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Aldi's Barcode Strategy

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Re: Aldi's Barcode Strategy

#161

Post by StudyAnimal »

nommm-nommm wrote: post #139
wirrbel wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a german in the US, I suddenly felt as if I had a OCD about the way to bag stuff. Store employees were more or less dumping things kind of randomly in bags without sorting by weight and by robustnes of the product. On the other hand declinining help with bagging seemed to be kind of unusual. Other differences I noticed: Time at checkouts was at least 2-3 times longer than in Germany, even at the better german supe…

>Germany I never encountered cashiers to comment on the goods I bought (I don't mind much, but it still felt a bit like an intrusion in privacy. I once bought a glass of Ghee - a common ingredient in southern german cuisine - and the cashier went on and on about how unusual it was that a white guy would buy it) In the US service employees are required to be fake "friendly." This was an attempt at that. I hate it myse…

Its not really. Most people would get it from the "asian shop", but many "German" supermarkets have a small shelf for "international" stuff like asian noodles, taco shells and russian stuff.

Re: Aldi's Barcode Strategy

#162

Post by rsync »

zAy0LfpBZLC8mAC wrote: post #145
mdip wrote: post #101

I've been an Aldi fan for more than a decade, buying almost all of my family's groceries there (four kids, it's cheap and doesn't require figuring out what is really on sale this week vs. what is really over-priced this week, or messing with Coupons). The quality of most of their products meets or exceeds that of the name brands[1] except in a few circumstances (their equivalents to Cheerios and Frosted Mini Wheats a…

What the article doesn't mention: Aldi optimizing the speed of their cashiers is nothing new. The northern Aldi ("Aldi Nord") for a long time had three-digit article codes for every product that cashiers had to know by heart--which also meant that they couldn't have more than 1000 different products. In fact, that system was so efficient that they completely switched to bardcodes only in 2002 as they didn't see any a…

"What the article doesn't mention: Aldi optimizing the speed of their cashiers is nothing new. The northern Aldi ("Aldi Nord") for a long time had three-digit article codes for every product that cashiers had to know by heart--which also meant that they couldn't have more than 1000 different products. In fact, that system was so efficient that they completely switched to bardcodes only in 2002 as they didn't see any advantage before that."

Hmmm ... so you could populate an Oh By Code[1] with your list of grocery codes and just give them that single code, which they could look up and parse ...

Well, provided your grocery list was not longer than 4096 characters...

[1] http://0x.co

Re: Aldi's Barcode Strategy

#163

Post by StudyAnimal »

DanBC wrote: post #151
inanutshellus wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's an Aldi customer's incentive to do this? Is the cashier going to throw your groceries on the floor if you don't keep up? If not... why not take your time and bag your groceries safely?

> What's an Aldi customer's incentive to do this? Social pressure. You've just waited in a queue, and there are people behind you in that queue.

Really, wow I never felt that. I always put them in my bag at the natural speed. The only social pressure I felt was when paying before finishing packing. This lead to the next persons groceries being mixed in with mine and accidentally packing their stuff etc. Now I take my time and finish packing before paying to avoid this issue and it is all good.

Re: Aldi's Barcode Strategy

#164

Post by StudyAnimal »

s_dev wrote: post #38
dandermotj wrote: post #20

Aldi and Lidl are blasting through other super market chains with their low cost, high quality goods. If there were ever perfect case studies for usurping incumbents in a sharply competitive market Aldi and Lidl are it.

They also get rid of a lot of "frills" that other grocery stores are accustomed to performing that add to cost e.g. items are still in their transport cardboard boxes on the shelves so employees spend less time stocking shelves, they allow people to take these cardboard boxes home instead of shopping bags and this reduces waste cost. They dramatically reduce their range which cuts inventory storage. You'll never seem…

I come from a country where there are always plenty of open cashiers and no lines. If I saw a queue there I would leave and not go shopping because its either overloaded or some system was down. When I first came to Germany I kept seeing the queue and thinking "oh, I will come back later when it isn't so busy". But I have noticed the reverse occurs too. If there is an idle cashier no one goes to them. They assume, due to the absence of the queue that it isn't open yet or something, so they head straight for the queue.

Re: Aldi's Barcode Strategy

#165

Post by nathancahill »

StudyAnimal wrote: post #164
s_dev wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They also get rid of a lot of "frills" that other grocery stores are accustomed to performing that add to cost e.g. items are still in their transport cardboard boxes on the shelves so employees spend less time stocking shelves, they allow people to take these cardboard boxes home instead of shopping bags and this reduces waste cost. They dramatically reduce their range which cuts inventory storage. You'll never seem…

I come from a country where there are always plenty of open cashiers and no lines. If I saw a queue there I would leave and not go shopping because its either overloaded or some system was down. When I first came to Germany I kept seeing the queue and thinking "oh, I will come back later when it isn't so busy". But I have noticed the reverse occurs too. If there is an idle cashier no one goes to them. They assume, du…

Noticed that too. So classically german.

Re: Aldi's Barcode Strategy

#166

Post by ry_ry »

jads wrote: post #93
skrebbel wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Also the shopping cards have a small chain that attaches to the cart in front of it. Wait, there are supermarkets that don't have that? How does it work? Do people just leave the shopping carts standing around on the parking lot? Not cynical, geniunely wondering how that works. Anyway, afaik virtually all supermarkets in Europe have that system. I'm pretty sure Aldi didn't invent it.

In the UK, it's not the case. Most have carts that have no such feature, though a good proportion do. From my own anecdotal experience living in less desirable areas, the use of the coin system tends to be in areas that would be more likely to have carts taken/stolen.

At a branch of downmarket discount retailers B&M recently, I asked the cashier if I could make some change for a trolley. He handed me a sardine-can key and asked if I knew how to use it.

That jimmying the coin operated locking mechanism with part of a tin of fish is considered semi-common knowledge leads me to suspect Britain's trolly theft problem is endemic!

I've also bought a tin of sardines. Just in case.

Re: Aldi's Barcode Strategy

#167

Post by Obi_Juan_Kenobi »

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #148
mdip wrote: post #101

I've been an Aldi fan for more than a decade, buying almost all of my family's groceries there (four kids, it's cheap and doesn't require figuring out what is really on sale this week vs. what is really over-priced this week, or messing with Coupons). The quality of most of their products meets or exceeds that of the name brands[1] except in a few circumstances (their equivalents to Cheerios and Frosted Mini Wheats a…

The funny thing is how POS systems in the US have regressed over the past 25 years. The IBM registers I used in the early 90s were fast and accurate while slinging packages over the scanner. Nowadays everything is laggy and needs special care to present the UPC to the machine just so. That is except for Aldi's systems.

So true it hurts. My go-to grocery recently downgraded to the CC chip customer-facing-POS. I used to be able to swipe my card ahead of time and generally be on my way within about 6 seconds of the last item being scanned. Now the system has no pre-swipe ability and far more lag. Like, the first few times I used it I messed up and hit wrong buttons because there was ~1000ms of lag. It works sorta-alright if you use the CC chip, but it's trash otherwise.

I just don't understand how that big of a fuck-up is possible; they were clearly losing money with much longer lines. Everyone complained about it, and I know I don't make quick stops anymore because it's too much hassle.

Re: Aldi's Barcode Strategy

#168

Post by kriro »

germanier wrote: post #17
skrebbel wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why?

Usually they scan items faster than you can bag them. The area after the scanner is very small and takes only few items so you have to move fast. I saw below that US Aldi cashiers put the items into a grocery cart. That doesn't happen in Germany as you are expected to do that yourself. Everyone has their own strategy of how to place items onto the line to slow down the cashier at just the right moment.

The most common strategy of most Germans I know is to simply put everything into the cart after it's scanned, move the cart towards the car and dump everything into some sort of carry box in the trunk. Carry that box (or boxes) into the house at home and put the stuff you bought wherever it is stored.

If I shop by bike I usually have a backpack that I brought for shopping open at the cashier and dump everything in it upon scan.

One time use bags are sort of faded out. There's no more free bags (I think). Makes ecological sense imo.

Re: Aldi's Barcode Strategy

#169

Post by yitchelle »

lorenzhs wrote: post #37
bluedino wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> where many pay cash and you get every cent back in change. Aldi just started accepting cards in the US a short while ago

They accept both credit (Visa and MasterCard, by far the most common in Germany) and debit (EC)in Germany. Credit was a recent addition

Aldi accepting credit cards in Germany? The 5 or 6 Aldi stores around me (around Leverkusen) are still cash or EC card only.

Re: Aldi's Barcode Strategy

#170

Post by skrause »

MasterYoda wrote: post #81
skrebbel wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why?

Have the same experience when shopping in Germany. Im very supriced how ineffective there system is, with an non excistent area after the cashier. You have to trash all stuff down fast and then pack/repack afterwords somewere else and you get stressed. The swedish system feels superior in my honest opinion. There is a big area afterword divided by a Y bar so 2 people can be served simultaneous. The 2 top Y boms are e…

> You have to trash all stuff down fast and then pack/repack afterwords somewere else and you get stressed.

1. Always have one or more foldable boxes in your car (like https://i.imgur.com/GG4FfAi.jpg). Make sure that those boxes can carry a heavy load.

2. Take one of those boxes into the store with you.

3. Load all objects onto the belt in the order in which you want to put them into the box (heaviest first).

4. Then just dump them into the box after checking as they come.

5. Finally just load the whole box into your car without repacking anything or carrying multiple bags.

I'm shopping in German supermarkets every week and I never get stressed. On those other hand I'm often annoyed by how slow things are in supermarkets in other countries.

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