The overall Aldi experience

njm123

Pollycat said:

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?

Popping items back in the basket is not an option in my local Aldi as the checkout operators don't allow baskets through the checkout - they must be left in the stack at the start of the belt.   So anyone with a basket has to pack at the checkout.

Pollycat

njm123 said:

Pollycat said:

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?

Popping items back in the basket is not an option in my local Aldi as the checkout operators don't allow baskets through the checkout - they must be left in the stack at the start of the belt.   So anyone with a basket has to pack at the checkout.

I put my basket upside down on the belt at the front of my items and pick it up so it's clear that I'm not hiding anything underneath it.

It's clear that the basket is empty (which I guess is the reason why it's maybe not policy to allow baskets through to the other side of the tills).

Maybe my store has a different policy or maybe the way I do it means it's clear I'm not trying to steal anything and the till operators let it go.

If I wasn't allowed to take my basket through, I would have no option but to stand and pack my items away before paying as I would have nowhere else to put them.

od244051

It's the mixed cases for me that annoy me in Aldi. Many lines with mixed cases, there is one flavour/variety that always gets sold out and leaving loads of the least popular on the shelf. When scanning the items from mixed cases, the receipt says all the varieties of the case or a generic name "savoury crackers". I have bought two different flavours etc from the same case and they have the same SKU (the number) and description. on the receipt.

The store and head office have no clue in which ones are being sold. 

njm123

The not allowing the basket through in mine is to stop the baskets being stolen rather than any goods.  They've had a number of customers who packed the groceries in the basket at the till, paid and then walked out of the store and put the basket in the car boot and driven off, rather than bother using a bag and packing/unpacking it. 

Cornucopia

I never have any problems at the tills at Aldi - in fact they are probably the chattiest cashiers of all the supermarkets I go to (local Lidl, they are quite sullen in comparison).

I pack my things into boxes in my trolley (the boxes are free from Lidl & Aldi - I just take empty ones from the shop floor).   Never had any problems with that, but I pack nearly as fast as they scan.  

renegadefm

Nick_C said:

That post says more about your parenting skills than it does about Aldi!

Not sure what you mean. Our Aldi isnt near anywhere I could quickly nip our daughter, and very often when we're out taking my mum shopping there nine time's out of ten my daughter asks to go toilet, so I have to ask a member of staff to use their staff toilets, which they do rather than see a child wee herself, but I could tell its with reluctance. 
What annoys me is its customers that keeps Aldi alive, or indeed any business,  so I dont find it out of the way to provide toilets. 
Our local Lidls has customer toilets but they keep costs down. I just dont get what problem Aldi has. 

renegadefm

Pollycat said

Of course it's a sign they want customers in and out quickly.

Why would anyone want to 'linger long' in a supermarket?

It's not an amusement park or a zoo.

Trust me I cant stand shopping or supermarkets,  I dont want to be in them longer than I got to. 
But like I explained,  me and my partner takes my mum there each week,  and she's 86 and goes around very slowly, by which time my daughter who is only 4, very often asks to use the toilet. So we have no option but to ask to use the staff toilets. I dont see what else we can do. We dont want her to wet herself. I just find the whole Aldi experience rushed,  especially at the check outs. You simply cant rush the elderly,  and customers are spending their money at the end of the day and there should be more empathy towards them. 
Having toilets or not shouldn't affect overall shopping costs anyway. They still make their fat profits each year. 

Pollycat

njm123 said:

The not allowing the basket through in mine is to stop the baskets being stolen rather than any goods.  They've had a number of customers who packed the groceries in the basket at the till, paid and then walked out of the store and put the basket in the car boot and driven off, rather than bother using a bag and packing/unpacking it. 

So almost certainly a store policy rather than company policy.

Pollycat

renegadefm said:

Pollycat said

Of course it's a sign they want customers in and out quickly.

Why would anyone want to 'linger long' in a supermarket?

It's not an amusement park or a zoo.

Trust me I cant stand shopping or supermarkets,  I dont want to be in them longer than I got to. 
But like I explained,  me and my partner takes my mum there each week,  and she's 86 and goes around very slowly, by which time my daughter who is only 4, very often asks to use the toilet. So we have no option but to ask to use the staff toilets. I dont see what else we can do. We dont want her to wet herself. I just find the whole Aldi experience rushed,  especially at the check outs. You simply cant rush the elderly,  and customers are spending their money at the end of the day and there should be more empathy towards them. 
Having toilets or not shouldn't affect overall shopping costs anyway. They still make their fat profits each year. 

Why can't one of you stay home with the 4 year old whilst the other one takes your Mum shopping?
It shouldn't be a family outing.
You do not have a divine right to have access to a toilet in any store.
Shops are there to sell goods to customers and make a profit.
I think you are over-estimating your importance.

renegadefm

njm123 said:

The not allowing the basket through in mine is to stop the baskets being stolen rather than any goods.  They've had a number of customers who packed the groceries in the basket at the till, paid and then walked out of the store and put the basket in the car boot and driven off, rather than bother using a bag and packing/unpacking it. 

Thats just crazy,  I cant believe the nerve of some people, why would you steal an Aldi basket, its not like you can use it for anything else. But then I suppose Aldi's way of not allowing customers to pack as each item is scanned creates this situation.
If you compare to Asda,  they even offer to help you pack, not that we need to,  but the difference of the 2 experiences are shocking really.