[OT] RUles for speed of checkout at Aldi/Lidl

[tim...]

and they don't "hurry up" the idiots who don't pack their stuff quick enough

so it's difficult to believe that they have targets

tim

[tim...]

I had someone (in Germany) take the divider from between me and the previous person's shopping to put between mine and hers.

I gave her a nasty stare and took it back

tim

>

[tim...]

as that would mean that they wouldn't actually clear the queue until an hour after the shop has closed (which IME isn't what happens), that can't actually be right, can it

tim

[Tim Watts]

Some scanners (that's you, M&S) are so bad, I remember the lady at the CoOp in Banstead in 1975 could probably have beaten them, ringing stuff into the till the old fashioned way. She was fast.

[NY]

The biggest "hurry up" would be to say "get your credit card out of your purse/wallet and have it ready to insert into the machine *as soon as you are asked for it*. I always seem to get behind someone who gets the bill and looks amazed ("oh, you mean I have to *pay* for all this?") and only then starts to look for their card (is it in this pocket? no, maybe it's in my bag, rummage rummage, ah here it is. now, shall I pay by Visa or Mastercard today). As soon as I've loaded things from my basket onto the belt, I get the relevant card out of my wallet and put it separately in my pocket so I can retrieve it as soon as I'm asked for it - and I break off packing to pay, then carry on packing when I've paid. I put the card back into my pocket, along with the receipt - I then sort everything out once I'm clear of the checkout, maybe when I'm back at the car. If I'm using a trolley, I may even put all the unbagged objects into the trolley and finish off bagging when I'm clear of the checkout, though usually I can keep up with the person on the checkout.

[Scott]

If you made remarks like that at my workplace, you would be sent on diversity awareness, or equality, or whatever it is called now training. :-)

[Scott]

I had that in the UK and did the same.

[charles]

I suspect you're male.

[Nightjar]

The very first definition of man in my copy of the OED is 'a human being (irrespective of sex or age)'

[Andrew Gabriel]

For those who don't use Aldi, it's the place you pop in for a pint of milk, and come out with a chainsaw...

for those of you who haven't seen it before...

[pamela]

The only branch of Kwik-Save I visited looked like that with boxes and pallets in the sales area. I wasn't impressed and the savings to be had weren't worth it.

[spuorgelgoog]

I was in Aldi today (went in for pizza and chocolate, came out with drill bits and angle brackets) and on hearing the announcement, "we are opening till five, customers please start queueing at till five," went to till five.

Overheard someone sniffily complaining, "I thought there was a queue".

There was love, for till four, and you were in it. You can't expect to go from the back of till four queue to the front of till five queue, especially when I've got two items and you've got a trolley-load.

One Lidl I use has a single queue for all tills, like a post office.

Owain

[pamela]

I'm sure some time & motion consultant worked all this out once upon a time and advised Lidl/Adli but it seems badly flawed. It may work for someone buying 8 items but if you have a big trolley bursting full of stuff then this system is counter-productive.

I sometimes feel I should tip the checkout operator a couple of quid (amply funded by savings from the lower prices) to slow down and help preserve my sanity.

I think the great washed (and perhaps I am one) want a tiny bit of customer service and would be prepared to see prices rises modestly to fund it.

[Andy Burns]

Assuming the checkout belt never actually empties while an operator is manning a till, then the operator can only ring items up at the average rate customers fill the belt, if customers can fill the belt that quickly, they can put them back into their trolley that quickly too, then go and bag them without slowing the operator down ...

[damduck-egg]

Being German companies they were probably worked out quite well, after all we have been told for decades how much more productive they were.

Just what customers service would you like to see that would make life so much better, a little token for a charity or a school , free trendy coffee or newspaper. Well keep on going to Tesco or Waitrose then.

G.Harman

[Scott]

Except it's the victim's perception that counts :-)

[pamela]

I'm not quite so sure about that, er, calculus.

I would say the rate of filling is greater than the rate of emptying. I see people waiting for space on the belt to put their goods but are constrained by the time it's taking for the customer getting served to clear them away.

[Andy Burns]

The instantaneous rate yes, but unless lidaldi's checkouts are violating the laws of physics, I suggest that (as I said) the *average* rates of filling, ringing-up and emptying are the same.

[Bob Eager]

I know someone who works at Aldi.

They do get timed, in the sense that their articles/hour rate is monitored by the till. He was quite proud of the rate he got up to, quite quickly. But he also says that some staff have been there for years and have considerably lower rates. I think he said he can do about 1000/hour and he isn't the fastest. Don't know about the paying bit, but that's much less under their control.

(I get my cards out while I'm queueing, and have the bags open and ready in the empty trolley, in any supermarket. The till operators ask me if I need help packing, presumably because I'm old! I can keep up with them.) The cards and vouchers (if any) are ready when the till operator is.

[F Murtz]

???