel:
[31:07] But yes, I mean, I don't know. It used to be so difficult because if you did one wrong thing or typed the wrong button, you would have to get someone working there to help you and then that would take forever. And many supermarkets used to do it - I don't know if it's still the case - where they would have in their system the exact weight of each article, and then the computer would expect you to scan it and then put it on the scale, and then it would confirm if the weight is correct, and only then would it let you continue. And this system does not work, because it works maybe if you buy three things and they're very kind of defined - chocolate bars or whatever - but as soon as you buy more, so that it doesn't really fit anymore, or you want to put your own bag there, it just breaks down.

Jae:
[31:55] Yeah, we have that.

Manuel:
[31:56] Like either trust people to check themselves out or don't, but don't do this weird hybrid where you're trying to track the weight of the ... Like it just ...

Jae:
[32:03] They do that in America where you have to like, if you have a bag, you have to weigh your bag first and then ... and it's a more difficult process. And then I have to get the person to come over and do whatever they have to do or whatnot. But I do like self-checkout, I mean, because I'm a fast person when it comes to self-checkout. I'm like in and out of the self-checkouts, like I'm faster at self-checkout than I am at the cashier trying to bag my own stuff. But some people, they take their precious time in the self-checkouts or whatnot. But I always just like ... I always like technology, so anytime I see like a little touch screen little thing, I'm like: Ooh! Fancy! Let me try it out!

Manuel:
[32:38] "Let me see what operating system this computer's running!"

Jae:
[32:42] Yes, yes. I'm like: English? Thank you. And let me keep going ...

Manuel:
[32:44] Ah, they have English? I didn't even think about that.

Jae:
[32:46] Yeah, yeah, yeah. They, whenever they have like at the front they always have the language things, so I always check English. But sometimes I can actually, you know, get by with my German, the Deutsch. I mean, I'm learning, I'm getting there.

Manuel:
[32:59] Let's talk about like paying for things.

Payback Card

Manuel:
[33:02] So do you use the stupid payback system card thing?

Jae:
[33:07] What is that?

Manuel:
[33:09] Okay. Have you never been asked for a Payback Karte when you checked out?

Jae:
[33:13] Maybe. I just probably say no, or whatnot. If I don't understand it, I just say no.

Manuel:
[33:17] Payback is this weird company, system, coupon, digital coupon collection system, where you can get like a Payback card and then you are collecting points. And many, many, many retailers and supermarkets are part of this, and I think DM definitely is, because they always ask me, and Rewe, I think, also might be. And basically the deal is you can always scan your card and then you get a few points. I think that you get like one cent on the euro or something, or half a cent, and then you can exchange those for stuff later, in exchange for the company being able to track exactly what you buy and have like a profile of your purchasing history and then selling that to advertisers and blah blah blah blah blah. Honestly, it's not worth it, don't do it. It's both the fact that you are giving away all of your privacy and data, and the fact that you have to always have to then take out the card and scan it. It's not worth it, like just don't do it. I will say there's some other legitimate ways to save money. For example, if you do the Rewe online ordering, or even in-store, I think, sometimes they have ... like they sometimes randomly email me if I haven't used it in a while, randomly they send me an email: Here's ... like here's €12 off your next ...

Jae:
[34:43] Oh really?

Manuel:
[34:44] ... your next order. And that's like €12. I mean that's a lot.

Jae:
[34:48] That's actually a lot. That's a lot.

Ticket Restaurant & Sodexo

Manuel:
[34:49] Yeah. And also some companies in Germany, especially like the bigger companies, participate in these food coupon systems, where you basically get a coupon for each day that you work, for like €7. And then the company pays half of that and it's supposed to subsidize your lunch meals. And many restaurants accept them, but also the big supermarkets, like especially Rewe and Edeka accept them, and Kaufland, so you can use them to do your grocery shopping if you happen to work at a company that issues those coupons. The one big one is called Sodexo, and the other one is called Ticket Restaurant [Pass], I think something like that.

Jae:

[35:36] Mm hmm. Are you a frugal person when you go shopping? Like do you try to find like the cheapest ... ?

How Much Groceries Cost

Manuel:
[35:41] No. Fortunately, I'm in the lucky position that I don't have to watch my grocery budget very closely.

Jae:
[35:42] Yeah.

Manuel:
[35:51] I do try ... Like I try to be reasonable, and I try, for example, to buy seasonally, also for environmental reasons, like I sometimes buy grapes if they're from like Egypt, but even then I feel like a little bit bad and I buy avocados, which I know come from far away and have a bad footprint. But I don't buy, I don't know, strawberries in the winter, when they come from halfway around the world, when I can just have them in the summer from Germany.

Jae:
[36:21] Mm hmm.

Manuel:
[36:22] So I do that. But otherwise I'm pretty ... yeah, I'm pretty non-frugal.

Jae:
[36:26] My toxic trait is I don't even look at the total purchase! I never look at the total purchase, I just tap my card and I go!

Manuel:
[36:36] Wait. You don't even realize how much you spent?

Jae:
[36:38] No, I don't. I don't.

Manuel:
[36:39] You don't know how much? You see, I was going to ask you this actually, like actually how much do you spend on groceries?

Jae:
[36:42] Well, actually, thanks to YNAB, You Need A Budget ...

Manuel:
[36:46] Rolling your eyes at me ...

Jae:
[36:49] ... I can actually tell you the average of what I spend a month on groceries.

Manuel:
[36:54] Me too. Let's compare.

Jae:
[36:56] Yes. Give YNAB a second to load ...

Manuel:
[36:59] YNAB - for the non-nerds - is a budget-tracking app called You Need a Budget, and we're both fans and use it. It's good. You should have a budget but ...

Jae:
[37:11] Hmm. Okay. Well, in August, I spent around €200 on groceries. In July, I spent almost €300 in groceries. Groceries go by fast for me, I think. And then in June, I spent €200 in groceries. So on average, I spend a good amount of money on groceries.

Manuel:
[37:41] Yeah. I mean, I think that's not that much. €50 a month seems very normal to me, especially ...

Jae:
[37:49] €50 a month?

Manuel:
[37:50] ... if you're not super frugal. A week. I mean.

Jae:
[37:52] Okay. I was going to say, I'm like ...

Manuel:
[37:53] No, no, €50 a week. I'm just checking mine now. Okay, so my grocery expenses ... it's a little blurry because it's not just for me, but I also don't always pay, but it's also somewhere between $200 and $350 a month, and that's, like I said, not really paying close attention. So I think you can ... If you're on a very tight budget, I think you could get by on probably €30 to €40 a week if you exclusively go to like Lidl or Aldi and really compare prices. And if you, yeah, if you're a little bit less frugal, €50 to €60 to €70 a week. It also depends obviously on how much you cook and stuff. If you go out a lot ...

Jae:
[38:49] Also what you're buying, too.

Manuel:
[38:51] Right. So it's hard to say, but in general, I think €50 or a week is maybe a good average.

Jae:
[38:59] Yeah. €50 to €60, I think. But do you feel that if you grocery shop, you eat out less? Because not for me.

Manuel:
[39:08] So I have the ... I'm in the lucky position that I live with my girlfriend who loves to cook. And I don't like to cook, but she cooks a lot, and so that kind of puts a cap on how much ... 'Cause I used to go out, like eat meals outside, twice a day, basically, for a long time.

Jae:
[39:30] That's the bachelor lifestyle.

Manuel:
[39:31] And that's expensive, even in Berlin and also not so healthy.

If You Can't Afford Groceries

[39:37] One other thing I wanted to mention or talk about is like what do you do if even these €30 or €40 a week are a bit much, right now? Like, what do you do if you basically can't afford to even go grocery shopping some weeks? The most famous, probably, service or organization that helps with this is Berliner Tafel. Like Tafel is an odd word. Tafel means chalkboard, but it also means table. So in this context it's table, and there's Tafel organizations in, I think, every German city, basically, and they live off donations, and specifically also donations from supermarkets and from bakeries and stuff, so I think a lot of bakeries at the end of the day, they will give their leftovers to this organization, or supermarkets will sometimes donate stuff that's about to expire. And then if you cannot afford to get groceries, you can basically go to the Berliner Tafel and stand in a queue and they will give you a bag of groceries for free.

Jae:
[40:47] But you don't get to choose the groceries.

Manuel:
[40:50] I don't know. We should invite someone on. I've never been myself. I think it depends. I think sometimes they just give you a bag, or sometimes you can choose. There's also other organisations that organise meals like breakfast and lunch and dinners for homeless people, which is also great, but yeah, there are some options. But even if you're not homeless, if you're not in a super dire situation but you really just can't afford the groceries for next week, then Berliner Tafel, I think, would be a good first point to kind of turn to.