Aldi finally came to our city! They opened the first store in February 2022, with plans to open a second store in a neighboring town, and a third store on the other side of town from the first store.
I was hired on March 2022 for the second store. I had 20-25 hours every week while training and stocking for the new store. We had to buy steel-toed shoes (that they reimbursed us $5 per paycheck up to $50 for, so all employees have to wait 20 weeks to be fully reimbursed) and they auto-enrolled us in their T Rowe Price retirement plan with 5% deduction. Yes, you can opt out of this, but it's kind of a headache and I figured I was going to be there for a while, so I didn't bother turning it off.
May 5 was grand opening for the second store. Starting June 1, we only got 4 hours a week. Starting this current week, and for the foreseeable future, they've removed ALL PART TIME staff from the schedule. Sales aren't good enough to support the amount of staff they hired.
We had a meeting last Wednesday in which we were offered the opportunity to transfer to the third store, which will be opening soon. I weighed my options (including almost double the gas to drive to the third store) and when they asked if anyone wanted to transfer for a second time this past Monday, I volunteered.
I have received 0 communication. I'm still not on any foreseeable schedule and I'm not getting responses to my questions from store level or regional management. According to the HR website, I am still an active employee.
My meeting with the regional manager, well, his take was “we never promised a minimum number of hours”. My response was “but you also never presented us with the possibility we'd have 0 hours. I didn't complain with just 4 hours because I know sales are bad and I was willing to hang on. But 0 hours? I was not prepared to removed entirely with no warning.”
Him: “I do feel bad about this. All of corporate does”
Me: “But y'all feel bad on salary and throw away food daily. I can't afford groceries this week.”
Him: “I understand.”
Me…………
“Well I guess I'll go finish up my last shift for the foreseeable future….”
Coming into a new town and offering people $14 an hour is a LIFE CHANGING opportunity. I thought we'd finally be able to afford some home repair we need and maybe even a vacation for my 10 year wedding anniversary.
Now all that's been flushed down the drain. We've depleted our savings since I was only scheduled 4 hours a week the last month and now I won't be getting a check next week. To top that off, T Rowe Price and good ole Uncle Sam are gonna take a fee for early withdrawal of my retirement plan that has a whole $116 in it.
I grew up with Aldi in a different state than I live in now. Neighbors spoke highly of being employed at Aldi. We shopped at our neighborhood store religiously. I talked Aldi up to everyone in my current town! I was SO EXCITED. I got daily compliments from my Lead Sales Associates and Assistant Store Managers. I was always early. Stayed late the 2 times I was asked. I LOVED MY JOB. I went from $14 an hour at Aldi to $7 an hour plus tips now. I don't want to hear shit from anyone ever again about “go find a higher paying job.” I did and worked my ass off for them. For nothing.
EDITED TO ADD I forgot to mention that we (PT stockers) overheard Management talking about how our store metrics were set based on the income and traffic of a store in Texas. When another PT Stocker Googled the city stats compared to New Iberia, LA, the median income was $15k higher. We spent a month throwing away and donating cases of chicken, eggs, beef, bread and other non-parishables that could've gone home with employees. Instead, it got tossed and they cut our hours due to the lost profits. They did shitty market research and in turn, screwed the people they hired. They had the opportunity to help us and still do have those opportunities every day. They just didn't. Boo.