There's a great song about Walmart, you know.

https://tidal.com/browse/track/386172554?u

Also lets cashiers sit down.

I wish more of mine had the self-checkouts. The ones that don't, it's a minimum 10 minute wait in line to check out. Never more than one cashier during the hours I go.

Rumor has it they’re pulling all of the self checkouts out due to theft.

All of the ones near/by me have had them removed and regular registers put back in.

When they initially put in the self checkouts the delay for scanning was set to similar to a manned checkout, and as someone who spent my formative years cashiering at a grocery store, I greatly appreciated being able to quickly scan through my stuff. They upped the delay between scans after a few weeks, so now its like 10 seconds before you can scan another of the same item, so I've just gotten creative in alternating items to scan faster

Add on fun fact: Aldi South and North are were owned separately by 2 brothers from Germany.

Edit: updated to past tense. Thank you kind stranger below to note that the 2 brothers are no longer alive

Gutes Video

We need to bring back right to sit laws in the US. They were passed in most states in the early 20th century, but most have been repealed with time and the general decline of labor rights. Those laws also were sexist and only applied to women. But we could absolutely use gender-neutral right to sit laws.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_sit_in_the_United_States

That's so weird. I simply see no reason why all the other US-chains force their employees to stand behind the counter.

Yeah I get almost everything from Aldi because the quality is consistently comparable to name-brand while being significantly cheaper. Its also nice that the stores are so small so you can focus more on shopping and less on getting through the store itself

There's a few items where I do prefer from other stores (particularly meats and fresh fruits/veggies as the Aldi ones tend to go off faster and are lower quality) but generally I'll hit Aldi, then my local grocery store for the last couple of items from my list, thereby keeping me well-within my grocery budget and getting the best of both worlds. Plus I can usually get it all done within about an hour thanks to only needing to hit a couple of isles in the big grocery store

Tell me about these french bread pizzas and kettle chips.

I frequent aldi for essentials, but havent had these, but can look out for them. I frequently get their big thin crust pizzas.

They also let the cashier sit down...

I have worked for two producers here in the UK that supply Aldi. Basically Aldi want to match the leading brand and be cheaper.

Neither of the companies i worked were the leading brand but the Aldi product we made (for both companies) match it.

As a norm I buy from Aldi knowing they always try to get the leading brand matching quality for less.

Paid $1.65 for eggs there the other day. Half the cheapest regular grocery store price in my area. Meats at Aldi aren’t so great. Cuts are tougher, and I’ve found that the per-pound cost is about the same as the lower prices at regular stores. Aldi’s stuff isn’t trimmed as well, and once you get the fat trimmed you wind up about the same $/lb. Chicken is still a decent deal there.

I don't know that I would agree with that, what's your metric for standards which sets Aldi above every other chain in the USA?

Aldi's great, don't get me wrong, I love several of their business decisions such as the quarter for a cart, allowing customers to take excess boxes to reduce clean up, and they let their cashiers sit. That said, they are an overstock/discount/outlet style store and don't reliably have the exact product you might want. If you're looking for good prices they will generally have something you want, but it might be a different brand or style. In my mind it's like a Ross, Marshals, or TJ Maxx but for groceries. Another plus is that Aldi has interesting items not typically seen at other stores such as German or European items.

Other people in these comments mentioned that their Aldi looks nice while having good prices, but the 4 Aldi's near me look like they are still in the 1990s. Other USA brands more reliably have staple items but might be more expensive. Publix, Harris Teeter, Kroger, Whole Foods, and Fresh Market are definitely nicer than Aldi in quality. Food Lion and similar stores are comparable quality and maybe just slightly more expensive, and then the Aldi clones are there too (Lidl, Trader Joes, etc).

ALDI ist the reference for discounter in germoney, and i'm pretty sure it's the darling of the middleclass. LIDL is not doing a good job and lost marketshare (They deserve this because of their App shit). We don't really have other european discounters, no one could survive the ALDI/LIDL Grinder here yet. So i can't really compare to other EU discounter chains.

They have to otherwise they would be impossibly expensive, importation of goods is not cheap. Their strategy is to sell as many of their own branded products as possible making them as close to premium quality as possible without compromising price. (Unlike a certain grocery chain in Canada that I could mention)

It's EU in their values, of having good pay and not expecting staff to do bullshit like unpaid overtime

it's entirely american aside from the name/ownership.

Trader Joe's is Aldi Nord. Aldi is Aldi Sud. Same business model where they direct person from a supplier than put it under their own label.

When you see it as black and white than Aldi equals any other US business - but i'd argue it's a more gradual thing and there is an actual difference. First because the top company is European a larger part ends up in European hands and also it could mean difference in policies.

they save tons of money on staff and reduced employee workloads, so they can afford not to stock the worst quality food

The Aldi's here is just a slightly larger Trader Joe's, the selection is so much smaller than regular grocery stores. I don't necessarily need 6 brands of Mac n Cheese, but I would like at least one option. I don't have time to grocery shop twice in a week, so I just go to Kroger instead.

The Aldis around here look upscale, but they sell mostly store brands.

That’s how they can offer lower prices.

So, a discount grocery store for people who don't want to feel poor?

A grocery store for people who are tired of being raked over the advertising coals and realize that Aldi O’s are just as good as Cheerios.

I can't tell if the quality is better than any other discount grocer.

Much better than most.

Seattle?

I feel like I went to aldi in the 80's but I honestly can't remember for sure but yeah its been a huge light for non wealthy americans.