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Aldi's is an outstanding example of the inefficiencies of micro management / JIT. Coin for grocery cart wastes time messing around to get a quarter & lock drivi

Aldi's is an outstanding example of the inefficiencies of micro management / JIT. Coin for grocery cart wastes time messing around to get a quarter & lock driving away customer volume that more than pays for an employee to push carts back. Leaving the items in the container wastes shelf space & time by disallowing spring loaded or gravity dispensers & senselessly manually drags the boxes into the store as almost all of the boxes then are taken back out once noticed by an employee. Also, in contrast to the individual empowerment theme, but with the anti-customer view lacks self service kiosks & usually have 1 lane open that blocks with large volume customers & no dedicated x items or fewer lanes. The floor plan sprawls proportional to economies of scale & is divided appropriately by interest in contrast to Aldi that has random furniture between grocery.

eropple 4y ago
> Coin for grocery cart wastes time messing around to get a quarter & lock driving away customer volume that more than pays for a young adult to push carts back. This is a claim. Is there evidence? Especially at a reasonable wage for a human being (which is not federal minimum)? > Leaving the items in the container wastes shelf space & time by disallowing spring loaded or gravity dispensers Shelf space: Aldi seems to do a pretty good job of keeping everything they want to put out fronted. As for spring or gravity dispensers, I can go look around a different supermarket and the only place I see gravity dispensers is in some (not all) drink coolers and some (not all) spices. If they showed efficiency bonuses, I'd suspect that we'd see them more. > lacks self service kiosks & usually have 1 lane open No self-service? Sure. One lane open? Not where I am. There's usually multiple open and even when there are, with three carts in line, they call another cashier.
- downvotetruth 4y ago
  evidence? have fun messing with lock this winter
  - raydiatian 4y ago
    GP is right imo. You can literally just walk straight into Aldi and ask for a quarter if you forgot one. They’ll give you one. Takes 2 seconds. Alternatively, as illustration not an accusation, If you’re walking around grocery store fuming about the time you lost thumbing a quarter into a shopping cart, that’s a personal problem.
    - ChainOfFools 4y ago
      exactly. it's not about the 25 cents, it's about cultivating a customer base of prosocial people who aren't habituated to anger at petty inconveniences.
  - Ndymium 4y ago
    The coin/token lock is used in all stores in Finland, I've never had a problem with it in winter. Sometimes I'm in the store without a token (I never have coins) but there's usually a cart unlocked already, since you can get the token out without locking the cart if you fiddle a bit.
  - eropple 4y ago
    I live in Boston. I've never had a problem with it. But that isn't related to what you actually said. Do you have any evidence that the amount of customer discouragement pays for an employee?
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
    - downvotetruth 4y ago
      Store (% of $spent) (# store) % of $spent/ # store Dollar Tree 0.8 7900 0.000101265822785 Dollar General 1.5 10000 0.00015 Aldi 2.3 2200 0.001045454545455 Target 2.4 1900 0.001263157894737 Trader Joe’s 1 600 0.001666666666667 Ahold Delhaize 4.3 2000 0.00215 Whole Foods 1.1 500 0.0022 Publix 3.7 1300 0.002846153846154 Walmart 18 4700 0.003829787234043 BJ’s 0.8 200 0.004 Sam’s Club 3.6 600 0.006 Kroger 8.8 1400 0.006285714285714 H-E-B 1.9 300 0.006333333333333 Costco 6.4 600 0.010666666666667 Albertsons 4.7 400 0.01175 Amazon.com 1.3 0 #DIV/0! https://www.factoftheday1.com/p/march-21-top-us-grocers-by-s https://www.factoftheday1.com/p/march-21-top-us-grocers-by-s... More upscale -> Better margins allowing for not only more employees, but also better overall employee benefits marginal that they are.
ChainOfFools 4y ago
> Coin for grocery cart wastes time messing around to get a quarter & lock driving away customer driving away exactly the sort of customer Aldi doesn't want to deal with. this policy isn't for cart pusher wage savings, it's a soft filter to screen out a whole class of people who get disproportionately angry with minor inconveniences.
- dylan604 4y ago
  i've never been to an Aldi, so i have no experience here. i can't remember the last time that i carried change in my pockets leaving the house. i only have change on my for as long as it takes me to get home from receiving said change to put it away in the "someday i'll cash this in jar". walking up to an Aldi to see this as a first time customer would definitely sour me. it's not like a laundromat where you know well in advance you are better off showing up with change rather than expecting the change machine to be in working order.
  - Eisenstein 4y ago
    You don't keep change in your car? What if you have to go through an unexpected toll? Or is that not a thing anymore (I haven't driven in a long time)?
    - ChainOfFools 4y ago
      you don't even need to keep change. aldi will spot you the quarter and never ask to be repaid. the point is you have to ask, which involves cooperation rather than entitlement. the whole process is about selecting for clientele who are willing to recognize that they have some obligations as a customer to work with the model on an individual level if they want to maximize its effectiveness on a group level. its just the same group psychology behind coupon clipping in a different disguise.
    - dylan604 4y ago
      A) I don't own a car B) If I owned a car, I'd have a toll tag, and we haven't used change for tolls in close to 2 decades.
hakfoo 4y ago
I'm intrigued on the math for things like gravity-feed dispensers. I've only seen them for a few canned items in my local markets. I'd expect they consume a fair bit of stocking labour to feed the cans in one at a time, and possibly dealing with malfunctions or breakage, compared with "pull the front off the crate and slide it onto the shelf"

eropple 4y ago

> Coin for grocery cart wastes time messing around to get a quarter & lock driving away customer volume that more than pays for a young adult to push carts back. This is a claim. Is there evidence? Especially at a reasonable wage for a human being (which is not federal minimum)? > Leaving the items in the container wastes shelf space & time by disallowing spring loaded or gravity dispensers Shelf space: Aldi seems to do a pretty good job of keeping everything they want to put out fronted. As for spring or gravity dispensers, I can go look around a different supermarket and the only place I see gravity dispensers is in some (not all) drink coolers and some (not all) spices. If they showed efficiency bonuses, I'd suspect that we'd see them more. > lacks self service kiosks & usually have 1 lane open No self-service? Sure. One lane open? Not where I am. There's usually multiple open and even when there are, with three carts in line, they call another cashier.

downvotetruth 4y ago
evidence? have fun messing with lock this winter
- raydiatian 4y ago
  GP is right imo. You can literally just walk straight into Aldi and ask for a quarter if you forgot one. They’ll give you one. Takes 2 seconds. Alternatively, as illustration not an accusation, If you’re walking around grocery store fuming about the time you lost thumbing a quarter into a shopping cart, that’s a personal problem.
  - ChainOfFools 4y ago
    exactly. it's not about the 25 cents, it's about cultivating a customer base of prosocial people who aren't habituated to anger at petty inconveniences.
- Ndymium 4y ago
  The coin/token lock is used in all stores in Finland, I've never had a problem with it in winter. Sometimes I'm in the store without a token (I never have coins) but there's usually a cart unlocked already, since you can get the token out without locking the cart if you fiddle a bit.
- eropple 4y ago
  I live in Boston. I've never had a problem with it. But that isn't related to what you actually said. Do you have any evidence that the amount of customer discouragement pays for an employee?
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - downvotetruth 4y ago
    Store (% of $spent) (# store) % of $spent/ # store Dollar Tree 0.8 7900 0.000101265822785 Dollar General 1.5 10000 0.00015 Aldi 2.3 2200 0.001045454545455 Target 2.4 1900 0.001263157894737 Trader Joe’s 1 600 0.001666666666667 Ahold Delhaize 4.3 2000 0.00215 Whole Foods 1.1 500 0.0022 Publix 3.7 1300 0.002846153846154 Walmart 18 4700 0.003829787234043 BJ’s 0.8 200 0.004 Sam’s Club 3.6 600 0.006 Kroger 8.8 1400 0.006285714285714 H-E-B 1.9 300 0.006333333333333 Costco 6.4 600 0.010666666666667 Albertsons 4.7 400 0.01175 Amazon.com 1.3 0 #DIV/0! https://www.factoftheday1.com/p/march-21-top-us-grocers-by-s https://www.factoftheday1.com/p/march-21-top-us-grocers-by-s... More upscale -> Better margins allowing for not only more employees, but also better overall employee benefits marginal that they are.

ChainOfFools 4y ago

> Coin for grocery cart wastes time messing around to get a quarter & lock driving away customer driving away exactly the sort of customer Aldi doesn't want to deal with. this policy isn't for cart pusher wage savings, it's a soft filter to screen out a whole class of people who get disproportionately angry with minor inconveniences.

dylan604 4y ago
i've never been to an Aldi, so i have no experience here. i can't remember the last time that i carried change in my pockets leaving the house. i only have change on my for as long as it takes me to get home from receiving said change to put it away in the "someday i'll cash this in jar". walking up to an Aldi to see this as a first time customer would definitely sour me. it's not like a laundromat where you know well in advance you are better off showing up with change rather than expecting the change machine to be in working order.
- Eisenstein 4y ago
  You don't keep change in your car? What if you have to go through an unexpected toll? Or is that not a thing anymore (I haven't driven in a long time)?
  - ChainOfFools 4y ago
    you don't even need to keep change. aldi will spot you the quarter and never ask to be repaid. the point is you have to ask, which involves cooperation rather than entitlement. the whole process is about selecting for clientele who are willing to recognize that they have some obligations as a customer to work with the model on an individual level if they want to maximize its effectiveness on a group level. its just the same group psychology behind coupon clipping in a different disguise.
  - dylan604 4y ago
    A) I don't own a car B) If I owned a car, I'd have a toll tag, and we haven't used change for tolls in close to 2 decades.

hakfoo 4y ago

I'm intrigued on the math for things like gravity-feed dispensers. I've only seen them for a few canned items in my local markets. I'd expect they consume a fair bit of stocking labour to feed the cans in one at a time, and possibly dealing with malfunctions or breakage, compared with "pull the front off the crate and slide it onto the shelf"