The overall Aldi experience

renegadefm

maman said:

renegadefm said:

maman said:

renegadefm said:

Just read thisalmillar said:

renegadefm said:

What annoys me is its customers that keeps Aldi alive, or indeed any business,  so I dont find it out of the way to provide toilets. 

Our local Lidls has customer toilets but they keep costs down. I just dont get what problem Aldi has. 

So shop with your feet. Why do you keep going there? Go to the shop you like.

I already mentioned, I dont have a choice. Its my parents shop of choice and have to take mum there every week. 

Haven't you explained to your mum how important it is that your daughter is only taken to shops that have public toilets? I'm sure if you tell her what you've told us she'll understand the priorities and agree to go elsewhere. 

That aint gonna happen. We once suggested for us to take mum Asda but she refuses and insists on going Aldi. 

That's really difficult for you, torn between your mum and your daughter who needs a toilet at all times. I think your best bet is for just you and your mum to go to Aldi. Hopefully it'll get easier next year when your daughter goes to school. 

She is in primary school already,  she comes with us when theres no other choice,  for example if we take mum on saturdays or sundays,  or if the kids are on half term like now. 
But we seem to be deliberately veering away from the problem, or my complaint.  As much as I'd like to avoid it,  there are times that we all have to go Aldi, thats my mum, daughter,  partner, and me as I am the only driver. So very often we get half way round doing the shopping and daughter asks to use the toilet, its as simple as that. 

Pollycat

renegadefm said:

maman said:

renegadefm said:

maman said:

renegadefm said:

Just read thisalmillar said:

renegadefm said:

What annoys me is its customers that keeps Aldi alive, or indeed any business,  so I dont find it out of the way to provide toilets. 

Our local Lidls has customer toilets but they keep costs down. I just dont get what problem Aldi has. 

So shop with your feet. Why do you keep going there? Go to the shop you like.

I already mentioned, I dont have a choice. Its my parents shop of choice and have to take mum there every week. 

Haven't you explained to your mum how important it is that your daughter is only taken to shops that have public toilets? I'm sure if you tell her what you've told us she'll understand the priorities and agree to go elsewhere. 

That aint gonna happen. We once suggested for us to take mum Asda but she refuses and insists on going Aldi. 

That's really difficult for you, torn between your mum and your daughter who needs a toilet at all times. I think your best bet is for just you and your mum to go to Aldi. Hopefully it'll get easier next year when your daughter goes to school. 

She is in primary school already,  she comes with us when theres no other choice,  for example if we take mum on saturdays or sundays,  or if the kids are on half term like now. 
But we seem to be deliberately veering away from the problem, or my complaint.  As much as I'd like to avoid it,  there are times that we all have to go Aldi, thats my mum, daughter,  partner, and me as I am the only driver. So very often we get half way round doing the shopping and daughter asks to use the toilet, its as simple as that. 

I don't think we are veering away from the problem, or your complaint - deliberately or not.

You introduced the perceived problem of lack of public toilets in Aldi.

We are discussing that.

I still don't understand why you keep saying 'there's no other choice'.

Is there a reason why your daughter can't stay at home with your partner when you take your Mum shopping?

renegadefm

Pollycat said:

renegadefm said:

maman said:

renegadefm said:

maman said:

renegadefm said:

Just read thisalmillar said:

renegadefm said:

What annoys me is its customers that keeps Aldi alive, or indeed any business,  so I dont find it out of the way to provide toilets. 

Our local Lidls has customer toilets but they keep costs down. I just dont get what problem Aldi has. 

So shop with your feet. Why do you keep going there? Go to the shop you like.

I already mentioned, I dont have a choice. Its my parents shop of choice and have to take mum there every week. 

Haven't you explained to your mum how important it is that your daughter is only taken to shops that have public toilets? I'm sure if you tell her what you've told us she'll understand the priorities and agree to go elsewhere. 

That aint gonna happen. We once suggested for us to take mum Asda but she refuses and insists on going Aldi. 

That's really difficult for you, torn between your mum and your daughter who needs a toilet at all times. I think your best bet is for just you and your mum to go to Aldi. Hopefully it'll get easier next year when your daughter goes to school. 

She is in primary school already,  she comes with us when theres no other choice,  for example if we take mum on saturdays or sundays,  or if the kids are on half term like now. 
But we seem to be deliberately veering away from the problem, or my complaint.  As much as I'd like to avoid it,  there are times that we all have to go Aldi, thats my mum, daughter,  partner, and me as I am the only driver. So very often we get half way round doing the shopping and daughter asks to use the toilet, its as simple as that. 

I don't think we are veering away from the problem, or your complaint - deliberately or not.

You introduced the perceived problem of lack of public toilets in Aldi.

We are discussing that.

I still don't understand why you keep saying 'there's no other choice'.

Is there a reason why your daughter can't stay at home with your partner when you take your Mum shopping?

No because my partner is best at helping mum,  plus while we are there we do our shopping aswell, otherwise it means two trips to the shop. I couldn't do all that on my own and help mum. 
Plus we live in a rural area, so its a long drive,  so we need to make it count. 
Obviously we have looked at all alternatives and options. We even said to mum one day cant we just get everything at Asda, but that didnt go down too well. 
You see the reason its me now that has to take mum to do parents shopping is cause dad doesnt like to drive far anymore and struggles to get round anyway, so for about 2 years now we been taking mum to the shop mum and dad used to go to as to honour what they like which happens to be Aldi, so I dont want to disrupt that for them. 

Pollycat

renegadefm said:

Pollycat said:

renegadefm said:

maman said:

renegadefm said:

maman said:

renegadefm said:

Just read thisalmillar said:

renegadefm said:

What annoys me is its customers that keeps Aldi alive, or indeed any business,  so I dont find it out of the way to provide toilets. 

Our local Lidls has customer toilets but they keep costs down. I just dont get what problem Aldi has. 

So shop with your feet. Why do you keep going there? Go to the shop you like.

I already mentioned, I dont have a choice. Its my parents shop of choice and have to take mum there every week. 

Haven't you explained to your mum how important it is that your daughter is only taken to shops that have public toilets? I'm sure if you tell her what you've told us she'll understand the priorities and agree to go elsewhere. 

That aint gonna happen. We once suggested for us to take mum Asda but she refuses and insists on going Aldi. 

That's really difficult for you, torn between your mum and your daughter who needs a toilet at all times. I think your best bet is for just you and your mum to go to Aldi. Hopefully it'll get easier next year when your daughter goes to school. 

She is in primary school already,  she comes with us when theres no other choice,  for example if we take mum on saturdays or sundays,  or if the kids are on half term like now. 
But we seem to be deliberately veering away from the problem, or my complaint.  As much as I'd like to avoid it,  there are times that we all have to go Aldi, thats my mum, daughter,  partner, and me as I am the only driver. So very often we get half way round doing the shopping and daughter asks to use the toilet, its as simple as that. 

I don't think we are veering away from the problem, or your complaint - deliberately or not.

You introduced the perceived problem of lack of public toilets in Aldi.

We are discussing that.

I still don't understand why you keep saying 'there's no other choice'.

Is there a reason why your daughter can't stay at home with your partner when you take your Mum shopping?

No because my partner is best at helping mum,  plus while we are there we do our shopping aswell, otherwise it means two trips to the shop. I couldn't do all that on my own and help mum. 
Plus we live in a rural area, so its a long drive,  so we need to make it count. 
Obviously we have looked at all alternatives and options. We even said to mum one day cant we just get everything at Asda, but that didnt go down too well. 
You see the reason its me now that has to take mum to do parents shopping is cause dad doesnt like to drive far anymore and struggles to get round anyway, so for about 2 years now we been taking mum to the shop mum and dad used to go to as to honour what they like which happens to be Aldi, so I dont want to disrupt that for them. 

Then I think you have no option but to accept the way your local Aldi manages their store (which appears to be different to mine and a number of other posters).

Or you can take this advice:

MysteryMe said:

You could contact Aldi head office in the UK and draw your concerns to them just in case it's a poorly managed store.  The cashiers have targets to reach as far as processing transactions is concerned but they are supposed to keep in tune with the customer not the other way around. I've not seen an incident where a cashier randomly closes a till, they ask a customer to put the till closed sign on the belt and any customers that approach are advised that the till is closing. Perhaps the customer had ignored or not seen the till closed sign?

You can complain about tills being closed even when a customer has started to place items on the belt (even though it hasn't - as far as I can tell - actually happened to you).

You can complain about bagging up shopping but being rushed (even though it hasn't - as far as I can tell - actually happened to you).

You can complain about the effect that closing and opening tills have on the elderly (but you are shopping with your elderly Mum so I guess you can react as quickly as other shoppers, especially as you are aware of this practice and can be prepared). Or you can just stay in the same queue and wait your turn to be served if an extra 5 or so minutes isn't such a big deal.

You can complain about the car park time limit only being 1 hour.

All of these ^^^^ appear to be vicarious issues so are they really that important to you?

You can continue to get annoyed when staff are funny about letting your daughter use the toilet because it's 'staff only'. Or you can just grin and bear it because in the end, they do let you use the staff toilet.  

I'd try to chill out and stop making it a stressful experience. It can't be very nice for your Mum if she sees you getting stressed when she knows you're helping her by taking her to the shop of her choice.

rhcp

No other similar sized shops have toilets that I know of, eg Iceland, Wilkinson's and Boots.

BooJewels

Thinking about my local supermarkets - the only ones I can think of that have toilets (Asda, Tesco and Booths) also have cafes inside them and I think from some distant memory that is a legal requirement - if you serve food to eat in, you need to also provide loos.

I'm not sure it's fair of the OP to hold Aldi accountable in public for the peculiarities of his family dynamic. If he truly feels that service could be improved on within that store (I regularly visit 3 different stores and it does not chime with my own experience at all), then write to the company and outline your concerns. 

mr_stripey

Our Aldi does have customer toilets, but it is a fairly new one. I know lots don't. My kids are a bit older now but when they were of an age where emergency toilet might be required, I would choose a supermarket which had the facilties. Not go to one with no toilets and then complain about there being no toilets

od244051

Pollycat said:

od244051 said:

renegadefm said:

JGB1955 said:  It's quite acceptable for a 4 year old to have a wee against a car wheel in the car park)..

Are you joking or what? We already had an incident about that. We we're visiting this place once and we couldn't find public toilets, so we had no choice but to let our daughter wee in the corner of a car park, and some woman took a dislike to this and started ranting and raving at us, saying how disgusting it was. The problem is parts of me agreed with her because how does a child hold it in? If they need to go they need to go. But if theres no toilets how do you cope? This country has gone backwards I reckon. 

It really annoys me when councils close a block of public toilets to save £12k a year, I bet some of these councils waste more than that in a day

Do you have a link that actually says it only costs £12k to run a block of public toilets?

I'm quite surprised the cost you quote is so low.

Assuming they are open 08:30 - 17:30 just 5 days a week with 1 staff, that would be 9 hours at £8.21 (2019 NMW for over 25 year olds) = £73.89 per day, £369.45 per week, £19211.40 per annum just on wages alone.

That's before paying employer NI contributions, employer pension contributions and consumables (plus anything else I've not thought about).

And of course, there would be somebody complaining that they were only open 9 hours a day and weren't open at weekends.

Here's some loos which were saved from closure even though cost £8k a year https://www.falkirkherald.co.uk/news/toilets-saved-grangemouths-zetland-park-1374123
Five blocks of toilets closed to save £74k pa or under £15k per block
https://caerphilly.observer/news/975009/pressure-mounts-on-caerphilly-council-to-reverse-toilet-closure-decision/

amandacat

Overall my experience of shopping in Aldi have been very good over the last 2 years. I’ve had one incident where a very young cashier (probably new) asked us to move our stuff off the belt as she was closing, as we moved to the other queue she re opened and we were then stuck in a queue. I’ll admit I did loudly voice my annoyance to her. But otherwise it has been stress free shopping.
The one time I needed the toilet, they let me use the staff one. 
I can take the inconvenience of no toilet, no customer service desk for the price savings. 
I like that I’m in and out in 30 mins compared to 1 hr plus in Tesco. 
A lot of the food is nicer in Aldi. 
I’ve shopped in Tesco the last couple weeks as its closer and the weather has been bad. I’ve discovered that after shopping in Aldi, my shopping habits have changed. I initially went from spending £90 in Tesco to £60 in Aldi. Now in Tesco I spend £70. I think this is because Aldi shopping has changed my thinking and the sort of food I buy. 

Pollycat

od244051 said:

Pollycat said:

od244051 said:

renegadefm said:

JGB1955 said:  It's quite acceptable for a 4 year old to have a wee against a car wheel in the car park)..

Are you joking or what? We already had an incident about that. We we're visiting this place once and we couldn't find public toilets, so we had no choice but to let our daughter wee in the corner of a car park, and some woman took a dislike to this and started ranting and raving at us, saying how disgusting it was. The problem is parts of me agreed with her because how does a child hold it in? If they need to go they need to go. But if theres no toilets how do you cope? This country has gone backwards I reckon. 

It really annoys me when councils close a block of public toilets to save £12k a year, I bet some of these councils waste more than that in a day

Do you have a link that actually says it only costs £12k to run a block of public toilets?

I'm quite surprised the cost you quote is so low.

Assuming they are open 08:30 - 17:30 just 5 days a week with 1 staff, that would be 9 hours at £8.21 (2019 NMW for over 25 year olds) = £73.89 per day, £369.45 per week, £19211.40 per annum just on wages alone.

That's before paying employer NI contributions, employer pension contributions and consumables (plus anything else I've not thought about).

And of course, there would be somebody complaining that they were only open 9 hours a day and weren't open at weekends.

Here's some loos which were saved from closure even though cost £8k a year https://www.falkirkherald.co.uk/news/toilets-saved-grangemouths-zetland-park-1374123
Five blocks of toilets closed to save £74k pa or under £15k per block
https://caerphilly.observer/news/975009/pressure-mounts-on-caerphilly-council-to-reverse-toilet-closure-decision/

Very interesting.

As is this link:

https://www.loughboroughecho.net/news/local-news/council-breakdowns-costing-toilet-provision-13042251

THOUSANDS of pounds is spent by the council on Loughborough’s public toilets each year - and who knew items such as bleach, brushes and loo roll could amount to almost £5,000!

Recently the Echo revealed the 20p entry fee to the town’s three public toilets amounted to almost £40,000 of Charnwood Borough Council income in 2015/16.

The Echo also reported the total cost of running the toilets in Biggin Street, Market Place and Queen’s Park was £124,157 for 2015/16.

And it has also provided this breakdown of the £124,157 running cost.

• £61,585.36 was spent on the salaries of “2.74 full time equivalent posts, one supervisor and three part time assistants”

• £13,356 went towards the Community Toilet Scheme - an annual scheme agreed in 2010 that sees funds given to parish councils responsible for toilets in their area

• £7,536 went on National Non Domestic Rates

• £4,992.37 was spent on cleaning materials, which includes toilet roll

• £4,430.71 went towards building repairs and maintenance

• £93.75 was spent on “publicity”

So over £20k per annum per toilet block on salaries.

Which - spookily - is pretty close to my

Pollycat said:

» show previous quotes

Assuming they are open 08:30 - 17:30 just 5 days a week with 1 staff, that would be 9 hours at £8.21 (2019 NMW for over 25 year olds) = £73.89 per day, £369.45 per week, £19211.40 per annum just on wages alone.

That's before paying employer NI contributions, employer pension contributions and consumables (plus anything else I've not thought about).

I think the cost of running public toilets is obviously so wide-ranging (although my link does give a pretty detailed breakdown of costs), it's really not relevant to the discussion of the shortcomings of Aldi.