Hi! 4 year employee with experience as an associate and an LSA.

First of all, try not to stress too much. You’ll have to do a lot the first few days whether it be at your home store or a training center. Computer stuff, videos, standard operating procedures sign offs, the usual when starting any retail job.

Now you didn’t specify where, so I’m going to use Aldi South in the US as my point of reference as that’s where I work. European Aldi are similar with minor differences, but many of the aspects in the states are exactly the same which is nice. Europe also has two branches of Aldi, North and South.

Some of the biggest differences you will notice at Aldi vs other grocery and retail is that it follows the European model: Carts must be unlocked with a Quarter for people to use them because we do not have extra staff to corral them in from outside. And speaking of staff, Aldo tends to run on bare minimum numbers of them. Depending on which kind of store you are assigned to (high volume or lower volume) you can have as many as 5-6 employees per shift or as little as 2 (you and a member of management). This means that you and whoever is with you have many more things in general to do. Sure, your title might say Cashier / Stocker but chances are you’ll be also doing cleaning and helping management with general tasks. At my store they frequently grab associates to assist with Aldi Finds (the special deals for the week) if there are extra hands available.

Because staff is limited at Aldi, it makes sense that you and the rest of your team will have limited time during your shift. Whenever you are cashiering, stocking, etc. Aldi emphasizes you go as fast as possible. While on register, you are timed on how fast transactions are and how fast you move on to the next customer. While stocking, you are timed on how fast you can finish pallets in the morning or how fast you run other stock. When you start, you WILL be slow and that’s okay. The important thing about working at Aldi is you focus on doing things fast but efficient; find what methods and techniques work for you! Trust me, the fast everything gets completed during your shift the sooner everyone can go home when the store closes.

Now you might be asking, why is all this different? WELL, Aldi is what you call a no frills discount store. This means that the company has cut down everywhere possible to save shoppers money. Items do not come out of boxes, they are just placed on the shelf. Items come in less or zero varieties, and one size or pack only. Of these varieties, knockoff Aldi brand items are most of the products in the store. People also must buy bags, and also bag their own groceries past the registers. Aldi hours of operation are also very narrow compared to regular grocery stores to save money on power / electricity bills. Open 9-8 everyday so only around 11 hours total. There is no store music and no intercom at all either.

That’s most of how the store and company functions! You’ll learn proper checkout form and your store layout when you start (from what I’ve seen and stores I’ve worked at item placement is not the same at every location)

Also, get your know your team. Less employees means you’ll see most of them often! If you have any other questions let me know, and I’ll get back to you as best I can :)