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

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

#631

Post by aij »

deathanatos wrote: post #306
wahern wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In California you run the cart up a curb, leave it in an empty parking space, or maybe give it a gentle push and let it roam free. Corrals are depots for broken and rusted carts.

… /s. I really hate trying to turn into a spot that's flanked by two SUVs only to find a cart in the way. People are incredibly lazy. I love the ALDI's quarter scheme… it's just enough of a nudge to get people to do the decent thing.

It's been a quarter for at least the last 18 years. You'd think with all the inflation that's happened over the years they'd have to increase the deposit at some point.

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

#632

Post by beatgammit »

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.

As others have said, in the US you leave it in the parking lot, hopefully in a cart return thing.

Honestly, having to put a coin in to get a cart would mean I would likely never get a cart. I never pay with cash, and thus I never have coins with me, so I would be limited to whatever I could carry. This is obviously bad for business, so I think businesses just eat the cost of having an employee round up the carts.

Then again, I hate seeing carts everywhere, and sometimes find myself returning a few because they're such a nuisance. If this solves the problem, I might consider leaving a coin in my wallet to shop at Aldi instead of my cart-ridden local grocery store.

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

#633

Post by beatgammit »

freeflight wrote: post #318
orthoxerox wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TIL you can call American stores. Why do people do that?

To ask if they have something specific you are looking for without you having to physically get there and check yourself? With products that are in high demand, you can even get stuff reserved. I'm not even American, and I've done both of these.

And for some reason, stores rarely have an online system for checking inventory. I really don't understand that, because it's literally the main reason I go to a given store, and it's already digitized so it wouldn't cost them much.

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

#634

Post by beatgammit »

ddebernardy wrote: post #418
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…

You forgot another important bit: the pickup area after their conveyor belt is one of the shortest out there, which forces customers to pack in a hurry so as to keep up with how fast the cashier is going. Speaking for myself, it's the part that annoys me most when I shop at one. I get why they designed their POS it, but it's just obnoxious for the elderly and for parents with by small children. It would seem simple e…

I don't have Aldi where I live, but we do have a place called WinCo. At WinCo, there are two conveyer belts after the cashier, and the cashier switches which conveyer belt to use by switching a gate. So, once you pay, you go over to your conveyer belt and bag up your purchase, and the stuff from the next customer goes to the other side.

It works pretty well and I actually prefer to reload myself, as opposed to other stores that have someone there to bag for you.

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

#635

Post by beatgammit »

Scoundreller wrote: post #231
microcolonel wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My thought is that, although much of this is common sense, retailers have largely lost the will to live. They waste a lot of money on typical corporate money pits, but tend not to try improving the retail business itself. From what I gather in what people say, having only been to one Aldi before (so I don't really have enough experience to say much); I think Aldi has bucked the trend, and is trying to do a good job ,…

The coin thing is psychological. If you want to avoid carrying bags by hand, melt it for scrap, push your friends around, or get to your car 2 minutes faster, foregoing a quarter is great value. Unfortunately for them/me, if I’m coming by chance by bicycle, I usually don’t have a coin and reduce my shopping to the necessities without a cart. When you feel the weight of each item, you think more about every item you b…

I don't have a coin ever because I never use cash. Requiring a coin deposit would just discourage me from getting a cart most days. If I regularly shopped there, maybe I'd consider putting one in my wallet or something to guarantee I have one, but I'd have to be sold on the place first.

Requiring a coin is a hardship, especially in a plastic-oriented culture.

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

#636

Post by Doxin »

Cyph0n wrote: post #140
osrec wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

They aren’t free if you don’t have a quarter on hand.

Just about any store around here that uses the coin system also hands out free "cart coins" if you ask the service desk.

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

#637

Post by Doxin »

blotter_paper wrote: post #473
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 Years ago when I read the bit in Freakonomics about the daycare that instituted an additional charge for picking kids up late to discourage the practice but found that the rate of late pickups increased instead because parents felt like they were paying for the service of extra daycare thus alleviating the guilt, I immediately thought…

Even if someone leaves their cart around, someone else is bound to drag it along if they are gonna pass the cart corral anyways: it's free money.

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

#638

Post by Doxin »

beatgammit wrote: post #635
Scoundreller wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The coin thing is psychological. If you want to avoid carrying bags by hand, melt it for scrap, push your friends around, or get to your car 2 minutes faster, foregoing a quarter is great value. Unfortunately for them/me, if I’m coming by chance by bicycle, I usually don’t have a coin and reduce my shopping to the necessities without a cart. When you feel the weight of each item, you think more about every item you b…

I don't have a coin ever because I never use cash. Requiring a coin deposit would just discourage me from getting a cart most days. If I regularly shopped there, maybe I'd consider putting one in my wallet or something to guarantee I have one, but I'd have to be sold on the place first. Requiring a coin is a hardship, especially in a plastic-oriented culture.

If you go ask at the service desk they tend to give out special branded cart-coins for free, they come with a little quick disconnect hook for on your keychain.[0] It's still cheaper for the stores to do that than to hire a specific person to gather carts.

[0] https://www.jmpromotions.nl/images/winkelwagen-muntjes/plast...

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

#639

Post by Doxin »

froindt wrote: post #396
usaphp wrote: post #336

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 Scan speed is never a bottleneck of a checkout process. Packing and payment are. They might be saving millisecond on scan time, but the paper and printing of a label cost money too. Not sure if it’s the best sho…

> It also makes people not want to go there if they don’t have spare change. Aldi doesn't have a membership fee, but it has a culture and following akin to Costco or Trader Joe's. It works for some people, but not for others. The barrier to entry isn't that big, it's just a bit different. >Scan speed is never a bottleneck of a checkout process. Packing and payment are. They might be saving millisecond on scan time, b…

On the topic of printing receipts: the cheapest models of receipt printers are capable of spitting out half a foot of receipt every second, so even if you did wait until after scanning to print the receipt it'll hardly take more time than it takes customers to pick up their stuff anyways.

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

#640

Post by Doxin »

aembleton wrote: post #608
mattlondon wrote: post #471

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a European sports store called decathlon that uses RFID. Put a tennis racket, running shoes, football, horse bridle, socks, ski goggles, bike tyre etc (they sell everything you can think of) in your basket, go to the till, place the basket in a blue outline at the till and it reads everything in your basket immediately. No scanning! I was really impressed. I did some prototyping with RFID a few years back an…

It's also great for returns. Their backpacks have 10 year warranties. When I returned one, they were able scan the RFID to get all the details up and refund me.

Their backpacks are also silly cheap for the quality you get.
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