Posted on 04/29/2025 7:41:31 AM PDT by Red Badger
If you've ever stepped foot in an Aldi supermarket, it probably didn't take you very long to realize why it's recognized as one of the most affordable grocery chains both in the United States and overseas. From fancy cheese to bakery staples to a range of healthy snacks, the retailer's shelves are stocked with plenty of high-quality grocery items at impressively wallet-friendly prices.
To keep overheads (and therefore, prices) low, Aldi employs a number of unique strategies. For one thing, you'll never hear music playing in an Aldi store, as it saves money by avoiding licensing fees. It costs a quarter to rent a shopping cart, which shoppers get back once they return it — a method that reduces the need for employees to spend time rounding them up. You might also notice that, unlike at most other grocery chains, Aldi cashiers get to sit down while ringing up customers.
The reason for that is not simply a way to make workers happy by giving them a chance to rest. Additionally, allowing cashiers to have a seat while they work helps with the overall efficiency of the business. As one Aldi cashier told Mental Floss, the company's own testing shows that sitting down at the register allows cashiers to ring up items faster. This keeps lines moving and customers satisfied while also cutting labor costs in the long run. Checkout speed and efficiency are so important to the company, in fact, that workers are given reports documenting their ringing statistics at the end of every shift.
Aldi's philosophy? Efficiency is key
As a purported Aldi employee mentioned in one Reddit thread, cashiers can be expected to ring up to 1,200 items per hour. That, in addition to being required to make the rounds unboxing items, stocking shelves, and keeping aisles tidy, can make the job quite physically demanding and strenuous. (A worker shared with Mental Floss that she probably clocked more than 25,000 steps per shift.) So, when it comes to manning the registers, the fact that it could be done off one's feet is something to be taken advantage of.
Speaking as someone who once worked as a standing supermarket cashier at another grocery chain (with all the same additional responsibilities), I can definitely see why sitting down could help employees work faster. By the end of the day, being physically spent is always just going to make the employee — and lines — move slower.
Beyond having its cashiers take a seat, Aldi makes use of other quick and efficient checkout methods. Those include large barcodes on items to make them easier to scan and encouraging customers to pre-insert their credit cards so that they're ready to pay by the time items are completely rung up. Perhaps most notably, shoppers bag their own items. While Aldi employees will help load up your cart with your processed groceries, customers do their own bagging in a separate area to keep things moving along. And considering the savings they're getting by doing so, fans of the brand certainly aren't complaining.
Annnnd I didn't say you had an opinion one way or another; nor do I care.
I said your conclusion is highly likely to be wrong, and I provided the reasoning why. You can call that whatever you want; argument, non-argument ... who cares? Also, properly done, testing to determine the efficiency of standing vs sitting is not subjective; opinions don't apply. Neither does poor reasoning.
If you want to believe they never did the testing at all but claim they did just so they can have everyone sit? Go for it.
Ours are neat and clean and really nice.
It’s all in who or what manages the store................
Trader Joes is the brothers store.
One sells cigarettes.
That’s why they split.
ALDI has the best cheese Danish I ever bought
A third the cost of Entemenns
$3.19
They have their own brands. I have shopped Aldi for 30 years, and only once have I found a product to be inferior to the name brand equivalent. They are not necessarily identical to a name brand, but the quality has always been excellent.
Aldi Nord owns and operates Trader Joe’s.
Aldi Sud owns and operates Aldi USA.
The 1960s split involved Aldi Nord selling smokes with Aldi Sud not selling them. Not sure if Aldi Nord is still in the cigarette trade in Deutschland, but the whole operate is kind of weird in my opinion.
The two companies are split, yet, in Deutschland at least, sell some of the same products in identical packaging. You might see “Trader Joe’s” branded merchandise in both Aldi Nord and Aldi Sud stores in Europe, so there’s clearly some sort of ongoing cooperation between the two companies even if they’re fully separate legally.
Some of their products do come from Germany, and do not contain ingredients outlawed by Europe.
LOVE the salmon and all the dairy is great
ALDI is German owned...and that great chocolate is from Germany 😁
Publix cashiers don’t sit. And if there’s no one at their checkout they stand out in front of it asking customers if they can help them find something.
Publix cashiers also own part of the company and can retire a millionaire after 20 or so years.
Going today...want the “6 kinds of crackers”...soooo good. Unsalted tops..
I figured as much. I WISH it was nice. We have 5 grocery stores within 1/2 mile of each other. They are all mediocre versions of their chain stores.
I hate all the grocery store games with prices.
Sadly, the nearest Aldi is to far away for me. I would go their in a sec if it were a bit closer.
I don’t like Aldi but my kiddos do.
I appreciate real cashiers. I never use the self-service because that guy is untrained, clueless, slow, and prone to error.
BOGO = Double price and make the customer believe they are getting a good deal.............
A strangely aggressive reaction to me simply pointing out they are required by law to provide chairs in Europe. I really don’t understand what has you so worked up.
When Aldi’s first opened in my area many years ago, employees had to memorize the prices of everything in the store.
May note the cheapest, but always the most awesome.
True one stop shopping.
Good selections and their in-house brands are really good.
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