this post was submitted on 13 Sep 2024
676 points (99.6% liked)

Work Reform

9823 readers
1230 users here now

A place to discuss positive changes that can make work more equitable, and to vent about current practices. We are NOT against work; we just want the fruits of our labor to be recognized better.

Our Philosophies:

Our Goals

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] zephorah@lemm.ee 131 points 5 days ago (1 children)

And, the cashiers can sit down. Which makes sense.

[–] fuzzy_feeling@programming.dev 83 points 5 days ago (17 children)

cashiers aren't allowed to sit in usa?

[–] GlendatheGayWitch@lemmy.world 52 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Only office workers and managers are allowed to sit. If you're in a customer-facing position with a chair, you're supposed to stand up when helping a customer.

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

And as we all know, middle management does so much work and therefore deserve that right over everyone else.

(sorry I vomited in my mouth a little bit)

[–] Trainguyrom@reddthat.com 6 points 5 days ago

When I worked retail, at one of the stores you weren't allowed to drink water where customers could see you. I chose to ignore that rule and only got chewed out when the store owner happened to be nearby

[–] JakenVeina@lemm.ee 38 points 5 days ago

Cashier stations with chairs are VERY rare, yes. The general trope is that managers/owners think it makes workers appear lazy.

[–] KoalaUnknown@lemmy.world 14 points 5 days ago

In California, companies are required by law to provide them seating and let them sit down, but most everywhere else they are expected to stand.

[–] Jimmyeatsausage@lemmy.world 25 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Not at most places. At some point, someone told all the MBAs that it makes the customers mad if the employees look lazy or some shit.

[–] thesystemisdown@lemmy.world 16 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (2 children)

They also tend to make them stand at the beginning of their lane when they don't have customers. Apparently a light signaling that they are available just isn't enough.

Edit: My bad. I've never seen this at Aldi or Lidl. Just other US chains like Food Lion.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] Balooog@discuss.online 20 points 5 days ago (2 children)

No, and even worse "if you have time to lean, you have time to clean"

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

Well, turns out I do have PTSD from a decade of working retail and food service. So thanks for that lol

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world 5 points 4 days ago

(to manager in response) "then why the fuck aren't you cleaning all the time, then?"

[–] zephorah@lemm.ee 14 points 5 days ago (1 children)

It’s this bizarre thing. Management want them to “look busy” or some bullshit. Aldi looks busy.

You’ll see this on some factory floors too. No chairs even for the management or QA logging numbers on computers. Chairs are for break time or some such.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Corporations make that decision. And our country allows (if not encourages) it.

Yes, seriously. Same goes with drinking water behind the counter.

[–] bdonvr@thelemmy.club 9 points 5 days ago

Other than Aldi, pretty much no.

load more comments (9 replies)
[–] General_Effort@lemmy.world 34 points 5 days ago (2 children)

It is telling that Aldi is successfully expanding in the USA while keeping the same model that made it big in its home market of Germany and the rest of Europe.

When Walmart tried to gain a foothold in Germany, it hemorrhaged billions before giving up. The managers responsible covered their asses with bullshit about cultural differences or unions, but the truth is that they just couldn't offer competitive prices. Looks like, even in the US, shoppers favor low prices over wasteful frills like greeters.

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 20 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Greeters are literally a charitable expense (that they've mostly replaced with security goons) the wasteful frills in Walmart are executive compensation and benefits.

[–] Unbecredible@lemm.ee 11 points 4 days ago

hahahah right? I was like 'uh...I don't think that's where all the money's disappearing to my guy...'

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Johnmannesca@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago

Yes please, we need more competition on groceries in rural Texas and also Arkansas as an extra special sort of fuck you to Walmart.

[–] solsangraal@lemmy.zip 68 points 5 days ago (1 children)

good for them. that's how you get quality workers and reduce turnover

[–] somethingsnappy@lemmy.world 11 points 5 days ago (7 children)

They're finally catching up with my local burger chain that offers health insurance, tuition, etc. Also in the US.

load more comments (7 replies)
[–] tenchiken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 50 points 5 days ago (3 children)

"up to $23 an hour".... Doing a whole lotta heavy lifting in this headline.

How is it sane to list the maximum you can make, vs what to expect day 1?!

[–] frank@sopuli.xyz 29 points 5 days ago (3 children)

It reads like the minimum went from $18 to $23. So the minimum is up from $18, to $23.

[–] princessnorah@lemmy.blahaj.zone 16 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Aldi announced that it it looking to hire thousands of new workers, as well as increasing their minimum wage to $18 and $23 an hour.

My read on this, is that they are discussing the minimum for two separate positions. Potentially cashier and team leader. Would make sense as they don't have many employees on shift at a time.

[–] frank@sopuli.xyz 8 points 5 days ago

Ah that could be. Either way, $23 isn't the max

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] tenchiken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

I hope so. It would be a nice change compared to... Well... Everything.

Edit: ahhhh see it now. I read it as "up to" alone, but implied "increased to" instead.

English is hard sometimes.

[–] princessnorah@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 points 5 days ago (1 children)

It really is. The fact "up to" can mean either a maximum value, or an increase to a value, is stupid.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] damnedfurry@lemmy.world 9 points 5 days ago

That's just being read wrong, it's not written like a "save up to $10" kind of line. The "up" just describes the change (i.e. 'the starting wage is going up; becoming $X'). Within the article, it's completely unambiguous:

The national average starting wages for Aldi workers will be set at $18 an hour and $23 an hour for warehouse workers.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] rambling_lunatic@sh.itjust.works 18 points 5 days ago (2 children)

This is just in the USA, correct? Aldi in the EU is unaffected from what I can tell.

[–] dependencyinjection@discuss.tchncs.de 19 points 5 days ago (3 children)

I don’t mean this in an offensive way or a combative one, but the post title is using $ and the source is USA Today.

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Maeve@kbin.earth 13 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Damn. What's next, quality fresh foods with less harmful ingredients?

[–] Jiggle_Physics@lemmy.world 12 points 4 days ago

I mean it is a german company, they might just standardize EU standards through out their company. At least this is a small pipe-dream I have had about them.

[–] PP_BOY_@lemmy.world 36 points 5 days ago (14 children)

One opened in my city, only Aldi within 50 miles. It is always packed and both of the major regional grocers have raised their "now hiring" wages several dollars, run much more aggressive deals, and their parking lots are maybe 4/5ths as full as they were a month ago.

Which is great for me because I've been to several Aldis and realized it just isn't for me. Being one guy with a pretty weak appetite, the actual dollar savings don't really come out to much for me (maybe -$10 versus a major grocer if I'm really stocking up), and the "Aldi Experience" doesn't really mesh with how I buy food. It's still great to have them in the market, though.

[–] return2ozma@lemmy.world 23 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Their produce is always super cheap. Same strawberries I'd get at Ralph's (Kroger) for $4.99 I can get at Aldi for around $1.70

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Nougat@fedia.io 22 points 5 days ago

Aldi had me at "we let our cashiers sit down."

load more comments (12 replies)
[–] Jiggle_Physics@lemmy.world 10 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Great, now that they have bought winn-dixie, and are moving in places, mostly, where there are failed/failing regional chains, we will have even less competition.

Remember, despite saying Aldi does not discriminate based on union/desire to unionize, A LOT of their ex-management say they were straight up told to fire anyone who mentions it, and they would rather get sued for it, than allow it.

[–] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 27 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Their biz must be booming during this era of price gouging clown corpos

[–] ThunderWhiskers@lemmy.world 25 points 5 days ago (3 children)

We shop at Aldi a lot and, anecdotally, they seem to be the most reasonably priced by a pretty hefty margin.

[–] roofuskit@lemmy.world 17 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

That's because ALDI doesn't cushion cost increases or sell loss leaders. If eggs shoot up in price 400% they immediately raise the price to match. Most grocery stores will try to eat at least some of that cost for some time hoping it will go down before they have to raise even further. That kind of pricing model means they need much larger margins on all their other products to afford that. Same way they sell milk and rotisserie chickens at a loss to get people in the store.

ALDI does not play those games and keeps their margins more consistent but their prices are more susceptible to spikes in costs.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] sabreW4K3@lazysoci.al 18 points 5 days ago (8 children)

Did not know Aldi were in the States?

[–] Dudewitbow@lemmy.zip 22 points 5 days ago

Aldi Nord controlled stores in the US are Trader Joes, Aldi Sud stores in the US are just Aldi

[–] AnarchoSnowPlow@midwest.social 11 points 5 days ago (1 children)

We have both Aldi here but they're differently named. One is just Aldi, the other is Trader Joe's.

It's our super low cost grocer, that has in recent years become more high quality. When I was a kid (80s-90s) it was like "never buy fresh anything there because it's all crap" but these days it's all pretty decent quality stuff. Not like farmstand good, but better than Walmart.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] shalafi@lemmy.world 11 points 5 days ago

Got one in my redneck suburb. We almost exclusively shop there.

load more comments (5 replies)
[–] Yokozuna@lemmy.world 15 points 5 days ago

LONG LIVE ALDI

load more comments
view more: next ›