I work in an Aldi Distribution Centre, happy to answer any reasonable questions you might have.
Apologies in advance if I go AWOL but I will get to your question!
[AMA] I'm a Warehouse Operator at an ALDI Distribution Centre
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Haha, yeah I saw that on the front of the catalogue and it's somehow creepy AF.
Jason vibes
vanilla sky homage
Patrick Bateman would love it.
what makes it dumb? @Arnold1
Oh I dont know? Everything about it
Does it come with a Jack Russel?
That was a test. You passed.
Aldi chunky steak pies used to be great, now they suck, even worse than the regular pies. Full of gristle and the pastry isnt as good and they are smaller. I just wanted to complain
Fair call.
Herbert Adams pies are pretty neat, same with their chicken and leek.
They always tell us "online ordering is coming soon!" but it never seems to arrive. Honestly we are nowhere near set up or it.
No thanks, specials aside ,loyal Aldi shoppers prefer low prices, and no frill simplicity. Aldi isn't for entitled ppl, or ppl too important to pack their own stuff, or 'play the game' in store.
A few more steps from constantly whinging "big 2" shoppers and Aldi will have no competitive edge.
If you want higher prices across the board in every grocery store bash Aldi into the same shape, because that's what will happenYou're right, this is part of why it's taking so long. They want to keep the prices lower than the opposition but they also need to compete with these luxuries that the others offer.
what is your favourite aldi chocolate, and aldi chip flavour?
I like the Eltora corn chips. Never had a good Aldi chocolate tbh.
thanks i will suss it this week - never even seen these eltora corn chips you speak of.
i usually go the kettle chip rip offsSprinters the rip off Pringles seem to be a fav. Yeah the Kettle rip offs go well too.
@Arnold1: i have always wondered about the sprinters too tbh
have been fanging for a good ruffle cut option actually…
@Jimothy Wongingtons: You need to head to the Reject Shop and pick up some Bluebird Originals if you want Ruffles.
BLACKSTONE. Put some respeck on the name, please.
Never had a good Aldi chocolate tbh.
Bro, wash your mouth out.
The Just Organic Dark Chocolate is top notch.
eh
I swear Aldi's master plan is to hook you with their chocolates, then hook you with specials, then the rest of your cart.
You sound like you have some inside information on their business practices.. This is exactly how they think.
aldi chocolate, in my opinion is better than cadbury. Speaking of… why can't i ever find salted pretzel? is it limited or just really popular
buy lindt from colesworth when it is 40%-50% off most weeks :-)
Agree Lindt chocolates are the bomb.
….when it is not 40-50% more than normal price.
What depot? Hope it's not regency. If not, how is the EDIFACT implementation going?
Dandenong South. No but people from Regency Park come in and try and rearrange everything every couple of months. When they leave we just put it back like it was before they ruined the layout.
We are a big supplier of Aldi working closely with regency depot at the moment to implement EDI. Its been a shit show, slowly the rest of the depot will follow as well.
Damn, hopefully they learn their lesson and don't curse us with it.
I recently discovered that they are yet to implement EDI, was a bit surprised that a retailer like Aldi was living in 1902.
@rambutann: You're not far off.. You should see the dying printers they use. I believe they were running Windows XP on some of their computers until a few years ago also.
Sounds everyone is having a go with Regency Park atm.
@lgacb08: Not sure why. Seems a number of people are on the wrong side of this.
Regency Park just went live with SAP on tbe 16th, and were the first region in the world to do so and still manage to deliver not just some store orders, but all the orders… probably people who should be listened too?
Knoppers are the best snack. Do you agree?
Very popular.. I'm not really a sweet tooth but if someone offers me some I'm not knocking them back.
Shhhhhhhhhh
Seriously under-rated. Got them on a whim just post lockdown which is not good timing if you wish to shit post lockdown kgs
Do you have any corn fritters left? Always empty..
They've been having issues with supply chain on a lot of products lately.. They don't tell us why.
They don't tell us why.
Must be worried you might mention it on a public forum to a bunch of strangers.
Quite possibly yes. They are very cautious of corporate espionage.. Like we've been sent by colesworth to steal secrets or something.
How much is the wastage ?
It's huge.. For example if one bottle of bourbon breaks in a box of 12 they throw the whole box out.
When special buys get returned - TV's, lawn mowers etc they are sent to us. No one tests them and they are sent away never to be seen again.
A lot of the packaging on ambient items is weak and or poorly stacked, quite often broken before it can even be picked for a stores order.
We do however donate a lot of the poorly packaged boxes, dinted cans etc.
Everything in the way of damaged pet food goes to RSCPA type places.
And how secure would you say the bins are at the DC?
Most of the waste is put through like a general waste crusher so it's destroyed. Liquid products, broken machinery etc are thrown into a huge skip.. Like if you got into the skip to try and take something you'd have a hell of a time trying to get out.
Why do I get all my items and receipts checked thoroughly and others push a trolley full of items out and the checkout person gives zero (profanity)
I don't work in store or know much about their theft policies but I feel you. I get the same treatment when I go there, more so at the self checkouts in Woolworths / Coles.
Not OP, but a lot of places just can't exactly chase them down, don't want to get themselves hurt.
It really just bare minimum preventative. Sure, they'll check a bag and look at receipts. Bare minimum right? Someone with a trolley or bags out the door? Not worth the hassle, i'd guess.
From my observations, they tend to focus loss prevention on repeat offenders/using footage to build a profile.
Bag checks no doubt reduce a lot of theft from school children/potential opportunists, but the hardened thieves are pursued in other ways.
Bro, your name is bargainhunter55. You are being profiled. You'd stop yourself and check your own bags if you could, admit it.
Do you have a theory?
I'd just ignore them as they likely can't stop you. Would be entertaining if they tried and found out you didn't steal lmao
why is my local store always out of stock of canned chick peas?
As above they're having huge issues with the supply chain on many products. They don't really tell us why.
Why did you start and AMA and then answer everyone's question in a timely manner? That's not the status quo here
Edit - where do we find out the location of these thrown out bourbons?
Why did you start and AMA and then answer everyone's question in a timely manner? That's not the status quo here - Good, different.
Haha the bourbons are binned then destroyed in a crusher… I know it hurts me too.
Could you not take the other 11 good bottles out for yourself first instead of crushing the lot?
I always thought of Aldi as the anti waste crusader
They like to project that image yes. But no. However we just did a stocktake last weekend and it seems wastage has become the new focus.
@fozzie: Yeah it's really frustrating, like it's good stuff and they don't blink an eye about turfing it.
Which of Harry Potter movies entertained you the most?
Quite honestly I've never watched them, they don't appeal to me at all. More of an Action, Thriller, Horror type person.
OK, is Die Hard a Christmas movie?
Not really but I'd rather watch that than more traditional Christmas movies.
Will we see curly fries return? :/
I hope so!
Me too!!!
Which product clones are the same as branded
They claim a lot of them but I really have no idea sorry. A lot of us do get a laugh out of the cheap imitation product names though, especially the cereals. Quite cringe some of them.
What? You don't think "Bran and Sultanas" is clever?
The protein yoghurt is YoPro. I found out due to tracking macros for fitness reasons
Do you know when car covers will be a Special Buy? They're usually on offer during October
Unfortunately not, we get the catalogue maybe a day or two before the public.
Thanks!
Edit: Literally ran out of work since ALDI is next door to buy one for my car haha my dad really likes using them and thinks $40 is an acceptable price for a new one when it's time to chuck the old one out. Now need another size S for the other car in my household …
Be careful with car covers…as soon as any small amount of dust gets between the cover and the car, any movement in the car cover due to wind will result in fine scratching all over the car.
@placard: My car paint is shit (thanks Toyota) so not too fussed about that any more. Copped damage from a rock on my bonnet six weeks after I got my car …
the foam one is good, not sure about the recent one
How much do you get paid and what's career progression like?
Everyone starts as a casual through an agency I believe the starting rate is $30.xx per hour
Once permanent after 3 - 6 months it's $35xx per hour
After one year permanent it's $37.xx per hour
Two years is 39.xx per hour
Three years is $41.98
Saturday is time and a half
Sunday is double time
Public holidays are double time but Christmas Day and Good Friday are triple time.
If we work more than 9 hours in one shift it goes into double time but they don't very often allow this.
Freezer allowance is about $3 on top of those rates
Truck drivers are closer to $50 an hour
Section Leaders are closer to $50 an hour also.
If you work shifts between 6pm and 5:30am you get 15 percent on top of those rates also.
That's pretty good money. Is it a hectic job with KPIs you can barely meet like being an Amazon packer or something?
Yeah it is good money, a lot of my co workers complain about "not being paid enough for this sh1t" but they're just bitter and have been there too long.
With KPI's they can be hectic but management go through cycles of caring about KPI's and then not caring about KPI's.
One month they'll track everyone down who isn't hitting the quota "sign this piece of paper" "do better"
Then you won't hear anything for another 3 months, then all of a sudden the pieces of paper come back out again.
Personally I don't find it hectic very often and I'd never complain about what I get paid.
@TiredKitty78: At Coles you're expected to stock 60 cartons of stock every hour (some people have even told me 80/hour is what the managers have told them)
What's the dumbest weekly special you've seen?