To think that you do not adhere to the packing protocol in Aldi, you should be banned?

[BupcakesandHaunting]

It's not hard. It's load. Pack into trolley. Pay. Go and pack your shopping up like a snail at your own pace at the packing shelf.

I think that Aldi should employ someone with one of those big hoops on a long pole and when someone looks like they are going to start limp-wristedly packing their bags at the till/mouthbreathing over cashier going too fast, the hoop man gets the faffer around the neck with the hoop and drags them out. They are then banned from Aldi for ever.

Banhammered from Aldi, ha ha ha ha! The shame!

My ds once sat on the packing shelve in Aldi. He was told in no uncertain terms by the cashier to get down (I hadn't noticed and she was right to tell him off) but in Lidl he sits up there all the time and nothing is said to him ever.

I had a buying job that involved food production and a lot of the buying team were ex-chefs and/or food science geeks. They swore that Aldi olive oil, certain wines and some of the tinned goods were of a higher quality than the most popular brands.
I heart Aldi but we only have Lidls here.

We only have Lidl too, Sue. Nearest aldi is 40mins away

Everything is 40 mins away to me

I want the adli fake lindt reindeer, they are luffly. I wonder if I bought enough, would they post?

My dh loves Aldi - he sees the packing rules as a challenge and regularly races the cashier when he packs. He uses the big replaceable bags and would earn a fortune as a professional packer

Sue! I will post one to you! I owe you one for the DVD.

Funny thing is, in Northern Ireland in the 80s, AFAIR, this was exactly the way we used to process shopping - I particularly remember Stewarts' Supermarkets having shelves away from the tills that you moved to once you'd shoved everything back in your trolley (also have vague recollection that you used the trolley of the person in front of you and yours once empty was then pushed to the end of the till for the next person to load into). The bags were all located on the shelves, not at the tills, so you would know you couldn't pack as things were rung up (pre-scanners).

I wonder why NI and Germany embraced the system and the rest of the UK not? We only have Tesco & Sainsbury's now, so the old ways are gone!

You owe me nuffin my lovely but that's a kind offer

Supermarkets can't tell people how to pack, can they? It's their shopping, which they have paid for, so they can pack it how they like! The supermarket can try and enforce a rule but at the end of the day it's the customer's prerogative how they do their packing. Or am I missing something?

"Supermarkets can't tell people how to pack, can they? It's their shopping, which they have paid for, so they can pack it how they like! The supermarket can try and enforce a rule but at the end of the day it's the customer's prerogative how they do their packing. Or am I missing something?"

Yes, you are missing something. For one thing, there isn't enough space at the checkout for you to pack your shopping. For another, the cashier will actually ask you to pack away from the till. Lastly, as I witnessed the other night, if you try to be pig-headed about it you may expect someone waiting behind you to ask you to do the same as everyone else and get everything in your trolley pdq.

I will check to see if they have any when I next go in, Sue. Then I will send one to you. (wonders if the baton of chocolate kindness may return my way with offers of Babe Ruths from U.S MNers...)

What if you were to turn around and say;

"No, shan't. I'm packing here so there."

What realistically will they do? Throw the tins of economic beans overarm instead of under?

Look, Aldi is cheap for a reason. They employ minimum numbers of staff, (lthough the wages are pretty good for shop work) Therefore they need the customers to cooperate a bit because less staff means that the checkouts need to operate speedily and efficiently.
Instead of planning how to be awkward about this, could the posters who don't like it please just fuck off back to Waitrose? If you go into Aldi determined to be the brave mumsnetter who thinks that you are standing up for some sort of principle by insisting that you pack your shopping the way you want to - you're just being a complete pain in the arse and holding up other customers who shop there because they like the shop and the way it works.
Gettit?

Thanks for clearing that up Lucyinthepie. You sound a bit het up. Go and have a . It's only shopping!

this has really puzzled me, and don't worry Lucyinthepie I will not be shopping there:o
you the shopper end up loading and un loading your shopping 4 times.
then again in your car, then again t home.
at least normal shops cut that down a bit

No - The only difference is you unload your trolley twice. If you do as others have said, and put your car-boot receptacle in the trolley, you don't even have to do that OR bag the stuff up. You unload onto the conveyor, cashier throws helps you put shopping in crate/bag/box in trolley, you wheel that out to the car and lift into boot. Job done, no carriers :)

The only problem I find with Aldi is that DH gets very enthusiastic about all the random stuff in the middle and I have to wrench him away from the axe , boating shoes and reflective horse equipment that they have had in recent weeks

... We dont have a boat or a horse .

I've got a horse.
I was het up because... I'd just got back from Aldi.
Our Aldi is being invaded by people who drive expensive cars and wear Boden who insist on packing their shopping into the bags they have in their trolley as it is slung in their direction by the cashier. Anyone with half a brain can see that they are clearly taking longer to do this than those of us who politely respect the system. We happily sling our shopping straight into our trolleys, from there to be packed either at the shelf provided or straight into the backs of our cars. It's simple and there's no faffing about what goes where while the cashier waits to be paid, we sort that out away from the queue.
There was a lady in there tonight with two children and she kept explaining to them (in cut glass accent) what she was going to cook with the things she'd bought as she was packing (at the till!!!) - into her John Lewis bags. I kid you not. I'm surprised she didn't combust in front of our eyes from the sheer force of the looks the rest of the queue was giving her. I bet she's going to end up in this thread somewhere before the night's out, defending her 'uman rights to pack as she wants and educate her offspring at the same time.

Yes but MrsBaggins if you ever have a boat or a horse you'll want to be ready, won't you? :o

Just to clarify, I was just asking an innocent question: what would happen if customers refused to pack the way Aldi want them too? Could they actually ban them? Wouldnt Aldi end up losing business by turning away paying customers?
I'm just a bit puzzled because it sounds like Aldi are being a bit forceful about this, no other supermarkets insist on this to my knowledge. Whenever I shop in Lidl (I do most of my shopping there) I always put my stuff straight into bags in the trolley, it doesn't take any longer and no-one has ever complained.
I would be a bit if supermarket staff told me how to pack my shopping but to avoid incurring the wrath of some posters on this thread I think I wouldn't dare disobey.
You have to weigh the amount of money saved against the overall customer experience - is it worth being bossed around by staff or being given hard stares by other customers to save X amount of money? Not sure which is worse - the bossy staff or the other customers!
It doesn't sound like a good customer service ethic to me, but then again if the products are excellent quality, and cheap, maybe it's worth it.
This thread has been an education!

p.s. If you don't like the way Aldi do things please... go away. It's cheap, cheerful and quick, which ticks all the boxes for me.

BleurghUna, you're right, I don't really think it's meant to be a "customer experience". It's meant to be somewhere you go to buy cheaply and get out asap. Joking apart, I do think they should be a bit insistent about how things work because that is what the rest of us don't pay for. We don't pay for the number of staff needed to man tills that run more slowly and give a better customer experience. If you get what I mean.
(Packing bags isn't as quick as just scooping it into the trolley, hand on heart, it just isn't).

Andrew Am still wondering why he wanted the axe !