As often, I again rode home from Unterhaching to Ottobrunn in the middle of last week. It is later than 7 p.m., there is no bread left at home and they told me to fetch something for dinner.
Since it is right on my way and very convenient, I take the easy way and stop at Aldi. I do not like the baking machine. But in the fairly empty shelf, I find two cardboard cartons wrapped in cellophane, each of which contains three “Long Pretzels”.
I take them and quickly walk towards the cashier’s desk. Full of joy because of the non-existant queue, I already have one EURO in hand. Intuitively, I seem to have thought that six cheap Aldi pieces should be available for less than 1 €.
The gentleman behind the cashier’s desk looks at me with consternation. This is not enough money. It says 1.78 €. After all, two packs each for 0.89 € is nothing less than 1.78.
I realize how thoughtlessly I always shop. These days, you pay almost 1.80 € for six “Long Pretzels” at the German’s favourite discounter.
Mathematically spoken, that is 30 cents per piece – or 60 „Pfennige“. Well, imagine paying 60 “Pfennige” for an Aldi “Long Pretzel”. Now isn’t that impressive. During my childhood – it was only 50 years ago – a pretzel from the bakery cost 5 Pfennige. So we have a multiplication factor of 12. Well, it seems like that is not too bad for 50 years. Except: the long pretzels of today did not taste too well, either. The pretzels I remember were absolute world champions. If I take that into consideration…
RMD
(Translated by EG)
P.S.
This morning, at Munich Central Railway Station, I want to buy an SZ. It (still) costs 2.- € (weekdays)… Well, I changed my mind: I am going to work during the train ride.
P.S.1
I took the pictures with the Aldi plastic bag from Wikipedia. The photo was taken by Kku. Thanks!