Aldi, the German discounter

[charles]

The stores I use have a conveyor belt which will take the contents of two trolleys.

No, you place the basket in the pile at the end of the belt.

[charles]

You bring your own bags

[Huge]

Precisely.

[pamela]

My sister sees it the same way too and, as she worked in retail marketing, is full of advice to the checkout operator on how to have happier customers.

I explain to her Lidl and Aldi are not a social service but commercial organisations and if you don't like the way they organise things then shop somewhere else.

[whisky-dave]

How does that help ?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

You put everything back in the trolley and pack at the car. If they are too fast for you to keep up.

Which is why I like self service. Don't get stuck in a queue of those with all the time in the world.

[pamela]

Not only are barcode scanners better but the scales at the self- service are impressively accurate.

At our local Lidl the scales can detect the weight of a plastic carrier bag even when loaded up with many kilos of goods.

[John Rumm]

I just load stuff on to the conveyor in the order I want it packed - so frozen first, fridge next, etc - that way I can just fill bags in real time at the other end.

[stuart noble]

Fact is, Aldi/Lidl have got more things right than the other supermarkets. Bigger isn't better, and both staff and customers benefit from the smaller scale. They pay well too, and it shows.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Some might also choose to shop elsewhere when held up by the person in front packing things oh so carefully before even thinking about how they're going to pay.

[Tim Streater]

In the US of A, the checkout ops do the packing too. And it's still quite quick because they whizz stuff through the scanners at a much higher rate than here.

[Max Demian]

More likely Government threatening behaviour towards stores - hence the "check 25" policy where staff are supposed to check anyone not obviously well over the legal age - and, if you have kids with you, assume you may give booze to them.

[Max Demian]

Many years ago Asda had a system where the checkouts had no conveyors or packing area - the operator just took the items out of one trolley, put the price into the machine - no bar codes then I think - and put the item into another trolley waiting, and you wheeled that one away. Your old trolley was turned around for the next customer.

I don't know why they abandoned such a simple system.

[Max Demian]

"And did those feet in ancient time..."

(I wonder how many people know why Blake's famous poem appears to begin with "and"?)

[Max Demian]

I expect they squash the tomatoes and sliced bread that you want to put in the freezer.

Have they discovered carrier bags with handles yet?

[critcher]

why would you want to do checkout staff work without being paid.

[Tim Streater]

Well they could, but a normal person would whinge at that point.

Not the last time I was shopping there. But that was 25 years ago.

[whisky-dave]

If I run out of real time I use artificial time, you can buy it in tins that can be resealed to keep it fresh ;-)

[Harry Bloomfield]

Huge was thinking very hard :

It works rather well, the checkouts become busy, they put more tills on. As it quietens, staff are diverted to topping shelves up. All staff wear a communication system so can quickly help each other out. I find them usually quicker than Tesco/ASDA/Sainsbury etc..

[Harry Bloomfield]

Andy Burns pretended :

Untrue, though I have never tried decaff. I like a good coffee and bulk buy at Aldi as I have done for many years.