Has Lidl become a bit of an outdated model?

[ARunByFruiting]

Or is it just my local one?

They used to be a no frills, quick shop where the staff at the check out scanned your goods really quickly and you were in and out. Now it seems to take forever to get through the check out (unless the store has self service check out that seem to be much quicker).

Sometimes if you've only got a few bits someone will let you go on ahead of them. Today I waited nearly 15 minutes as only 2 tills open and the queue was a mix of big (trolley full) shops and small shops and the staff are so much slower at scanning the goods and getting people through. It's so tedious and puts me off going in there as they rarely open a 3rd till and the whole process is just so slow with no other choice but to wait.

In other supermarkets, unless really busy, it is so much quicker and you have the option of self scanner as you shop, a mix of trolley self scan, basket self scan and the odd manned till. It takes about a quarter of the time to get through the tills to pay. So have Lidl fallen behind the others? (This is where everyone comes on to say theirs has 30 self checkouts and speedy gonzales working on their manned tills! 😁)

It’s a bit shit but it’s cheap. Not sure if the model is outdated tbh. I’ve been to Waitrose, loads of free machines to pay but bloody expensive. You get what you pay for. I think they used to be firmer with rushing you through their checkout but people take ages now and they let them.

I always thought it was Aldi that do the super scanning and Lidl is just a cheaper supermarket which doesn’t help you pack.

Being cheaper comes with increase of customers in this day and age.

I don't think lidl are that much cheaper than other supermarkets such as Asda, or even Sainsburys if you but Nectar prices.

The ones near me have loads of self check outs. They’re much quicker to get through than the Morrisons near us as they have loads of staff at the self checkouts and get people through really quickly. Our Morrisons often have no staff member at all or just one leading to massive queues as people wait to get their alcohol agreed etc.

our Lidl’s are small (London) and I couldn’t do a weekly shop there, but are cheap and quick to get in and out.

Lidl are much cheaper than Sainsbury's even with Nectar prices, I prefer Sainisbury's but occasionally do Lidl and it is quite noticeably about 2/3rds of the price for a big shop.

We do have lots of self-checkouts, though, so there isn't the queueing issue.

Well from your description of how busy they are their model doesn’t seem to be putting people off.

I love Lidl. Best supermarket

We don't have any self check outs at our Lidl and honestly rarely have to queue for longer than 5 minutes even on Saturday, they're just on the ball with opening tills when a queue builds. I like the speed of the checkouts at Lidl, I'd hate self serve it defeats the point as I can't move as fast. Get me in, get me out.

Ours has 4 banks of self scan and 3 manned tills, but you need to scan your receipt to open a gate to leave the self scan bit...half of them are breaking and don't print receipts but are still on with no way of knowing whether it's working properly until you get to the end 🙃 So it ends up taking ages to actually get out even though the scanning/paying itself is quick!

They aren't busier than any other supermarket around the store, they just look busier at the tills because of the queue that forms due to how slow the process is and everyone being forced to pay the same way (at a manned till).

I disagree tbh, I spend well over £100 on a Sainsbury’s shop and about £96 in Lidl. That being said, even if prices are closing in there is still a perception from years of this being the case that drives people to go to Lidl. Also people stopped caring about ‘shopping in Lidl’ in the way that it was seen as embarrassing 10 odd years ago

Most lidls have self scan now

We have self checkouts but also 6 main checkouts which they open and close rapidly. I’ve never waited more than about 5 mins and speedy scanning too

Our one is still super fast on the tills, plus there are 6 self-serves always open.

Not outdated, IMO. I don’t use it as a main shop, but enjoy the odd visit. They’re definitely cheaper on things like smoked salmon, fresh/frozen prawns, deli meats and cheeses. And the bakery products are divine and much cheaper

It depends on the area and newness of the store imo. There are some lovely newly renovated ones round my way.

I think it is broadly cheaper by 15% or so per shop if you don’t get lured down the Aisle of Wonder.

Perhaps it depends on whether your local store has self checkouts or not?

Personality i love a self scanner as you walk around. Scan, pack, scan thingy at checkout = job done. Unless of course you get a "check items" re-scan but even then that's only happened a few times a fairly quick process (unless it's a full shop re-scan but I've been lucky enough to never have had that happen). Majority of the time I'm in and out.

Ours are totally self-scan, and the queue is still ridiculous (I have waited 45 mins in the queue with one donut before now).

I don’t think they are particularly cheap, and honestly the queue length puts me off going in most of the time. I always check the queue first, and walk back out if it looks bad (always snakes all the way to the back of the shop, and often carries on along the back wall too).

I remember when Aldi first opened in my area late 90s and they only sold a certain number of products. Staff had to memorise the prices and manually enter the amount at the till! 🥴

If you don't like it, don't use it?

My beef with my Lidl is that if you use the self-check out, you have to have a printed receipt (i prefer not to have a printed receipt when using the app) and if you buy something age restricted you have to hope one of the staff sees the light flashing, because if you ask one of the ones on the tills, you get the evil eye and grumpy answer

Tbf I think that applies to most supermarkets in reference to hoping someone will see the red light flashing for age restricted products.

The self service at my local Lidl seems to have the slowest people in the universe using them. How a few items in a basket can take sooooo long to process aaargh.

Just looking at the different prices quoted by Which for a weekly shop, Lidl seems to be somewhere between 14% and 11% cheaper than Sainsbury's.
We have both near us and do 95% of our shopping at Sainsbury's as it's a more pleasant experience, we can be sure of getting everything we want and the quality of the food is better in our opinion.
The only thing I buy at Lidl is their muesli and bags of nuts which seem to be cheaper for the same quality.

Ours has just put in self serve. Easily walkable and we do mini shops 3/4x a week, so makes Lidl so much more attractive. Tesco us next door, but Lidl seems busier since 5 self serve went in.

I think that it depends entirely on the shop. The one in the town next to where I grew up was the kind with excellent fruit and veg, and I became very proficient at catching groceries as they were launched at me by the cashier 😂

The one that arrived (with much excitement) in the village where I grew up was a disappointment from the start. The fruit and veg selection was of poor quality, and you usually get just one person at most on the tills. They are very slow and, despite this, they do not chat. This is a village in the North of England, where everybody talks to you, so it is practically offensive!

It's awesome and I love it. Life would be discernably shitter without the different themed food festivals.