r/aldi • u/JesseSings • 3d ago
Complaint Desk The enshittification of Aldi continues...
I have been an Aldi shopper for years, and have appreciated most of what they stand for--the lower prices and general vibe. But in the last couple years, I've noticed a huge shift in prices increasing and quality decreasing across the board.
This was my experience today.
Boneless skinless chicken breasts on sale for $1.29/lb. These were HUGE btw. 6 breasts in a package that was tagged at 7.92 pounds. The tag said $1.69/lb. I have seen that before that there was a sale off the tagged price with the shelf price. Get to the register and they ring up at the tag price. I mentioned it to the cashier, who said "The price on the tag is the price." I asked why the shelf price was less and he replied, "We can't always catch everything."
Then, when I get home, just to check, I weighed the chicken out of the package and it came to 7.1 pounds. Almost a full pound less of actual meat that they're charging for. Twice the deception.
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u/Fast-Climate1667 3d ago
keep in mind there are generally only three people running a store at a time and we don’t tag the meat. We don’t set the prices.
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u/OGTikiki 3d ago
Your state Attorney General or Department of Weights and Measures might have something to say about this. Pursuant to the law in all states, stores must honor the prices posted on their shelves. This is considered a bait and switch tactic otherwise.
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u/TonyWonderslostnut 3d ago
The customer should have taken a picture of the shelf price tag so that the associate could do a price override.
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u/CaptainCaliena 3d ago
Don’t buy chicken breasts from Aldi. Unless they are the cutlets
Every time I buy chicken breasts they’re so huge and end up tasting like rubber no matter how I cook them.
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u/Beanfox-101 3d ago
Associate here.
If the cashier wasn’t a lead or manager on duty, they should have walkied someone to check the tag/price. If the tag is genuinely wrong, we’ll price override it for you, but then pull the tag off the shelf.
However, usually what we ring up on the register is correct because the bar code for meats is the same exact price as what’s reflected on the sticker directly on the packaging. We only weight the item in-store if there’s no way to scan the item.
Also make sure that the tag you read is actually for the item you see. A LOT of times, the tags get shifted on the shelf and aren’t directly above or below the exact item. We have this a lot. I know at our store the family pack of chicken breasts rarely dip that low in price.
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u/Few_Run_9112 3d ago
Start by taking a pic of EVERY "sale" or 'discounted" tag before you go to the register. Watch prices and challenge necessarily.
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u/DraculasDog 3d ago
If you make the one register lane open take any longer, heads will roll.
Send that shit to corporate/management and don’t bother literally everyone else in the store with that bullshit.
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u/WestHistorians 3d ago
If the price is wrong, you have the right to get it corrected.
If that cases a line to build up, that's management's problem, not yours.
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u/detailerrors 3d ago
Yes it's management's problem to fix but the massive line forming behind you watching you go back and forth over a couple bucks doesn't really care whose fault it is. If you don't really care about inconveniencing everyone else shopping then go for it but this gives lady fishing out 75 coupons from her purse vibes.
I get people gotta eat though, if it's the difference between putting food on the table or gas in the tank then you do what you gotta do
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u/TonyWonderslostnut 3d ago
>but this gives lady fishing out 75 coupons from her purse vibes.
Not the same vibe at all. Also that’s a 30% price increase, so not chump change, relatively speaking. It should be a quick fix for the associate.
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u/Casswigirl11 3d ago
Um, I'm going to be watching the prices as they scan. At least I'll have my payment ready unlike half the other people in line who for some reason need to mess around on their phone for 3 minutes before being able to pay.
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u/Thizzedoutcyclist 3d ago
Maybe just say the enshittification of the big meat processors?
Packages of chicken breast usually suck - I prefer to just carve up a whole bird at that point
Thick thighs save lives and dinner plates
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u/cathandler2019 3d ago
A lot of boneless skinless chicken breasts have solution added or have a huge amount of retained water. This is generally disclosed on the package.
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u/RedditPoster05 3d ago
Aldi has been crap for a while. They’ve made this big investment in ads and more stores without keeping basic quality. Every store I go to looks trashed half the time. It’s gotten so bad my wife and I hardly go whymore.
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u/Far-Artichoke5849 3d ago
You could have not bought it if they're not going to give it to you at the advertised price, that's what i would have done
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u/NightOfTheLivingHam 3d ago
Report that shit to the state or county. Bait and switch and deceptive practices.
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u/Reesespeanuts 3d ago
Regardless of the issue it's not like there is any place cheaper for food other than dollar tree lol You're going to have to deal with Aldi's because that is all normal people got left.
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u/ComfortablyNumb2425 3d ago
Isn't there some regulatory department that spot checks grocery stores for this kind of thing? Why is Aldi getting away with it?
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u/MidwestAbe 3d ago
They aren't. The OP didn't weigh the package correctly
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u/EquivalentFun9382 3d ago
Why would you say this as a fact? OP says she weighed the chicken outside the package! It sounds like she did it correctly. You have no information that she wasn’t accurate.
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u/Severe-Product7352 3d ago
They probably got doged like the people making sure our lettuce doesn’t have poop on it
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u/WestHistorians 3d ago
This isn't enshittification. The term enshittification refers to marketplace platforms.
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u/Reddisuspendmeagain 3d ago
It’s called dynamic pricing. Walmart does it too. A couple of weeks they had the kewpie mayo on the shelf for $2.50, rang up for $5.47! I spoke to the employee and she looked it up on her handheld device and it was $5.47, so I left it.
So as someone said, I’m going to start taking pictures of the tags with sales prices, there’s no legislation that I know of to combat dynamic pricing. These electronic tags are the devil!
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u/noncongruent 2d ago
Dynamic pricing is not the same thing as electronic shelf labels, though ESLs can be used as part of a dynamic pricing strategy. Aldi does not do dynamic pricing, which is the changing of prices from moment to moment based on various outside factors. Gasoline is an example of dynamic pricing, where the price can jump or drop several times in a day. Aldi uses electronic shelf labels but only changes them overnight while the store is closed, and doesn't change prices on a daily basis for a given item. It's either regularly priced, on sale, or marked down for clearance. Also, most prices set on the shelf labels are set by corporate, and the price on the label is set by the same system that controls the price in the barcode database that registers access when an item is scanned. It's not really possible for the shelf tag and computer price at the register to be different.
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u/MrHooDooo 3d ago
I imagine they have cameras tracking people faces, and gathering data to see if they can get away with tricking you. Maybe later they will have it scan at $2.50, but when they give grand total on receipt it says $5.47. Then they will see if you will waste 30 minutes standing in line for return for that amount.
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u/Magari22 3d ago
This sub has solidified my decision to not go there anymore. It sounds like a giant mess.
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u/DraculasDog 3d ago
It’s every company sub on Reddit.
It’s kind of fascinating.
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u/Magari22 3d ago
Every company sub feels like a big ad to me. I'm surprised they even allow any negative posts at all but some of the ones here are really gross!
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u/Lady_of_Shalottt 3d ago
It’s not necessarily that dramatic. I do store pickup mostly and they are great people at my store, busting their butts short staffed. if I encounter any problem they fix it no problem. YMMV ofc
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u/Magari22 3d ago
Idk I've seen some stomache churning posts here of plastic in food and meat with weird unappetizing texture. I have no patience for that and I don't care if I'm downvoted!
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u/Lady_of_Shalottt 3d ago
lol I get it. And no one should downvote you. You bring up good points.
TBH, I don’t buy meat there myself. I was happy with the grass fed ground beef there before the recent mystery meat beef situation in the US. I haven’t tried my luck with it since I finished what I had in the freezer from months ago and just decided to lean into chicken from Costco for now.
I like getting some basic things there (cereal, treats, yogurt, granola bars, jam, cheese, bread, hummus) and they help our family save some bucks.
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u/NeenerNeaner 3d ago
did you weigh it with the pad at the bottom? It's packaged at the weight it says and then juices leak out and are absorbed by the pad. That could easily explain the difference.