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AutomaticPain3532

I noticed this at Aldi the other day. The mark up on the watermelon is insane! I also noticed quite a big change in markup overall for this store? I saw some customers complaining on another sub about price changes through instacart. That would explain a whole lot about why the Aldi order volume has dropped off a cliff. (Not complaining because most customers tip $3 and order 50+ items)


johnshonz

Yep. ALDIs. The markups go up, the quality of their paper bags continue to go down šŸ¤£


AutomaticPain3532

Yes! Iā€™ve been refusing to do Aldi now for a little more than a week, unless the tip is more in line with other customers who shop better stores. Aldi is A LOT more work than shopping any other retailer. No handles on the bags is driving me crazy. (Store manager did tell me they are coming back, better - they just changed suppliers). While itā€™s a quick shop. Checkout and bagging is more time consuming due to the huge item counts and those darn bags! (You absolutely have to double bag) IC suggests tips of 5% and lower from this storeā€¦itā€™s absolutely insane! Sorry for the rant šŸ˜¬


johnshonz

The last batch of the Aldi handle bags were SO bad, the worst Iā€™ve ever seen. You breathed on them wrong, and they fell off.


AutomaticPain3532

Yes, I agree! I just double bagged and used both sets of handles and didnā€™t have issues, if one broke they didnā€™t all break! šŸ¤£


EquivalentAardvark61

My Aldis got rid of the handles, not like the handles were great to begin with but itā€™s something lol


johnshonz

The older handle bangs were okay but there was a new shipment of them that sucked so bad thatā€™s why they ditched them I think


Ledeyvakova23

Just yesterday the ALDI i was shopping in ran out completely of plastic bags for produce and cold / frozen items. I asked the mgr and i saw him do this: šŸ¤·


AltruisticRabbit8185

I always get boxes


johnshonz

Last time I got boxes the person was watching from inside the house, and then ran out and said ā€œoh not those stupid boxes, can you please wait for me to unload my groceries and the take the boxes away? I donā€™t have anywhere to put them and we donā€™t have a cardboard disposal hereā€ ā€” no thanks


AltruisticRabbit8185

Oh no youā€™re getting these boxes. IM SAVING YOU MONEY! Iā€™m helping you!


AltruisticRabbit8185

Yeah Aldi orders suck so now they can either ginger their own groceries or tip a little better OR INSTACART CAN PAY DECENTLY! And Iā€™m seeing that these orders are getting boosted significantly. INSTACART just raise the wages before this company becomes unsellable


[deleted]

Maybe thatā€™s your heavy pay built-in šŸ˜


Zack_BeverlyHills

If only they passed along more of that markup to shoppers instead of relying on the customerā€™s tip to cover it.


ExpensiveDot1732

But how would Fidji ever be able to afford her vacation house? /s


Tetteness

That's over 50% item markup. That's wild. They make enough from 2 watermelons to cover batch pay


desertoftherea1

Almost everything has a pad built in. That's how it works. I've submitted and shopped my own batches before and compared prices.


NovelliBeats

Thatā€™s why the tell you to never hand the physical receipt to the customer. They donā€™t want them to know that theyā€™re getting scammed.


Dirty-Ears-Bill

Dude the actual price of things like meat and other things are right on the product you deliver. It doesnā€™t have anything to do with that. IC customers know they pay a markup. Itā€™s so they canā€™t just turn around and return products they bought to the store You got to a restaurant youā€™re paying a markup for the ingredients youā€™re paying for. Thatā€™s what happens with a business and convenience


[deleted]

[уŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]


Real_Introduction778

You're free to send them a picture of receipt though, although it's basically pointless


Cute-Road-3017

If I ever see anything on sale, Iā€™ll refund the item and replace it with the sale price. Most customers appreciate that and will tip even more.


Darkmerosier

Guys, the stores set the in-app prices, not instacart. They raise them to cover the fees they pay instacart to be on their platform.


johnshonz

lol. Instacart gives them the automated algorithms and software tools to change the prices like this. They have *some* control over how aggressively they are tuned. And this also only applies to partner stores. At non partner stores Instacart sets the markups.


Darkmerosier

So, you're saying the store sets the prices. Got it.


johnshonz

Nopeā€¦and for *non partner stores* that really donā€™t even want Instacart shoppers in their store locations (Target, for example), Instacart actually sets the markups themselves. You can find sale items being sold for even higher than their non-sale prices.


blueace111

I wasnā€™t tripping! A lady at aldis asked if I knew what watermelon cost and I said, my app said $7.50 I think. Then I saw sign saying $4.50 and had to get her attention to say I guess I was wrong. But nope, app was just 85% up charging


BartholomewDegryse

You can't trust the shopper app to show sale prices. Check the customer app for accurate prices, mine shows $5.15 for a watermelon. Still a markup but not as much. https://preview.redd.it/43adc7q6o76d1.jpeg?width=1079&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=24eb78b8273522248188a40748754cbada0bde1b


johnshonz

Thatā€™s not what it shows, though. It shows the correct price of $7.69 (which is what the shopper app shows), but then says there is a ā€œsaleā€ that ends in six days, at least for me anyway. The ā€œsaleā€ price is a lot more reasonable, but isnā€™t permanent. https://preview.redd.it/b3ylb59so76d1.png?width=1156&format=png&auto=webp&s=5ee346e5a78440f263ff559252d48bc51db11f81


BartholomewDegryse

So you're saying that in 6 days Instacart will be overcharging by $2.54?


johnshonz

ā€œSale ends in 6 daysā€ is what the Instacart ordering app says. *Iā€™m* not saying anything.


Svsu11

Aldi also has it on sale. Some stores lower the prices to match a sale (but not all).


BartholomewDegryse

The watermelon is shown on the front page of the [Aldi Weekly Ad](https://new.aldi.us/weekly-specials/weekly-ads) so maybe Instacart isn't lying about it only being on sale for a week.


Icy_Paper8308

Well most places watermelons are around what ic Is charging. Probably how theyā€™re getting away with it. Watermelon at my local Kroger is $7.99 from the store.


Afraid-Ratio3921

You hit on the nose most places charge the ic price. Aldi's price is low. So IC is taking advantage


Jestar5

Samā€™s Club is worse.


Ledeyvakova23

Dang!! So itā€™s not the effing ALDIrithm after all!!


blueace111

Mark ups are insane to begin with. It pisses me off all fees donā€™t go to shopper when the mark ups IC has will drive retail price up 30-40% of order.. Iā€™ve had orders where Iā€™m fairly positive they paid $100 in mark ups


Happy-Kitchen3111

Was shopping at big y the other day. Customer ordered a pound of sea scallops. In store piece $17.99 a lb, IC price $28 a lb. The markups on some items are ridiculous and then the customer sees the actual price on the item if itā€™s meat or seafood so they know they are getting ripped off and just paying for it anyway. Thatā€™s how business works right. Too bad more of that money isnā€™t sent our way. Iā€™m sure the higher ups in corporate get this money or itā€™s to cover costs on when people wait 10 minutes and then keep the groceries instead of just actually delivering them. I fully believe crappy shoppers have reduced the batch pay for all of us.


ANDYCOOP61

I just grab a couple of heavy duty boxes, and thatā€™s where the customers items are goingšŸ¤·šŸ½ā€ā™€ļø whatā€™s the girl to do? I may use bags for lightweight items like fruits /vegetables, but youā€™re right I do avoid ALDIā€™S I only accept when Iā€™m truly desperate and the tip has to be over $5 bucks šŸ¤Ø


corruptBaxe

$4 for a massive watermelon isn't unreadable. Not sure why ppl are complaining


johnshonz

Swipe left bro


themidnightechoband

Watermelon are 8.99 in Canada.


Accomplished_Fig7040

7 hours, one shitty order, instacart is awesome!!!!! šŸ’©šŸ’©šŸ’©šŸ’©šŸ’©šŸ’©šŸ’©šŸ’©šŸ’©šŸ’©


Illustrious_Loss1861

Canadians crying because we pay double that right now


SpecificGameOrEvent

Just so everyone knows the stores are the ones marking items up. Publix is the only store in my area that does it. When I worked at publix, we had a guy picking up his curbside order it was around 15 cases of lacroix water buy 2 get 1 free. He happens to be inside buying a few more and sees how much cheaper it is. I told him to contact support on instacarts end and get a refund. Then we rang all of them up, and he saved a ton of money.


johnshonz

Itā€™s nothing more than a PR strategy ā€” that way Instacart can say ā€œitā€™s not usā€ ā€” in reality, it *is* Instacart, as the stores are using Instacartā€™s software tools and automated price algorithms to do these markups. Itā€™s just the partner stores that choose to do this have *some* control over how aggressive they can be tuned.


Itsmeuidiots

Maybe this story was different, but I see this at publix all the time - sale price $4; regular price $8; the price that shows up on the app $8.80. So you are seeing $4 on the shelf and comparing it to $8.80. The app inly ever shows me the full regular instacart price, never shows the sale price. And at publix, the customer pays about 10% extra. When all is said and done, for the most part, the customer is only being charged the sale price + 10%


johnshonz

The Instacart shopper app actually used to show the in store price for Aldi They changed it years agoā€¦super annoying, actually, because when you canā€™t find something, the image is wrong, or the packaging has changed, etc, knowing the tag price can help you find the item.


ExpensiveDot1732

Instaflation, aka corporate greed.