Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think that people shopping in Aldi shouldn’t insist on packing bags at checkout

401 replies

Shell4429 · 01/11/2018 23:04

Just, this. I was shopping tonight and two customers in front of me did this and I was really annoyed. While waiting I thought that Aldi should charge a fee for people who do this. It’s not fair on customers who do it the correct way. A surcharge would work, like it did with carrier bags. If everyone insisted on doing this surely it would drive prices up.

OP posts:
TrickyKid · 02/11/2018 17:23

Where else would you pack it? When Aldi first opened around here they used to practically throw things at you but they seemed to have slowed down to allow you to pack properly now.

BackforGood · 02/11/2018 17:31

He said that a woman shouted at him earlier that he was too fast and to slow down - felt like asking him why he didn't take it on board then - it was like a competition.....

Because 99% of the customers who shop at Aldi, MUCH prefer the speed you can get through the tills.

Once you are used to it, you get the rage when you have to use another supermarket and it just takes an AGE to get through the till. Really, don't knock it until you've given it a good try with an open mind. You'll never go back to the snails pace that the other supermarkets use.

Trickykid - it has been explained several times in this thread. You slide everything into your trolley then move to the packing shelf and can take half an hour if you want, without holding anyone up. It sounds odd if you haven't used it before, but, trust me, once you get the hang of it, it is a FAR more efficient system.

MsLexic · 02/11/2018 17:37

oooh see this is why I come on Mumsnet... I didn't know you had to pack elsewhere. I am a dimwit.

Mind you, after my last experience in there, I may not return... I don't want to be harangued because some smelly old bint misunderstands me waiting patiently. ( I am disabled so do everything slowly and patiently, it's not obvious I am disabled, but I am). This is not the first yucky experience in there...

LightastheBreeze · 02/11/2018 17:40

I don’t think you are meant to use Aldi if you are disabled in case you hold someone up Sad

That’s how it appears from this thread anyway

CovenofMiLsfromHades · 02/11/2018 17:45

I'm sure they would slow down for disabled people if necessary but as has been explained if you are just a slower packer you are supposed to put everything back into the trolley and organise it at the packing bench. That is actually the way it is intended to be done.

LightastheBreeze · 02/11/2018 17:49

Not very nice though if someone has the rage behind you if you are struggling to pay or stuff like that

LightastheBreeze · 02/11/2018 17:49

Not very nice though if someone has the rage behind you if you are struggling to pay or stuff like that

TooManyPaws · 02/11/2018 17:53

And you don't have to put everything on the belt either. With any duplicates, I put the rest in my open bag in the trolley and just tell the cashier how many of each I have, they glance in the bag and multiply on the register. A cashier told me that I didn't have to load all the dog food tins etc so now it's just "eight of the big tins, six of the small tins, and three packs of dry food" etc.

CovenofMiLsfromHades · 02/11/2018 18:03

I much prefer this to those annoying automated tills that are a complete pita

BishopBrennansArse · 02/11/2018 18:29

As said before I'm disabled and manage.

I can't pick bags at the till as then I can't lift the bags out of the trolley into the car. So I chuck it all in the trolley (heavy items on conveyor first) and then sit in my wheelchair next to the car and load my bags. DH then lifts the bags out of the car at home and unpacks.

onefootinthegrave · 02/11/2018 21:17

Bishop I'm glad you can manage.

But there are plenty of others who can't.

As for those saying if you can't pack fast, don't go to Aldi or Lidl, what a shower you are.

BackforGood · 02/11/2018 22:16

No-one is saying that onefootinthegrave.
The system is - chuck it all in your trolley after it has gone through the till. Go to the packing shelf (or boot of your car if you prefer) and you can take an hour to pack if you want to.
A lot of posters have said that, because they can pack quickly , they prefer to chuck everything in to a couple of big bags open in their trolley as that suits them. You don't have to if you don't want to - you can stick to the designed system.

MsNowtyBach · 02/11/2018 22:40

What?!!!

This is all news to me!! We don't have an Aldi, we have a Lidl. I always pack at the TIL as does everyone else.

Crackinpairofpins · 03/11/2018 07:14

@sparklingbrook yes!! When Aldi first opened here in Plymouth 20 years ago I worked for them and had to memorise the price of EVERY item in the store and manually type it into the till Confused

shearwater · 03/11/2018 07:38

If you are getting irritated behind me, and I'm really not a slow packer, then you need to re-evaluate your life. Leave yourself more time to get things done and maybe do some yoga and meditation as well.

Sparklingbrook · 03/11/2018 07:59

Was that not super stressful Crackin? What if you couldn't remember? Shock

svalentine60 · 03/11/2018 08:06

I'm really confused at this post. Firstly i've never and never would shop at Aldi anyway but i have never been at any supermarket where people don't pack their shopping at the checkout as its going through the till. Where are we supposed to pack it? I presume throw it in the trolley and then pack it outside in the cold by the car? I pack my shopping as its coming through and i do it as quickly as i can but steadily. If other people in the queue don't like that then its tough luck.

Bloomburger · 03/11/2018 08:09

I don't want to chat or be leisurely Backforgood, I just want not to be stressed out having stuff fired at me by the cashier.

starzig · 03/11/2018 08:20

Depends how quick you are. I can keep up in Aldi but I have seen people not keep up in our really really slow Sainsbury's

Lweji · 03/11/2018 08:24

I find that most slow packers are like my mum.
Don't take bags out of purse until they're past the till.
Open one bag at a time as they need it.
Don't organise shopping before till so that they go into the same bag, then the other.

Also, people can have larger bags in the trolley or on the till, which are easier to pack, but no, they'll use small bags that take 3-4 items. Then look again for a last bag for a single last item.

But what really gets me is people who finish paying and still have all their bags across the entire till area and take their time to neatly fold their receipts in their wallet.

The problem is not packing at the till, it's how some shoppers do it.

anniehm · 03/11/2018 08:25

I pack at the till but I'm as fast as them!

gamerchick · 03/11/2018 08:25

I'm really confused at this post. Firstly i've never and never would shop at Aldi anyway but i have never been at any supermarket where people don't pack their shopping at the checkout as its going through the till.

You can tell you've never been in since you think you can pack at the till. Either way you still have to pack in the trolly.

These threads always bemuse me. The tills are designed this way to go towards keeping costs down which presumably is the reason a fair few people choose Aldi?

Being a dick about it for no apparent reason other than just wanting to be a dick just says petty rebellion.

These are the people who would be the first to whine prices had gone up and the lines at the checkout are slower so they're going back to Morrisons. Boggles man Grin

gamerchick · 03/11/2018 08:27

That's aimed of course at the people who don't do the Aldi challenge and keep up with the checkout person. Husband does that part, he finds it fun.

gamerchick · 03/11/2018 08:31

As for those saying if you can't pack fast, don't go to Aldi or Lidl, what a shower you are

No people aren't saying that, I think there was some who are deliberately misunderstanding Hmm if you don't want to pack fast then you put it all back in the trolley as it comes through, take it to the back shelf and pack there like you're supposed to.

SuburbanRhonda · 03/11/2018 08:39

As pp have said, this is how all German supermarkets operate, even the bigger ones.

It stressed me out hugely when we lived there as I always had to shop with two toddlers.

And woe betide you if any item was found at the till to be damaged. The cashier would just shrug their shoulders and if you went back to the aisle to replace it, they would practically implode with barely-suppressed rage.