Aldi's desperate appeal amid coronavirus shopping frenzy
Aldi is appealing for more staff to help deal with the recent surge in shoppers at supermarkets across Australia amid the COVID-19 outbreak.
Supermarkets have been at the forefront of the nation’s coronavirus timeline in recent weeks and chaotic scenes in store ensued as the pandemic worsened.
Stores have been pushed to their limits as shelves are stripped bare daily of items such as toilet paper, tinned foods and dried goods such as rice and pasta.
The surge in shoppers forced Coles, Woolworths and Aldi to implement store limits on items to protect stock levels and ensure products were evenly distributed.
Now Aldi are ramping up staff numbers in a bid to reduce any further disruption to their services.
“Due to the current demand for groceries, we are actively recruiting for roles across our network to help more Australians have access to everyday essentials,” an Aldi spokesperson confirmed to Yahoo News Australia.
The announcement will come as welcome news to those searching for work amid a rise in job losses in the wake of the plummeting economy.
While dozens of items have routinely sold out across stores, companies have insisted there isn’t a supply issue and simply supermarkets cannot get products into stores and onto shelves quickly enough.
In the Senate on Monday, Social Services Minister Anne Ruston, who was representing Agriculture Minister David Littleproud, said the government was moving to ensure food and products were making their way into the hands of Australians.
To help improve access to toilet paper for our customers, we have limited the purchase of all toilet paper lines to one pack per customer.
We ask our customers to remember to show kindness, empathy and calmness when shopping with us. pic.twitter.com/eyL5wwfyQ3— ALDI Australia (@ALDIAustralia) March 9, 2020
“The government is in the process of preparing a number of options to minimise the impact on the supply chain—from labour right the way through to the transportation of our primary produce,” she said.
Aldi’s appeal for more staff comes after Coles announced it would hire 5000 more staff members to help deal with the surge.
The government also eased restrictions on student and working holiday visa holders to allow them to work in supermarkets for longer.
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