My First Visit To Aldi

[Yul Lose]

Mrs. Lose thought I needed to get away for awhile this afternoon so she told me that if I went down the hill to Escondido with her that she’d buy me dinner at our favorite hamburger joint. Well I needed to mail a package at the post office down there so I agreed to go along if we could stop and mail it. The date was made. Mailed the package and get back in the car and I said where to? and she said ALDI she needed to do some shopping. I’ve driven by Aldi many times but never been in one. We parked and crossed the parking lot to the front of the store and I turned into the cart corral to get a shopping cart and this scruffy looking guy pushing a shopping cart asks my wife for a quarter. She digs around in her purse and hands the guy a quarter and starts pushing his shopping cart and he walks off.

 

I have no idea what’s going on and she says it’s so that the wheels don’t lock up on the shopping cart. She points to this gadget with a little key thing on a coiled cord and a coin slot with a quarter stuck in it. I said why didn’t I just get one of the other carts instead of using his and she said because I would have had to put a quarter in the slot and I said but it still cost us a quarter. Anyway we go in the store and that place looks like a bomb went off.
 

She’s looking for large tomato’s over in the tomato section and I find large tomatoes over with the apples and oranges. I’m looking for bananas and she told me over by the lettuce and cabbage. She wants some sweet onions and the sign says $1.94 per bag but all of the sweet onions are loose not in a bag, so I get a bag and fill it up and she says that’s too many onions and I said what difference does it make? So she puts most of the onions back and we keep shopping. I’m looking for some BBQ rub and amongst the seasonings is a bunch of energy drinks. It just seemed like whoever was stocking shelves  just put stuff wherever there was a space. I worked in a grocery store in my younger days and would have been fired if I stocked like that.

 

So we get up to the check out stand and there is no greeting from the clerk, no thank you, no communications at all except for the total that we owed. As we’re walking out my wife recognized the security guard and stopped to say hello.
 

I walked out with the cart and this, I guess you’d call her, statuesque good looking blond lady is walking up to the front entrance and I asked her if she had a quarter. Well I guess that was the wrong thing to ask her because she asked me why I’d ask her for a quarter and just then my wife walks up and asks me if I asked that lady for a quarter. I admitted to it because based on the guy who got her to fork over a quarter on the way into the store I thought it was the thing to do. As I’m getting the “You don’t just ask any body for a quarter” lecture there’s another guy pushing a shopping cart back to the cart corral and asks this lady looking for a shopping cart if she had a quarter and she dug around in her purse and handed him a quarter and takes off with his cart into the store. 
 

Well we went to eat at the burger joint and there was another rather nice looking lady that showed up at the counter as I was ordering and I was really tempted to ask her for a quarter just to see what would happen, but I didn’t.

[Rye Miles #13621]

I normally go there for just a few items so I bring in my own bag. Their prices are significantly lower than most grocery stores around here and the stores are clean and well maintained. There’s 3 stores within 5 miles of me. Coffee, snacks, lunchmeat and chicken, beef are all good deals. If I do get a cart I put my groceries in my car and return the cart and I leave the quarter in there for the next person. 

[Blackwater 53393]

I only ever went once!! I wasn’t impressed.

[Calico Jack]

5 hours ago, Rye Miles #13621 said:

I normally go there for just a few items so I bring in my own bag. Their prices are significantly lower than most grocery stores around here and the stores are clean and well maintained. There’s 3 stores within 5 miles of me. Coffee, snacks, lunchmeat and chicken, beef are all good deals. If I do get a cart I put my groceries in my car and return the cart and I leave the quarter in there for the next person. 

Same! Leaving the quarters in is how I keep my spare change from overflowing. You never know who might of forgotten a quarter that day. 

 

I also like their seasonal or on sale aisle, I’ve no idea what it’s supposed to be but I find something good every time. They have had some awesome sauces, stuffed cherry tomatoes and stuffed olives. It’s a great snack aisle lol 

[DeaconKC]

The lines of coffee they carry are very good.

[Pat Riot]

I have been in 2 Aldi’s. That was once too many.

 

I tend to shy away from any store that one has to have a cultural knowledge base to participate in a store’s shopping experience. #%$& That! 
 

That and both stores looked like the cleaning crew was part of the grocery bagging team. 

[Big Sage, SASS #49891 Life]

Never heard of them, but not unusual because we live in a small town with only 3 grocery stores ( WalMart, City Mkt & Safeway. When we retired here 25 years ago there was one City Mkt. 

[Rye Miles #13621]

53 minutes ago, Pat Riot said:

I have been in 2 Aldi’s. That was once too many.

 

I tend to shy away from any store that one has to have a cultural knowledge base to participate in a store’s shopping experience. #%$& That! 
 

That and both stores looked like the cleaning crew was part of the grocery bagging team. 

Cultural knowledge base? I don’t understand. 🙄 It’s a grocery store!

[Alpo]

1 hour ago, Pat Riot said:

That and both stores looked like the cleaning crew was part of the grocery bagging team

When did Aldi's start bagging groceries?

 

It's been several years since I've been to one, but the last time I was there the groceries were run just like Sam's - they took it out of the cart, scanned it, and put it in another cart. If you wanted it bagged you needed to have brought bags with you, and there's a shelf over there where you could push the cart over and set the groceries up on the shelf and then bag them.

 

Also they don't take credit cards - cash only.

[Pat Riot]

46 minutes ago, Alpo said:

When did Aldi's start bagging groceries?

They don’t! And they don’t clean either. 
 

My wife reminded me of the other 2 Aldi’s I visited in Austria and Sacramento. That makes 4 filthy unkempt stores. 

[Rye Miles #13621]

55 minutes ago, Alpo said:

When did Aldi's start bagging groceries?

 

It's been several years since I've been to one, but the last time I was there the groceries were run just like Sam's - they took it out of the cart, scanned it, and put it in another cart. If you wanted it bagged you needed to have brought bags with you, and there's a shelf over there where you could push the cart over and set the groceries up on the shelf and then bag them.

 

Also they don't take credit cards - cash only.

The ones here take cash or credit cards. 

[Rye Miles #13621]

8 minutes ago, Pat Riot said:

They don’t! And they don’t clean either. 
 

My wife reminded me of the other 2 Aldi’s I visited in Austria and Sacramento. That makes 4 filthy unkempt stores. 

The Aldis here (3 of them within a 5-6 miles radius) are all super clean. Well stocked and the people are very friendly. 

[Rip Snorter]

I visited uncountable Grocery stores, Supermarkets and Convenience Stores doing a job I had as a young man. Owner, Store Manager, and in most cases, Chain or Corporate Manager to a lesser extent control performance, service and cleanliness.  Good manager, generally good store, regardless of others in the brand.

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

I'd never even hear of Aldi stores before seeing this thread.  And outside of airports have never encountered "quarter deposit" shopping carts.

 

What's next... pay toilets?    

[Rip Snorter]

A very long time ago, like a phone call, that was a dime.  Dropping the dime with new meaning!

[Stump Water]

The "deposit" for the cart is so you'll bring it back.  That way you don't have to have an employee to round up carts in the parking lot and from the cart corrals.  Many years ago there was another big box store that did the same thing, but I don't recall the name right now.

[Alpo]

Just now, Stump Water said:

Many years ago there was another big box store that did the same thing, but I don't recall the name right now.

Maybe 10 years ago Big lots did it. For about a month. People would walk up to the store, find out they had to pay to get a cart, turn around and go back to their car.

 

After losing a bunch of business they took all the locks off their carts.

[Yul Lose]

18 minutes ago, Rye Miles #13621 said:

The Aldis here (3 of them within a 5-6 miles radius) are all super clean. Well stocked and the people are very friendly. 

My wife commented on how dirty and unkept this one looked. There’s another one across town that used to be a Sports Authority and she says it’s in much better, organized condition, must be the part of town that the one I visited is because it was a mess.

[Texas Joker]

If you don't have your quarter the head of a key works.

 

Aldi's is a German owned chain.

[Rye Miles #13621]

1 hour ago, Texas Joker said:

If you don't have your quarter the head of a key works.

 

Aldi's is a German owned chain.

Yes owned by two brothers.

 

https://aldithings.com/aldi-who-owns-it/

[MizPete]

4 hours ago, Alpo said:

Also they don't take credit cards - cash only.

Nuh-uh.  They take my credit card.  I like Aldi.

[Cypress Sun]

My gal makes and sells embroidered Aldi quarter holder keychains. All kinds of different designs but none of them say "Aldi" on them for copywrite reasons. Pretty good seller at the craft shows and on Ebay. Sells them for $3 - $4 + shipping. Funny thing is that neither of us likes Aldi's.

 

 

Edited July 5 by Cypress Sun

[watab kid]

my wife and i are regulars here - they often have things others dont and the quality is superb , also like we dont have to buy large quantity of things that spoil 

[Pat Riot]

8 hours ago, Rye Miles #13621 said:

The Aldis here (3 of them within a 5-6 miles radius) are all super clean. Well stocked and the people are very friendly. 

I don’t know what to tell you. The ones I have been in were dirty. Dust on shelves and products and the floors were atrocious.