I love Aldi...but

[teachermom2834]

some of the packaging makes me nuts. I really struggle to open the pump on the hand soap. Half the time I end up just swapping out the last pump that I already got open. The bath soap? I finally have gotten into the habit of taking a sharp knife to the outer packaging before putting them in the bathrooms. Too many times standing there naked and absolutely unable to open the package. I just wrestled for far too long with a package of napkins. I am generally pretty strong and capable so I’m caught off guard being unable to defeat the packaging from some of my Aldi staples.

Am I the only one? Am I really getting too old to open plastic packaging with my bare hands? Am I losing my mind?

Edited July 31, 2018 by teachermom2834

[Pawz4me]

I don't do Aldi, but I notice the packaging on many non-name brand/generic products is much more difficult to deal with than on well known brands.

[teachermom2834]

1 minute ago, Pawz4me said:

I don't do Aldi, but I notice the packaging on many non-name brand/generic products is much more difficult to deal with than on well known brands.

That makes sense. I have been shopping almost exclusively at Aldi so I didn’t know if it was Aldi or all packaging going in this direction. But makes sense that store brands would be similar.

[Miss Tick]

Oh no! I guess I don't buy those things at Aldi's, but trying to open the soap in a moment of need sounds frustrating (and a tad funny). I have the opposite problem with some of their cardboard boxes which are so thin it is difficult to pick up the boxes without crushing them.

[happypamama]

The Aldi jars are almost always harder to open than the equivalent jar from Giant!

[Katy]

I've never bought soap there.  But I did recently try their diapers (pretty good, unscented, still use pampers baby dry at night) and their baby shampoo (didn't trigger cradle cap like other brands!) after I found a blog post about how great they are.

Do you like the soap?  Do you use other products from there?

[teachermom2834]

2 minutes ago, Katy said:

I've never bought soap there.  But I did recently try their diapers (pretty good, unscented, still use pampers baby dry at night) and their baby shampoo (didn't trigger cradle cap like other brands!) after I found a blog post about how great they are.

Do you like the soap?  Do you use other products from there?

I use just about everything from Aldi. I grew up poor so brand loyal wasn’t really a thing. So I use all their products. Now if I was in a regular store I might make another choice but there is nothing I would prefer another brand enough to drive somewhere else. If Aldi doesn’t have something we likely go without. Once a month we’ll hit Publix for a few different things like more interesting condiments. But we are on a budget and none of us are very picky so Aldi is a winner for us.

The hand soap is an equivalent to Softsoap. I actually have a Softsoap one now and the only difference is I didn’t struggle so much to get the pump open. The bath soap is a Dove equivalent I think. We like it just fine. I just have to remember to cut open the package with a sharp kitchen knife. Lol.

[BarbecueMom]

We use the foaming pumps, but I think the Aldi ones smell weird.  But I’d say one in every seven or eight hand soap pumps we buy doesn’t work or doesn’t open, whether it’s name brand or generic.  They’re all junk.

Aldi did have a display of Dial foaming pumps for $1.79 in the special buy section.  I bought those for when our bathroom ones break or become gross beyond salvation.  I refill them with watered down dish soap.

Speaking of bad packaging ideas, I’d like to have a word with whoever designed those awful “lift and peel” tabs on the tops of milk jugs or vitamins.  There’s zero lifting and peeling going on.  I try with every new jug/bottle, and yet every single time resort to stabbing it with a steak knife and a crazed look in my eyes.  If there’s a Packaging Design Hall of Shame, this person should have their picture up there next to the one who thought people can actually put their thumb through the tab on Mac and Cheese boxes.

Rant over.

[carriede]

35 minutes ago, BarbecueMom said:

Speaking of bad packaging ideas, I’d like to have a word with whoever designed those awful “lift and peel” tabs on the tops of milk jugs or vitamins.  There’s zero lifting and peeling going on.  I try with every new jug/bottle, and yet every single time resort to stabbing it with a steak knife and a crazed look in my eyes.

Me too! Ugh

[katilac]

I was all excited when I realized that dd's college town has Aldi's, because I've always heard about it, but pretty disappointed when we actually went. It's just a Sav-a-lot in a somewhat nicer setting. 

53 minutes ago, BarbecueMom said:

 f there’s a Packaging Design Hall of Shame, this person should have their picture up there next to the one who thought people can actually put their thumb through the tab on Mac and Cheese boxes.

 

 

ha, yes.

[lailasmum]

I don't really do Aldi often as it's too far but I nearly always swap out the pump top on our hand soap and it's a big brand. I'm not sure If certain styles have a high failure rate but with every batch of hand soap bottles we buy, they have at least one pump that won't open.