Aldi, a brutally efficient grocery chain, is upending America's supermarkets • Hacker News Board

Re: Aldi, a brutally efficient grocery chain, is upending America's supermarkets

#101

Post by hobofan » Fri, May 17, 2019, 9:13 PM UTC

froindt wrote: post #96

I'm an industrial engineer and geek out about Aldi frequently. Here are a few things I've noticed (and researched) which differentiate them from others. -they have barcode on 5 or 6 sides of their products, and they're typically huge! They nearly never need to orient a product to scan it. Their scan speed is far faster than any other supermarket I've been at. -if two products are very similar, they'll change the pack…

> depositing a quarter for a cart eliminates the need to pay people to collect carts

What's the alternative? Growing up in Germany I've literally never seen it any other way.

Re: Aldi, a brutally efficient grocery chain, is upending America's supermarkets

#102

Post by usr1106 » Fri, May 17, 2019, 9:16 PM UTC

Ah, the Americans have not forced Aldi on their knees and have them change the checkouts.

Finland used to have a oligopoly of pretty expensive grocery chains and no price competition. Until Lidl (another German chain very similar to the Aldis) entered some 16 years ago and started real price competition. Of course with their efficient checkouts.

The first years Lidl didn't do so well. Then they changed the checkouts to the less efficient local models (and some other adaptations) and started doing pretty well. They just learned their lesson that in Finland you can sell the same product with a 30% premium compared to Germany and accept some inefficiency. Of course they are still a bit cheaper than the incumbants.

Finns are very proud of having defeated a multinational giant (and don't see that they have to pay for it). Like Germans have defeated Google when it comes to street view, although that price if there is any is more difficult to measure.

Re: Aldi, a brutally efficient grocery chain, is upending America's supermarkets

#103

Post by antnisp » Fri, May 17, 2019, 9:16 PM UTC

froindt wrote: post #96

I'm an industrial engineer and geek out about Aldi frequently. Here are a few things I've noticed (and researched) which differentiate them from others. -they have barcode on 5 or 6 sides of their products, and they're typically huge! They nearly never need to orient a product to scan it. Their scan speed is far faster than any other supermarket I've been at. -if two products are very similar, they'll change the pack…

What's so weird is that all those sound rudimentary rather than innovative to my european ears.

Re: Aldi, a brutally efficient grocery chain, is upending America's supermarkets

#104

Post by [deleted] » Fri, May 17, 2019, 9:17 PM UTC

froindt wrote: post #96

I'm an industrial engineer and geek out about Aldi frequently. Here are a few things I've noticed (and researched) which differentiate them from others. -they have barcode on 5 or 6 sides of their products, and they're typically huge! They nearly never need to orient a product to scan it. Their scan speed is far faster than any other supermarket I've been at. -if two products are very similar, they'll change the pack…

[deleted]

Re: Aldi, a brutally efficient grocery chain, is upending America's supermarkets

#105

Post by PorterDuff » Fri, May 17, 2019, 9:18 PM UTC

froindt wrote: post #96

I'm an industrial engineer and geek out about Aldi frequently. Here are a few things I've noticed (and researched) which differentiate them from others. -they have barcode on 5 or 6 sides of their products, and they're typically huge! They nearly never need to orient a product to scan it. Their scan speed is far faster than any other supermarket I've been at. -if two products are very similar, they'll change the pack…

Do they have scales?

One thing I've admired about Grocery Outlet is the lack of them.

Re: Aldi, a brutally efficient grocery chain, is upending America's supermarkets

#106

Post by Youden » Fri, May 17, 2019, 9:18 PM UTC

hobofan wrote: post #101

froindt wrote: post #96

I'm an industrial engineer and geek out about Aldi frequently. Here are a few things I've noticed (and researched) which differentiate them from others. -they have barcode on 5 or 6 sides of their products, and they're typically huge! They nearly never need to orient a product to scan it. Their scan speed is far faster than any other supermarket I've been at. -if two products are very similar, they'll change the pack…

> depositing a quarter for a cart eliminates the need to pay people to collect carts What's the alternative? Growing up in Germany I've literally never seen it any other way.

Usually there are return bays spread throughout the carpark where you can theoretically return trolleys/carts and they'll be taken back en-masse by a store employee later.

Often this results in them being left all over the place or stolen though.

Re: Aldi, a brutally efficient grocery chain, is upending America's supermarkets

#107

Post by xvedejas » Fri, May 17, 2019, 9:18 PM UTC

hobofan wrote: post #101

froindt wrote: post #96

I'm an industrial engineer and geek out about Aldi frequently. Here are a few things I've noticed (and researched) which differentiate them from others. -they have barcode on 5 or 6 sides of their products, and they're typically huge! They nearly never need to orient a product to scan it. Their scan speed is far faster than any other supermarket I've been at. -if two products are very similar, they'll change the pack…

> depositing a quarter for a cart eliminates the need to pay people to collect carts What's the alternative? Growing up in Germany I've literally never seen it any other way.

In the US I have never had to deposit any money to use a cart. I'm not sure how that would even work, is it some automated machine that spits out a cart?

Re: Aldi, a brutally efficient grocery chain, is upending America's supermarkets

#108

Post by TallGuyShort » Fri, May 17, 2019, 9:18 PM UTC

hobofan wrote: post #101

froindt wrote: post #96

I'm an industrial engineer and geek out about Aldi frequently. Here are a few things I've noticed (and researched) which differentiate them from others. -they have barcode on 5 or 6 sides of their products, and they're typically huge! They nearly never need to orient a product to scan it. Their scan speed is far faster than any other supermarket I've been at. -if two products are very similar, they'll change the pack…

> depositing a quarter for a cart eliminates the need to pay people to collect carts What's the alternative? Growing up in Germany I've literally never seen it any other way.

There are a few corrals throughout the parking lot where customers are expected to deposit their carts. The store then has someone who goes around from time to time to retrieve a row of them and push it back to the front of the store. It's often a job given to somebody mentally handicapped who can't do a lot of other things at the store.

Re: Aldi, a brutally efficient grocery chain, is upending America's supermarkets

#109

Post by [deleted] » Fri, May 17, 2019, 9:19 PM UTC

hobofan wrote: post #101

froindt wrote: post #96

I'm an industrial engineer and geek out about Aldi frequently. Here are a few things I've noticed (and researched) which differentiate them from others. -they have barcode on 5 or 6 sides of their products, and they're typically huge! They nearly never need to orient a product to scan it. Their scan speed is far faster than any other supermarket I've been at. -if two products are very similar, they'll change the pack…

> depositing a quarter for a cart eliminates the need to pay people to collect carts What's the alternative? Growing up in Germany I've literally never seen it any other way.

[deleted]

Re: Aldi, a brutally efficient grocery chain, is upending America's supermarkets

#110

Post by someemptyspace » Fri, May 17, 2019, 9:19 PM UTC

hobofan wrote: post #101

froindt wrote: post #96

I'm an industrial engineer and geek out about Aldi frequently. Here are a few things I've noticed (and researched) which differentiate them from others. -they have barcode on 5 or 6 sides of their products, and they're typically huge! They nearly never need to orient a product to scan it. Their scan speed is far faster than any other supermarket I've been at. -if two products are very similar, they'll change the pack…

> depositing a quarter for a cart eliminates the need to pay people to collect carts What's the alternative? Growing up in Germany I've literally never seen it any other way.

In the United States carts are free. You collect a cart at the entrance to the store, and return the cart to a cart corral in the parking lot next to your car. Then a worker from the store periodically goes out to the corral to collect the carts and return them to the store entrance.