ALDI Australia CEO Asks For Retail Calm

All Australians deserve access to groceries and we are working extremely hard to deliver on this promise. We know many of you are worried about the spread of Coronavirus and your ability to access fresh food, hygiene products and essential items. We want to let you know that there is more than enough food to go around; we just need your patience and support.

Australia’s primary producers and manufacturers are world leading and they’ve been a great partner as demand has skyrocketed in the last few weeks.  Our employees in warehouses and stores are working hard to get stock distributed across the country. But we need the help of customers. The increase in violence that retailers have seen over the past few weeks is absolutely unacceptable.  We would ask everyone to be considerate and compassionate in the way they shop. This means civil behaviour, courtesy to those less able and respect for the employees of retail outlets.  Quite frankly, we won’t tolerate anything less. We understand your concerns, but buying more than is needed can mean that others will be left without.

Across ALDI’s store network, we are continuing to takes steps to ensure our staff remain comfortable serving customers. Together with our store employees we’ve developed new conditions of entry to our stores:

1. Respect our employees and their physical space
2. Respect each other and look out for those less able
3. Practice good hygiene in our stores
4. Do not attempt to ‘game’ our product restriction policies
5. We remind you that we will not accept any violent behaviour (verbal or physical) in or around our stores and the police will be called immediately if required
6. Be kind, be calm, be empathetic and most of all be courteous
7. And, please, do one nice thing for someone else when you leave our store today

Our employees are doing a great job to keep up with demand, so please pay them the respect they deserve.

We will continue to work around the clock with our great Australian partners to distribute product to our stores.  Please remember to be kind, be calm, be empathetic and most of all be courteous.

Tom Daunt,
CEO, ALDI Australia

Purchase Limits (update)

Wednesday 25 March 2020

As we face the changing circumstances related to COVID-19, we’d like to update you on the steps we are taking as a business to ensure that you have access to fresh food, hygiene products and essential items. We are working around the clock with our Australian partners to distribute products to our stores. As demand remains ongoing, we have introduced further restrictions on the following product categories.

Product limits are based on categories, regardless of the brand, weight or variety. For example, sugar = all types of sugar.

To be able to provide Australians access to the essential products they need, we have decided to temporarily limit purchases on the following products from 25 March 2020:

• Toilet paper – 1 unit
• Paper towels – 2 units
• Tissues – 2 units
• Dry pasta – 2 units
• Flour – 2 units
• Dry rice– 2 units
• Microwave rice – 6 units
• Hand sanitisers – 2 units
• Serviettes – 10 units
• UHT long-life milk – 6 units
• Antibacterial wipes – 10 units
• Canned foods – 10 units
• Mince meat – 2 units
• Eggs – 2 units
• Chilled pasta – 2 units
• Sugar – 2 units
• Liquid soap – 2 units

*We have also temporarily suspended change of mind refunds to discourage over-purchasing. From the 17 March 2020, until further notice, we will not provide a refund where you have changed your mind about products purchased from ALDI in the following categories:

• Toilet paper
• Tissues and serviettes
• Paper towels
• Nappies and baby wipes
• Feminine hygiene and incontinence
• Hand sanitisers
• Cleaning products (including anti-bacterial wipes)
• Canned food (including fish, fruit, vegetables, soup)
• Pasta and pasta sauce
• Rice and rice meals
• Cooking oils and vinegars
• Flour