Jana Southerner here, the sign says Supermarket but never heard anyone say that, it's the grocery store

Yeah I’m also in the Bay Area and I’ve always used supermarket and grocery store interchangeably.

Same for me in Kansas

I have always used them interchangeably too. Some of my friends use supermarket to refer to places like Walmart, Kroger, and Meijer and used grocery to refer to places like IGA and Aldi's.

@@georgeworley6927 Aldi would be considered a supermarket in the UK aswell (Well it is I should say)

It is called impulse buying. Most stores make ALOT of money on these items. It is a marketing ploy. Same with candy at checkout/till area.

Simply because getting cold items at the end makes the most sense.

A major reason for cold items are in the back of the store because running electrical lines to the front or the center is illogical. The shorter the distance for the lines allows for cheaper costs by contractors. This is passed onto the consumer. Second reason is due to stocking. The shorter the distance with refrigerated goods to the coolers lessens the chance of spoilage. If people can blame a store for food poisoning then you have a lawsuit. Lawsuits are passed onto the customers. Everything has a price.

Excluding Walmart most good for you foods are on the outer perimeter of the store. Take a left at a Safeway and it takes you to the fresh fruit, vegetable and nuts. Next is dairy and then meat and bread after that. All processed foods are in the inner isles. When working there I was told those are highlighted because their sales are what brings in the most amount of shoppers.

@@loriwyoming835 I was referring to traditional grocery stores not the modern ones. Anything is possible with modern refrigeration and electrical wiring. Plus imagination. On the other hand logic dictates to buy cold items last before heading to the register.

Rice Krispies are the cereal bar version of the same cereal in Australia, also under the name LMC- this doesn’t actually stand for anything

LOL, yes I'm Australian and was similarly shocked to see our 'rice bubbles' on an American show called rice krispies LOL

Often it's some kind of trademark issue. The name in one country cannot be used in another. Sometimes it's a "translation" problem. The meaning in one country is something else in another.

@@GaelinW Right, "krispies" could mean something unspeakably nasty in Australia, lol. And given the words that they routinely use over there, that is frightening, lol.

Btw, I read something funny somewhere that described Australians as being "British Texans". I'm American, and I can vouch for there being a lot of truth in this, lol. And FYI, that description is complimentary to both Australians and Texans.

When I was a kid, back in the 70's, here in the North East, there was a similar store called Majors. It combined a discount department store with a supermarket. Their stores were pretty big, but not as big as a Walmart. They even had a pet department, so you could buy a dog, a set of tires and all your groceries in one stop. Korvettes, also a big chain of department stores, had an affiliated supermarket chain called Hill's. The difference was they were two different stores, usually right next to each other, instead of one big store. You'd have Korvettes and next door would be Hills. They went out of business some time around 1980.

@@RRaquello In the late '50s there was a chain of stores in New Orleans called Schwegmann's, it was as big as a Walmart and besides groceries it sold clothes, records, other kinds of general merchandise, had its own label of scotch and bourbon, had a huge fresh seafood counter, and it had a barber shop, shoe repair, accountant, a bar, and other services on an upper mezzanine level. It went out of business in the '90s.

Agreed. I do not buy food at Walmart, I go there for shampoo and other sundries.

Yes, I remember being a teen when my town got a super center. And it was so confusing to me that you'd buy food where you can get everything else. We used it when it became the only real store. But then we moved to a small town. That has a Safeway's with shelving to the ceiling. It's so nice 😍 I never knew I could love a grocery store.

@@dialishious93 I've shopped in Safeways, and never felt anything as warm as like. But then, I'm from the city that birthed Wegman's. We take our grocery shopping pretty seriously, here. Even so, I was ecstatic when we got a Trader Joe's.

Lol

I thought cannibalism was illegal.

In Nepal sour cream and onion Lay's are called American style onion and cream.😆

And they are cool original in England

If apple pies are made from apples and cherry pies are made from cherries, what are Eskimo pies made from?

Not the walk from the car so much as the long walk from the entrance to the pharmacy always located 150 yards away at the rear of the store.

My wife typically parks so far from the entrance we might as well have just walked from the house.

​@@Robob0027 pharmacy in the back of Walmart? Where? Every Walmart I have been in the pharmacy is in the front.

@@cp368productions2 This may be the case in the USA and perhaps only apply to Walmart stores. In the UK they are almost always at the rear of the store and in South Africa, where I now live, every large pharmacy, and we have only 2 chains, Dischem & Clicks, they are always at the back of the store. Walmart do own a large SA conglomerate but have no pharmacy sections. We hoped that we would get Walmart prices and service but ended up with them using the management and systems already in place.

Felt 😂

Yeah, I was looking for muffins to toast for breakfast but was led to some rather tasty and calorific looking cakes. Not sure how to slice those into the toaster but I bought some anyway 😂

LOL. I'm so confused ( it never takes much) The girl was British and sent her British parents to buy biscuits (cookies) but couldn't find them in the cookie aisle, so did they want a brand of cookies they couldn't find, or actually were looking for popin' fresh type american biscuits usually found in the refrigerated dairy aisle ? ? I would have stayed in the cookie aisle or gone to visit the international foods aisle, they usually have popular products from around the world. At any rate, thanks for helping them out to find whatever biscuits or cookies were needed. It's always nice to be nice 👍

I believe that in GB and Europe, eggs are not washed making them safe to keep on counter. In usa. Eggs are washed for “ sanitary reason” washing removes the protective covering

@@lindawhitcomb6939 yes. I just never understood why eggs were washed if the protective coating helped keep them fresher ??? What's sad about USDA eggs bought in the stores is the yolks are always so pale and sickly looking. Give me unwashed country eggs from happy cluckers any day !!!

I'm American and I've never heard of biscuits being anywhere near the eggs and yogurt let alone an eggs/yogurt /biscuit isle.

Yep.. And the layouts and selection are very much based on the region they are at.

I have always made a distinction between grocery stores for mainly food and home necessities, versus supermarkets which have a lot more clothing and home goods selection.

I've also heard Mega-Mart but that was only Alton Brown.

I am in the south they are Grocery stores

@@SantosZox Grocery stores are small. Supermarkets are large. Supermarkets don't necessarily carry much more than food and home supplies. Often, rural grocery stores will carry things like fishing lures and tackle and tourist crap. The usual distinction between a grocery store and a general store is that a grocery store will carry more perishable stuff like produce.

Yes, the UK trolley has 4 wheels that rotate, whereas the US only has the front 2 wheels that rotate. I love being able to glide my cart in the UK!

They're not referred to as trolleys in the US. They're called carts or buggies. Cart mostly in the north, buggy mostly in the south. I've lived extensively in both areas of the US.

Matters are not helped any by the theft-prevention schemes some chains implement which cause the front wheels to lock up when the cart is moved past a certain line in the parking lot. The Store manager typically has a small electromechanIcal or RF "key" to restore the cart's functionality, but the keys get lost or the managers don't bother.

Trolleys don't have that bottom shelf for large items like paper towels and bleach. That really helps, along with the fact that all 4 wheel turn instead of only the front 2 like you find in the US. Sigh, I always get the cart that's been run over in the parking lot until the squeak is ear piercing and it only steers in a quasi-straight line.

Deadly Squirrel It becomes a problem in NYC where the cart you shop with and the cart in which you take your purchases home are both called shopping carts. And as soon as you hit the suburbs, no one knows that the second one even exists.

I've never left the US, and I'm still stunned when I see yet another Oreo variety. Just the other day I saw pink ones. WTF?

We have bourbon biscuits, why would we want Oreos at all? I know which I prefer and they're a fraction of the price 😉

Ooo! Red, white, and blue ones are coming out for July 4! Not in US, but in Japan they have amazingly different kinds of Kitkat bars.

As a Ex Pat I realise that the UK has more choice in cookies chocolates and cheese than the US as well as seafoods

@@garrys8314 I definitely envy the cheeses. And I hope the plenteousness of seafood continues even with the Brexit adjustments.

I feel like that layout strategy almost backfires in a lot of cases. When I go to the store, I go straight for what I need and ignore everything on the way. I'm so used to having to walk past everything, I don't even give it any thought.

@@drakedbz That's why they occasionally alter the layout to keep you guessing.

So you must be 65 years old at minumn?

@@robertbrawley5048 nope, I'm 56 and I remember Esso stations in N.C. when I was little.

In Canada it's Esso.

Once upon a time it was Oklahoma, Humble and some other name I can't recall. My dad owned a gas station in the '50s, that's how I remember that much.

@Sparky Puddins 29 cents in 1970 equals $2.00 today.

Not in other countries, because unfortunately I've never been outside the US, but I have been to New Jersey. As my SIL drove me out of Newark to her home elsewhere, I could not believe the litter. Another odd thing was ppl in black cars creating their own lane out of the right hand verge on the 'Garden State's Parkway or whatever; no left turn lanes, you had to turn right and use what they called a jug-handle; and the narrowest lanes for traffic I've ever seen. But as for Grocery Stores, I go to them every where I can bc they are all mostly different. Wegmans in Woodbridge(or one of it's 10-12 townships, each with a different name) had the widest variety of foods from all over the world and not just on the shelves...I'd never seen a flipping olive bar before! They had freshly cut or killed meats, prepared dishes, strange produce even. And then on the other side, it was unfortunately like a Walmart. But that was so cool. I could've spent hours in there just looking at everything. Even the Walmarts are different bc of the unions up there. We went to a Wally WITHOUT a meat department! Because it was within so many feet of a butcher shop. OMG. You are not in (previously civilized home region of the country) anymore.

I travelled a lot in my life and that is one of the simple joys; to just seeing and appreciating the differences.

I’ve never left North America, but I loved Wegmans went I went to Pennsylvania.

Q sweets, you GOTTA go to Wegmans!

what a waste of time

This is the way we have fun annoying my future British son-in-law, the great biscuit vs cookie debate.

The US's biscuit is a direct descendant of the British scone.

@@genab2539 exactly, the us biscuit is really a neutral scone introduced to the south by scottish immigrants. currants and raisins were scarce and expensive in those days so they made their scones without sweet fruits, eventually they stopped cutting the ball of dough into 4 wedges and started rolling out the dough and cutting it into circles or dropping the dough into mounds on a baking sheet.

Thankfully, sawmill gravy has nothing to do with sawdust, however. :D Likewise, red-eye gravy.. -- Biscuits (American) are wonderful. I'm apparently so Southern, one of the first things my mom and dad taught me how to cook was pork chops and gravy. But on the other hand, their version of spaghetti sauce, so I suppose the analogy falls apart somewhere in there, haha. No, I can't claim it's southern Italian. :D

What is sawmill gravy?

I think the reason they are washed is not to remove the outer coating which you are correct it does; but they are washed to remove the chicken poop that is sometimes on the eggs. (E-Coli ).

@@paulturner4898 yes, I think the US Gov't thinks that the poop will get into our breakfast and demands all eggs be washed off...... it's a poe-ta- toe/po-tah-toe opinion as I'm sure the Europeans have plenty of imperical evidence to the contrary.

Haha mine did too.

That's an interesting one. I think of salad as a cold meal, usually (but not always) with some form of lettuce. I would expect an egg salad sandwich to contain lettuce, tomato, (maybe cucumber) and possibly a bit of dressing/mayo. Thanks for that.

It’s so on-brand that “with mayo” counts as “salad” in the US 😂😂😂

This reminded me of the way Germans apply the word “Salat” , as in “Jetzt haben wir den Salat!” (now we’re in quite a mess!) or “ein Kabelsalat” (a rat’s nest of cables) or “ein Wortsalat” (a word salad).

Right, pre-Exxon it was Esso in some parts of the US, and Enco in others.

And Esso is actually an acronym for Eastern Seaboard Standard Oil, which means it makes no sense whatsoever in Britain, though probably not as little sense as Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, which was what the company used to be called before it became Exxon.

Ironically, the company name on paychecks is Moyle Petroleum.

They are Esso in Germany too.

I have found it confusing where some gas stations charge for gas by the liter, but where I am, it sells by the gallon. And if you go inside some stores at the gas station, you can pick up a few groceries (limited), some beer, or soda (or pop). And cigs.

Eggs are washed, so the protection is lost? Of all the weird things in the world...

@@gardenjoy5223 -- True though. www.nytimes.com/2017/02/13/insider/why-do-americans-refrigerate-their-eggs.html

Refrigerated eggs can also last 2 to 3 weeks if kept under 40 degrees. Our refrigerators are bigger so we can store more food.

We dont wash eggs here because what ever your cleaning it with enters through the shell some law here not to wash eggs or meat

@Jim Elliott Doesnt US have more food poisoning and contamination issues that EU tho?

Fortunately, now they even deliver to your house.

Not all Walmarts have a garage. Where I live not one Walmart has a garage. But, I did get a flat tire repaired when I was 1200 miles from home at a great Walmart auto department at some tiny town in West Virginia for a low price.

Wtf, in the UK you'd have to go to a specific car mechanic place like kwik-fit or something. You can get petrol at the supermarket and you can wash and fill up on tyre air but you definitely can't get your tyre changed

@@janek5970 My brother was born in West Virginia but he only stayed their for three months and moved to the previous house due to my dad promotion. My dad did have to go this meeting and if my dad has got accepted to promotion and I will be in California . He did make promo and 9 th grade in AR.

Just check the lug nuts before you leave. Usually missing at least one.

@@danielle2781 the service is sometimes questionable, but yes, most Wal-Marts have a full automotive center. You can pretty much get anything done from an oil change, tune up, battery replaced or even new tires installed... while you shop.

In Kentucky we call it a buggy lol...I bet they would really be perplexed if you had asked for a buggy.

@@Musication717 get a hand book on travel educate yourself as usual rude yanks

@@christinerose4839 why are you being so snobby she was just saying that in kentucky they call it a buggy as to the other poster called it a cart and then you give your RUDE limey response . Calling her usual rude yank was really showing how unintelligent and apparently not as world traveled yourself huh?

@@Musication717 West coast is cart, the south is a buggy, and the east coast where I live it's a carriage. I am from Calif and will never get on board with the carriage thing. Same with freeways (western), back east they don't know what I'm talking about. It's interstates.

@@christinerose4839 Uh, the revolutionary War ended a long time ago. Get over it...we have.

We call minced beef ground beef and Oxo cubes are called bouillon cubes here. There's dozens of brands.

Leon B I thank I’ve heard that there are some Walmarts that have post offices in them. Not necessarily their own zip code, just a post office.

Walmart does not call it "headquarters". Walmart calls it "homeoffice". Back in the 1990's I spent six months in Bentonville working with Walmart and it seemed like six years.

A few years ago I read a news story that said that there was not a direct flight from New York City to Little Rock, Arkansas but there were several direct flights daily from New York City to Bentonville.

that's because you had to put in 6 years worth of effort!

Yes... Unique zip codes are for high volume addresses. But, you can certainly get mail there using the standard Zip code.

I always shop the perimeter. Makes things quick and easy.

Yup. Only venture into the middle aisles for pasta, rice, beans, spices, condiments. Stay away from the cardboard food.

The sales tax is not always 0%, it is already included in the price at 0% or 20%, or exempt, depending upon the item. The fact that taxes are different in different areas is no excuse for not including the shelf price as the shelves are not going to be moving to a different tax region. The shop is not going to be moving to a different tax region so why are the prices marked *in each store* not the final price *in that store* ?

One thing to note when shopping in a grocery store or supermarket, food is not subject to sales tax. I don't know anywhere where there is a sales tax on food. I mean, I live in New York and it isn't taxed here, and if it isn't taxed in New York, it isn't taxed anywhere. So the price you see on a food item will be the price you pay. Non-food items (like soap or paper towels) will be subject to sales tax. And, of course, prepared food, in restaurants, are subject to sales tax.

Tax free New Hampshire! One other point along this line is that certain items are exempt in certain jurisdictions.

@@cigmorfil4101 I agree

Cigmorfil it’s not included on the shelf price because some cities/counties change tax rates so much and it is easier to add the tax on the back end.

In the UK a lot of supermarkets sell things that aren't food, even clothes.

Gregory Jewell I always thought it was ridiculous that most grocery stores see a bunch of other stuff in America like I go to HEB in south Texas and they sell toys clothes other stuff but mainly food though. I go there for food and toiletries. But I’m not going to eat a toy or makeup lol 😂

@@97AshleyRose toys are tasty

In New York, what we called a "grocery store" was usually. small neighborhood store that you went to when you needed one or two items in an emergency. It was usually a corner store, the local candy store, with magazines and some small grocery items.Your mother would send you there when you came home from school to buy milk or something she needed for supper that night. It was kind of like what they call a Bodega in a Spanish neighborhood. A supermarket was somewhere off on a highway or a big commercial strip, and you went to it in you car and did the weekly family shopping. It would be in a plaza with a bunch of other stores, like a department store (like K-Mart), a few smaller stores, take out restaurants (pizza or Chinese food) and sometimes even a movie theater. But not a shopping mall, because it wasn't enclosed in one building.

Me too

That's because there is no income tax in Washington state to spread around to cities & counties..."they" gotta make up for it somehow!

wow i feel insulted on behalf of both parties you compared in your statement. 😳

Aldis get to sit!

@@joanvonsternberg6361 That is good. Not the thing in North America. They make them stand the whole time.

@@wclark3196 yes, here in Lake Geneva, WI, they sit. Only place in the US I've seen it!

@@joanvonsternberg6361 Because they do things German style.

They can't sit YOU ARE BARBARIANS😁

CRS That’s why I love him too!

Most of us do. There are merits to both countries.

Agree I hate the British v US where it just whines or puts down the US. I get you want to show that UK is great too but you don't have to bash the US in the process. The US is great too. Good and bad everywhere you go. I like that he just appreciates and tries to understand it all!

Most Brits who bash the US have never really been here. I speak as an ex-pat myself.

That's why I subscribed.

Most Norman Castles are square/rectangle

Rico Ten I’m thankful for the GPS.

Also to create the illusion of size in older European towns and cities you curve the streets slightly so you can’t see the end. Something I learned when in Italy:)

@Rico Ten Actually, Washington DC is an exception as it was planned (by a Frenchman) on the radial plan. it is considered a intolerably diffiult city to drive in.

@Rico Ten a Good example of this is Manhattan - below City hall, it was before the grid system was instituted, above was when they statred planning to develop the entire island. 👍

Raw foods, seeds and medicine are not subject to sales tax. Each county may have a different sales tax, but it's not usually a problem, you automatically add it in. Sample, where i live our sales tax is 7% and the neighboring county is 6.5%. you get used to it.

And Canadians call it the "cash".

When I worked in retail in the 90s, the register was called the "POS" for "point of sale", although they were so crappy we believed the acronym stood for something else.

My grocery store has all of that and I've always said grocery store. Age difference? Cultural? (I'm southern) Wal-Mart is Wal-Mart. "I'm goin' to the Wal-Mart….".

I consider stores that sell groceries plus like clothes and electronics and whatnot to be supermarkets. But I never use the name, because every time I go to one I'm specifically there for groceries (I might get some other stuff, but groceries is the main reason). So I always use the term grocery store.

And a florist.

@@jenniferh3479 yeah i never use the term supermarket. it's either grocery store. or super target/walmart/costco.

Lisa B. I can tell you putting “the” in front of something like “wal-mart” is definitely very southern. 😀

I sometimes worry about large trolleys. Every time I reach for an item at the bottom it's like I'm going to fall in. 😂 Much prefer the higher ones. Keeps me from overspending too.

OldMan_PJ yes, Mars bars were the best!

Mars Bars were delicious

Yes. With "an almond in every bite" as it said on the wrapper. Six whole almonds as I recall. Then they went to almond pieces, then nothing. NOTHING! Whoever's responsible for this ought to be shot.

@@ogivecrush Only American Mars bars had Almonds. Apparently the rest of the world's Mars bar is the same as your Milky Way (nougat & caramel), and the rest of the world's milky Way is 3 musketeers in the USA. In the UK Snickers used to be Marathon.

Go to World Market, they have them!

I've lived in Oregon all my life since the 60s. Never had to pay sales tax. Never had to put gas in my own car.

*laughs in montana*

Sales tax is calculated differently state to state. The amount charged as well as what it is charged on. In PA necessary items aren't taxed. What is considered necessary could be up for debate. The some states don't have sales tax but their state income tax is high.

*cries in Maine*

We have sales tax in Oregon now. Have had since measures 66 and 67 were passed. It’s just levied on the store which is why everything suddenly doubled in price.

upsides of washing include: * removing all the chicken shit * longer shelf life than in countries that don't wash and refrigerate that last one is particularly important for americans who eat eggs but don't live anywhere near any of the farms that produce them. each and every little european country has its own egg farmers, but many american states don't, so eggs need to travel long distances.

@@sirmoonslosthismind , actually, washing the egg shortens the shelf life of eggs.

@@sirmoonslosthismind US eggs are far more likely to be contaminated and must be refrigerated, they don't last as long either. Our food safety standards are much lower than the EU. Food recalls are more common in the US. We are also way more lax with the use of perspectives and use of sugar. In fact many US breads have too much sugar to qualify as bread. Same is true of use of preservatives.

so true...its primary function is selling all that other stuff they carry...the food is an add on....but it is pretty successful. Me I am not interested in buying any groceries there because in my area of the country...ten miles is too far to go to buy groceries. Probably not true everywhere....but I prefer the local grocery stores nonetheless.

Walmart absolutely is a grocery store. More than half the Walmart's revenue comes from the grocery side of the building. Side bit of related trivia: the best selling item in the company is bananas.

Many of the states that DO charge sales tax on Food, exempt the basic foods like Milk, Bread, Meat... but not Icecream, Cheesecake, and FrozenBurritos. The idea is poor folks dont have to pay tax on basic foods to stay alive, but fancier or prepared foods get taxed

I'm next Door to Maryland...No Food Tax. But...in VA we don't have speed trap Ticket Machines...It's an argument....Uggh.

There are a couple of states that do not have sales tax. Oregon is one of them. There are a lot of states who have sales tax and state income tax, but I don't know if there is a difference in the amount of state income tax from the states that don't have sales tax with the ones that do have sales tax. My state (Washington) does not have a state income tax.

RWBimbie frozen burritos are a staple of a lot of poor people.

Diane Thoroughman states that don’t have sales tax Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon. States with no income tax Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming

McCormick vs. Schilling

Yep, this was confusing when I moved from the midwest to the west coast. Also some brands are only available regionally.

Also, I noticed he mentioned Kroger, which is a regional (and the original) name for a grocery store chain that started in the Midwest (Where he is). Here, where I live (AZ) the store is called Fry's Food. It has several other names throughout the U.S.

@@kathyl6677 Can confirm. Pacific Northwest has Fred Meyer and QFC (“Quality Food Centers”), both of which are owned by Kroger. Never seen a grocery store or supermarket just called “Kroger” in either half of the state.

In the Chicago area Kroger is called Mariano's, but outside of Chicago but still in Illinois it's called Kroger.

Well, I'll be! Ontarian here, too born and bred, and I did not know that about the LCBO! Is it the same for beer stores?

In the US every locality has its own taxes. And because companies advertise a certain price for their goods that's the price that needs to be reflected on the price tag. If you buy an Arizona ice tea for example, it says 99 cents on the can, but the tax on that will be different in New York which adds 4% tax and Montana which has no tax. Also store send out adds with a set price, say 2.99 for a 12 pack of coke, and those adds are mailed to everyone, so the prices need to be the same everywhere, even if the taxes are all different.

And there used to be Big Boy restaurants. Here in NC they were Shoney's and in Texas they were Kip's.

Or Carl's Jr's Green Burrito Co!!

Fry's Food and Drug VS Kroger or Fry's Food and Drug VS Fry's Electronics.

Edy's vs Dreyer.

That Big Boy thing was because they sold franchises for certain regions, and you couldn’t expand outside of your region. When a lot of franchisees decided that they wanted to do just that, into some other Big Boy’s territory, they changed their names.

Indeed, one tastes good and the other does not. ;-)

Then there's also the bird

it's all the same company.

@@Cole-ek7fh Dove chocolate is owned and produced by Mars while Dove soap is owned and produced by Unilever. The birds are owned and produced by each other.

I always hear people say “dove chocolate “

And some states don’t charge sales tax on groceries... but do on ukuleles...

@@SuperVstech And then there's Massachusetts who has general sales tax, but no sales tax on clothing or non-prepared food.

I had no idea one of the prime tourist locations for USians in the UK is the sandwich aisle of M&S. Definitely tourist prices - £6 for a meal deal?! Daylight robbery! 😂😂😂

That's what I figured. Thanks for the info on the percentage. Then there's gasoline tax in all of Europe...

Also, the VAT taxes in Europe are nationwide taxes and so uniform prices can be posted. The U.S. doesn't have any national VAT or sales tax--they exist in almost all U.S. jurisdictions, but they are entirely levied by state and local governments. That means that in many U.S. metropolitan areas the sales tax can vary quite a bit just based on governmental boundaries that don't really relate to how retail supply chains function.

Also many states dont have sales tax ... and in WA state, any liquor over ... 40%? I think ... percent alcohol is taxed at 20.5% in addition to 8.9% sales tax ... so yeah ... that scotch I like runs me 129.4% the cost on the label. Ouch. Chuck it in the harbor indeed.

Jason Roos Only two states don’t have sales tax-Delaware and Oregon 😊

@@CsillanRose And Alaska, Montana, and New Hampshire.

Very interesting

A lot of my ESL students honestly thought Americans ate fast food for every meal. Yikes.

Ha, yes! The American section in German supermarkets have mac‘n‘cheese, squeeze cheese, marshmallows, pancake mix, peanut butter, Dr Pepper, Arizona ice tea and so on. Then there are German fake American brands covered in Stars and Stripes, with misguided products such as chocolate toaster pancakes, marshmallow ice cream, and pulled pork in a can. Bizarre!

@@lxine1868 All of those sounds delicious, besides the pulled pork in a can. That's just kinda odd.

@@susanma4899 ESL?

Also it's a bit of a social exercise. Almost everytime I go, I meet ppl I haven't seen in a while. It also gets me out of the house, dressed to look like I belong to the human race and an opportunity to exercise a bit in a climate controlled environment. Especially when I forget something on the other side of the store.

Having them delivered helps if you're Disabled like me, or if you have a busy work life.

Fresh fruits and vegetables are different every time I go to the store. But I live within a short walk of a grocery store and am retired so I can go every day.

Plus, you get a little bit more exercise in by walking around the grocery store vs. having it delivered.

@@lollypop2414 You also get to choose a lot more, some times I've done delivery here in the UK, when I injured my shoulder / back and couldn't lug shopping home with me. Half the time, stuff i was expecting to last a few days had the use by dates that day or the next... so I quit buying food and just bought cat food / cat litter / treats which were less likely to be screwed up. And were the heaviest items I ordered anyway. (Yes they're spoiled little fluffballs - the pair of them)

I doubt many will get your Tea Party humor. Nice!

I like to compare and contrast when I visit other states. Like, I believe that they tax food in Pennsylvania. Not in Ohio (except "dine-in" tax in a restaurant). Aside from that, only ever been in Canada (still banned until 2022, don't ask).

Yes, our government will never let us forget we're being taxed. They love to throw that in our faces. Also the whole 1.99 or BS instead of rounding up. Then you hear on a commercial "its less than $2"...yeah by a fucking penny, which isn't a lie, but it's bullshit...who the hell carries pennies anymore? I rarely carry cash, and when I do I put my change in a jar and when its full I bring it to a coinstar (and here is a tip) and use the money toward Amazon because coinstar doesn't take a percentage of the money. If you didn't know this...you're welcome.

And now we drink coffee

Hellcat M You know, pennies are worth more for their metal than the actual currency they carry.

The bigger the store, the more nervous I get.

Well, they’re really right! What is more American than French’s Yellow Mustard!

@@samiam619 I mean. I have like five types of mustard in my fridge as I'm typing this. But how is that American? Is there not yellow mustard anywhere else?

Basic yellow mustard is quite American as in North American. French's mustard seeds are grown in Canada and the condiment is manufactured in the US.

@@Luridmoirai Fun fact: Most of the mustard seeds in the world are grown in Canada.

American-style mustard is much milder than varieties from other countries. Take Colman's English Mustard, for example. It's a similar color and consistency but it is much stronger. English mustard would be quite the surprise if you were expecting American mustard. A friend of mine tried Colman's and called it "yellow wasabi."

Carl's Jr. and Hardee's are owned by the same company but they aren't exactly the same.

Albertsons/ Safeway

Leon Carpenter Safeway/Vons

Also national brands vs. store brand like lays potato chips vs Walmart's "Great Value" brand" which is usually cheaper

Also mayonnaise, "Best Foods" in the west and "Hellmans" in the east.

It stands for associated dairies

@@chrisward8323 And Tesco was named after the owner's wife, Tess Cohen.

@@ChrisPage68 thanks for that one, i never knew that!!

@@ChrisPage68 No actually Tesco got its name from Thomas Edward Stockwell who supplied Cohen with tea added together with the first two letters of his surname. Cohen's motto was pile it high and sell it cheap

@@johnlewis9158 yes and they have started using that name on a few items eg their copy of Weetabix

Each state would have to do it as taxes vary from place to place.

@@treetopjones737 where I live there are multiple sale tax rates within the same municipality, usually with higher tax rates where the shopping centers are. Every weekly store flyer would have to be personalized for each store's tax rate, and that would create a marketing nightmare.

​@@angiebee2225 same in Chicago. Higher sales tax in the city center where tourists are, slightly lower in the neighborhoods where locals live/shop

In the US commercially sold eggs have to be washed, which destroys their natural protection. My aunt used to get her eggs from a neighbor who had chickens, and she kept them in a bowl on a sideboard.

Your mom is genius! That really is a great game, if you're not the kids lol n I'm not the kids so 🤯.

imma do this when I have kids. thats brilliant.

I bet you are all very good at math now, as a direct result. So your mom was doing you all a favor. Doing math in your head is a great life skill.

That’s genius! 🤩

​@@elincarleklev4947 Maybe Evil genius.... proof: adding last minute coupons...

Two states don't have sales tax Oregon and Montana.

@@missano3856 "Two states don't have sales tax Oregon and Montana" - Neither does Delaware, nor I think, New Hampshire..

@@JohnDoe-fu6zt Could be, but only Oregon and Montana have no sales tax and legal weed!

I think theres no "food" sales tax, in most states.. Its mostly "luxury" things for sales tax. Also coupons, you can almost get your things for free lol, if you go extreme with it. As there are people who rack up a 100$ bill, only pay 3$ due to coupons and manufacter coupons.

I personally prefer to know what taxes are added on to products by our government. Makes it more noticeable and hopefully objectionable when they raise the taxes. Incorporating the tax into the price seems a bit deceptive, much like us having payroll taxes deducted prior to receiving our pay checks. Of course we are aware of the taxes deducted, but imagine how much people would object if they had to pay those taxes to the government themselves. There would be another revolution in short order.

Happens with restaurant and store names too. It's pretty weird.

And Hellmann's mayo becomes Best Foods west of the Rockies.

Yep. Hardee's in the East is Carl's Jr in the West.

@@bobbob2932 It's due to corporate expansion. One regional chain expands into another market by buying the (very similar) competition. They streamline the logistics on the back end, but they don't want to toss out the established brand recognition. Keeping the name above the door minimizes disruption in the new market.

Kroger (east) and Food 4 Less (west)

It's been a few years since I've worked there so I'm a little rusty, but I don't remember if automotive has its own checkout or if they just print you a slip to take to a cashier (like when you get your oil changed)

@@annistar9693 Usually has its own checkout. When I was a kid, my parents insisted using the automotive checkout even if we didn't use buy any auto stuff just cause there usually wasn't checkout lines there lol

The only Aldi I have every been in smelled off and had no rhyme or reason to the way it was laid out. I understand this is not normal, but I have a really hard time not thinking of it as another dollar store.

Same in Canada. It used to be 7% GST + 8% PST, which would then be 15.56%, added at the register... They harmonized it and call it HST ... and it's 14.975%.

J.P. Boileau Holy smokes! It used to be 5% in Texas until Governor Anne Richards pushed a "temporary" increase in the 90's to 8.5%. It's still 8.5%.

@@ST-ov8cm Never fails does it!

@@ST-ov8cm Allowed cities (and now every little entity) to grab a sliver of the pie

And since the sales tax can differ in every political subdivision and change multiple times a year, manufacturers can just print a standard price on all packaging no matter where it will be sold.