Posted on 06/28/2023 7:20:16 PM PDT by Paul R.
Well, to put it bluntly, this sucks. I was in our local Aldi store earlier today and they were in the midst of going to all digital pricing. That is, there's essentially a bar code on the shelf under each group of boxes of items, or under the 2% milk rack, etc., which you scan with a smart phone to get the price. No printed prices are on the shelves, and won't be, according to the employee I spoke with.
1) I don't have a smart phone and don't need or want one. If nothing else they are too dang big. A small / cheap fliphone in my pocket is quite sufficiently bulky, thank you. Not to mention the usual other issues some FReepers are sure to bring up.
2) Even if I did have a smart phone, no printed pricing on the shelves is a customer time waster of huge proportions. No longer can I glimpse the price from 10 ft. away and INSTANTLY know if it's a better price than, say, next-door (almost) Wally World or the sale at my more local grocer. What other glitches and delays are likely to pop up too? Aldi has enough trouble with the IT part of their business as it is...
Generally I oppose over-regulation, but a law that says simple (visually) readable prices must be on store shelves does not seem unreasonable to me.
I hate the big city.
“scan capability”
The Real Canadian Superstore, a main grocery chain in Canada, uses digital price tags. This way, they can change prices from head office with maybe one person confirming the price changes.
I agree with you, prices should be posted with the product.
It’s all part of getting you to pay with your phone.
Big city thinking, perhaps. This is in a modest size town - just big enough to have an Aldi store.
I don't think their policy is going to last.
Where are you at? Here in Mandeville/Covington our Aldis is all ticketed pricing? the only thing they try to push is automated check out..I refuse. I deal with a cashier...or they can put the cart away and lose their shirt labor wise.
Maybe we should blame BIDEN for the inflation ??!!
Where I’ve seen digital price signs in other supermarkets, the price is displayed.
I don’t have room on my phone for for their spyware. I’ll just let the cash register do the price check and decide at that point whether I want the item or not. Let them staff up to re-stock all the unbought goods. Plus it will throw the speed metrics off for the checkout. Even better if the manager has to come over and clear each item.
What location ? State ?
Some states may have laws on the books requiring visible pricing on the shelf.
People will get used to not bothering to go through the process of having to check the prices, they will just grab the product.
“I don’t have room on my phone for for their spyware.”:
You are so right. Any app you install is a backdoor for that outfit — to do what they wish with.
On a related note, my local Giant Eagle grocery store has discounts on certain items. Just scan the item’s bar code, and a discount will be applied.
Well, I don’t know how the hell that’s supposed to work. I don’t have a smart phone. And I don’t know how scanning an item will somehow make my bill lower at the register.
So how’s about this, Giant Eagle? How’s about putting a tag on the shelf where the item is? “On sale. $2.00, reduced to $1.50.”
Pretty straightforward, eh?
Some folks don’t shop with phones.
Two options:
Yell “Price check!” every time you want to know a price.
Bring multiple items to checkout and then buy just the ones that scan a price you like. You’ll need a big cart.
I did the latter ONCE when a random pharmacy in a city I was visiting had NO prices on ANYTHING and I just wanted deodorant and toothpaste. I didn’t know how much anything was and there was no one to ask, so I brought a dozen deodorants and a dozen toothpastes to the checkout and had the checker scan each one for the best price and let them re-shelf the rest. Hey, wasn’t my idea.
Yup ! That’s how it is done.
I will watch for it at our Aldi….
Well done! Would have made a billion hits/views on youtube/rumble!
German store. Not impressed when I went there once by circumstance. As I recall they didn’t even have bags. Weird place.
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