I can confirm that Aldi is a pretty great place to shop. The only problem with them is they don't really have a great selection of fresh raw foods. They have the most common things but you won't...
I can confirm that Aldi is a pretty great place to shop. The only problem with them is they don't really have a great selection of fresh raw foods. They have the most common things but you won't find the more exotic things.
But their supply chain is wonderful. They often undercut Walmart prices considerably and tend to be much more fresh. At the same time it's much less cluttered and it is so much less stressful to shop there. You can walk in, grab one or two things, and be out of there pretty quickly. That's something you can't really do with most US supermarkets.
The fact that most of these cost savings are even a thing kind of baffles me. No shopping cart jockeys, no greeters, no baggers... who even needs these? Here in germany, people bagging your goods...
The fact that most of these cost savings are even a thing kind of baffles me. No shopping cart jockeys, no greeters, no baggers... who even needs these? Here in germany, people bagging your goods for you only happens in clothing stores and up, where employee business levels and profit margins allow it. In supermarkets, neither of these is a thing. Don't get me wrong, Aldi is really good here as well, but they don't have as big a margin as it seems they have in the US. They mostly beat out the competition through supply chain stuff and cutting down on bullshit products. In Aldis here, you can get one kind of canned corn, one kind of plain what flour, one kind of olive oil, one kind of sunflower oil. All of these choices are good, and you probably won't find a significantly better choice in another supermarket. But they're as cheap as the cheapest of the three brands other supermarkets sell. My only complaint is that as a baker I can't get everything I need there. They got your type405 all-purpose flour and they have organic whole-grain and then a few other grains as well. No bread flour, no other wheat variants, no rye. If you need other rare ingredients you could be shit out of luck as well, but no one misses the umteenth variant of what is essentially the same product. Interestingly, they offer much more choice when it comes to things where little variations actually matter - sliced meats, cheeses.
I once shopped in a US Walmart supercenter. The choice paralysis is real, but the amount of wageslaves keeping the show going is surreal.
I'd give an arm and a leg to get Aldi here in Colorado. Our grocery options are awful for a metro area of our size-- we had nine different grocery companies (four of which were local, and one was...
I'd give an arm and a leg to get Aldi here in Colorado. Our grocery options are awful for a metro area of our size-- we had nine different grocery companies (four of which were local, and one was even a food co-op!) and twelve stores in freaking Montana, whereas here, it's basically just King Soopers (Kroger), rapidly-dwindling Safeways, a smattering of Save-a-Lots (hoo boy are those awful), and a bunch of "natural foods" chains (Sprouts, Whole Foods, and Natural Grocers), which (with the exception of Sprouts' produce and bulk) is definitely more expensive and "upscale" vs. the others.
We started getting a few Trader Joes about five years ago, but even those are pretty limited in where they are at.
Never considered that these would be considered inconveniences. It's the standard in Europe lol
New customers may be jolted at first by the experience of shopping at an Aldi, which expects its customers to endure a number of minor inconveniences not typical at other American grocery stores. Shoppers need a quarter to rent a shopping cart. Plastic and paper bags are available only for a fee. And at checkout, cashiers hurry shoppers away, expecting them to bag their own groceries in a separate location away from the cash register.
Never considered that these would be considered inconveniences. It's the standard in Europe lol
We have two Aldi stores where I live (and a third under construction). I go their weekly and it definitely saves me a lot of money. A week’s worth of groceries at Publix would be about $80. At...
We have two Aldi stores where I live (and a third under construction). I go their weekly and it definitely saves me a lot of money.
A week’s worth of groceries at Publix would be about $80. At Aldi, it’s usually about $45-$50. In the few years I’ve been going there, I’ve learned which of their generic products I don’t like (their Rice-a-Roni clone tastes...off to me). I just buy those products elsewhere.
My only complaint is that it takes forever to check out if the store is busy. Both stores near me have five or six checkout lanes but only 1 is active 95% of the time.
Your store might not have everyone trained properly, then; they are supposed to call more people in if the line gets busy. They cross-train their employees so that most of them can do just about...
Your store might not have everyone trained properly, then; they are supposed to call more people in if the line gets busy. They cross-train their employees so that most of them can do just about everything. That's why they only have one checkout opened most of the time - the other employees are supposed to be doing things elsewhere when they aren't busy.
I can confirm that Aldi is a pretty great place to shop. The only problem with them is they don't really have a great selection of fresh raw foods. They have the most common things but you won't find the more exotic things.
But their supply chain is wonderful. They often undercut Walmart prices considerably and tend to be much more fresh. At the same time it's much less cluttered and it is so much less stressful to shop there. You can walk in, grab one or two things, and be out of there pretty quickly. That's something you can't really do with most US supermarkets.
The fact that most of these cost savings are even a thing kind of baffles me. No shopping cart jockeys, no greeters, no baggers... who even needs these? Here in germany, people bagging your goods for you only happens in clothing stores and up, where employee business levels and profit margins allow it. In supermarkets, neither of these is a thing. Don't get me wrong, Aldi is really good here as well, but they don't have as big a margin as it seems they have in the US. They mostly beat out the competition through supply chain stuff and cutting down on bullshit products. In Aldis here, you can get one kind of canned corn, one kind of plain what flour, one kind of olive oil, one kind of sunflower oil. All of these choices are good, and you probably won't find a significantly better choice in another supermarket. But they're as cheap as the cheapest of the three brands other supermarkets sell. My only complaint is that as a baker I can't get everything I need there. They got your type405 all-purpose flour and they have organic whole-grain and then a few other grains as well. No bread flour, no other wheat variants, no rye. If you need other rare ingredients you could be shit out of luck as well, but no one misses the umteenth variant of what is essentially the same product. Interestingly, they offer much more choice when it comes to things where little variations actually matter - sliced meats, cheeses.
I once shopped in a US Walmart supercenter. The choice paralysis is real, but the amount of wageslaves keeping the show going is surreal.
I'd give an arm and a leg to get Aldi here in Colorado. Our grocery options are awful for a metro area of our size-- we had nine different grocery companies (four of which were local, and one was even a food co-op!) and twelve stores in freaking Montana, whereas here, it's basically just King Soopers (Kroger), rapidly-dwindling Safeways, a smattering of Save-a-Lots (hoo boy are those awful), and a bunch of "natural foods" chains (Sprouts, Whole Foods, and Natural Grocers), which (with the exception of Sprouts' produce and bulk) is definitely more expensive and "upscale" vs. the others.
We started getting a few Trader Joes about five years ago, but even those are pretty limited in where they are at.
Save-A-Lot is pretty much an Aldi knock-off. They have a produce section, but nothing I'd call fresh food.
(Source: SO worked there for two years)
Never considered that these would be considered inconveniences. It's the standard in Europe lol
We have two Aldi stores where I live (and a third under construction). I go their weekly and it definitely saves me a lot of money.
A week’s worth of groceries at Publix would be about $80. At Aldi, it’s usually about $45-$50. In the few years I’ve been going there, I’ve learned which of their generic products I don’t like (their Rice-a-Roni clone tastes...off to me). I just buy those products elsewhere.
My only complaint is that it takes forever to check out if the store is busy. Both stores near me have five or six checkout lanes but only 1 is active 95% of the time.
Your store might not have everyone trained properly, then; they are supposed to call more people in if the line gets busy. They cross-train their employees so that most of them can do just about everything. That's why they only have one checkout opened most of the time - the other employees are supposed to be doing things elsewhere when they aren't busy.
It’s been open for 2 years now so I’d hope they’d been trained at this point. Maybe they are understaffed?