r/Aldi_employees

-Why will they not turn off curbside or allow us to, when we are short staffed? Its horrible customer service, upsets a ton of people, and is horrid for the employees to deal with. Something has to be neglected whether its registers, scrapping, refresh, curbside or whatever. Not all of it can be done by 2 people when a store that sees 50k/60k+ sales a day.

-Why does management delete shifts instead of turning in the sick time?

-If a catastrophic loss happens, whats the next step? Not by weather but human decision. Is that an immediate fireable offense or will they just be let off the hook? It seems everything that happens here is just let off.

Maybe not the simplest question, but what's the Aldi attitude toward firing?

I've been working here about a month and a half. With the inconsistency between afternoon and morning shifts as well as constantly bouncing between cooler/freezer, I feel like I'm progressing pretty slowly. My manager has started expressing the same concern. I am improving, but at a snail's pace.

I'm generally a slow learner, and having to switch between different tasks while also developing a system for each one has been taking me a while. My manager recently asked me to start keeping track of my pallet times with sheets, which I sometimes forget to grab because my duties seem to change too often for relevant learning and absorption from shift to shift. I'm pretty sure that's one more thing frustrating him.

Yesterday, I had to call in for a morning shift because I suddenly came down with what felt like food poisoning. I notified both the LSA on duty and my SM, who was working later that day. The LSA responded, but my SM didn't, which is unusual.

Today, I came in still not feeling 100% and was assigned to freezer, which is currently the area I've had the least experience in. Between feeling sick, under-trained, and already being discouraged about my progress, it took me quite a while to finish my pallets, and my manager was visibly annoyed.

I've also had a couple unrelated bumps with my car early on that caused me to miss one of my first shifts and arrive late another time. I was never spoken to about either incident.

So now it feels like there's a dark cloud hanging over my next shift. Everything combined is posturing me as a poor attendance, slow learning employee, which is true at the moment, but not in my favor. Am I realistically at risk of getting fired, or is it more likely I get a good talking to or even decreased from full time? I'm not sure what to expect with how weirdly Aldi operates.

TLDR: 1.5 months in I'm slow, missed some shifts, and my manager seems frustrated. Am I at risk of getting fired?

Break ins, chiller, freezer alarms out of hours. How is the call list at your store?
I'm recently promoted DSM and in the last few weeks they have called me and I found out they put my name first as I live the closest.
Fair enough, but I did not consent, nor do I want to be the one expected to handle these call outs. No one even told me before I asked how this works.
I make 30k a year while my manager makes 100k, with that in mind, I expect him to answer the phone at 2 am.
I don't even know how I'm supposed to be compensated for being on call?
What happens if I just never answer the calls?

hiiiii! i’m an asm with my first call out, how do i find how much sick time someone has in WFM? Also how do I put them in for a sick day? SM is on vacation. thank you!!!

The company likes to claim that we are paid above the industry standard. With wages for the store employees taking affect in the near future, I figured I would check the competition. This only reflects Store Manager salary(it was the simplest to compare directly), as there is too many positions across all the companies to do this for. But you have figure if they short changing the Store Managers this much vs. other companies, then we all our most likely being under paid comparably.

Walmart - $128,00 plus bonuses ($218,000-$400,000)

Sam's club - $100- $110,000 plus bonuses

Kroger - $70,000 - $85,000 plus bonuses ($90,000-$115,000)

Costco - $138,000 plus bonuses and stock options ( $178,000 - $400,000)

Publix - $85,000 - $139,000 plus bonuses ($135,000 - $202,000)

Aldi - $70,000 -$97,000 plus bonuses   ($82,000 - $110,000)

How do those of you who have been here for years do this? How do you stay sane and healthy? Uninjured? This cannot be the true strategy, to burn us all into the ground. How are we supposed to work like this long term?

I feel like I crazy. ASM with the company a year and I have never been so drained in my life. I haven't considered myself an out of shape person but this place leaves me dead. Daily. Its improved, sure, but I am still wiped every day. No energy for living after work. No energy for doing anything on my days off, just muscle recovery.

I have to eat like a bodybuilder for this job but I don't get paid enough or have the schedule to cook the protein my body is dying for. Not getting a discount on my increased grocery spending is neat. But hey we get paid soooooo much.

No work life balance. On top of being perpetually exhausted, I close almost every shift, rarely get my preferred day off, and get a call or text every single day I am off to work at some store in the area.

The customers are the worst I have ever experienced anywhere in retail (I haven't worked at a dollar store, so I'm sure they CAN be worse).

I have never gotten sick so often either. I feel like I get sick every other month, like really sick.

Then there are people who just...do this for 8+ years. How are you so unbothered that you can do this for so long and not go insane or die? The job itself is fine, its the doing 3 people's worth of the job itself that is killing me I think

I was thrown into covering this vacation that I didn’t want. I don’t really care but before my SM started their vacation they didn’t run ANY back stock. So this past weekend I’ve thrown half of truck every day and caught everything up besides AF freezer. I told my other ASM & I come in Sunday to it not ran..

So Sunday my MOD shift gets pushed to a close since our LSA is out for the week unexpectedly. So I clopen into Monday, only to find out my SM didn’t complete this current weeks schedule AND I had 0 coverage after our curbside schedule got changed. 2 phones shopping until 4:30pm. Didn’t get a chance to set ANY af food.

So I came in early today to revise the schedule, only to find out almost every sister store near me SM’s are out of town and on leave. Ended up throwing half of truck again, set AF freezer, covered breaks, PI, UBD, condensed non-food, set half of non-food, and ran afternoon fills. To get ready for a director visit coming up.

The other ASM mentioned they want to take the store over one day, yet every time I get the store somewhat caught up it’s starts snowballing again. They were pretty much kicking rocks knowing it was them and one other person past 6 tonight.

Now I’ve worked 2 x 13 hours days, 23k-35k steps everyday this past week, 2 schedules I need to make, lost a day off this week, and I have to solo truck for the rest of this week unless other stores get back to me in time. Just in time for our busiest week before the holidays 🤨

This company is a joke

I want to say thank you to the people that say yes to when you’re asked to help cover. I always lead with you can tell me no & make sure I’m not interfering with any plans. 4 people on my team didn’t even think twice when I asked to extend shifts and add days. Even more so since nobody tries to work for my SM

I just completed my second day as an SMT (Store Manager Trainee) with ALDI, and I wanted to reach out to people who have been in the role, completed the training program, or are currently Store Managers with the company. I’m genuinely looking for advice on how to be successful. I understand I’m only two days in and have a lot to learn. Right now, I’m trying to absorb as much as possible, understand ALDI’s way of doing things, and build good habits from the beginning.
For those who have been successful with ALDI:

What should I focus on the most during my training?

What separates a strong SMT from someone who struggles?

What do you wish you had known when you first started?

What mistakes should I try to avoid early on?

How did you earn the respect of your associates while still learning the operation yourself?

What helped you eventually feel ready to run your own store?

Is there anything I should be doing outside of what my training plan specifically asks of me?

One thing I do want to mention: I’m looking for genuine, constructive advice. I know Reddit can sometimes turn posts like this into sarcasm, “just quit now” comments, or a place to vent about everything someone dislikes about their employer. I respect that everyone has their own experiences, but that isn’t what I’m looking for here. The job market is rough right now, and I’m grateful to have been given this opportunity. I want to be here. I’m coming into this role with a positive mindset, and I want to give ALDI and this position a legitimate chance rather than allowing someone else’s negative experience to determine mine. That doesn’t mean I only want to hear positive things either. If there are difficult parts of the job, things I need to prepare myself for, or constructive criticism that will help me become a better SMT and eventually a better Store Manager, I absolutely want to hear it. I just want it from the perspective of: “Here’s what you need to know to succeed,” rather than “I hate my job, so you will too.”
I’m two days into this journey. I know I have a long way to go, but I’m ready to learn. Any advice from experienced ALDI SMTs, ASMs, Store Managers, or DMs would be greatly appreciated.

I’m a newer associate and honestly, the job itself is not bad. I actually like working here. I’ve worked multiple jobs before this and I’ve never had this much of a problem with a manager. I get along fine with the other managers and associates. It’s specifically this one trainee manager that makes my shifts miserable.
My biggest issue is his tone and the way he talks to me. He talks to me like I’ve been working here for five years and should already know everything when I JUST started and I’m still supposed to be training. Other associates have literally asked me, “Aren’t you still training?” and at this point I don’t even know because it doesn’t feel like I am.
I don’t have an issue with being given work. I’ve had shifts where I was given meat and fish by myself, which was A LOT, but I stayed in that section and got it done. I’ve finished my pallets and done plenty of stocking. Hard work is not my issue.
My issue is being talked to like I’m incompetent when I haven’t even been properly taught half of this stuff.
For example, I’ve done bread before, but nobody ever told me I was also supposed to do trays or actually trained me on how to do them. All of a sudden this trainee manager is acting like I should already know how.
I told him I needed someone to train me. His response was basically, “Didn’t someone show you before?” Someone doing the task themselves while I stand there watching is NOT the same as training me and letting me actually do it.
Today he told another manager to show me how to do the trays. She started showing me, I did what she showed me, and then she walked away. I thought she was coming back, so eventually I went to the back waiting for her. She never came back. My store manager happened to be back there, saw that I looked overwhelmed and told me I could clock out. At that point I was already past my scheduled time anyway.
He also gets on me about things while I’m literally in the middle of doing something HE told me to do. Earlier I had carts from bread that I obviously knew needed to be cleared. I was about to clear them, but he redirected me and had me stamping bread items one at a time. Then while I’m doing that, he comes over telling me I need to clear all the carts.
I KNOW. I was about to do that until YOU redirected me.
And the way he speaks to me while doing all of this is what really gets me. Today he raised his voice at me at 5 in the morning and I finally started talking back. I’m not proud of getting irritated, but I’m also not going to pretend his tone doesn’t bother me. You can manage me, correct me, and tell me what needs to be done without speaking to me like I’m beneath you.
What makes it worse is that when I finish the work I actually know how to do, it feels like he doesn’t know what to do with me next. Instead of actually continuing my training, I get sent to some random task I haven’t learned yet, and then somehow I’m expected to already know how to do that too.
Meanwhile, I was told I would be getting trained on register and that still hasn’t happened.
I genuinely like the job itself. That’s what makes this so frustrating. I’m fine working with everyone else. I’ve had difficult shifts without this manager and got through them without feeling like this. When I work with him, I leave mentally exhausted and pissed off.
I’m planning on talking privately to my store manager because it’s gotten to the point where this ONE person is making me consider quitting a job I otherwise like.
I don’t expect managers to baby me. I just expect to actually be trained while I’m new and to be spoken to like a human being.

Our store has 4 or 5 phones depending on the day. Every day the runner phone is different. Does anyone know how to dedicate the same phone to be the daily runner? Attempting to coordinate any plan is quite challenging.

Hi all, I work at an ALDI store in Sydney and felt the need to vent out some frustrations after a very chaotic weekend.

To begin, I have been noticing quite frequently at how customers are becoming less empathetic to other shoppers and staff. I want to emphasis how FRUSTRATING it is when people do not use the packing bench that is there for people to use. During a busy rush over the weekend, these people who come to the registers with a whole trolly filled with groceries insist that they take their time at the front counter to pack their bags and hold the line for everyone else. We have provided the packing bench for customers to USE. It appears that people think that the packing bench is some store decor and serves no purpose.
I tell people who do exactly this that they can take their time to pack their bags if they just move over to the bench to bag their items instead of at the counter and they just throw hissy-fits and tantrums at how they don’t like “double-handling” their groceries or how they’re not “comfortable” with this suggestion. When they don’t listen, I try to point out that they are holding the line for everyone else and even that fails to register. I sometimes show the malcontent how a model customer often looks like if I see a customer using the bench to bag their groceries. It’s extremely frustrating when customers do not comply and make things harder than it needs to be. Just place your shopping back in the trolly (not in your bags), then take move over to the bench and then bag your shopping! It’s not that hard to do!
I recount a time when dealing with a customer like this, a good customer behind her asserted that she use the benches to pack her bags and not hold up the line, she clapped back and told this customer to relax and to wait his turn along with a few expletives. It was extremely cathartic to see two customers go at it between them but it really made me think how little empathy a lot of people have with one another.

Another issue that I have with customers is how people do not transfer money between cards until all their shopping is scanned and they’re at the registers. I ring them up, tell them their total and then they’ll say “oh I’m sorry, I just have to transfer some money.” They spend the next 2 minutes holding up people without a care in the world, especially during a busy day. I’m just wondering why you didn’t do it before you queued up or even while you were in line!
Now I wouldn’t care if it was one or two people but it’s starting to be more than a few and becoming every second customer “has to transfer”.

Finally, while I’m replenishing stock with an electric jack with those decarding boxes and it is clear that there’s not enough room for customers to pick up a product as I have temporarily occupied some space, I don’t understand why customers have the need to violate my personal space just to get to that one specific item that’s by my legs or my torso instead of just waiting for a few minutes until I have cleared from the area. It is vexing when I have people come up right by my legs and the electric jack, putting themselves and I in danger. Please just look for another item or just wait for me to finish and then pick up whatever you need.

(Also on an unrelated note, why are a lot of customers blind? They ask to see where an item is and yet they don’t even glance at the shelves in front of them which have the product they want. I also ask the same questions for people who literally just walked into the store and started asked the same questions to staff. Like please, you literally just walked in the store, maybe try and have a look yourself? This also goes for people who ask when certain special buys come out. It’s written in the catalogues. Just read them please.)

Finally, I find it very disgusting that there are parents who let their kids indulge in yogurts, eat some berries, drink juice boxes, before actually paying for it. It’s trashy behaviour; and how hard is it to just wait until you buy the product? Do they have no self control? Why do they give in and not instil patience in their children? I also have the same feeling when I see adults drinking a bottle coke or opening a packet of chips before they buy it. In my eyes and as well as in the eyes of many different managers across many stores, it’s technically seen as theft because you’re consuming a product before having paid for it. It’s extremely boorish behaviour. Have some self control and teach your children to wait until you pay for it.

Thank you for reading through my tirade, it’s just been a long weekend and dealt with many uncouth people.

Anyone, anyone at all have any insight on what the big dogs are doing about these freezers. Its now snowing in our freezer.. actual flurries. Between navigating around Mt.Everest, breaking through a 6 inch thick ice wall to put a chicken box on the top shelf, every fan looks like it went through "Day After Tomorrow" and watch out for the mini ice rink. So many "door" and "seal" replacements, so many times lifting the most heavy awkward shelves, coworkers slipping, ice chunks in the eyes, product frozen in the middle of shelf ... WHEN IS ENOUGH, ENOUGH!!

Did anyone actually get one? I never even heard about the promotion until literally a month later. Shouldn’t employees be told about something like that?

How grievous would it be to have forgotten to arm the store? Im like, 95% sure I did but im overthinking it and id finally be home at midnight if I went all the way out just to check bc I live far lol

I work in the warehouse and hurt my back a couple weeks ago, went to urgent care and been on the 35lb weight restriction so I can still work and currently taking an anti-inflammatory, muscle relaxer, and a steroid plus doing physical therapy 3 times a week and have an MRI scheduled. The doctor actually recommended a 25lb restriction but I don’t want to collect workers comp because 70% isn’t enough to get by.

Since rolling out Ahead they got rid of “light duty” which was just the toilet paper and chips aisle. The new “light duty” is toilet paper, cans, sodas, and jars. Nothing individually is over the 35lb limit but every order I’ve been getting is 250 cases of sodas, 280 cases of cans, 240 cases of jars. I rarely get toilet paper and chips.

This totally wrecks my back and I ice it on break but days like today I have to end up leaving early. My back is actually getting worse. I asked if I could switch over to being a loader or something less physical and the supervisors said I have to wait til a bid comes around for the position. It just seems like they’re intentionally giving me nothing but the these huge heavy orders so I just end up quitting. I was talking to a woman that hurt her arm and it’s the same for her.

I don’t get why they would get rid of the old light duty and NOT actually allow people with injuries to heal and to get back to regular duties versus try and just push them out when the turnover is already insane.