Aldi supermarket slashes hours so staff can ‘take a break’ and look after their families 

Aldi has announced sweeping changes to its trading hours as the COVID-19 crisis continues to put pressure on the grocery sector. 

The supermarket giant announced all its stores will now trade from 9.30am to 7pm unless state or local trading restrictions apply. 

The usual trading hours for most Aldi stores was 8.30am until 8pm.

Aldi said the changes were made to give staff a break and allow them to care for their families. 

‘We are operating at full-steam and working under immense pressure to provide products to every single customer that shops with us,’ an Aldi statement read.

‘We also want to let you know that there is more than enough food to go around; we just need your patience and support. 

‘Please think before you buy and only buy what you and your family need. If we all do this, then we can make sure we have enough for everyone.’

Each store will also undergo thorough cleaning during closing hours. 

‘We would ask everyone to be considerate and compassionate in the way they shop,’ the statement continued.

‘This means civil behaviour, courtesy to those less able and respect for the employees of retail outlets.’

The company will continue to monitor the situation and make the necessary adjustments. 

‘We will continue to re-evaluate these hours on a weekly basis and communicate the decision to either uphold these hours or return to normal trading hours,’ the statement read.

The announcement comes after Woolworths made adjustments to its operating procedures. 

The company has dedicated 7am to 8am each day to the elderly and have adjusted their stock orders. 

‘We want to slow the panic down,’ Woolworths managing director Claire Peters said. 

‘We understand that our customers’ priority is to be prepared, but the vast majority of our food is grown or manufactured in Australia so there is not a concern with supply. What we have is a spike in demand.’ 

The supermarket also announced plans are underway to increase the supply of toilet paper, which is selling seven weeks’ worth per day. 

Woolworths also announced it is suspending online deliveries in Victoria – where it had ‘extraordinary’ demand – to focus on keeping supermarkets stocked.

Coles had also introduced limits on sales of pasta, flour, uncooked rice, paper towels, paper tissues and hand sanitisters, as its shelves were left bare by panic buyers.

Customers are only allowed two of those items each.

A spokeswoman for Coles pleaded for customers to show ‘respect and compassion’ for its exhausted staff.  

‘Coles team members and suppliers have been working as hard as possible delivering more products to stores every day and stocking shelves as quickly as possible,’ a statement said.

‘We ask for customers to continue to respect, show compassion and support our team members in stores and our Customer Care and Coles Online call centres, particularly if a product is unavailable or if the checkout queues are longer than normal.

‘We have significantly increased the number of team members working in our stores to support this level of unprecedented demand and are actively recruiting for more than 5,000 more casual team members.