To get the aldi rage...

[chillypop]

... when people pack at the till?

Aldi is predicated on low costs, meaning a smaller number of staff, meaning fewer checkouts open, meaning the etiquette is for customers to haul ass through the checkout. There's a packing area to accommodate this!

Today I found myself and many others waiting whilst an individual decided to meticulously pack a shop which was presumably to feed the population of a small country. Even the member of staff at the checkout seemed a touch bewildered.

Yes, a first world problem. Am I just being impatient?

fine if you are a fast packer and you have a slightly slower till operator.

possible if you have it all arranged on the belt in the right order.

Some people have to take their time, disabilities, hidden disabilities, elderly. Just wait, they have just as much right to shop there as you do.

I love that this is an Aldi and Lidl 'thing'. It's what we were doing at Kwik Save back in the 1990s.

It's also the reason that I now refuse to shop at Aldi and go to Asda where I can scan as I shop (which actually isn't any more expensive than shopping at Aldi or Lidl IME).

So much impatience now with having to interact with other people. Can people really not cope with waiting a couple of extra minutes? And yes I work full time, single parent to two, I don't have all the time in the world but I feel like we are just massively intolerant generally now of having to share any kind of space with other people and feel aggrieved if anyone else's day impinges on our own at any point whatsoever. I pay with my phone, once I've put stuff in my bags (in the trolley) I have to unlock it with the code, open google pay and click on the right card. I can't have it ready cos my hands are busy packing and the phone will not keep it ready for the minutes it takes to pack. It probably takes all of ten seconds. I think its a shame we are now feel so unable to live side by side without feeling entitled to our own personal bubble at all times.

It's going to get more common as those types who like to have a shopping experience give Aldi a shot to save money. They're just a bit dim and can't comprehend that there is no end bit to hold shopping while you pack, just like when they block the aisles while they ponder. Only the experienced with the till can pack there. The rest just hold you up.

They do need to be told I think.

If people don't like the way Aldi is set up then they really should just go elsewhere. It's cheaper for a reason.

Heavy stuff on first sling it all in bags in the trolley sling bag in car sort out at home.
The ONLY thing I dont move until I've done is put my card in my bag, I dont mean opening my purse etc I mean slinging it in my open bag then zipping up. I feel more secure doing that so I know I've got my card.

If you have trolley bags, it’s as easy to put them in the bag as it is to put them in the trolley.

Exactly! Common sense.

Although I agree that meticulous packing at the till in any supermarket is very irritating.

Or perhaps people could learn a little patience!

Rushing around like a blue arsed fly is good for nobody

You've literally just described feeling entitled to your personal bubble.

You don't pack at the till. Why do you get the right to do that and then use a fatty method to pay? That's worse than just packing at the till.

If you have bags lined up in the trolley and load the shopping well on the moving belt you can load without delay. My Aldi is fairly civilised and don't go ridiculously fast. I remember many years ago in Germany having shopping flying through the air at me

A lot of elderly will be shopping in Aldi and Lidl now and they can’t be rushed. It’s hard enough for them to do their own shopping without having to pack twice. Aldi make enough money from us, they should put on more staff to man the tills. I hate being rushed and always pack as I go.

When I've used Aldi or Lidl in Germany, they have two areas behind the checkout, as described by @Icanstillrecallourlastsummer.
Presumably they didn't implement it here so they could squeeze more checkouts in, or make space for stock. It's all about profit and I don't see why customers should be expected to go along with this purely to line the pockets of their owners.

It's cheaper for a reason. You can't expect it all. If you want people to be patient then go somewhere else where it's set up for it.

It's also the reason that I now refuse to shop at Aldi and go to Asda where I can scan as I shop (which actually isn't any more expensive than shopping at Aldi or Lidl IME).

I shopped at Aldi recently and it cost me more than just going to Asda

Also not loving the sneering at the people who aren't seasoned aldi users. More and more people will need to start shopping at more budget shops as everyone feels the pinch, and it is not somehow reserved for the people who already do.

YANBU OP.
It’s rude to faff about unnecessarily with anything and let a queue form.
Why can’t they throw stuff in trolley, go away elsewhere and repack? It’s not going to explode is it.

There’s a big difference between someone struggling to pick stuff up and someone being meticulous. ZERO reason other than it’s too much of a faff to repack and they just CBA.

Yabu. I can’t go in Aldi because it just stresses me out too much. It’s always rammed and the checkout system is bloody awful!

Also, Sainsburys are price matching them and other supermarkets have increased their own-brands so I don’t feel like I’ll save much going in there. Plus, whenever I have been, they don’t actually have a wide variety of well known brands so I’d never be able to complete a full shop in there.

To sum up, it’s shit and I don’t get the hype!

It's cheaper for a reason. You can't expect it all. If you want people to be patient then go somewhere else where it's set up for it.

Cheap shouldn't mean staff get to be rude and rush you through the checkouts, though, and everyone can afford to go elsewhere either 🤷🏻‍♀️

Aldi is very stressful at the tills. I usually do my shopping in a basket (so i don't overspend) but I pick up an extra basket at the till just so I can quickly put all my stuff in rather than neatly Tetris pack it and get out of the way. However, multiple times I've had the staff sliding things along the little till area and food falling off onto the floor and being damaged even when I'm really as quick as possible, which winds me up no end damaging my shopping carelessly and never an apology when I have to pick it up off the floor... Sort it out, Aldi!

Also this isn’t an ALDI thing I’ve also done it in Booths, Waitrose, whatever.
Packing is fine. Trying to win the world’s neatest packing ever award isn’t.

I think Tesco is just as cheap as Aldi now, and a much better shopping experience.

Aldi workers get timed on their checkout speed, and get a bollocking if they are slower than the predicted number of items per minute. Give them a break. Supermarket staff get sneered at and customers are rude a lot of the time, when it's totally unnecessary.

A friend of mine told the customer she was closing her till because it was her lunch break. The customer turned to the person with her and said 'you wouldn't think she'd need a lunch break, the size of her'. My friend snapped back 'I'm fat, not deaf!' and then got reported to the manager for poor customer service.

Where is this written down that this is a ‘rule’? Are there signs?

Even if everyone in Aldi/Lidl was super fast at packing or packed at the bench, there would still be longer waiting times at their tills than in other supermarkets because they open fewer of them.

People need to start off with the expectation that they will have to wait in a queue if they’re going into Aldi or Lidl, then there’s less reason to get frustrated at others being slow.