Scalpers Are At It Again With Aldi's Holiday Gnomes

Aldi shoppers have noticed a problematic phenomenon that seems to be on the rise during the holidays: It seems that scalpers have started coming into stores to try and grab coveted items such as the store's holiday gnomes. 

This isn't a new issue. In past years, it has been previously reported by other shoppers at Aldi stores, and it's not always a seasonal problem, either. Another person who claims to be an Aldi employee wrote on Reddit that they've noticed that a woman visits their store every week to look for the best products and purchases them in bulk. They reckon that she's scalping the products and intends to sell them at higher prices elsewhere. The Redditor said, "I swear she's scalping the items, but we aren't allowed to restrict how many she buys. It makes me feel awful for the other customers because the good stuff is literally gone 30 minutes past open."

Unfortunately, the trend is not always restricted to seasonal items, and may show up in unexpected ways. An example: a Twitter user in the U.K. complained about spotting an expensive bag of flour from Aldi online and wrote, "Hey @AldiUK found a scalper on ebay selling you plain [flour] at a ridiculous price! Reported to ebay."

In December 2021, an astute shopper took to Reddit to write about their experience with scalpers at Aldi, and said that they saw several individuals trying to buy the AOS holiday gnomes in bulk. They wrote, "The holiday gnomes were completely picked over, small and oversized, so I wasn't able to grab one. One of the scalpers [had] her entire cart full of the gnomes and I am not exaggerating!"

A different Reddit user mentioned that this didn't surprise them, and they've stopped making special trips to Aldi for seasonal items and will only buy them if they spot the product on a regular shopping trip. They added, "Sometimes, if there's something I'm interested in and I think it will be super popular, I won't even bother trying because I know it's a waste of time." Another Redditor said that this trend has been noticed at other stores such as Trader Joe's, as well, and it's nearly impossible to buy certain items unless you're lucky and happen to be inside the store when the products are being added to the shelves.

In another thread, someone wondered what motivates people to buy items such as holiday gnomes at prices as high as $50 online (which is seriously pricey, since according to an Instagram user, this product wouldn't cost more than $20 at Aldi.) Perhaps, as someone else said, it's simply that no one likes missing out on something popular, and are thus willing to pay more to get their hands on the product if they can't find it anywhere else.