Where Wal-Mart Failed, Aldi Succeeds - NYT Article

[Brian]

Written by person who did light cover on subject but never really shopped in one, wrote a little snarky, implying bare box store brands dressed in confusing packaging... vs higher quality than brand equiv... have my list, but as eg their Muesli I would put up against anything out there, including Alpen hands down at less than half price.
So I chose to look at it from amused stance, as people out there adapt to simpler shopping stripped of over choice, over processed, over priced hype.
Yes they sell frozen ready to eat convenience food, but beside that box of Chicken Kiev, is a 6 lb natural source roaster chicken for .79 pd, everyday price.

Could add more but I do not work for Aldis

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/30/bu...html?src=busln

[Kat]

Interesting article! Personally, I love Aldis. It is affordable and for the most part, the quality is good (at least around here). I have heard some people complain about having to bag their own groceries, but I really don't mind that part. I can do it myself and get out of there faster than I can get through one of the three or four checkout lanes open at Walmart.

[catherine]

Huh.. I have one not far from my house. I think they tend to be in urban areas (the one I'm thinking of is closer to a city than the suburbs I live in) but I think my anti-consumerist daughter who works for a hunger non-profit is against them for some reason.... I'll have to ask her why--I thought she said they exploit poor urban people but that may have been another grocery store. I shop Trader Joe's, so if this is cheaper and run by the same family... we'll see--might be interesting.

[CatsNK]

God, I LOVE Aldi. Love, love, love. It's out of the way for us (requires driving) so we go about once every three weeks and really stock up. Their prices Can Not Be Beat. Thanks for posting this article!

[Fawn]

Big Aldi fan here too.

Our local Aldi is advertising jobs starting at 10.50/hr. It's not alot, but comparable to other unskilled jobs around here. I don't know if there are any benefits with the job or not. Local retail and caregiver jobs pay only hourly--no vacation or health insurance.

[CatsNK]

My sense is that Aldi's is a pretty good place to work - the employees stay forever - ours has the same cashiers as when the place opened!

The only problem I've ever had there is once we were charged for 13 heads of cauliflower instead of ONE! And this is when were at an Aldi's in another town - we were traveling through on the way home and stopped there... Try getting a refund.

I went to the local store and they told me to write to HQ. I wrote to HQ and they told me to go to the local store. I ended up visiting the local store THREE TIMES before they would give me my money back and even then it was only because I got a little upset at that point. Pretty unorganized, if you ask me, although it was partially my fault as I should have looked at the receipt before I left the store, I guess!

[Selah]

I was thrilled to move to a town with an Aldi's. After some initial suspicion, my DH is a complete convert and LOVES Aldi. I applied for a job there, but they had some really strange job requirements, including being ALWAYS available and on-call from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week, even if you only got a 40-hr/week job there, just in case they needed you to cover for someone else. In other words, it would be against company policy for you to make any outside commitment of your time, like classes or religious participation...unless, of course, you can find a class that meets between the hours of 11 p.m. and 4:59 a.m.! So although I don't work there, I still enjoy shopping there!

[rosarugosa]

Brian, Thanks for sharing; that was an interesting read. There are no Aldi's in my area (Boston suburbs). It sounds like they would be a nice addition to our grocery options if they do ever come here. I've seen a lot of people on these forums say that they love Aldi's, so now I know what they're talking about!

[Jinger]

We need an Aldi's in Austin, TX....I so want to shop there.

http://iliketomakethings.blogspot.com

[loosechickens]

"I was thrilled to move to a town with an Aldi's. After some initial suspicion, my DH is a complete convert and LOVES Aldi. I applied for a job there, but they had some really strange job requirements, including being ALWAYS available and on-call from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week, even if you only got a 40-hr/week job there, just in case they needed you to cover for someone else. In other words, it would be against company policy for you to make any outside commitment of your time, like classes or religious participation...unless, of course, you can find a class that meets between the hours of 11 p.m. and 4:59 a.m.! So although I don't work there, I still enjoy shopping there!" (Selah)
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Sadly, in this time with few unions left, and no opportunity to collectively bargain about these conditions, this seems to be the wave of the future. We have a friend who works under similar conditions for one of the big retailers, who reserve the right to call her in whenever they need someone and she must be available. They also think nothing of having her come in at 6 a.m. for three or four hours, then send her home to come back in the late afternoon for the rest of her shift.

I'm afraid that is looking at the future of work in this country, as the pendulum has swung back to many fewer protections for workers, and companies that perfer to see workers as "work units" that they employ as human inventory under a "just in time" strategy, just as they handle product inventory.

But, like our friend, many need the jobs, so they constrain their private lives waiting for the phone call to bring them in at the company's convenience. Sad, huh?

BUT.....behavior like that toward employees helps the company offer those low prices, and we know that everyone is crazy about low prices, so the customer gets the low prices and the employees get not so good treatment, but the company profits are ensured.

Guess you can tell this really kind of bums me out just thinking about it. Sometimes I am glad to have my work years behind me, because it's getting really hard out there. .