14 Aldi Shopping Tips - Secrets That Only Employees Know
Today we are going to talk about tips, tricks, hacks, and secrets about Aldi that only the employees know about. I will have to confess that I love all these Aldi shopping secrets and I love shopping at Aldi because Aldi keeps its costs down, in many ways but that cost does not trickle down to the quality of a product. It only trickles down to your savings.
Let’s move on to the secrets to shopping at Aldi.
1. Spices
One of my favorite things about Aldi is its spices. For example, their bagel seasoning is the same bagel seasoning that you will find at Trader Joe's, but it is about a fourth of the cost. All of their seasonings are made in the McCormick factories. However, the cost is a fraction of the cost of the McCormick name brand.
2. Wednesdays
According to my personal use of Aldi and scouring the internet, the best day to shop at Aldi is Wednesdays. This is when they refresh many of their items and when they start rolling out their fun seasonal items.
If you've ever been to Aldi, you know you have your regular items and then they have a row of fun special items. Those items are refreshed on Wednesdays. Once they are gone, they don't tend to replenish them.
3. Produce
It used to be that Aldi produce wouldn't last long and would spoil faster than those from other stores. These days, their produce is the same quality as it is in other brand stores, and a lot of times, I find that they have the same product as the bigger name stores, but they are a fourth of the cost. So if there's one thing you should buy at Aldi, it is their produce.
4. Toiletries
While I highly recommend that you buy all of your produce and your meats at Aldi, I recommend that you stay away from their toiletry items. I find that their toiletry items are more expensive than they can be at other stores. So make sure you check the prices.
5. Carts
You do need a quarter to use the cart at Aldi and this is to cut down the cost of hiring a separate person just to gather the carts in the parking lot. When you return your cart you get your quarter back.
If you get there and you don't have a quarter, no worries. All you have to do is tell an employee you forgot your quarter. They will give you a quarter or give you a cart that already has a quarter in it. They don't want you to go home just because you need a quarter. They are there to help you out.
6. Checkout
One of the other things that I love about Aldi is that the checkout process is always fast and the people are very nice. The reason for this is the employees get timed on how long they are with each customer and how long it takes them to scan items. So Aldi does keep track of how many items the cashiers scan per minute because they want their checkout process to go as fast as possible.
7. Bagger
If you shop at Aldi then you already know this, but there is no bagger. You take your items and you go to the front of the store where there's a little shelf thing and you bag your own items. You can buy a bag in the checkout line or bring your own. The savings are worth buying or bringing bags.
8. Cashier
The Aldi cashier can change the price of the items as needed without calling the manager. So what does this mean for you? Say you get an item, a bag of apples, and one apple is bruised but you still want the entire bag. You can ask for a special discount on the bag of apples and the cashier should be able to discount that item specifically for you.
9. Milk
Like Costco, Aldi has items that they take a loss on just so they can get you in the store. Hoping that if they get you in the store, you will buy other items. One of those items is milk. They consistently will have the lowest price of milk from anyone in your area along with other low-price items.
10. Double-back guarantee
Another thing that I love about Aldi is their double-back guarantee. What this means is if you get a product that is not up to your satisfaction, all you do is return it and they will not only give you a new product, but they will give you your money back for that original product. That means they stand by the quality of their product.
11. Check prices on name-brand items
Aldi does sell name-brand products, but I will warn you to make sure you check the price of the name-brand items at the big box stores. Often name-brand items are priced more than the big box stores. So stick to the basics when shopping at Aldi.
The only downfall that I can see in my eyes about Aldi is they do not accept manufacturer's coupons.
12. Chocolate
For those of you that don't know, Aldi originated in Europe. They have fancy European chocolates at amazing prices. If you love chocolate, it is well known that Aldi chocolate is the best chocolate out there for the price.
13. Wick candles
Another bonus tip is that I have heard that the three Wick candles at Aldi are better than the three Wick candles at Bath and Bodyworks. Aldi shoppers who love candles swear by them.
14. Aldi weekly flyer
Aldi has weekly specials, but they are not nationally the same weekly specials. Be sure to check out the ads at your local Aldi to see what are the specials for that week.
Aldi shopping tips
Those are my Aldi shopping secrets and tips. Head to your closest Aldi for great prices on high-quality goods. Do you shop at Aldi? Let me know your favorite thing about shopping at Aldi in the comments below!
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I see your prices are very cheap until I compare the rate of exchange from Australian dollars to U.S. dollars, but thank goodness we can still use cash, no special check outs either. Everyone goes through whichever is open. Even our fresh meat, chicken and cheese used to deteriorate well before the use by date. But that has also improved here. The one thing I wish we did here that I loved when living in the states was collecting and using coupons at other supermarkets.
Please, be careful on any 3 wick candles. The wicks can sometimes burn down toward the center causing a flash over and possibly burn your house down or other structure.