Cooking oil??

joe stodge

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?

Prodigious

Racist! Rabble rabble!

super_furry

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

Kichote

They are running the car off it (diesel)

donvito99

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

joe stodge

Kichote wrote: »

They are running the car off it (diesel)

Does the car not have to be modified for that?

Boombastic

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

Chucken

joe stodge wrote: »

I don't want to ask the customers,

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

foggy_lad

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

Tiddlypeeps

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

Chucken

Boombastic wrote: »

Makes you tan/burn quicker. .. are you sure they are mostly Nigerian?

OP said African

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.

Boombastic

Chucken wrote: »

OP said African

I edited! Damm you for being too quick

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.

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.

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

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.

kneemos

Slip'n'slides.

rubadub

Why don't you put the price up?

kneemos

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

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

Frank Black

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

They're also partial to pavlova.

JD DABA

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

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.

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.

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!!!!

Jimmy Garlic

joe stodge wrote: »

Does the car not have to be modified for that?

Most diesel cars will run on a 50/50 mix of diesel/vegoil without any modification. Older diesels will run on straight veg oil no problem

Chucken

MIRMIR82 wrote: »

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

I do a lot of cooking, yes

I'd go through a bottle every 10 days or so.

hfallada

Africans tend to fry a lot of things. Like in the aid videos they generally get a bag of rice and oil.

simply simple

Home heating oil tank- is it just an african thing? you related 200-300 bottle bought by africans to using it as heating oil. Are you sure that if it is possible we Irish wont do it? My point here is africans or irish or any one else is irrelavant to your query. And sorry no idea where would people use that many bottle if you are damn sure they are buying 200-300 bottles in one go. Retailing has got quite smarter these days, they might be sure about what they are doing, if not they might have already noticed it and should have decided what to do abt it if it doesnt help keep their customers happy.

May be best idea, like someone suggested before, is ask them in the store itself where you work rather than enjoying this thread that can be seen going in the direction of racial abuse.

Jimmy Garlic

simply simple wrote: »

May be best idea, like someone suggested before, is ask them in the store itself where you work rather than enjoying this thread that can be seen going in the direction of racial abuse.

Racial abuse? :rolleyes: If someone, or a group is African or whatever is it now "racist" to mention it? Get a grip.

pabloh999

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?

You really by 50 bottles for yourself:eek:
Is there not an expiry date!?

martinedwards

veg oil is a preservative.

keep the bottle unopened it'll last indefinitely, especially in the dark

jimgoose

Jimmy Garlic wrote: »

Most diesel cars will run on a 50/50 mix of diesel/vegoil without any modification. Older diesels will run on straight veg oil no problem

Partially true. That stuff needs to be preheated before induction into the fuel system or else there is hell to pay after a relatively short time. The likes of Proper, Horrible Old Land Rovers (PHOLR) can chug away on it "straight".

discus

simply simple wrote: »

Home heating oil tank- is it just an african thing? you related 200-300 bottle bought by africans to using it as heating oil. Are you sure that if it is possible we Irish wont do it? My point here is africans or irish or any one else is irrelavant to your query. And sorry no idea where would people use that many bottle if you are damn sure they are buying 200-300 bottles in one go. Retailing has got quite smarter these days, they might be sure about what they are doing, if not they might have already noticed it and should have decided what to do abt it if it doesnt help keep their customers happy.

May be best idea, like someone suggested before, is ask them in the store itself where you work rather than enjoying this thread that can be seen going in the direction of racial abuse.

I read your post, and my mind was whisked away to my childhood, and all I could see was someone smashing the backs of their hands together, shouting "cleverrrrrrrr"

martinedwards

jimgoose wrote: »

Partially true. That stuff needs to be preheated before induction into the fuel system or else there is hell to pay after a relatively short time. The likes of Proper, Horrible Old Land Rovers (PHOLR) can chug away on it "straight".

Patak's the curry people run all their delivery vans on the spent chapati fryer oil

We're a bit cool here (viscosity issues), but I know a guy in Cyprus who runs his landy on it untreated all year round.

Chucken

Chucken wrote: »

I do a lot of cooking, yes

I'd go through a bottle every 10 days or so.

^^^^^^

pabloh999 wrote: »

You really by 50 bottles for yourself:eek:
Is there not an expiry date!?

The expiry date is usually about 2 years ahead. And its not just used to cook for myself! 5 adults, a teenager and a baby most times

mickdw

I thought olive oil deteriorates pretty quickly

Hownowcow

Maybe they all live together. Maybe they have only one pot. Maybe it's a very big pot.

donegal_road

jimgoose wrote: »

Partially true. That stuff needs to be preheated before induction into the fuel system or else there is hell to pay after a relatively short time. The likes of Proper, Horrible Old Land Rovers (PHOLR) can chug away on it "straight".

a local guy here bought a Peu 306 diesel from guy up north. The diesel pump gave up after the first week, then they discovered that the previous owner had done 90,000 miles using a blend of home heating oil and vegetable oil.

Chucken

mickdw wrote: »

I thought olive oil deteriorates pretty quickly

Generally speaking, olive oil is made every 2 years due to the biannual bearing pattern of olive trees. The "off" year harvest might only be 10% of a good crop, so those are used for the table (nibbles) Therefore, the life-expectancy of olive oil is generally taken to be two years. Of course it all depends on the quality of the oil and how it has been stored.

Jimmy Garlic

jimgoose wrote: »

Partially true. That stuff needs to be preheated before induction into the fuel system or else there is hell to pay after a relatively short time. The likes of Proper, Horrible Old Land Rovers (PHOLR) can chug away on it "straight".

Old Carinas, Avensis TDs, Mercs, VWs etc will do fine on it without it being preheated. Basically anything with indirect injection. That said, It is better cut it with some diesel or a little white spirits to lower the viscosity. I know of an old Avensis TD that has been running on it for years without issue

spankysue

Chucken wrote: »

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.

I'd say they're gone fairly quick with you in there anyway

That is a weird one though OP, but you'll never know until you ask them.

Maybe they're having slippery oil fights...... with sexy results

kneemos

Taxi drivers I reackon,word of mouth amongst themselves.

joe stodge

I doubt it's for a car, we stock the at a lower cost than diesel everyday. But it's only when it's around the €1 to 1 liter mark is when it is bought in such quantities.

If it was being used to fuel cars would there not be lads of other races in buying it? It's only ever African lads although that being said you tend to notice what special will attract what crowd, cheap vine tomatoes for Eastern Europeans and cheap orange juice/cranberry juice old age pensioners.

I can understand both examples above because those products will be eaten/drank, but the cooking oil just baffles me.

rubadub

Honey-ec wrote: »

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.

I think its far more likely that the regulars would just buy another brand or size of oil.