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At least at the Aldi I shop at, they don't even have that. The cashier is at the very end of the line; the next thing past them is a shopping cart, and scanned

At least at the Aldi I shop at, they don't even have that. The cashier is at the very end of the line; the next thing past them is a shopping cart, and scanned items get placed directly into it. When you're done paying, you wheel that cart away, leave the one you had in its place, and go to a separate counter where you can bag or box your stuff. If you had a basket, you throw the basket in the cart, the cashier drops stuff in there, and you take it with you. Which, they didn't mention this in the article, but that's also nice - it encourages customers to put their baskets back in the stack by the door. Which, again, saves everyone time. Employees don't have to stop what they're doing to collect baskets and move them to the door, and customers don't have to wander around the checkout aisles looking for baskets stashed under the conveyor when the stack by the door is empty because things are too busy for that to happen.

lostapathy 7y ago
"scanned items get placed directly into it." More like thrown into it - or if you're lucky, dropped into it, at my local Aldi. You learn not to put canned goods ahead of bread on the belt so that cans don't land on your bread.
- bunderbunder 7y ago
  Aldi staff are pretty high-performing at what they're paid to do. So much so that successfully shopping at Aldi may be even more skilled a profession than working there. It's part of the charm. :)
FabHK 7y ago
And social rules have involved to minimise delays: 0. You place the groceries on the band "in the right order", ie heavy/solid goods first, light/fragile things last (so everything can just be shoved into the cart) 1. When your turn is coming up, you wait until the previous customer has removed their cart, and quickly put yours in place. 2. Next you help the cashier shoving the groceries into your cart, maybe arranging them a bit. 3. As the end of your purchases approaches, you prepare to pay (while the cashier is still scanning your last items), pull cash/card from the wallet, hand it over, and boom, take your cart away while the cashier starts scanning the next customer's items. (This works even faster if you are not alone.) 4. GOTO 1. I miss Aldi.

lostapathy 7y ago

"scanned items get placed directly into it." More like thrown into it - or if you're lucky, dropped into it, at my local Aldi. You learn not to put canned goods ahead of bread on the belt so that cans don't land on your bread.

bunderbunder 7y ago
Aldi staff are pretty high-performing at what they're paid to do. So much so that successfully shopping at Aldi may be even more skilled a profession than working there. It's part of the charm. :)

FabHK 7y ago

And social rules have involved to minimise delays: 0. You place the groceries on the band "in the right order", ie heavy/solid goods first, light/fragile things last (so everything can just be shoved into the cart) 1. When your turn is coming up, you wait until the previous customer has removed their cart, and quickly put yours in place. 2. Next you help the cashier shoving the groceries into your cart, maybe arranging them a bit. 3. As the end of your purchases approaches, you prepare to pay (while the cashier is still scanning your last items), pull cash/card from the wallet, hand it over, and boom, take your cart away while the cashier starts scanning the next customer's items. (This works even faster if you are not alone.) 4. GOTO 1. I miss Aldi.