Why Aldi Stores Always Seem Short-Staffed

Discount grocer Aldi is an anomaly of sorts in the supermarket industry. You won't hear music playing overhead while you shop, you have to bag your own groceries, and it costs a quarter to access a shopping cart as you enter the store. Aldi fanatics aren't bothered by the lack of theatrics, seeing the retailer's deals as well worth skipping the extra frills found at other supermarkets. Still, one of the things even Aldi fans loathe about the German-based grocer is waiting in long lines to check out, since the store always seems to be understaffed.

But don't expect any changes to the store's scant staff, because according to one Redditor who claims to be an Aldi manager, it's supposed to be that way. They said, " ... That's just how Aldi runs. There are usually only 2 to 5 people in the entire store at any given time for most stores." Other folks signaling they currently or have worked at Aldi concurred. The good news is that all that money saved on labor is "to make prices lower for customers," according to an Aldi employee on Indeed.

Do those savings ease the frustration of standing in a long line before you can leave with your groceries? Well, they must, because the chain has been successful enough to plan on expanding its nationwide footprint by 180 locations in 2026. But are staff members as enthusiastic about Aldi's approach to keeping prices low as its customers?

Staff members at Aldi don't have one specific designation. No employees are only stocking shelves or solely sitting behind a register. They operate as a jack-of-all-trades, ringing people up, cleaning the floors, and taking Aldi's questionable produce out of delivery trucks and into the store. That helps keep prices low for customers, but it does come at the cost of staff members being required to go the extra mile.

According to reviews on Indeed, retail associates at Aldi are compensated for their trouble, on average, to the tune of $19.31 an hour. Not bad, all things considered, but staff members have mixed feelings about the way the store attempts to operate at peak efficiency. Some employees love working there, with one reviewer saying, "I enjoyed that each day my schedule was different so I didn't get tired of the same things every day for my entire shift like most retail jobs experience."

However, others contend that the company is working folks too hard. On the subreddit r/aldi, one person wrote, "Aldi workers (I'm a former one) are overwhelmingly overworked and underpaid ... " Another person chimed in with "I used to work there; it's hell on earth."

Yet, how employees feel about the grocery store's high expectations for staff seems to be subjective. In the very same thread on Reddit, a current Aldi associate said, "Overall, we get treated very well by corporate, especially around holidays, when we are super swamped." Still, regardless of how employees feel about the low-staff approach, it's unlikely to change as long as it keeps prices low for customers.