At least in the part of the US I live in, Aldi is just a much better place to shop then Walmart and the other grocery stores. I can just unlock my cart (which are never just hanging out in the parking lot), grab the food I need (which is always in the same location), check out, bag my food in my reusable bags (which Aldi pretty heavily pushes), and be done with it. The only store that comes close is the Walmart Neighborhood Market but that still isn't as cheap and nice as Aldi is.
Aldi, a brutally efficient grocery chain, is upending America's supermarkets
111–120 of 653 posts
Re: Aldi, a brutally efficient grocery chain, is upending America's supermarkets
#112Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 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?
It's similar to the "SmartECart" luggage cart kiosks you may have seen at airports. Sliding a cart in locks it in place on a set of rails, depositing the money releases a mechanical catch on the end, allowing you to pull one cart out.
Re: Aldi, a brutally efficient grocery chain, is upending America's supermarkets
#113I'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 most supermarkets in the US you just leave your cart in the parking lot after you load up your trunk. They have people who then come and collect the carts.
Re: Aldi, a brutally efficient grocery chain, is upending America's supermarkets
#114I'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…
> -they combine varieties (like flavors of granola bars) of product in the same box. This greatly reduces the shelf space required.
This is the only thing that fails about Aldi. Let's say you want their Chicken Tikka sauce. The mixed boxes mean good chance you won't see it as Tikka always goes first. You go through the whole 6 boxes of inventory, and yep, all sold - the three spaces in every box. Same for pizza - one always goes first. They don't restock until there's space for another combined box.
Re: Aldi, a brutally efficient grocery chain, is upending America's supermarkets
#115Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 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?
You insert a coin into a slot in the cart, and a chained key releases the cart from the next cart it's chained to. When you want your coin back, you return it to the line of carts, stack it and then insert the key from the next cart into yours. Your coin is released and the store doesn't have to pay someone to collect them.
Re: Aldi, a brutally efficient grocery chain, is upending America's supermarkets
#116Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 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?
They are linked by chains: every cart has a coin-operated lock accepting a chain and a chain for the next cart to connect.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b1/Pf...
Put a coin in the drawer and close it, the chain of the next cart pops out the back and you can take it. On return, you push the chain back in, the drawer pops open and you get your coin back.
Store employees just occasionally balance cart numbers between the corrals, if there's multiple.
Re: Aldi, a brutally efficient grocery chain, is upending America's supermarkets
#117I'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.
People leave there carts in the lots and workers collect them
Re: Aldi, a brutally efficient grocery chain, is upending America's supermarkets
#118Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 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.
Carts are free at Aldi too. You just put a coin in to release a cart, and when you return your cart, you get your coin back.
Re: Aldi, a brutally efficient grocery chain, is upending America's supermarkets
#119Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 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?
Theres a coin activated mechanical lock on each cart, carts are stacked and chained together by these locks.
To get one, you insert a coin (or a plastic token - these are usually given away as freebies by many companies if not the stores themselves) and that unlocks the chain.
It's not about the money, no one earns anything from this. It's about putting something that you own (can be worthless, the emotion counts) in the cart which you can only possibly get back if you return the cart to any number of bays on the parking lot or next to the entrance.
Re: Aldi, a brutally efficient grocery chain, is upending America's supermarkets
#120I'm not surprised by the success, I am a bit by the praise for quality. I find Aldi has good quality....for the price, and their prices are pretty low....Aside from a handful of items I know are usually good at Aldi I find lots of items that the quality matches the low price.
I shop there for a few things but especially when I'm cooking I avoid Aldi and it seems like when I try something new it is pretty bleh. Pretzels that are basically dust with shape, etc.
I feel like the odd man out not being an Aldi fan but I suspect that has something to do with cooking.