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?

That's acceptable. Also, as a pp said, her DH is super fast and packs it very fast as it's being scanned. What irks people are the ones who think the rules don't apply to them, and they can take their sweet time at the checkout, holding everyone up. People need to go to another shop if they don't like the rules.

Is the Nordic method like the Japan method? In Japan, they shift your things from one basket into another basket. You take the full basket to the bench and pack into bags. The empty basket (the one that your groceries were in initially, before they got shifted) becomes the second basket for the next shopper.

All shopping is done in baskets. The trolleys are designed as empty frames that baskets are snapped into.

You’d get told at the clitheroe branch. Well more encouraged to be honest they aren’t rude. Agree with others that early 80’s that’s what you did in Kwik save which when I reflect was really like aldi. So it’s not some new everyone rushes and no one has any time for interaction thing anymore as some are suggesting.

which reminds me , clitheroe aldi has been “done up” so exciting times to do the next shop there.

I pack at the till.
Bags open and ready to go and chuck it all in.
No additional time taken.
It all depends on how you load up the conveyor!

The aldi packing challenge is legendary and an Olympic sport in cheshire, adds a fun element to the food shop, can you keep up with the til...?????

@gamerchick it's not cheaper because some people don't pack at the tills 🙄🤣🤣🤣

I've never shopped at Aldi so I have no idea that this is a thing? Maybe it was their first time shopping there. Maybe a member of staff should have advised them of what to do. Don't see that it's worth getting worked up about so long as you have empathy.

Then if that’s not bad enough they start looking everywhere for their purse, like it comes as a complete surprise that they now have to pay. Some even manage to very loudly hold a conversation on the phone too, so when the person serving tells them their card’s been refused …. instead of ending the call they keep asking the person serving to repeat themselves. The urge to ram the phone down their throat or up their arse is strong!!!

@hangrylady I don't need to go to Waitrose to expect to be treated reasonably and without rudeness. I would and have called them out when shop assistants are rude. I will continue to do so as it's unacceptable.

It's not acceptable anywhere. Why should people who cannot afford to pay more expect to be treated rudely?

I also do this.

Wrong. The point of Aldi is lower costs to most people.
You do your way and leave everyone else to shop in peace. If you can't cope with queues then shop online!

I agree we are so intolerant it’s awful. Society is becoming more focused on how quickly or cheaply we can gets thing done and everything else comes second

My DM shops at Lidl. She is 81 and has recently had both a broken wrist and a cataract op so she cannot pack fast. She says she just goes the speed she can go at and ignores any tutting from other people. The staff have never said anything to her and she says they are all nice. She is entitled to get her shopping and pack at at the speed she is comfortable with.

@chillypop
to add to the rage did they also wait until everything was packed Meticulously then do a leisurely rummage through their bag/back pocket to produce wallet/purse/ phone as if it is a surprise that they have to pay ?
bonus points for getting PIN wrong or the phone not scanning

These threads always make me smile - they removed the packing bench in both Lidl and Aldi in Spain (in the area where my relatives live) as the Spanish refused to use it, and sometimes the Lidl staff help people to pack, the Spanish have a little chat with the till operator, the world has not ended, no-one has imploded, the prices are still lower, the process of checking out is smooth, no-one tuts or huffs or gets 'the rage'.

@TheGraceFace
aaah, sorry I didn’t read your post before Imposted but yes I feel exactly the same - why do they do that ?

@ancientgran I don't care a toss about what other people think.
I will not be treated rudely under any circumstances and call it out when I need to. I will continue to do so.

I never been behind the person on the till. I'm usually waiting for the next item to come. It's not hard!

The first time I shopped at Aldi I had no idea that you weren’t allowed to pack at ‘Sainsburys’ pace and was just packing as normal until the checkout operator shouted ‘what are you playing at, you’re holding me up, pack at the bench!’. I was really embarrassed (and a bit confused as I’d never seen that system before). I can’t remember ever seeing any obvious signs telling you the system in our store, it seems to be one of those unspoken rules. The person you saw might have been unaware too. I’ve got it down to a fine art now, have the open bags lined up in the trolley and heaviest stuff on the conveyor first, and just fling it in.

I have never noticed a packing bench in Aldi

I pack at the till - no one has ever said anything to me

Most people in our local Aldi packs into their bags. Makes no difference whether you chuck it all back in the trolley or into bags inside the trolley. Thankfully, noone complains.
I do have fast hands though after years od shopping at Lidl, I hate how they used to chuck all my shopping around.

Staff have a scanning rate they have to meet, it's not them being dicks.

The whole premise is cheaper food with fewer staff to pay, which means being moved through faster as a customer. The packing benches literally exist for you to pack there!

And when staff have closed their till, don't be a dickhead and shove your stuff on anyway - the breaks are allocated and timed down to the minute and every extra minute you take, is a minute they lose.

For an 10 hour shift, they get x2 fifteen minute breaks. That's it. If you want a loo break, you have to take your chance when a customer is loading a big trolly. And when they're not on till, they'll be running around filling shelves!

I love the challenge of an Aldi or Lidl checkout and do manage to keep up with them, but I put my stuff on the belt accordingly - heavy stuff first, frozen/cold all together at the end for example. But yes it is annoying when people won't use the packing bench, and staff should be able to tell them. I asked a Lidl cashier once about this and he said they weren't allowed to tell shoppers. Was in an Aldi the other day and they had big signs telling people to use the packing bench, which should be a standard thing.

I pack at the till. I have three big bags that are open in the trolley and it all gets chucked in as it comes. No difference in time taken vs chucking it in a trolley.

Like fuck am I going to chuck it in the trolley and then go elsewhere and the pack it in bags when no time would be saved for the people behind me at the till. That would be stupid and essentially doubling up the task for me. See the one touch rule.

*I always pack at the till why wouldn't you??? Why would you reload your trolley to unload it and pack it???

Empty trolley onto till
Set up bags
Pack shopping as it comes off
Jobs done
????*

Exactly this? I couldn't do it any quicker than I already do it. 😁

Not something I can get worked up about I'm afraid.
If someone wants to take more time at the checkout then c'est la vie.
Life is too short to get in a rage about little things like that.
I keep a tube of handcream in my bag, just for those moments-if it looks like a slightly longer wait at the checkout then my hands get a little pampering.