Aldi, the German discounter

[Brian Gaff]

I often get conjunctivitis so I'm immune to that one.

And another thing....:-) Brian

[fred]

en "discounted" goods in their stores, and they don't try and bamboozle you with BOGOF deals, loyalty cards and all that rubbish. In fact that's proba bly why they're so successful. That and applying commonsense to their strat egy.

the Lidl/Aldi style of retailing would never catch on.

But I find them very quick to open another till if a queue starts

[RJH]

Keeps you out of their shops, so job done :-)

I like their system - I seem to be in and out of their shops quicker than say Sainsburys. It's only the occasional bod insisting on packing at the till that holds things up. But that's rare.

[fred]

No . What slows down checkouts is bloody women who (a) wont look for their purse until asked to pay and (b) then spend 1/2 hour looking for that last penny in said purse.

[RJH]

snip

They had that rule when they introduced baskets. Before that they didn't have baskets - it was a trolley or nothing.

Now they let you take the baskets through, and have stacking points. At least in my local stores - does seem to vary, judging by the comments here.

It's interesting that they let many of their practices evolve - expand parking (they knocked down a brand new retail unit to create extra space), bakery, packing areas, trolley/basket types. It's not as if it's a new business model, so they seemingly shape (within fairly narrow parameters) to local circumstances.

[damduck-egg]

And while doing so find a forgotten voucher for 5p off a different brand of Coffee to the one they bought and send accompanying brat back to the aisles to swap it over, the cashier then points out the voucher has expired and the brand is more expensive and the search for some pennies starts again.

G.Harman

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Another reason for self checkout. One queue - if there is one - for all the checkouts. Reducing the chances of getting stuck behind one of those.

Now if there was one queue for all the manned checkouts, it would remove the gamble of getting stuck behind Huge.

[critcher]

I read in the papers that £2.5 billion P.A lost on self check outs.

[critcher]

Dennis makes a lot of valid points, it's just others dont agree with him all the time.

[critcher]

Hardly DIY is it, why don't the supermarkets give a small discount to customers who do it themselves?

[Huge]

Ummm, no. dennis makes the very occasional good point. 99% of what he posts is garbage. Certainly not worth wading through for the occasional pearl.

[Huge]

Which is one of the reasons I generally won't use self-service checkouts.

[RJH]

I think there has to be 'reason to suspect' if you're stopped for shoplifting? I'd think there's some other 'audit' type excuse they're told to give.

[whisky-dave]

well if you scan it yourself (SIY)

I said that to the assistant manager in sainsbury when he asked me if I'd l ike to use the self service tills and I said no thanks. I said if they want me to use those tills it has to have some advantage to me, why don't 'you' offer a few extra nectar points for using the self checkouts.

[T i m]

That's actually a good idea. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[Dave Plowman (News)]

If I want service in a shop, I'd use a local small one. Whole idea of a supermarket is you largely DIY the thing. If you really want 'service', have them deliver? The reason I use a supermarket is the notion I'm getting the best price rather than fawned upon by lackeys.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

With most of those round here, you have the option of queueing up for a checkout, or sailing straight through self service (I hardly ever shop at busy times). I value time wasted in queueing more than putting one over on the supermarket coffers.

[critcher]

I remember those wire baskets being converted to hanging baskets full of flowers

[critcher]

you are also doing their work for them and not getting paid for it.

[critcher]

I dont think I post enough to have to "wade" through it.