5 Reasons Why Aldi is So Goddamned Awesome
And my one complaint about shopping there, which has nothing to do with the actual store.
Aldi is amazing.
I wouldn’t have said that 12 years ago when I finally finished college, but my how times have changed.
When I graduated in 2009, Aldi was known as the place where poor people shopped.
I’m not talking “new graduate” poor, where you have a low starting salary and don’t know how to budget. I’m talking about people who have been earning minimum wage for the past 15 years have to decide whether to pay the electric bill or feed their family.
I was “new graduate” poor, but worse, as I graduated into The Great Recession and had no starting salary. My income consisted of three part-time jobs that barely covered my rent.
So, to Aldi I went, a poor person, going to the poor grocery store, on the poor side of town, across the street from the vacant shopping mall.
The food wasn’t great in 2009. Or 2010. Or 2011. But I kept going, because my income wasn’t great, either.
The selection was minimal at best (more on that later), and the quality was one step above horse meat.
But sometime around 2013-ish, things started to change.
Better quality, organic meat was being stocked. Their fresh fruit and vegetable selection expanded, also including organic options. The old cardboard tasting crackers were removed.
And all of a sudden, Aldi had good quality, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to my admiration for this store.
- Low prices + good quality
- Fewer choices
- Speedy checkout
- Good pay
- German Week
1 — Low Prices + Good Quality
Aldi was always known for their low prices, but the quality was lacking. That has changed over the past decade, and now the quality is close to that of the major name brands.
How do they do this?
- Grocery carts.
Anyone who frequents this store has an“Aldi quarter” in their car, which unlocks the grocery carts that are chained together.
Using this system saves money because a) they don’t have to pay employees to gather up the carts, b) carts don’t go missing as often, and c) payouts due to carts running into cars or people are almost zero.
- High volume and no staging.
Aldi buys in bulk and sells in bulk. By bulk, I don’t mean Costco-sized bags of chips. Rather, they just move the entire pallet of standard size Shells N Cheese to the floor, remove the shrink wrap, and push it in.
No staging on the shelf. No single lines of multiple types of boxes next to each other.
- Small stores
The standard Aldi store is only 4 aisles, so your grocery trip is up-down-up-down-checkout.
The small stores mean small footprints, lower leases/purchases, and lower energy bills.
2 — Fewer Choices
In the Land of Plenty, fewer choices may seem like a detriment, but it is actually freeing.
If you walk into any Meijer, WalMart, Publix, Kroger, etc., you’ll find 16 types of marinade for your steak, 65 cereal options, and untold choices for bread.
At Aldi, you get 2–3 options at best.
Why is this a benefit?Because it removes almost all decision-making from grocery shopping?
I’ve tried most every item at Aldi, and I like most of them. So if I want to buy breakfast sausage, there’s only 1 choice, and I know exactly what I’m getting, where it is in the store, and how much it costs.
3 — Speedy Checkout
Aldi doesn’t bag your groceries. They scan your items and put them back in the cart, then direct you to the long bench after checkout for you to bag your own groceries.
Is this shadow work that is being absorbed by the customer? A little.
But it’s shadow work that is actually faster than having someone do it for you, and I appreciate the speed.
Fun fact: If you’ve even watched an Aldi employee check out your groceries, they are super fast at the UPC reader. That’s because Aldi puts UPC codes on most every side of their products, removing the need to search for it.
The cashiers just move any product with any side facing the laser, and the UPC gets read regardless.
4 — Good Pay
Speaking of the cashiers, Aldi starts out their employees in the mid-teens per hour, which is a damn sight more any other entry-level position with another grocery store.
Part of the reason for this is because their employees wear several hats, including cashier, stocker, backroom unloader, and janitor.
Sure, this may seem like a lot of work, but it sure beats standing at a cashier’s station for 8 hours earning crap money.
The other reason for a higher starting pay is that it incentivizes their employees to stay, not only reducing turnover and the associated cost, but also allowing employees to become well-versed in Aldi procedures, which is a benefit to the customers, enticing them to come back and buy more.
5 — German Week
Aldi normally carries a fine assortment of imported German food, but twice a year they ramp it up and stock even more, with some items only coming during these special events.
German Week takes place around Easter and Octoberfest, so keep an eye out during these times.
There are two standout items that I stock up on during these weeks.
- Sweet German mustard
- Small, round sandwich cookies that come in hazelnut, chocolate, and lemon
The last time I went into an Aldi before the pandemic, my wife had just given birth to our son, and she was jonesing for something sweet. German Week had just started, and I asked one of the employees to unwrap a crate for me so I could buy the cookies.
They were super nice and let me get a dozen packs of cookies.
Yes, a dozen. It only comes twice a year, and 6 months is a long time.
My One Gripe With Aldi…and It’s Not With Aldi
Aldi went with the, “If you build it, they will come” model, and it has worked wonders.
New stores are popping up, old stores are being remodeled, and more people are shopping there. My problem is with the new shoppers who are unfamiliar with how exactly Aldi works.
If it were an influx of the working poor who are eager to get some better food than the piece of garbage Save-A-Lot they normally frequent, then I don’t think I would mind.
But the new shoppers at Aldi are the same assholes that want to save the planet: self-entitled, rich, white folks who unnecessarily want to save a few bucks.
Aldi is a store to get in, get your stuff, and get out.
Regular shoppers know the layout by heart, appreciate the built-in German efficiency, and have no desire to stick around.
These new people have no clue what Aldi is all about, lounge around and have conversations in the aisles, block the products you’re trying to get to, and ultimately don’t care if working families are on a time crunch.
I wouldn’t be this annoyed if it was just Year 1 of the Aldi expansion, but we’re in Year 6 or so, and these people just won’t get with the program.
I’ll get off my soapbox now.
The Takeaway
If you are lucky enough to have an Aldi nearby, then go.
Go now!
Save some money and revel in the streamlined, low-option, low-price awesomeness that Karl and Theo Albrecht bestowed upon us.
I’ve you’ve never been, shop there for a few weeks, then compare your grocery bills to your prior store(s). I guarantee it will be at least 25% less.
And please…once you’ve got the store layout memorized, give the Aldi long-haulers a break and don’t loiter.
The Latest Stories From Money. Daily.
- A New Day for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program
- Do You Really Need a Savings Account?
- The Simple and Shocking Truth About Climate Change
- The Linguistic Bait and Switch of Climate Change
- There Is No Labor Shortage
Don’t miss my next article! Click here to get notified when I publish new material.
If you love the articles published in Money. Daily. become a member of the Medium and get full access to our full archives.
This article is for informational purposes only, it should not be considered Financial or Legal Advice. Not all information will be accurate. Consult a financial professional before making any major financial decisions.