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Aldi's Barcode Strategy

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Re: Aldi's Barcode Strategy

#191

Post by eru »

carlob wrote: post #189
zAy0LfpBZLC8mAC wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I wonder if there is some information theory paper to be written here. On one hand you want the most common products sold to have low Komogorov complexity codes (111, 123, 147, …). Then there is the question of the distance between similar products and similar codes: is it better to have similarly priced products have similar codes, so that errors don't amount to much in the final tally, or to space out similar goods…

Aldi Sued even just had the cashiers just memorize prices and type those instead of the indirection via three digit codes.

Re: Aldi's Barcode Strategy

#192

Post by Tepix »

mrweasel wrote: post #29
chronial wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Everyone has their own strategy of how to place items onto the line to slow down the cashier at just the right moment. I am German and and I've never heard of this ^^. You just put the items on the belt in the order that they should go in the bag, then you can pack very quickly.

But the area isn't big enough. It only works if the cashier wait for you to put all your items in the belt, before start scanning. If you're still putting items on the belt when the cashier starts, the stuff will pile up on the little shelf thingy after the cash register. Now they're in the wrong order when you need to speed pack them afterwards.

I'm sure they make the area small to force the customer to pack the stuff quickly.

Re: Aldi's Barcode Strategy

#193

Post by jboles »

btgeekboy wrote: post #156
jboles wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is so true. I worked as a supermarket checkout operator at a large Australian chain of supermarkets for a few years, and the PoS systems were redone while I was there. Before were old Fujitsu machines running an old version of OS/2 with mechanical keyboards. After overhaul, Windows xp embedded machines with touch screens. The touch screens were a massive step backwards, especially when it came to punching in pro…

I've noticed this as well. I worked as a grocery store checker in college, and was consistently one of the most efficient in the store. Yet now when I use self-checkout machines I feel like I'm fighting them every step of the way. Yes, I scanned the item. Yes, I put it in the bag. No seriously, it's in the goddamn bag.

Right with you there. I got into the habit of having both hands going independently scanning items two at a time. The self-checkouts, which only allow one item to be picked up, scanned and placed in the bag at a time, are therefore infuriatingly slow.

Re: Aldi's Barcode Strategy

#195

Post by jboles »

kagamine wrote: post #186
jboles wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is so true. I worked as a supermarket checkout operator at a large Australian chain of supermarkets for a few years, and the PoS systems were redone while I was there. Before were old Fujitsu machines running an old version of OS/2 with mechanical keyboards. After overhaul, Windows xp embedded machines with touch screens. The touch screens were a massive step backwards, especially when it came to punching in pro…

The touch screens allow us (I work in backend retail) to push updates to hundreds of shops across a region without having to update those mechanical keyboards. It's a huge benefit to the industry. Before, when a new feature was added we had to send a human technician out to every one of those shops. Or get the shop managers to replace the key, or sticker the key. You can see how much easier it is to push updates over…

Makes sense. The mechanical keyboards had dedicated keys for the most common produce items, but maybe 10-20% of them were not applicable at a time due to being out of season and/or not available for some reason.

Re: Aldi's Barcode Strategy

#196

Post by eru »

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.

I can't wait for Lidl to come to Australia, too. The local incumbents are no real competition for Aldi.

Re: Aldi's Barcode Strategy

#197

Post by Slartie »

joshvm wrote: post #103
noipv4 wrote: post #3

I wonder if this system can introduce miscounting or double-counting of an item? Maybe that is why the cashier at Aldi moves through items so quickly.

Given the way that barcode scanners work, as the sibling comment points out, there is almost certainly some kind of 'debouncing' going on. The system is acquiring data fast enough that it probably has enough time to repeatedly read the code tens or even hundreds of times before you move it out of the field of view. So I'd guess it triggers on the first detection and you get a short dead time to move the product away.

This is exactly how it typically works. There's a time that needs to pass before the scanner accepts the same barcode again, and any other barcode scanned resets the lock for the previous barcode (so you could scan two different items over and over in very quick succession, but this doesn't work with just one item). The time is configurable on the scanner and typically in the 1-2 second range.

As I work in cash register software development and sometimes wanted to perform performance tests on real hardware and without mocking the scanner away I have developed a few tricks around this rescan prevention delay. One involves a wheel with different barcodes printed on the side that is attached to a battery-powered screwdriver machine. The more sophisticated one is a belt made of paper with different barcodes on it that is always being rotated around using wheels in a little machine built using LEGO Technic parts. It is pretty awesome how mind-boggingly fast those bigger laser barcode scanners can scan barcodes when they are presented to them by the LEGO scan robot :D

Re: Aldi's Barcode Strategy

#198

Post by tikumo »

I've never noticed that their products had more than one barcode. In the Netherlands the skill of fast "bleeping" is lost nowadays, stores tend to hire young girls as they are cheaper, and only if you go to the store on a weekday in the morning you will encounter an older woman, but they are not so fast as in the past.

The small checkout counter makes the difference in my opinion, fast in the cart speeds up the whole process. Lots of times i'm stunned by people who wait by the cash register to pay and let the products stack up, so the next person has to wait till they put everything back in their cart. This is not a problem with Aldi / Lidl.

The only thing that would make it faster is a cart thats lower on one side so that they can make a slide for your products..

Re: Aldi's Barcode Strategy

#199

Post by eru »

chiph wrote: post #59
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.

The stores in the US mostly have metal "Cart Corrals" where you return the cart. They send out someone to collect them every now and again. This keeps the carts away from the cars, so you don't get dents. But of course, there's always a few lazy people who just leave them all over the place, or (my favorite) launch them towards the corral and turn their back and walk away as the cart careens off-course. Aldi's system…

You can als just abandon your cart. Someone else will be happy to earn a Euro returning the cart.

Re: Aldi's Barcode Strategy

#200

Post by eru »

Cogito wrote: post #152
jschulenklopper wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spoiler alert: it will not work. The people in the cart factory attaching the chain will have tested that as well.

Spoiler spoiler alert: you can however lock two carts to each other, though it is a bit of work! I never tested more than two, but the geometry of the situation would make it moderately difficult.

You can make a long chain of a few dozen carts into a ring.
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