The Aldi Check-Out Behavior Employees Hate With A Passion

It's well documented that Aldi saves on costs by providing a no-frills shopping experience. In the name of efficient service, for instance, the discount grocer has a unique checkout process in which the cashiers don't bag groceries to keep prices low. Instead, each store provides a counter, usually along the entire wall, past the registers, where customers can bag the items themselves. Shoppers who aren't new to visiting Aldi know this, yet many of them still try to sort and pack their groceries as soon as the cashiers scan them. Since this isn't proper procedure, it's one of the things Aldi employees wish shoppers would stop doing.

There are more than a few social media threads in which Aldi workers have vehemently voiced their displeasure with customers beginning the bagging process while they're still scanning items. In one Reddit post from 2024, the thread poster said, "This is so extremely frustrating every time I ring. I ask them politely not to bag here and wait until they reach the bagging area. They get SO RUDE about it and sometimes still continue to bag despite me asking something. Some people go on and on and on about how it's stupid..blah blah blah...Ok then, go shop somewhere else, d***."

Another Aldi employee posted her experience and asked for advice in another Reddit thread earlier this year, "Even though [taking the cart when they don't have one is] annoying, it pales in comparison to the irrationally blinding rage I feel when people sprint to the end of the register, presumably trying to earn gold in Olympic-level bagging."

Customers bagging their groceries as they're being scanned into a cart doesn't sound like a big deal. However, Aldi cashiers say that one of the main reasons they hate it so much is because the shoppers' hands get in the way. "I've hit too many people's hands, and I just started asking them not to," one worker said in a Reddit comment. Another Redditor said that they tell customers, "I don't want to hit your knuckles/ hands, I don't want our hands to collide, etc."

Plus, one of the secrets about being an Aldi cashier that many shoppers don't realize is that their scanning speed is being scrutinized. Having to dodge customers' hands while scanning items into the cart slows down the workers, causing their efficiency percentage to drop. Percentages that are too low too often can result in being written up. In a correspondence with the Daily Mirror, the grocery chain admitted that it encourages its staff to be as efficient as they can be, checking out customers 40% faster than rival grocers.

The employees themselves have revealed that they're actually on a timer. "Every single thing we do at Aldi is timed. Aldi cashiers are supposed to scan 48 ipm (items per minute) in comparison to the 23  normal grocery stores require (I know this because I worked at a Bi-Lo in NC)," explained one worker in a 2011 Reddit thread. In a 2020 Reddit thread, another person reminded everyone, "Cashiers are timed for time BETWEEN customers, How long DURING each individual customer, AND whether or not you 'pre dipped' your card in the pos machine."

There's a specific process that Aldi customers should know about when it comes to checking out. While it's true that this process is one of the reasons customers can't stand shopping at Aldi, making them feel stressed, it's meant to provide efficiency and keep the checkout line moving.

First, load your items onto the conveyor belt as quickly as you can because the cashiers are trained to scan and place the items into a new cart fast. Rather than bag the groceries now, it's helpful to get your payment ready. You can even insert a debit or credit card while the cashier is still scanning to speed up the payment process. After your payment, give the now-empty cart that you used for shopping to the cashier, and take the new one with your items in it to the bagging counter along the wall past the registers. You can also take the opportunity here to check your receipt for accidental double scans and get them addressed before you leave the store. If you don't want to use the provided bagging area, you could drive your cart out to your car and do it there.

Because of this checkout and bagging process, Aldi staff and shoppers have recommended on Reddit that you get a cart if you're buying more than a handful of items. Many Aldi stores keep multiple carts near the registers, though, just in case a customer needs to borrow one for bagging purposes. If you do this, just make sure that you return the cart to the register area as soon as you finish.