Aldi's Highly-Anticipated Grocery Boxes Sold Out In Under A Minute — And Customers Aren't Happy

It's not often that pop culture shopping trends leak into the world of discount grocery shopping, but Aldi recently debuted a special box drop that may have already backfired. The trend in question is a "blind box," which typically comes from the world of toys and collectables. Customers buy a box of a certain product that looks the same as every other one, completely unaware of which potential option they might get. The popularity of the trend comes from the thrill of unboxing a mystery item and the chance of scoring something rare, similar to older traditions like opening a pack of baseball cards. Aldi has decided this trend is perfect for groceries as well and has decided to offer its boxes via a free giveaway. Unfortunately, the online promotion seems to be lacking so far, as eager fans who tried to claim these mystery grocery boxes found them gone in under a minute.

The Aldi box drops were planned for four days, June 22 through June 25, and the initial launch didn't inspire confidence. For the Monday box, which was filled with Aldi snacks, customers on Reddit said even the most on-the-ball attempts to secure their free boxes on the Aldi website ended with a sold-out message. One commenter said, "Hit the claim link at 12:00 on the dot. Waited 8 minutes in queue and was told it had sold out." Another person laments, "I waited 2 minutes and it was out." It turns out the available stock of Aldi blind boxes was very low, and that was only the beginning of customers' frustration.

Aldi did not list any specific limit on the number of boxes it was giving away, but confirmed in a press release that there would be "more than 100" available per day. Given the deep, devoted popularity of Aldi, that doesn't seem like a lot, and on Reddit, fans saw the issue even before the promotion began. One customer noted, "100 boxes per drop, for 4 days? This sounds like a recipe for disaster." Another responded, "Sounds like a marketing plot that's working."

However, what really seemed to have frustrated Aldi fans on Reddit was that even after the boxes were gone, people were left waiting in an online checkout. One disappointed person explained, "I waited in line for 36 minutes and they just gave me this message," and included a screenshot of a note that the boxes were out of stock. "Should have booted me as soon as it sold out," they added. Even after the boxes were gone and people were already posting about it, others were commenting in frustration that they were still in the midst of their online checkout.

If you'd like to try to get a box in the coming days, visit the official website. The Aldi blind box drops go live at 12 p.m. EST each day, and you'll probably need to hit that link on the dot to even have a prayer. After Monday's snack box, the Tuesday drop is themed on fiber, Wednesday is protein, and Thursday is just "mystery," which seems like a mix of Aldi hidden gems from across the store. So give it a shot if you feel really lucky, and at least the boxes are free.