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Cooking oil??

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  • 05-06-2013 1:26pm
    #1
    joe stodge
    Registered Users Posts: 986 ✭✭✭


    The shop I work has had sunflower oil on special the last few days and we can't keep it stocked, it's selling out about 2 mins after it hits the shelves.

    That's not what has me here, it's the customers who are buying it, they are buying 200-300 bottles at anyone time and all are African, I'm very curious to what they could be using it for, anyone got any ideas?

    This has me stumped and I don't want to ask the customers, I thought it may be to put in a homeheating oil tank, but would that even work?


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    #2
    Prodigious
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,827 ✭✭✭Prodigious


    Racist! Rabble rabble!


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    #3
    super_furry
    Registered Users Posts: 27,321 ✭✭✭✭super_furry


    http://www.buzzfeed.com/catesish/turkish-oil-wrestling-is-a-totally-legit-sport


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    #4
    Kichote
    Registered Users Posts: 304 ✭✭Kichote


    They are running the car off it (diesel)


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    #5
    donvito99
    Registered Users Posts: 5,818 ✭✭✭donvito99


    Feckin' Greeks! Taking our jobs and our cooking oil!


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    #6
    joe stodge
    Registered Users Posts: 986 ✭✭✭joe stodge


    Kichote wrote: »
    They are running the car off it (diesel)

    Does the car not have to be modified for that?


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    #7
    Boombastic
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,496 ✭✭✭Boombastic


    Makes you tan/burn quicker. .. are you sure they are mostly African and not just very tanned Irish people?


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    #8
    Chucken
    Registered Users Posts: 9,459 ✭✭✭Chucken


    joe stodge wrote: »

    I don't want to ask the customers,

    Why not? That might be the easiest way to find out.


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    #9
    foggy_lad
    Closed Accounts Posts: 20,373 ✭✭✭✭foggy_lad


    Could they be selling it in their own shop as they can get it cheaper from ye that from their own wholesaler?


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    #10
    Tiddlypeeps
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,103 ✭✭✭Tiddlypeeps


    How cheap is it? Could be some local businesses spotted that you are selling cheaper than their regular wholesalers?


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    #11
    Chucken
    Registered Users Posts: 9,459 ✭✭✭Chucken


    Boombastic wrote: »
    Makes you tan/burn quicker. .. are you sure they are mostly Nigerian?

    OP said African ;)


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    #12
    Cheensbo
    Registered Users Posts: 2,701 ✭✭✭Cheensbo


    joe stodge wrote: »
    Does the car not have to be modified for that?

    Direct injection (more modern) diesel engines wont run on it/it will make sh1te of them without a good bit of modding.


    Older stuff generally <2000 (Indirect injection) will run grand on it though if its mixed with normal diesel.


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    #13
    Boombastic
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,496 ✭✭✭Boombastic


    Chucken wrote: »
    OP said African ;)

    I edited! Damm you for being too quick :p


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    #14
    donegal_road
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,281 ✭✭✭donegal_road


    Kichote wrote: »
    They are running the car off it (diesel)

    Tescos up north raised the price of their cooking oil to the same as diesel a few years ago, for that reason.


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    #15
    lau1247
    Registered Users Posts: 2,122 ✭✭✭lau1247


    cooking for a very very big family :pac:

    in all seriousness, I don't know what they are using it for, just ask them.

    West Dublin, ☀️ 7.83kWp ⚡5.66 kWp South West, ⚡2.18 kWp North East



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    #16
    SEPT 23 1989
    Registered Users Posts: 43,024 ✭✭✭✭SEPT 23 1989


    lau1247 wrote: »
    cooking for a very very big family :pac:

    in all seriousness, I don't know what they are using it for, just ask them.

    they will start screaming racism:D


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    #17
    shrewd
    Registered Users Posts: 295 ✭✭shrewd


    They are using for cooking. i have a lot of african friends and they use oil a lot in their cooking.

    my guess is that some of them are buying these for their friends.


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    #18
    kneemos
    Registered Users Posts: 20,409 ✭✭✭✭kneemos


    Slip'n'slides.


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    #19
    rubadub
    Registered Users Posts: 32,373 ✭✭✭✭rubadub


    Why don't you put the price up?


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    #20
    kneemos
    Registered Users Posts: 20,409 ✭✭✭✭kneemos


    What kind of shop is it that they can buy 200-300 bottles at a time?


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    #21
    Honey-ec
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,844 ✭✭✭Honey-ec


    rubadub wrote: »
    Why don't you put the price up?

    Or introduce a quota. No more than 10 bottles per transaction or something.


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    #22
    Oranage2
    Registered Users Posts: 11,131 ✭✭✭✭Oranage2


    I know some restaurants buy the cheap bottles of beer and sell them because its cheaper to buy than from a wholesaler, maybe the African guy has a restaurant and its cheaper to buy oil there than off an whole seller.


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    #23
    Chucken
    Registered Users Posts: 9,459 ✭✭✭Chucken


    Honey-ec wrote: »
    Or introduce a quota. No more than 10 bottles per transaction or something.

    Why though?

    When olive oil goes on offer in Lidl, I buy at least 50 bottles (for cooking)
    Does it really matter why people buy in bulk?


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    #24
    Honey-ec
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,844 ✭✭✭Honey-ec


    Chucken wrote: »
    Why though?

    When olive oil goes on offer in Lidl, I buy at least 50 bottles (for cooking)
    Does it really matter why people buy in bulk?

    Well I can't speak for the OP's shop or Lidl, but Aldi have a written policy that their products and prices are for the general public and not for commercial use, and that if they suspect someone is buying in bulk for commercial purposes, they reserve the right to refuse to sell to them.

    To me, someone buying two or three hundred bottles of cooking oil at a time would definitely arouse my suspicions.


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    #25
    rubadub
    Registered Users Posts: 32,373 ✭✭✭✭rubadub


    Honey-ec wrote: »
    Or introduce a quota. No more than 10 bottles per transaction or something.
    Quotas are normally only useful if shops are below cost selling, or stop ticket touts. The shopkeeper should be grateful of having to have less transactions. But if its selling out so quick they will presumably still buy it if its a bit more.

    I met the Chinese guy from the local takeaway in tesco before with a trolley full of oil & onions, and cider! I see the cooks drinking it in the back.


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    #26
    Norfolk Enchants
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 208 ✭✭Norfolk Enchants


    Chucken wrote: »
    Why though?

    When olive oil goes on offer in Lidl, I buy at least 50 bottles (for cooking)
    Does it really matter why people buy in bulk?

    Special offers are there to help attract customers and get them into their stores. If people abuse it and buy in bulk, it negates the whole rational behind special offers and promotions.


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    #27
    Frank Black
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,296 ✭✭✭Frank Black


    Sunflower Oil is used when making carrot cake, and the Africans just love carrot cake.

    They're also partial to pavlova.


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    #28
    JD DABA
    Registered Users Posts: 294 ✭✭JD DABA


    Ill bet you had a steep increase in chicken sales around the same time.


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    #29
    Honey-ec
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,844 ✭✭✭Honey-ec


    rubadub wrote: »
    Quotas are normally only useful if shops are below cost selling, or stop ticket touts. The shopkeeper should be grateful of having to have less transactions. But if its selling out so quick they will presumably still buy it if its a bit more.

    It becomes a problem when supply gets to be an issue. The shopkeeper can't keep cooking oil in stock because of these people bulk-buying. It's happening in other stores too, so there's delays in getting new stock from the depot. In the meantime his regular customers are getting pissed off because they've popped in for a couple of days in a row to get a bottle of cooking oil, and it's out of stock. This happens often enough, they'll eventually just shop elsewhere. After a while, the special offer on the oil ends and the bulk-buyers disappear, but the shopkeeper has lost a rake of regular customers for good.

    It can and does happen and it's why a lot of retailers don't allow bulk buying. They're just not designed for that kind of business, their stocking system is based on a pattern of normal usage & normal buying. Obviously they know that a special offer is going to create a run on that item, that's the whole point of special offers, but people buying 200-300 bottles of cooking oil at a time is a completely different kettle of fish. That's cash & carry volumes.


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    #30
    Chucken
    Registered Users Posts: 9,459 ✭✭✭Chucken


    Norfolk Enchants wrote: »
    Special offers are there to help attract customers and get them into their stores. If people abuse it and buy in bulk, it negates the whole rational behind special offers and promotions.


    I dont think thats quite true for Aldi /Lidl. They regularly have offers for 1 day..when they're gone, they're gone!
    The early bird etc...if I'm going to make sure I'm at the shop early to avail of the offer, I'm not too concerned about who arrives the next day complaining that they missed out.


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    #31
    MIRMIR82
    Registered Users Posts: 658 ✭✭✭MIRMIR82


    Chucken wrote: »
    Why though?

    When olive oil goes on offer in Lidl, I buy at least 50 bottles (for cooking)
    Does it really matter why people buy in bulk?

    Jaysus you must do some cooking :eek:, i don't do a whole lot myself, but 2 bottles a year would do me!!!!


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