Aldi not always Cheapest

Spoiled produce does not occur exclusive to Aldi, But if ever I have a problem with anything there, I know I only have to take my docket in to have the purchase price refunded. Usually their fresh food turns over so quickly that they have no reason to special it off: but some stores have been known to half-price meat products with only one day use-by to go.

Aldi Roth high cocoa chocolate has featured as a 'Best Buy ā€™ previously by Choice!
I prefer less product choice, itā€™s much easier to comparison shop.
All linen I have bought from Aldi Oxford range has been of high manufactured quality and very durable.
Their toothpaste, toilet paper and kitchen paper are comparable to other brands and considerably cheaper.
Staff are efficient and friendly, even when the store is very busy

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Hereā€™s an at-a-glance comparison

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Hi Doug,
Choice probably has to go bit further than just comparing prices because it appears many Aldi products are not all they seem. A couple of examples are:
1 their ā€œDrinking Chocolate - Sugar Freeā€ in which the main ingredient is Erythritol (which is a form of sugar) the next ingredient is "Cocoa (SoyLecithin). It did not taste anything like drinking chocolateā€¦horrible.
2. their Salsa has around 20% tomatoes compared to Coles 69% tomatoes so for the small price difference you get tomatoes from Coles.
3. the only electrical product I bought from them failed before the 12 month warranty was up but I could never get a reasonable resolution even with the assistance of Choice staff.
One reason that Aldi can keep their costs low is because of their famously complex partnership structure that ensures they pay little or no tax to to the Commonwealth.
Kezza47

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And why do you think that Woolworths announced lay-off to the tune of 500 or more two weeks ago?, and that they were closing several unprofitable storesā€¦It could be Cairns too. Lets face facts, Cairns is 2500 plus kms from Sydney in the middle of nowhere with a population just over half of Wollongong. Would you set up shop there?..I wouldnā€™tā€¦

Iā€™m not really into Aldi,but always prefer to shop at Coles and Woolworths and pick up all specials where ever possible.So iā€™m still buying top product brands at low prices.To me it works out better as the food you buy is also of a better quality and naturally your doing your part instead of supporting a foreign company.It pays to shop around.

Hi pvaticano I am not here to promote Woolworths, and I often shop at Aldi. I think youā€™ve answered your own question: " Would you set up shop there?..I wouldnā€™tā€¦". Well, Woolworths have set up shop there and have very good supermarkets which I have no doubt the locals appreciate. I am of the opinion (and its only my opinion) that Woolworths serve the regional communities well and I think itā€™s important to recognise that.

Your comment that Woolworths might close their Cairns stores next, I think thatā€™s speculation and is perhaps a bit unfounded.

Wow. My experience has been quite different. Iā€™ve found the quality of their products to be quite high. Their Italian tomatoes delicious. I do buy buy Australian one too, but they more and arenā€™t as good. Not a ā€œrealā€ chocolate eater, but what Iā€™ve had I thoght was pretty good. Granted Iā€™m no expert.

Iā€™m really please their here. Competition @ last. What we need is an Aldi Bank to squeeze our fab 4. I live on the Redcliffe Peninsula QLD. Popualtion 50,000. We have 2 Aldiā€™s !! Maybe we just eat a lot :slight_smile:

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Aldi has opened up a store in the WA regional town of Australind and one is due to open in Bunbury soon.
It is great that we have more competition and choice here in the South West Of WA.

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The Aldi website gives a pay range of $80k-$117k for store managers

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Store Managers at Woolies and Coles are reported to be between $130,000 and $145,000.

An Aldi recently opened near me, in a town of maybe 10,000 people at most, with an IGA and a Safeways already there. The Aldi is doing great business. There are at least two more Aldis within a 50km radius that I know about. So itā€™s not the population of less than 200,000 thatā€™s at issue I think.

Woolies decided a few years ago to aggressively target the opposition in smaller population centres and built dozens (or perhaps hundreds, I donā€™t know) of Woolworths stores in direct competition to existing smaller chain stores. Those stores are slowly bleeding out as they make a loss year after year hoping to kill the smaller stores.

Aldi puts stores up in small towns with existing coles and woolies and igas and they thrive. Seems to me that perhaps Aldi is better at keeping growers, producers, suppliers, and customers happy and can just manage better.

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I really donā€™t think there is any comparison between Aldi and other chains. Aldi are simply far better. I enjoy the fact that many of the products are European because they simply taste so much better than most shoddy Australian stuff. I like the fact they are so much cheaper while retaining quality. I like the fact that the staff are actually real people and say hello like they mean it. I like the fact that there is minimalism in presentation, the whole shop is so much easier and relaxing. The Aldi option means people on low and minimal wages can actually afford some decent products.

And as an aside I love the fact that they sell Tasmanian cheese cheaper than you can buy it in Tasmaniaā€¦because in Tasmania there is no Aldi stores and coles and woolworths charge Tasmanians an arm and a leg for their own cheeseā€¦ :wink:

Just to even the playing field: I have found no evidence to suggest that any one major supermarket has definitely good or definitely bad customer service. That all depends on the human serving you, how their shift has been, how their home life is, etc. I have good and bad customer service experiences from each major supermarket.

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I live near a small rural town and there is an Aldi there. I travel 20ks to shop there and find Aldiā€™s own brands much better quality than Woolworths and IGA home brands (we donā€™t have Coles in our area). Also, Iā€™ve heard from the local Aldi staff that they are paid very well and are well looked after. Iā€™ve also heard that Aldi look after their Australian suppliers very well. I buy as much as possible from Aldi and the rest from IGA.

Iā€™m new here and replied to the wrong person so am reposting here :slight_smile:

I was a supplier to Aldi and I can say they are a fantastic company to deal with in every aspect.
Coles and Woolies remind me of how Holden and Ford were before Japanese cars came on the scene.

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About 2 years ago I asked a senior ALDI manager who was visiting a store why they didnā€™t have stores in more places such as Nth Qld. Part of it comes down to the size of the market they sell to but the main reason was that no ALDI driver was allowed to drive more than 3 hours from the Warehouse. Now I am not sure on how far they are allowed to drive these days but if you look at the distance they could safely cover it is only about 250 km which means they would, say for Cairns, have to establish a Warehouse to only perhaps service 2 or 3 stores. This would not be cost effective I would think at the moment.

Perhaps Choice could ask ALDI about their transport policy? And maybe some alternative way could be found to service stores in more distant locations?

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If Coles were interested in a service rather than a profit. First I would dump my shares in them. Second they would have kept their first ever store in St James, Victoria open. The locals have virtually no shops at all now.

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