The overall Aldi experience

renegadefm

Hi, 
Just like to start off by saying this isn't aimed in anyway at staff at Aldi,  its more to do with how the management run it. 
Aldi as we know keep costs down, by limiting staff on the shop floor by making them stack shelves and operate tils when queues reach a certain level,  so this becomes very annoying particularly for older folk due to the constant opening and closing of tils. 
I was in the queue the other day and a woman started to load her shopping on the conveyer belt and the til operater closed the til,  and the customer was that furious she stormed out of the shop leaving her shopping behind.
Then a different incident happened on a different occasion where a guy was trying to bag up his shopping because he only had about 7 items, but the til operater was rushing him by scanning his items through the til very quickly so the til operater can move on to the next customer quicker,  but he too got very angry by this treatment and stormed out of the shop leaving the shopping behind. Of course this backfired on the til operater because other staff had to drop what they were doing to clear away the shopping to allow the next customer to proceed.  So by now the queue was a mile long.
I know this is supposedly Aldi's way of driving down costs but surely a different tactic needs to be applied.  If your elderly its annoying to have to try and dart over to a til thats just opened.
Isnt Aldi losing customers this way? 

mr_stripey

Surely if you're elderly you have plenty of time to wait a few minutes in exchange for cheaper shopping?
I use ALDI regularly and always have  a good experience. It can be frustrating when you have to wait a little longer than you would in Tesco for example but the trade off is the saving. 
On the other hand, customers who insist on trying to pack their shopping in Aldi[at the checkout], thus holding up the queue, rather than putting it back in the trolley and using the packing shelf are annoying!

renegadefm

mr_stripey said:

Surely uf you're elderly you have plenty of time to wait a few minutes in exchange for cheaper shopping?
I use ALDI regularly and always have  a good experience. It can be frustrating when you have to wait a little longer than you would in Tesco for example but the trade off is the saving. 
On the other hand, customers who insist on trying to pack their shopping in Aldi, thus holding up the queue, rather than putting it back in the trolley and using the packing shelf are annoying!

Yeah but if you only got a few items,  7 at the most I think this guy had its a bit unfair to not allow him to try and put the items in his bag because he didnt have a trolley anyway. 
The reason I mentioned its annoying for the elderly is I take my mum shopping in Aldi every week,  but what annoys her is shes 86 and struggles to get about,  so fot example we can be in a queue thats quite long, then a til will open a few tils away, but the stampede to get to the newly opened til is too great for my mum to compete with, so we end up staying in the long queue. 
I just find the overall shopping experience can be very stressful when it comes to checking out with your shopping,  not just from my personal expetiences, but as I mentioned already, its obviously irritating other customers as I have witnessed it myself. 
I just think Aldi need to be a bit more sympathetic,  as I dont see these problems in their sister company Lidls. 

renegadefm

Plus why do they close a til when a customer as started to put their first few items on? 

maman

I've been an Aldi customer for some years and I really don't recognise your experience. I like the fact that they open extra tills as soon as there's a hint of a queue. When they plan to close, they usually tell people approaching just like any other supermarket. 
I always pack at the checkout. I've cracked how to keep up with the cashier. I stack things on the conveyor in the order I want to pack them and put them quickly into my open bags sitting ready in my trolley. It works just fine.
Alternatively I could pack at the adjacent shelf or pack into the car as many other satisfied customers do. 
We've also got plenty of staff around the store eager to leave their shelf stacking and answer questions or take me to find what I need. 
I'm a convert.

renegadefm

maman said:

I've been an Aldi customer for some years and I really don't recognise your experience. I like the fact that they open extra tills as soon as there's a hint of a queue. When they plan to close, they usually tell people approaching just like any other supermarket. 
I always pack at the checkout. I've cracked how to keep up with the cashier. I stack things on the conveyor in the order I want to pack them and put them quickly into my open bags sitting ready in my trolley. It works just fine.
Alternatively I could pack at the adjacent shelf or pack into the car as many other satisfied customers do. 
We've also got plenty of staff around the store eager to leave their shelf stacking and answer questions or take me to find what I need. 
I'm a convert.

Sounds like a different Aldi to ours. I actually witnessed a customer who started to unload their trolley and put the first few items on, and then the til women said sorry this ones closed. But she closed it after the few items we're placed on.
I just got the impression the second it goes slightly quiet the staff have to serve the last customer and get back to stacking shelves or whatever. 
Plus the fact they scan the shopping like theres a fire or something,  the customers feel rushed which isnt nice especially for older people, they cant move that fast. They hate it when the customer uses cash because the customer takes those vital few seconds more to get the right amount out their walllet or purse.  Trust me I have observed all this. But you dont get this treatment at Asda or Tesco etc. 

BooJewels

Your comments don't reflect my own experience at all. I've been shopping in Aldi stores all over Europe, long before we got them in the UK and when we did, I used to travel to one for several years before we got local stores.  So I've done a lot of shopping in them - was there about an hour ago.  And I paid cash, I don't think she was in the slightest bit bothered, as I had it ready in my hand and was no slower than if paying by card.

If the till is going to close, I've never seen them make anyone move that has already started to unload their shopping onto the till conveyor belt.  I've seen them pack shopping for older people and have asked me if I needed help when I'm on my own.  Maybe it depends on where in the country you are or even the individual ethos of the local store management, but they're not things I've ever seen for myself.  In fact, I'd say they're cheerful and obliging and I simply wouldn't continue to support them if I wasn't happy with either the quality of the goods, but the service too.

Pollycat

renegadefm said:

Plus why do they close a til when a customer as started to put their first few items on? 

They shouldn't.
And it's never happened to me.
I have had a till operator hand me a 'till closed' sign and asked me to pop it on the belt when I am the last person in the queue.
Nothing wrong with that.

Pollycat

renegadefm said:

maman said:

I've been an Aldi customer for some years and I really don't recognise your experience. I like the fact that they open extra tills as soon as there's a hint of a queue. When they plan to close, they usually tell people approaching just like any other supermarket. 
I always pack at the checkout. I've cracked how to keep up with the cashier. I stack things on the conveyor in the order I want to pack them and put them quickly into my open bags sitting ready in my trolley. It works just fine.
Alternatively I could pack at the adjacent shelf or pack into the car as many other satisfied customers do. 
We've also got plenty of staff around the store eager to leave their shelf stacking and answer questions or take me to find what I need. 
I'm a convert.

Sounds like a different Aldi to ours. I actually witnessed a customer who started to unload their trolley and put the first few items on, and then the til women said sorry this ones closed. But she closed it after the few items we're placed on.
I just got the impression the second it goes slightly quiet the staff have to serve the last customer and get back to stacking shelves or whatever. 
Plus the fact they scan the shopping like theres a fire or something,  the customers feel rushed which isnt nice especially for older people, they cant move that fast. They hate it when the customer uses cash because the customer takes those vital few seconds more to get the right amount out their walllet or purse.  Trust me I have observed all this. But you dont get this treatment at Asda or Tesco etc. 

Maybe you don't.
But you are not forced to shop at Aldi if their business model is not to your liking.
Re the guy who had 7 items and was rushed:
I shop with a 2 wheel shopper so just have a basket full.
I pack as much as I can into my trolley (arranging items on the belt so that heavy items are scanned first so go into my trolley first) and pop the rest back into the basket, pay and move away to the packing area.
How long does it take to put 7 items into a bag anyway?

Nick_C

Our local Aldi has just introduced self checkout tills, which I like as I don't feel under pressure to pack quickly.  The self check out tills are much slower than the staffed tills though (although not as slow as the one's in LIDL, which are barely fit for purpose).

Apart from that, I like Aldi. The quality is good, it's really quick to shop there, and the checkout queues are usually short.  And its cheap of course.  Although the main supermarkets are still worth visiting if you have Money Off Coupons and buy their special offers.  I'll be shopping at Tesco on Friday with a 19% discount, which makes them cheaper than Aldi for a lot of things.

renegadefm

@Pollycat
I dont have a choice whether I shop there or not because my mum likes to get her shopping there, so I have to take and help her. 
I just tend to notice all these things going on which overall makes it a stressful experience.
Maybe it is unique to my Aldi,  I dont really know. 
I do know they are also funny about letting my daughter use the toilet cause they try saying its for staff only, but reluctantly let me take my 4 year old daughter there rather than wee herself.