Apr 3, 2026

Shopping Intentionally: Vote With Your Wallet + Aldi

Yesterday, I talked about my favorite way to continue learning more about shopping intentionally - The Woke Ginger.  Today, I'll dive into another resource -VOTE WITH YOUR WALLET.  



Site Description:  "VWYW is a crowdsourced, peer reviewed database of social responsibility scores for retailers and brands, including: whether they implement Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policies, whether they support or discourage unions and labor protections, whether they have environmental and climate responsibility policies, and how they've supported legislation or political movements. You deserve to know how your hard-earned money is being spent."

You can download this as an app, but I like using it on my computer.  There are two links on the left side of the page - RETAILERS and BRANDS.  Click on one of those and then search.

I'm giving an example here, but this is just one retailer.  I highly recommend going to this site and exploring.

For the example, I clicked on RETAILERS.  There are currently only 16 retailers profiled, but the info you can find on each of those is pretty eye opening.  When you click on RETAILERS you will see a quick score for each of them.  Here's a screenshot of the first 7 on their list.  




I am going to explore ALDI today.  I had thought Aldi was pretty decent and fairly non-political, so some of the things I found out through this site were surprising.  Some good, some not so good.

When you click on ALDI, it takes you to a page that gets more specific about the scores.  


There are links to articles that explain the scores.  The links were eye opening and la few ed me to discover a number of great resources I had not seen before.  



So, here's a few things I learned about Aldi by exploring through this site -
  • Aldi was founded by Karl and Theo Albrecht in Essen, Germany. The brothers both fought for Hitler in WWII. 
  • The Aldi umbrella includes Aldi, Trader Joe’s, Winn Dixie, Bi-Lo, and Harvey’s.
  • In 1960, they separated the company into two divisions: Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd. While the United States operates under Aldi Süd, Trader Joe’s operates under Aldi Nord. 
  • Aldi Süd appears to support DEI while Aldi Nord does not.
  • Today, the Albrecht family is one of Europe’s richest and most secretive with a net worth of $54 billion. The family is still heavily involved in the business, and control of the company is organized in private foundations.
  • The company is anti-union as evidenced in the struggles of Trader Joe’s employees’ attempts to organize. In fact, the Albrecht family has partnered with Elon Musk (SpaceX), Jeff Bezos (Amazon) and Howard Schultz (Starbucks) to take down the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). 
  • Aldi has paid $62 million in various legal and regulatory violations since 2000.
  • Aldi cut nearly 50 tons of plastic from circulation annually just by removing the plastic windows in packaging that enable shoppers to see inside of its private-label brand pasta — and that’s just one product.

READ MORE 

When looking into a company, it's helpful to check more than one source.  I will likely delve into Aldi in other places down the road when I focus on grocery stores, but for today, I think it will be helpful to see this post about Aldi's DEI policy from The Woke Ginger.

That post that illustrates how policies are not always obvious - "I get asked whether Aldi rolled back DEI all the time. Aldi does not give to politics. They quietly removed DEI from their U.S. website earlier this year when Trump pressured companies—but left it on their corporate website based in Europe. BUT, it’s now back on their U.S. website, just without the name “DEI.” Moral of the story: It does not take much to outsmart Trump, plus he has a short memory. "

WHO TO CONTACT

I continue to learn that companies tend to be a combination of good and bad.  As I do the research,  I am constantly reminded just how confusing it can be to shop intentionally.  This is not going to be a black or white issue.  There's a lot of gray with a bit of mud thrown in.   I'm feeling overwhelmed but determined to keep learning.

Even with companies that seem to align closest to our values, we can still have an impact by contacting them and letting them know what we think of their policies.  

I will continue to shop at Aldi's periodically, but I will also contact them about things that I don't like and encourage them to do better.

Aldi's Corporate Office
1200 N Kirk Road
Batavia, IL 60510
(800) 925-6278


Officers:
Jason Hart – CEO, Aldi U.S.
Jason Hart is responsible for overseeing Aldi’s U.S. operations, ensuring the company’s continued growth and success in a competitive marketplace.

Colin McGranahan – Executive Vice President, Aldi U.S.
Colin McGranahan helps guide Aldi’s strategic decisions and supports its commitment to providing high-quality products at affordable prices.

Joan K. Fitzpatrick – Chief Financial Officer
Fitzpatrick manages Aldi’s financial operations, ensuring the company’s solid financial foundation and profitability.


This post is part of my series focused on voting with your wallet.  I am pushing myself to do better at shopping intentionally.  I'm no expert and judging from how confused I feel today, never will be, but I will share what I'm learning.