ALDI Wasteful Food

sarahlump on 28/04/2020 - 04:52
Last edited 29/04/2020 - 10:12 by 1 other user

Every few days Aldi(every Aldi store) throws out 1-2 big skips of fresh bread, fresh fruit, and fresh vegetables. If you're ever having difficulty paying for groceries, if you walk past their store on a sunday night at 8pm(they close at 7) you can just grab that fresh food for free!!!

Better yet, it almost feels like they are criminals for throwing so much food away. It feels like you're saving food from going to waste.

some background: I've been dumpster diving fairly regularly for 4 years now.
For 2 years I decided to say screw it and just stopped buying groceries altogether and just lived off dumpster diving, and let me tell you the getting was good!!! I was getting easily $200-300 of groceries for free every week! not even every fortnight. I even took up composting because I couldnt eat all the fresh fruit and veg I was getting.

Moderator Warning: In Australia, dumpster diving can be illegal. Different councils and areas have different rules and restrictions. Generally, being on private property without permission is illegal, and the legal ownership of discarded property depends on local council laws.

Food & Grocery

Related Stores

ALDI
ALDI

Comments

            • dscott85 on 28/04/2020 - 12:01
              +31

              @[Deactivated]: Actually it is… Having access to clean water, a stable food supply, shelter, education, employment, freedom are all privileges & you are implying that those who eat to survive are somehow less than yourself… Maybe, you should watch some SBS news & educate yourself, you are privileged beyond belief to the point where you can sit in your glass house & throw stones without consideration…

                • dscott85 on 28/04/2020 - 12:12
                  +2

                  @[Deactivated]: Who said I was talking about Australia…

                • ripesashimi on 28/04/2020 - 18:35
                  +2

                  @[Deactivated]: Can you start with your background and how much money did you take from your parents?

                • Lichen6420 on 29/04/2020 - 08:31

                  @[Deactivated]: I agree with you 100% burnertoasty. The is no reasonable excuse for a functional adult in Australia to be eating out of bins. We have sufficient Governemnt social support systems and philanthropic charities to ensure nobody has to go hungry.

                  • [Deactivated] on 29/04/2020 - 09:31
                    +1

                    @Lichen6420: Here's a reason:

                    You can save money and prevent good food from going to waste?

            • brendanm on 28/04/2020 - 12:28
              +2

              @[Deactivated]: Even then, there are that many safety nets available, that even if you are homeless you don't go without food in Australia

              • wittyusername on 28/04/2020 - 18:19
                +3

                @brendanm: I can tell you that, as a teacher, I had many students coming to school without food in Australia.

                • brendanm on 28/04/2020 - 18:20
                  +5

                  @wittyusername: I can tell you, as someone who knows, that there are a multitude of places that give out free food, whether pre cooked, or as boxes of supplies, if people care to look or ask. Those kids most likely had no food because the parents were dropkicks. I am referring to people who have autonomy, not children who rely on a parent.

            • frewer on 29/04/2020 - 01:05

              @[Deactivated]: I came across this to9, normally I woundnt be on fb. Anyway, here one for you https://www.facebook.com/BuzzFeed/videos/2722093677884240/

            • loropy9 on 30/04/2020 - 21:11
              -1

              @[Deactivated]: Mate you are so off it’s beyond help

          • saveye on 29/04/2020 - 20:28

            @dscott85: There was an article on the ABC website this morning where one woman said she had $20 left after paying her rent and bills each fortnight. She said she goes without food for three, four or even five days.

        • [Deactivated] on 28/04/2020 - 16:40

          You better disinfect everything prepackaged in plastic/cans/bottles/uht packs too then, and never drink from a can of softdrink without dipping it in pine o clean first. Because rats and other vermin crawl over them in the warehouses dribbling their urine over them. Example: People who live full time on boats remove the paper wrapping on cans and write the contents on with a texta. Because if they don't cockroaches soon infest their boat. Those cockroaches don't magically appear via a little tardis just because someone brought a can of baked beans on board. They/their eggs are in the grooves, behind wrappers, etc.

          • lette on 28/04/2020 - 17:51
            +2

            @[Deactivated]: I live full time on a boat. That doesn't happen. It's like a normal kitchen in every sense of the way. Maybe years ago before modern technology but nowdays? Doesn't happen.

            • [Deactivated] on 28/04/2020 - 18:06
              -1

              @lette: Uh… Not sure what modern technology you're referring to, but you should share that info with pest controllers who say they can't guarantee - only 'control' pests. I frequently watch sailing videos and by some coincidence I've seen several in the last few weeks (videos made over the last year or two) showing that they remove paper can labels, cardboard boxes from breakfast cereal, paper bags from sugar, etc due to having made the mistake of not doing so in the past then needing to empty their stowage compartments, vacuum, wash down, then spray due to getting cockroaches after bringing them onboard. Come to think of it I had a cockroach infestation in my home a few years ago due to paper can labels. Nothing worked to get rid of them until I also got rid of the cans. I'd spray and a few days they'd be back hiding between the cans again when I opened the door. Are you referring to some kind of coating factories dip the cans in?

              • lette on 28/04/2020 - 18:10
                +2

                @[Deactivated]: I literally live on a boat. I don't need to watch those videos. Heck I make em sometimes!. You're incorrect. I don't know what else to say. I keep clean I use a dyson and I don't have roaches. Just asked old Doug on the boat next door…n he's old. His boats older. He laughed and said it's a myth. Sorry mate but you're wrong

                • [Deactivated] on 28/04/2020 - 18:16
                  -2

                  @lette: Sorry, but no. I'm not incorrect. It may not be your and his experience, but I saw one video in particular just days ago where they didn't bother removing the can labels, and got cockroaches. You could see the cockroach dirt in the hold under the seat where they stored canned food, and could it falling from the cans when they lifted them out, plus the paper labels had eaten the edges/holes in the labels. Dumb thing to be arguing over anyway. All the best.

                  • lette on 28/04/2020 - 18:18
                    +2

                    @[Deactivated]: There's just no talking to you. Go ahead believe your video over an actual person.
                    All the best to you too mate.

                    • [Deactivated] on 29/04/2020 - 13:35
                      -2

                      @lette: [Sigh] Think about it rationally, guy. You're literally claiming it's IMPOSSIBLE for paper and cardboard on FOOD PRODUCTS to attract and carry cockroaches from one spot to another. Because your tiny blip of personal experience is INDISPUTABLE PROOF the actual VIDEOS of other people vacuuming up cockroach dirt and dead cockroaches are, what… faked in some youtube sailor conspiracy just to discredit little ol' you? LOL, really!?

                      You would have to own, and arrange the pest control of, every food factory, island, and provisioning store that boats frequent in every location on the planet - plus travel on everyone else's boat to prove their VIDEOS vacuuming up cockroach dirt is 'fiction'.

                      But please, do have the last word (cause I won't be returning to read it anyway) as you continue to defend the indefensible.

                      • lette on 29/04/2020 - 19:54

                        @[Deactivated]: What is your issue? I said there's no talking to you and there's isn't. Here I was thinking we left on good terms somewhat. Are you 12… go ahead and think what you want I don't care. I'm not wasting my time on some rando who's been here for less than two weeks!
                        Seriously go whine on whirlpool or something.

                  • brendanm on 29/04/2020 - 06:58
                    +1

                    @[Deactivated]: You are incorrect.

              • lette on 28/04/2020 - 18:13

                @[Deactivated]: I do have aphids..but that's cause of the on-board greenhouse bring pesticide free and me being incapacitated.

        • macrocephalic on 29/04/2020 - 15:46
          +2

          You know that most food grows in the dirt, right? Eggs literally come out of a chicken's bum (cloaca) and meat is literally dead animals. You're precious that food, which is plastic wrapped, might have touched a bin?

    • nuttapillar on 29/04/2020 - 02:56
      +2

      Not as disgusting as the amount of perfectly good food otherwise going to landfill…

  • saintpotter on 28/04/2020 - 08:56
    +5

    They throw it out because of health and safety reasons. No supermarket would throw out food that could be sold, even at a discount. If they proceed to give you that food (on the way to the dumpster) - that would still be in breach of their obligations.

    • cloudy on 28/04/2020 - 09:40

      This is correct, the small risk of selling something that causes illness and getting sued is worth the financial risk reward.

      But that does mean much food is wasted. Which is why dumpster diving is at your own risk.

      • sarahlump on 28/04/2020 - 10:10
        -7

        they dont throw it out because it's a risk. If you continually put brand new stock on the shelves its got a better chance of selling than a day old stock. So they throw it out and put on new stock. it has nothing to do with food safety

        • cloudy on 28/04/2020 - 10:12
          +1

          They could discount older stock, like all other supermarkets

          • sarahlump on 28/04/2020 - 10:12
            +2

            @cloudy: They could, but they dont

          • dizzle on 28/04/2020 - 13:53

            @cloudy: Most Aldis don't have a lot of spare space. From what I've seen there's normally some fridge space set aside for discounted food, but not a lot. But I don't see too much more space in Woolies/coles. The difference here is the amount of staff. Coles/woolies have staff that can continually go through the produce to isolate and markdown produce all through the day.

            I also don't think it's all the supermarkets fault. There's a difference between what people are willing to take for free (dumpster dive) and what people will pay for. So when you walk into Coles and see people pick up 20 apples before putting one in the bag, that's why supermarkets only display new produce. NOt saying it's the customers fault either, but demand and supply cause this waste

            Saying that, I think they should be donating a lot of the waster to charities, but then you get the bottleneck of how many trucks the charities have and how many pickups the charities can do daily.

        • saintpotter on 28/04/2020 - 10:28

          Incorrect. Half the stuff you say they throw out i.e. bread is still fresh the next day. Let alone, ALDI hardly has bread left if you visit after 5pm.

          • cloudy on 28/04/2020 - 14:06

            @saintpotter: Went to Aldi two days ago at 6.30, lots of bread and bakery items on shelf. None discounted. I followed up with nearby coles and got lots of discounted stuff. I’m sure Aldi are either throwing them out or will be there for the early birds tomorrow morning buying day old bread thinking it’s fresh.

            • [Deactivated] on 29/04/2020 - 10:35
              +1

              @cloudy:

              or will be there for the early birds tomorrow morning buying day old bread thinking it’s fresh.

              My local Aldi discounts the bread the next day. Woolies and coles do it late in the evening of the same day.

    • Daniel Plainview on 28/04/2020 - 15:09
      +7

      With all due respect I can tell you coming from a management and marketing background this is incorrect in this instance. With supermarkets part of the rationale for discarding food that would be sellable if discounted is that you're cannibalising your own sales by doing so. Hence it's a pretty significantly flawed retail strategy.

      Simple example - Aldi has a loaf of Brand A bread - their cost price for this is $0.50c per loaf - they retail it at $3 a loaf. The bread is now a few days old (as it's VERY common for Aldi to leave day old bread on it's shelves and deliberately delay putting the fresh bread delivery out unitl part way through the day so the old ones are sold first) and so they could discount the now 2 day old bread by 50% to $1.50 or even $1. Doing so would see them make $0.50 to $1 profit……BUT the consumer that bought that loaf was almost certainly going to buy bread ANYWAY…..so they've actually lost the $2.50 profit they would have made on the 'fresh' $3 loaf selling……therefore have actually 'lost' $1.00-1.50.

      The food discarded like this is written off - so it's a legit tax/business expense and so it's not like it has zero benefit to them.

      Aldi are also very zealous about ensuring their skip bins are padlocked shut or in cages - I know as I saw someone grabbing a few things once and grabbed some old bread for our chickens but they shut that down very rapidly. Also while the other big supermarkets donate a lot of old food to charities I have not seen that Aldi does this, preferring to chuck stuff instead…I might be wrong on that but I've never seen Charity vans pickup from them but they are regularly at WoW, Coles and Metcash places.

      • cloudy on 28/04/2020 - 20:46
        +1

        Oh reading that puts me off going to Aldi. So wasteful

      • uradox on 29/04/2020 - 15:32

        I know of two stores in Perth that donate food to community kitchens and you won't see Charity vans collecting it - they actually deliver it. It used to be the case some staff also volunteered in the kitchens but that's probably not happening as much now. If a kitchen in the area is in need, they only need to ask their local stores.

        I doubt the two stores are doing this alone, it would be fairly wide spread. There is still a lot of discarded produce even from the likes of Woolies and Coles despite their donations to fairly large charity organisations.

    • cameldownunder on 28/04/2020 - 16:12

      Myth or no Myth, I heard that Lindt instructs the shops to not sell off their Easter bunnies after Easter. Not sure if they get returned or land in a dumpster.

      • fruxo on 28/04/2020 - 21:22

        Every single shop sells discounted Lindt bunnies after Easter? Or are you saying that Lindt instructs the shops not to do it, but all the shops just ignore them?

      • sarahlump on 29/04/2020 - 06:32
        +1

        I can confirm I got a LOT of easter eggs and bunnies out of kmart and big w bins week and following week after easter

        • cameldownunder on 29/04/2020 - 11:35

          Lindt ?

          • sarahlump on 01/05/2020 - 06:49

            @cameldownunder: No lindt, but still lots of chocolate.(in regards to chocolate I have a lack of self control when it comes to chocolate so I give it away or only grab a small amount for myself when I go diving regarding chocolate, but there was a large amount of them in the bin) I offered a bunch to my housemates.

  • JimmyF on 28/04/2020 - 08:59
    +6

    Every few days Aldi(every Aldi store) throws out 1-2 big skips of fresh bread, fresh fruit, and fresh vegetables.

    What area? Aldi has a deal with ozharvest to pickup waste food etc.

    • sarahlump on 28/04/2020 - 10:13

      Where I lived was in the mt gravatt, sunnybank hills, and sunnybank areas. I also used to dive around the erm rocklea area but it's a very common problem with Aldi, coles, and woolworths. Coles and woolworths are more likely to lock their dumpsters. Kmart and bigw, and target are more likely to just have bicycles and candy so not much real use apart from resale. but they're pretty crappy bikes.

    • mrbooger on 29/04/2020 - 09:16
      +1

      This is true - see link:

      To avoid unsold food from going to waste, every ALDI store in Australia is linked to one or more food rescue partners, including OzHarvest, Foodbank and SecondBite. In 2018, we donated 4,077 tonnes of quality surplus food to our food rescue partners. That’s the equivalent of 8.15 million meals or 40,000 full shopping trolleys.

  • bazingaa on 28/04/2020 - 09:36

    dumpster diving in a pandemic situation ? a recipe for disaster!

    • cloudy on 28/04/2020 - 09:38

      Shopping at Aldi is worse,so busy at Aldi and impossible to social distance. I’m willing to wager it’s less busy dumpster diving.

    • sarahlump on 28/04/2020 - 10:14
      +3

      Australia doesn't always exist in a state of constant pandemic with social distancing.

  • bobbified on 28/04/2020 - 10:03
    +2

    Remember to pay your share of any applicable GST.

    • cloudy on 28/04/2020 - 20:47
      +1

      My math says anything multiplied by 0 is still 0, how’s your math going?

  • Seraphin7 on 28/04/2020 - 10:08

    The irony of this is that in the Marxist state our friend OP wants, there will be no food thrown into the dumpster. The "supermarkets" won't have any to sell in the first place.

    • sarahlump on 28/04/2020 - 10:14
      +2

      The funny thing is we used to fill up several vans with food each weekend and would post it online to give away

      • Ughhh on 28/04/2020 - 11:59
        +3

        As in dumpster food? Do those people know?

      • trapper on 28/04/2020 - 17:01
        +2

        Wait what. You took food from a dumpster and then gave it out to unsuspecting people? That is criminal you know.

        • nuttapillar on 29/04/2020 - 02:57
          +2

          How do you know they were unsuspecting?

        • sarahlump on 29/04/2020 - 06:33

          "The funny thing is we used to fill up several vans with food each weekend and would post it online to give away"

          Did you even read what I just said? Are you incapable of critical thinking?

  • sarahlump on 28/04/2020 - 10:16
    +5

    I also recommend hitting up Amart furniture, and Amart allsports.

    Allsports throws out its Nike sports shoes, (they cut a line along the toe on the top of the shoe so people cant use them, but you can just sew the fabric together) free premium shoes.(there's no food health and safety risk, they just throw them out because they can't sell them)

    Amart furniture throws out at least one full matress still in plastic every week.

    • dscott85 on 28/04/2020 - 11:40
      +12

      That really disappoints me. To think that stores deliberately damage unsold or discontinued shoes before adding them to landfill, when there are plenty of charities who could easily on sell or provide shoes to those in need.

      • Ezekiel2320 on 28/04/2020 - 12:15
        +3

        Yes but if they gave away that stuff for free, it would reduce the value of their full-priced products. It's why Apple never has any sales more than ~10%, because otherwise people will say "I'll just wait until I can get it cheaper/free"

      • dizzle on 28/04/2020 - 13:57
        +1

        I don't know about these cases, but the suppliers sometimes refunds them a certain amount for unsold stock provided that the units are destroyed (saves on return shipping). That way, the shop can get more current stock and the supplier continues with a regular pipeline of sales.

      • saveye on 29/04/2020 - 20:47

        I used to live near a few furniture makers, they'd throw out furniture but they would knock one leg off the chairs or tables so people wouldn't take and use them.

    • picklewizard on 28/04/2020 - 13:41
      +1

      Given that Amart Sports hasn't existed for a few years, I'm not sure how true this story is.

      • brendanm on 28/04/2020 - 13:58

        Probably as true as any of OPs stories. Not very.

      • sarahlump on 29/04/2020 - 06:34
        -1

        If you read my illital post I don't dumpster dive so much anymore, some of my info may be out of date, the primary post is about Aldi! which I still hit up pretty regularly when I can!

  • Quantumcat on 28/04/2020 - 12:09
    +6

    Do you also wheel a cart of food and cooking equipment to your local park to use the free BBQs to cook dinner and save on gas?

    • [Deactivated] on 28/04/2020 - 16:58

      I take my own small BBQ to the park because I don't want to cook on a surface cockroaches, rats, seagulls, and teenage jokers who think they're funny, have been 'relieving themselves' on the plate.

      • pufffdragon on 29/04/2020 - 01:25
        +1

        The f#ck!

      • ProlapsedHeinous on 29/04/2020 - 02:30
        +4

        mate, heat it up, give it a bit of a scrape and chuck some beer on it, good as gold!

    • Tech5 on 28/04/2020 - 17:06
      +2

      There was a poster who laid claim to nearby park BBQ and was making soup on it. Got mad someone else was using it

  • Jackkkkkk on 28/04/2020 - 12:16

    they don't throw it out. They go to farmers in need. Like at Foodbank, any old food out of date goes to farmer waste.

    • nuttapillar on 29/04/2020 - 02:59
      +2

      Actually the bins are filled with an assortment of everything. rubbish, packaging, clothes, unpackaged food, and packaged food.

  • voteyes on 28/04/2020 - 12:53
    +1

    You do not talk about Fight Club.

  • love2buy on 28/04/2020 - 13:09

    The sad fact is everybody wants the newest dates on products on the shelf eventually leading to this problem.

  • Bargain Slut on 28/04/2020 - 13:11
    +4

    not you again

  • greencomet on 28/04/2020 - 13:18
    +1

    I call BS! When I was at Woolies the only things that got thrown out was out of date food, damaged stock, and general rubbish. All usable items went to food banks or local farmers. I can't imagine Aldi would operate any differently.

    Don't promote dumpster diving, you're basically asking to get sick, nothing about it is "fresh". Which is why our bins were locked, to stop idiots like OP from getting sick or hurting themselves.

    • sarahlump on 29/04/2020 - 06:36
      +1

      Idk if you've worked at woolworths in the last few years but I can only share my experiences diving.

  • KBZ on 28/04/2020 - 13:55
    +8

    Why do you guys even take the bait replying to her posts.

    She's just fishing responses:
    'I've mostly just been using this post to get golden content for tweets, some of yall are also now famous on twitter :P'

    • dizzle on 28/04/2020 - 14:00
      +2

      As is she (famous)! Last week I think I saw her threatening legal/criminal action against someone that linked her reddit history :)

      • brendanm on 28/04/2020 - 15:18
        +2

        Why? No shame in being a communist trans prostitute.

    • bobbified on 28/04/2020 - 17:20
      +4

      …replying to her posts

      https://www.reddit.com/r/SexWorkers/comments/7oooq1/location…

      Is it really a "He" or a "She"? lol

      • brendanm on 28/04/2020 - 17:27
        +1

        Xer you bigot. Or perhaps xim actually.

      • sarahlump on 29/04/2020 - 06:36
        -2

        are you a biggot?

        • brendanm on 29/04/2020 - 15:18
          +1

          It's not as funny unironically.

  • dufflover on 28/04/2020 - 14:00

    This is sort of crap criticism that places like Maccas copped for ages. (still do?)
    It's thanks to a group of whingers coupled with quick-buck lawyers that they have to throw things out. It would cost more in money and/or reputation fighting any sort of legal action that came from someone who may have gotten sick from food a restaurant or supermarket donated to avoid waste.

    You may as well troll all the others in the chain like the health authority on why our use-by dates our so conservative. The longer the date, the less likely it will be tossed early.

  • squaredonut on 28/04/2020 - 14:17

    Weird, maybe they should sign up to OzHarvest like Woolies does.

    • RichardL on 28/04/2020 - 14:31
      +1

      I know for a fact, that my local ALDI donates to OzHarvest.

      Every Thursday, I see OzHarvest Big Yellow Van parked outside the ALDI Loading Dock loading trolleys full of produce.

      • sarahlump on 29/04/2020 - 06:37

        I'd say your aldi is probably one of the good ones!

        • Lichen6420 on 29/04/2020 - 08:45
          -1

          I'd say your a troll that is full of shit….

        • dizzle on 29/04/2020 - 23:00

          I'd say that most do, but the limited funding to these charities means they can't be at all stores with enough trucks to be able to receive from every store. There would be a lot of stores that can't wait the couple of days to get rid of the produce (either through space the store has for storage or through the produce not lasting).

          So if a truck arrives they get that days recovery. If they don't pick up for another 3 days, then food has to be thrown.

  • John Kimble on 28/04/2020 - 14:46

    Reminds me of this guy who cooked broth with leftover lobster he fished out of a restaurant dumpster, paired with an assortment of leftover wines he collected from beach garbage bins and blended together.

    https://www.aol.com/article/2014/11/06/extreme-cheapskates-c…

    Full episode here: https://youtu.be/0JU0GiMws_Q

    • duchy on 28/04/2020 - 23:02
      +1

      Disturbingly addictive - I watched the whole episode. :D

      • John Kimble on 28/04/2020 - 23:13
        -1

        It's a whole series!

        There's also this other one called my strange addiction. One of them I saw was a woman who ate couch. Yep. She would rip open her couch and eat the filling.

        https://youtu.be/CSM5W41jl74

  • AustriaBargain on 28/04/2020 - 15:19
    +2

    Would you prefer they try and sell the stale food to you, like the typical IGA?

  • kimmylala on 28/04/2020 - 16:39
    +2

    My first job was at krispy kreme and we use to throw away hundreds of doughnuts a night. We however had a bartering system with other retail food stores close by (breadtop, Mrs fields ect)

    • ProlapsedHeinous on 29/04/2020 - 02:32

      Love the old barter system, we used to swap pizza for alcohol back in the day.

    • [Deactivated] on 29/04/2020 - 13:54

      My housemate at uni used to work in an Indian restaurant in a foodcourt. He used to swap some of the leftovers with the Malaysian, sushi or Italian restaurants at the end of every shifts. We barely ever cooked at home.

  • THICKnSLOW on 28/04/2020 - 17:15

    Hmmm, the OP sounds like a very very familiar personality to me! Intrigued O.o

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