Why do the checkout lines move at light speed?
Why do I have to bring my own bags?
Why do I need a spare quarter every time I come here?
Keep watching to find out the answers to these and many other questions about the weird ways
of Aldi!
If you are a first-time shopper at Aldi, seeing all the items resting in boxes might strike
you as a tad abnormal.
Worse, you might doubt the employees' diligence.
But as it turns out, it is a part of the store's philosophy to not unbox the items from the
cases they are shipped in.
As per Frugal Bites…
"Heavier things like flour and sugar are left on the pallet.
Milk arrives on racks so that 80 gallons can be shelved in just five seconds."
How cool is that for the employees?
Not as cool as you think.
Sure, they do not have to spend hours placing individual soda bottles on shelves, but it
doesn't give them time to loaf.
Aldi keeps much fewer staff than other supermarkets, as Forbes reports:
"The only staff in an ALDI store are: forklift operators bringing in new pallets, a cashier,
and possibly a third-party loss-prevention agent."
Anyhoo, the boxes are display ready.
The color and patterns on them match the items they hold within.
Aldi calls it the quote "invisible case project", a fancy name for the open case boxes that
allow shoppers to see what's in them.
They are designed in such a way that the shelves and pallets are able to hold the maximum number
of these boxes, making sure no space is wasted, reports The Guardian.
If your Aldi shopping were a movie, the checkout part would seem like it's always on fast forward,
and it feels that way by design.
The checkout process is fast — 40% faster than other grocery stores.
As one shopper tells Reddit:
"I like to make it a game — can I empty my cart faster than they can ring it up?
I can never win, no matter how hard I try.
I think the game is rigged."
"Truth is…the game was rigged from the start."
Only, the game is not rigged!
The employees have little choice but to be good at it, as they are timed for every checkout
and the time it takes for them to move on to the next customer.
An Aldi employee told Reddit: "Aldi cashiers are supposed to scan 48 items
per minute in comparison to the 23 normal grocery stores require [...]."
This is why sometimes customers are asked to dip their credit/debit cards even before
the total shows up so that the cashiers can save the few seconds it takes for the machine
to scan the cards.
Aldi's taste-testing process is so rigorous that while we appreciate it, we also wonder:
Is that normal?
The Aldi headquarters in Atherstone, United Kingdom, has a dedicated taste kitchen where
knock-offs of popular name brands are created and tested for quality.
As per a 2013 report published in The Telegraph, once a food item is created, it is tested
30 times by a panel before it is given the green signal.
The tests ensure that the texture, appearance, and flavor are better than comparable products
in the market.
Once approved, the products hit the shelves — but Aldi still keeps an eye on them.
They are tested once every year or as soon as another supermarket launches an item similar
to Aldi's.
The grocery chain is pretty open about the fact that they create knockoffs of items sold
in other more expensive supermarkets such as Waitrose, Tesco, and M&S.
Their attempt is to make versions of the popular items in a much cheaper, yet tastier way.
According to the company's ex-managing director for buying, Tony Baines:
"Often we will have very similar suppliers to the likes of M&S and Waitrose.
[...] The recipes are slightly different, but we'd aspire to always have at least the
same chicken or beef content and have the right quality of spices."
In the age of Apple Wallet, let's admit it: It's a little weird to have to carry a single
25-cent coin in your jeans pocket when heading to Aldi.
But you need it to get a cart.
As per the company policy, you have to insert the 25-cent coin in the slot on the cart to
unhook it.
Once you're finished using the cart, the coin is spat out when you replace the cart in the
cart corral.
Aldi explains on its website that by having this rule, it doesn't have to hire a dedicated
staff to bring the carts from the parking lot to the store corral every time, thereby
saving them money.
Customers are expected to do the work, and according to an Aldi employee on Reddit,
"... people really care about getting their quarter back.
I don't usually have to get any carts from the parking lot."
If you don't remember to take your own shopping bag to Aldi, you would either have to scramble
for an empty cardboard case in the store or buy their reusable plastic or cloth bag.
According to the company, they have never given away free plastic bags, ever — a feat
that they say has helped keep quote "15 billion bags out of landfills and oceans".
However, per The Sydney Morning Herald, the grocery chain has been pretty lax about the
use of plastic in its produce section by offering plastic-wrapped zucchini, kiwi, corn, carrots,
mushrooms, and kale among others.
Having said that, the grocery chain is attempting to make amends and launched a new sustainability
charter in 2021, promising to convert all packaging materials to be either reusable,
recyclable, or compostable by 2025.
As part of this effort, the press release states, they plan to introduce alternative
packaging that uses less plastic for produce such as blueberries, tomatoes, and mixed bell
peppers.
There have been cases where customers of legal drinking age were refused their bottle of
alcohol at Aldi stores because they had brought their children along, such as when a woman
was asked to wait for a while at the checkout lane and was not sold her bottle of wine right
away, all because she was with her two teenage children.
As per her Facebook post, while she was eventually allowed to buy the bottle, she was "embarrassed"
and felt labeled as a, quote, "bad parent," though she'd done nothing wrong.
Her post spurred a series of comments with other shoppers quoting similar instances.
One shopper couldn't buy a bottle because her 18-month-old daughter accidentally touched
it, and another wasn't allowed a carton of beer because the staff saw her son carry it.
As it turns out, in all three cases, it was within Aldi's right to decline service.
An Aldi spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia:
"The sale of alcohol can be refused if a minor has handled alcohol that could be potentially
purchased by an adult for the minor's consumption.
[...] This also extends to a minor accompanying an adult purchasing alcohol, even if the minor
has not physically touched an alcoholic product".
Aldi doesn't have the conventional display of candies and sugary drinks at the checkout
lane but instead offers individual packages of trail mixes, dried fruits, nuts, and granola
bars.
The chain took the bold decision to make its checkout section a "guilt-free zone" in 2016.
Jason Hart, CEO of Aldi said this about the supermarket chain's decision to remove junk
foods from its checkout lanes:
"By introducing healthier checkout lanes and through a number of other initiatives, we
are doing our part to remove temptation at checkout and stocking stores with even more
nutritious options."
Aldi's decision follows that of other supermarkets such as Clark, Craig, and Burrows, per a report
published in the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
There is actual science that explains the all-familiar temptation to grab a few candies
and a soda while at the checkout lane.
The report explains:
"Simply seeing a product can activate an urge to consume it, and the fact that a product
is immediately available to be consumed can intensify this urge."
The report goes on to suggest that a shopper's willpower is at its minimum when they reach
the checkout lane after having to make multiple decisions while shopping in the store.
Add to that the feelings of fatigue and stress, and the shoppers are most likely to pick something
from the array of unhealthy options that most supermarkets feature at the checkout lane.
Not at Aldi though, no siree!
If you are in Aldi, rest assured that your kid won't pester you to load the cart with
cereal boxes.
There are no Tony the Tiger, Toucan Sam, or Cap'n Crunch equivalents to capture your child's
interest.
Aldi's own brand cereals including Harvest Morn Crisp Rice, Harvest Morn Choco Rice,
Harvest Morn Frosted Flakes, and Harvest Morn Choco Pillows lost all traces of cartoons
on their boxes in 2020.
This way, Aldi reasoned, parents wouldn't be pestered by their kids to buy the cereal
and it would be easier for them to make healthier choices for their kids.
Food Dive references a report by the Food Marketing Institute and Rodale that says children
have a bigger role to play than you think in determining what their parents purchase.
What they see on the food packages influences children's decisions greatly, according to
a study in the Journal of Public Policy and Marketing.
Naturally, many food giants such as Kellogg, Nestle, and Mondelez have invested gobs of
money in marketing products for children — a whopping $1.79 billion, according to a 2012
Federal Trade Commission Report.
All this kid-focused food was undeniably high in fat, sugar, and added colors — in short,
not healthy.
So, thanks to Aldi for culling the cartoons.
“This is how we handle things down in Toontown.”
Aldi once decided to install a machine that bakes bread in seconds for customers.
While this angered some German bakers, it confirmed to its customers that Aldi is serious
about its bread being freshly baked.
The bread that's offered at Aldi under their own labels L'oven and Specially Selected are
made by Bimbo Bakeries, whose customers also include McDonald's and Wendy's, among others.
Fresh loaves get stocked on Wednesdays along with the produce; while that sure is a good
time to waltz into the store to pick one up, there is an even better day to buy it.
Some quick back-of-the-napkin math tells us that by waiting it out a few days, you get
the bread for half the price.
According to food blogger Lauren Greutman:
"Simply look on the package for the expiration date, if it is expiring in six days and it
is nearing the end of the day, wait until tomorrow to get it at a deep discount."
Though L'oven white bread is priced at less than a dollar to start with according to Instacart,
isn't there always a thrill in getting a discount anyway?
It only takes a little bit of dissatisfaction with your bag of chips to be able to return
it for a refund and replacement at Aldi.
The grocery chain is so confident about the quality of its products that it offers what
it calls a "twice as nice" guarantee.
As per a discussion on Reddit, Aldi almost always honors this guarantee.
One shopper got a refund and replacement for a box of cookies that they weren't satisfied
with, and another got a double refund for a spreadable salad dressing, with no questions
asked.
The shoppers say that the items have to be taken back to the store without delay to get
both the refund and replacement or in some cases a double refund.
The cashiers never give you that questioning Larry David staredown when you say you didn't
like something.
"Okay."
One shopper on Reddit had this to say about their experience returning something to Aldi.
"... I was buying a watermelon and mentioned the last one I bought at ALDI wasn't good,
so she didn't charge me for the replacement melon."
Another shopper wrote, quote, "I once bought 2 lbs mozzarella that went bad, so I returned
it and got 2 lbs mozzarella worth of goods and my money back as well."
So can you return anything?
No, there is of course a limit to being nice — the guarantee doesn't apply to special
buy items, alcohol, or the national brands.
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