7 Tips for Supermarket Survival
Supermarkets eh? My mum remembers when supermarkets were first introduced – what a novelty it was to be able to pick up and choose the items yourself without having to ask a guy in the brown overalls behind a counter to fetch you a dozen eggs or a pound of sugar.
Nowadays many people see supermarkets as a necessary evil. ‘Necessary’ because, by human nature, we want the convenience of buying all our things in one place and we want to pay low prices. ‘Evil’ because they tend to promote harmful/unsustainable farming techniques, they squeeze small suppliers and competitors out of the market and ultimately lead towards monopolies which are not in the interests of the consumer (phew!).
Still, if you live in a city then you have to be either very rich or very dedicated to the cause to avoid supermarkets altogether. And although I love traditional markets (and use one near my home once a week), I do most of my shopping in a supermarket near work. The following are my top 7 supermarket survival tips:
1. How much is it?
You may find yourself asking this question a lot. Although some items are priced, many are not. Someone told me that this is because in the past, when inflation was really bad, prices would change so quickly that it wasn’t worth displaying them on the products (I’m not sure if this is true). Anyway, first tip. Take the product of unknown value and look for one of these:
In many supermarkets, these scanners are dotted around the aisles. Scan the barcode and the display will show you the price. |
2. Pre-weigh or weigh at the cashier?
This tip will help avoid public humiliation and wasted time. In some supermarkets the cashiers will weigh your fruit and veg at the cash register. But in others, there is someone to weigh and price your items separately, next to the fruit and veg section. You do not want to discover you’re in one of these latter places when you get to the till after queueing for 20 minutes. The shoppers behind you in the queue will not appreciate waiting for you to go off and have your potatoes weighed.
Check for these before going off to queue at the cashier. |
3. Avoid Imported products
Some imported items are really expensive here in Rio (and presumably the rest of Brazil). Three that immediately spring to mind are wine, decent beer and pine nuts (100g of pine nuts cost around £13 or $20!). It makes me sad that I have to ration my consumption of all three of these items.
Pine nuts or as my wife calls them, ‘elegant peanuts’. Elegant: yes; affordable: no! |
4. Some Items are Cheap
OK, so you had to cut back on wine and pine nuts. But you can console yourself with Cachaça! You can get a really decent bottle of aged cachaça for around £10 or a standard bottle for far less.
Cachaça = delicious and affordable. |
5. Avoid the priority line
Another humiliation avoidance tip. There is almost always a line that gives priority to the elderly, people with children, disabled and so on. Don’t go standing in this queue unless you are sure there are no old people (etc) about. It may lead to a public telling off and being sent in disgrace to another queue!
6. Just say No to the first question they ask you
Most supermarkets have a loyalty card scheme. Assuming you aren’t signed up and also that you don’t speak Portuguese I will warn you now that the first thing they will ask you is “Do you have a loyalty card?” (in Portuguese). Just say No, and then you can carry on without any further bother. Originally I had no idea what they were saying and I would say “What?”. This led to confusion, nervous laughter and the establishment of the fact that neither of us spoke each other’s language. Take it from me, just shake your head and things will be far simpler.
Cartão Zona Sul? Cliente Mais? – The correct response is: Não! |
7. Don’t expect anyone to be in a hurry
Often customers and staff are fairly quick about scanning and bagging items. But the actual payment takes ages. The tills rarely have much money in them, so the cashier may have to request more change from a colleague. If payment is with card then everything seems to grind to a halt. And in general there is a distinct lack of urgency. Don’t stress – waiting patiently is a skill that you will have to develop if you plan to spend any time in Brazil.
Don’t get all foot-tappy whilst you wait in the queue. It won’t make it move any faster – people will just think you need a pee. |
Tom,
I don't know who told you that about "not pricing items" because of inflation, but they must be younger and did not really experience the real years of bad inflation in Brazil.
In the years of rampant inflation ( late 70's and early/mid 80's ), we used to watch supermarket employees reprice merchandise daily, sometimes twice a day. They had these hand held price tag machines that were an infamous symbol of the inflation years in Brazil.
So, most people would go to the stores early in the day and try to beat the "price tag" machine guy to the isles of their desired products and the supermarket employees, trying to beat the crowds and the price increases, would re-price only the products in front of the shelves first, and then go back and re-price the products in the deep end of the shelves.
Well, needless to say, savvy consumers quickly picked up on the practice and started going on scavengers hunt for cheaper priced products in the deep end of shelves…!!! :)
It was pure madness I will tell you!
Keep in mind this was in the late 70's and early 80's when only a few stores had the advancement of bar codes…inflation reached a peak of 80% daily!!! You heard me right, that meant if you bought something for 100 today, it cost 180 tomorrow!!!
Bar codes became all the rage in the years inflation reached it's peak and then inflation went away completely in the 90's when all the stores finally already had efficient bar code systems in place.
That doesn't mean cost of living has remain the same. It has all really gone downhill since the late 90's until now.
I am shocked every time I go to Brazil and see how absurdly expensive everything is right now.
Hope we go back to the good old days of normal prices.
Ray
you should get a loyalty card ! its good!
Thanks for that Ray, that is an amazing story – 80% inflation is hard to imagine. I know all too well what you're saying about how expensive everything is. When I consider things on a Price vs Wage basis, Rio feels at least as expensive as London. In fact I read this article in Globo recently which said that Rio is now the 22nd most expensive city in the world (with SP and Brasilia not far behind).
http://g1.globo.com/economia/noticia/2011/12/rio-de-janeiro-e-2-cidade-mais-cara-das-americas-diz-consultoria.html
Anonymous – you are 100% right. I know I should. I know! I tell myself everytime I go to the supermarket. I'm actually not very loyal and switch between supermarkets quite regularly, but I guess it wouldn't do any harm to have a loyalty card from each. Then I could answer "Sim!" :D (although maybe "Tenho!" would be better…)
Pine nuts are expensive in the NL too. Years ago one little amount of 50g would cost one euro. Now the same ammount is almost 2 euros. I am almost giving up making my own pesto. Maybe cashew nuts are a good substitute ?
Expensive in NL too? Hmmm, perhaps pine nut prices are rising around the world. Maybe I should invest! ;)
I tried cashew nuts and it's OK, but nowhere near as good yummy as a pine nut version. My Dad has suggested Brazil nuts (castanha do para) so I may try them one day. But luckily for me some friends visited recently and brought out 3 packs for me – here is the result:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150476417477456&l=d756c54f6c