Do all Aldis require you to log in via their app in order to activate the entrance barrier?

[Elior]

I have only just become interested in Aldi. I tried to get into my local one but was told that I needed an active phone account just to go in and buy a bottle of water. Is this normal for Aldi?

no not normal

Not at mine.

Not everyone has a mobile so how would it work?

I had never heard of it before. I wasn't in a high crime area either (not that I know of!)

No. Is it in a high crime or drug area?

Is it one of the trial stores where you enter, scan and pay on your phone without any till process?

Royal Greenwich 😂near the Observatory although I only know the touristy part!

I mean, there are high crime areas within the borough but far away from the store (I have never had reason to venture into those bits).

So it is the shop and go store then.

I think so, yes. I never bothered downloading the app on the spot (I don't use my phone like that in public). I just went to Sainsburys.

I've been shopping in Aldi since way before it was socially acceptable and I've never seen that. I didn't even know they had an app. Which is how I'd rather it stay because I hate having to faff around with apps in order to pay the normal price that isn't artificially inflated so they can offer a discount. Tesco, I'm looking at you.

They've only just got self checkout here in the last few months. And I don't live in a high crime area either, but they now have signs in store that people shouldn't leave bags in trolleys or put goods in pushchairs, because it makes people look like the people who use this as a way of stealing from them.

I shop in four different Aldis depending on where I am, one you have to input your car reg as the car park is monitored, others the others are just normal supermarkets with normal car parks.

I've never seen it with Aldi, but there's a tesco metro in London like that. There is a turnstile type thing to go in. I only wanted a drink so I couldn't be bothered to sort out the app, I just went next door to boots

If it’s the Greenwich one then it’s this.

Wow, never heard of that before.
Seems a bit Big Brother to me, I wouldn't like that 🤔

Me neither! I was disappointed because I had high hopes for my first visit to Aldi after reading good things about it.

If you're at the entrance to the Greenwich one and look to your left, you will see a Sainsbury's that will let you shop normally .

I have the app because I regularly do click and collect. I’ve never needed it to enter the premises.

I wouldn't like it either, and it seems to me that it actively discriminates against the elderly (who may not have a smart phone or know how to operate one), and those on very low incomes (who can't afford it).

Thanks. It is exactly what I did but the smallish bottles of water were a pound each 😫 I feel like I missed out on many bargains.

Not mine

I agree. In any case, phone snatching is extremely common in London so I wouldn't really feel comfortable using it while walking around in a public place.

I know that all the young people seem to do this!

I know that Aldi well and loathe it! It's a pain to get into via the app - which forgets everything about you if you don't use it every day and the choice when you do get inside is crap. You missed nothing OP!

Thanks! I will try a bigger store. I have heard good things about their stand mixers. I was hoping to lure the DCs in for drinks and then take a really good look around.

It actively discriminates against people who do not have a smart phone, not all of whom are elderly.

I've been shopping in Aldi since way before it was socially acceptable and I've never seen that. I didn't even know they had an app. Which is how I'd rather it stay because I hate having to faff around with apps in order to pay the normal price that isn't artificially inflated so they can offer a discount. Tesco, I'm looking at you.
Hear, hear.
It's about time that we started pushing back. Remember the good old days when the customer - not the computer - was king?