Buying dead plants at Aldi

grumpygardener

Aldi has spent much time and money on advertising, but it never seems to have offers on plants. Why? Because a week or so after they're on sale they're half dead. A week later they're fully dead. Is it just certain Aldi stores who staff can't be bothered to water them, or is it just the 2 stores in my home town? I emailed Aldi asking if it wouldn't be better to offer surplus plants to community groups but I just got the usual "Thank you for contacting us and blah-de-blah ' and they do nothing.

linni

I've asked to buy plants in Aldi, if they reduced the price, but they said no because they just return them anyway. I find it really sad to see loads of half dead plants just needing a bit of water..

JJ_Egan

All the local Aldi around me sell the plants very quickly and rarely have i seen old plants on sale .Probably because they are on sale at a very good price from day one .

DCFC79

Dont get a chance to water them as they sell really fast round here.

System

They are dead plants around here.

If some stores are charged watering them, they should stop selling them

williham

I've bought quite a lot of reduced plants from aldi, so they do reduce them. It's normally if they're still there after a few weeks that they drop the price.

peter_the_piper

If they just return them have a thought for poor grower whp probably have to take the loss when they don't look after them.

fierystormcloud

I have never bought any from Aldi or Lidl, but I have actually bought half dead plants in HOMEBASE, (with like, 70% off,) and within 3-4 weeks, they often comes back to life.

I think HOMEBASE really look after their plants well.

grumpygardener

The point I made to Aldi is that EVERY CUSTOMER has to pay for the dead plants. No sale = Aldi loses the wholesale cost, therefore the loss goes against profits (just as if the item is stolen), which reflects in the cost of other items they sell.

hollydays

grumpygardener wrote: »

The point I made to Aldi is that EVERY CUSTOMER has to pay for the dead plants. No sale = Aldi loses the wholesale cost, therefore the loss goes against profits (just as if the item is stolen), which reflects in the cost of other items they sell.

But they gain in staff time not wasted watering and cleaning up the mess.
Best tip I had from a gardener-buy half dead plants, perennials , from b & q in September

Azari

peter_the_piper wrote: »

If they just return them have a thought for poor grower whp probably have to take the loss when they don't look after them.

I suspect that the manager of the store in question was either fibbing, or not telling the whole truth.

It may be that he can 'send them back', so that the cost is not reflected in his shop's figures but I doubt if 'Aldi central' then send them back to the grower.

Of course, with all the stories of supermarkets 'bullying' suppliers, you can never be certain.