Aldi and Lidl checkout system

BettePorter

fergiesfolly wrote:

I have one of those shopping trolley bag systems.

That's me. And load all the heavy stuff first to put in trolley and then just easily sweep small items into bags. I'm
always pulling off from till when cashier is still fiddling with my change.

Mister Vain

The self service machines in Tesco are crap and the loading trays are far too small. The ones in Supervalue work much better.

sonandheir

This till racing was alright a few years ago when I was one on one with Tillman, loaf bread, baked beans and 4 cans. But now I've got kids hanging off my pockets, lists, that potted plant in the middle aisle I just had to get. And Tillman has sped up.

My only weapon to square this up, is stand at the end of conveyor belt and slowly let the belt fill with my trolley with generous spacing between items. Gives me more time at end.
Try this next time it actuals gets under skin, they will push items back while the current customer is paying to bunch I all up.

Die Tillman.

Cee-Jay-Cee

They should put up large signs and have stafff inform customers to put their goods back in the trolley and pack their bags at the window sill. Simples.

hidinginthebush

Ah yes, another thread where we strive to please our glorious German overlords.

freshpopcorn

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

They should put up large signs and have stafff inform customers to put their goods back in the trolley and pack their bags at the window sill. Simples.

When they first opened the staff were very strict about packing at the shelf and it didn't go down well. Simples.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

R.D. aka MR.D

I think they need big TVs above the tills that show you the proper way to do it. It should be like immigration in some countries, there is an instructional video playing while you wait telling you to have your passport ready etc.


I think a lot of people here are posting with experience of a down the country lidl/aldi. The Aldi and Lidl where I grew up is a more relaxed affair and the only people who are taking their sweet time are the people who decided to bring 5 kids along for the trip.

However, in Dublin, it's a free for all. People really do stupid things like let the cashier pile all the stuff up. Then they go to put it in their bag and then only after that do they attempt to pay after spending 10 minutes looking for their money.

Just the other day, I was in the baskets only queue (they have an express lane in my local Lidl) and there were 2 cashiers next to each other. One cashier managed to check out 4 customers in the time that it took the man at the cashier next to him to find his money.


I really don't know who these people are that don't have anything better to do with their lives than take their sweet time at the shop! How in the hell do you keep your money in such an inconvenient place that it takes longer than 1 minute to locate it? I feel like these are the kind of people who drive 50 on 80 road because they really have nowhere to be.

It's infuriating. After a long day at work, I want to get my shopping done as soon as possible!

Clampdown

freshpopcorn wrote: »

When they first opened the staff were very strict about packing at the shelf and it didn't go down well. Simples.

Exactly. Irish people, especially the older ones, have to dither about and talk sh!te at tills, when they're getting on and of buses, etc. The Germans realized if they want to take us all away from Tesco and Dunnes they would have to allow us to inform the cashier that it was indeed raining or what ever the time wasting eejits talk about up there, and not rush us along.

kurtainsider

I think that that whole idea of throwing all your messages back in the trolley and repacking at the window has failed in Ireland. I regularly go to 6 or 7 Lidl's and Aldi's and I don't see anyone do it anymore. Why should I double my handling of my shopping to facilitate these corporations? It's not as if they're giving the stuff away. That's my hard earned money I'm giving them.

What works in Germany doesn't necessarily work in Ireland.

BettePorter

R.D. aka MR.D wrote:

(they have an express lane in my local Lidl)

What's this now???? I thought all lidls and aldis were supposed to be the same!

Why do you have an express lane and I don't!? This is outrageous!

MrDiyFan

Why do they have Loud speakers Barking out announcements non stop about the tills.

And some of their food suxbigtime

SterlingArcher

MrDiyFan wrote: »

Why do they have Loud speakers Barking out announcements non stop about the tills.

And some of their food suxbigtime

Ha yeah they don't even have the quality horse meat.

extra gravy

Not everyone does a big shop and has a trolley. I might have 7 or 8 items at most so is it more efficient to make 2 or 3 trips carrying stuff to the bloody shelf when I can just pack them as they're being scanned? A bigger issue is those monstrosities of baskets they introduced. As someone who has regular back trouble bending up and down to put stuff into them is an absolute pain so I've started avoiding them altogether.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Clampdown wrote: »

Exactly. Irish people, especially the older ones, have to dither about and talk sh!te at tills, when they're getting on and of buses, etc. The Germans realized if they want to take us all away from Tesco and Dunnes they would have to allow us to inform the cashier that it was indeed raining or what ever the time wasting eejits talk about up there, and not rush us along.

You forgot to add the mother diddering with her 3 kids instead of packing or paying, or the endless queue of 30 something's who have to finish their phone calls while loading the conveyor and then their bags, with one hand up to their ear.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

extra gravy wrote: »

Not everyone does a big shop and has a trolley. I might have 7 or 8 items at most so is it more efficient to make 2 or 3 trips carrying stuff to the bloody shelf when I can just pack them as they're being scanned? A bigger issue is those monstrosities of baskets they introduced. As someone who has regular back trouble bending up and down to put stuff into them is an absolute pain so I've started avoiding them altogether.

I just use my bags rather than those ridiculous pull along baskets. Who came up with that bright idea?

whatdoicare

oh sweet jeebus, the amount of times I've internally screamed at an old doddery eedjit slowly placing each item carefully into their bag at a snails pace. It used to be only in Dunnes but it's happening now in Aldi! Do the till operators still get in trouble if their tills go too slow?

I've often seen those infamous middle aged women who we all know and hate just pretty much not even try to pack anything away, instead they'll let the whole till spill over and wait for the till operator to pack their bags- they do this all the time in Dunnes and Tesco and seem genuinely shocked that they can't pull that ****e in Aldi and Lidl.

I like the system that Aldi/Lidl has, you throw things into the trolly and if you have the skillz you can sort the stuff as you go into corners that go together so that when you pack it's all there in one area. Then you can take as much time as you like packing it away, I do it at the boot of the car, pack the bags straight into the car. Easy peasy.

freshpopcorn

extra gravy wrote: »

Not everyone does a big shop and has a trolley. I might have 7 or 8 items at most so is it more efficient to make 2 or 3 trips carrying stuff to the bloody shelf when I can just pack them as they're being scanned? A bigger issue is those monstrosities of baskets they introduced. As someone who has regular back trouble bending up and down to put stuff into them is an absolute pain so I've started avoiding them altogether.

I know those baskets are too deep and award to award to carry. We generally fill our large shopping bag in the basket and lift it out onto the checkout and empty it then instead of bending down to empty the basket!

P. Breathnach

Jeremias Brave Rower wrote: »

Efficiency for whom? Does efficiency for the individual customer count for nothing? No more sales will be made by everyone using the window sills.

Efficiency for me. I don't like having to wait longer in the line because people are wasting time - sometimes quite a lot of it.

And efficiency for the shop. Aldi and Lidl's low prices are predicated on low costs. This includes achieving a high throughput per operator at checkouts. If that is not achieved, costs rise, and you can expect a knock-on effect on prices.

The_Valeyard

I pack at the till.

Carefully place your items on the conveyer belt.

Have bags wide open.

Gets to your turn.


GAME ON.

freshpopcorn

P. Breathnach wrote: »

Efficiency for me. I don't like having to wait longer in the line because people are wasting time - sometimes quite a lot of it.

And efficiency for the shop. Aldi and Lidl's low prices are predicated on low costs. This includes achieving a high throughput per operator at checkouts. If that is not achieved, costs rise, and you can expect a knock-on effect on prices.

People are slower than ever in Lidl/Aldi now and their doing better than ever!

Fluffy Cat 88

spurious wrote: »

The window sills are where toddlers sit with their nappy seepage. I for one do not want my crusty cob contaminated.

That's why I pack my shopping into bags in the boot of my car. I never use that shelf. Their blasted "parents" would probably sue Aldi/Lidl if their precious spawnlings fell off the shelf too.

take everything

maximum12 wrote: »

The best bit about these German shops is racing the cashier. They know it, we know it.

If you get your stuff packed (heavy stuff first, light stuff last) leaving plenty time for a switcheroo of the passive aggressive "whenever you're ready" to the cashier, you get to leave like a boss.

Pac1Man

I look at the sill people with disdain. So weak. Goods should be bagged as soon as they are scanned apart from the last two items. Those can be bagged while the card is being processed.

How can we hope to advance while carrying these sillians? Blegh! Even mentioning their name makes me retch.

sdanseo

maximum12 wrote: »

Accountability for the cash in the till.

Easily fixed by Mary taking her till with her and Svetlana having a till to replace it with. If not, point a CCTV camera at every cash drawer - I worked in a company where they did this (with a comparable amount in each till and similar number of staff per store) but drawers were shared and never once heard of petty theft from a till.

foggy_lad

Ted111 wrote: »

Why do they constantly open and close check-outs. If Mary is going on a break and Svetlana is coming back then Mary stand up, take a step to the right and Svetlana sit down. Line keeps moving.

Patww79 wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Staff are doing other jobs and when the till(s) that are open start to back up a bell rings and someone goes from stacking shelves etc to opening another till for a while, then once the queues are reduced the extra till is closed again.

It is all about having all members of staff working at something for every minute of their working day.

Tigger

maximum12 wrote: »

Accountability for the cash in the till.

the cash box lifts out

LordSutch

dfeo wrote: »

I regularly go to a local Aldi and Lidl and in principle, the queuing system is excellent.

Lob your stuff on the conveyor belt, move to end of the checkout, your stuff is quickly scanned through and you (just as quickly) put the stuff back into the trolley and pay.

Move to the preparation window sill things at the end and repack and organise there.

What p1sses me off about Aldi and Lidls here is that most people are organising and packing at the end of the tills.
The whole mantra of Lidl and Aldi is efficiency, which thus translates into cheaper goods due to less dwell time and wasted time. There is no justification to have more tills open in Lidl / Aldi if people just copped on and stopped packing at the till.

THAT'S WHAT THE WINDOW SILLS ARE THERE FOR :mad:

I've been to Aldi and Lidl in Germany and the Netherlands and you'll get dirty looks for holding up the system. People there actually respect the system there.

Well said, I agree with you . . .

The only thing they're missing is a 'fast lane' for people with less than five items.

uck51js9zml2yt

I was in aldibin Portugal this year. Surprised me how slow the cashier was. Must have been the heat... anyway..I won

Autonomous Cowherd

I'm pretty good with pre-packing the conveyor belt at Lidl so that I can pack all into my pre-open bags in the trolley in order and on time. I did live in Germany though for a few years, yanno, so that probably explains my machine-like efficiency. BUT the Lidl conveyor belt is the one place and time in this whole world that I feel a certain creeping fear for what disasters and embarrassments might befall me when I get old...

snubbleste

Aldi have erected stickers on the windows stating "Please pack your bags here"

SuperS54

Last time I was in Lildi it was busy and there was a reasonable queue however 2 shoppers placed an empty trolley at the back of each queue and then proceeded to go on foraging runs into the aisles and back to their trolleys. A gentleman who skipped by one of the trolleys into the large gap that was opening up in front of it was harangued and branded a racist by one of the foragers before the trolley was rammed back in front of him...Perhaps they need that instructional video after all...

Dr.Winston O'Boogie

Its fairly straightforward to pack your stuff as it gets scanned down. Your always given enough time to get all your shopping onto the belt as there is a queue, then have your bags primed and ready to pack as the items arrive. I'd normally have one or two items left to pack as I'm paying, at which point I throw them into the trolley and move off.

Is the proper process to throw everything back into your trolley when they scan it, then move over to the window sill, and start packing? Sure you'd have all sorts of consternation if everyone was doing that. Seems like an awful waste of time as well while your standing there as they scan too.

somesoldiers

In Tesco in Maynooth shoppers can get a scan gun and are supposed to scan each item before packing it directly into your shopping bags in your trolley. Simply pay whatever balance is on the scanner before you leave....they do random checks to make sure it is working correctly ie. to prevent people putting the odd item in without scanning

http://www.tesco.com/scan-as-you-shop/

murpho999

The days of this scanning malrkey has to end. Hasn't advanced in 20 years.

Surely with RFID technology it could be possible to have your shopping already packed as you go along and then you just go to the till and the system automatically gives you your bill?

So no unpacking or scanning.

HeidiHeidi

somesoldiers wrote: »

In Tesco in Maynooth shoppers can get a scan gun and are supposed to scan each item before packing it directly into your shopping bags in your trolley. Simply pay whatever balance is on the scanner before you leave....they do random checks to prevent people putting the odd item in without scanning

http://www.tesco.com/scan-as-you-shop/

My local Supervalu has this as well.

It's really handy (except when half the store customers have chosen to do the same and the queue for the superscan till is three times longer than any of the ordinary tills ).

It's incredibly easy to get distracted and not scan something - I've caught myself accidentally nearly shoplifting a couple of times and live in fear that I'll wind up arrested some day!

I've also merrily gone around scanning all my own stuff and throwing it into the trolley, only to pitch up at the till and realise that I should have been throwing it into the bags - duh And Supervalu, unlike Aldi/Lidl, do not provide a convenient shelf for bag-packing amnesiacs......

exaisle

"Why should people pack AT the till when there's a preparation are for that very purpose. It wastes time and hold up everyone."

Aldi & Lidl's checkout system is only there to suit Aldi and Lidl. It's inefficient for the shoppers to have to bring their shopping to a separate area to pack. I'm not going to pack and unpack my stuff twice when I'm at the till so I just make them wait until everything is packed before I pay....even if they want to jump up and down on the spot...I'm not going to waste some of my time so they can save some of theirs...

The new "two lane" system in Lidl which is in operation in other shops works fine and is the most efficient model...Aldi should follow suit.

Capet

I use the bog blue IKEA bags. Have two of them ready in the trolley and then divide groceries between them at they are scanned. Saves having to repack stuff after putting it all in trolley. IKEA bags are great, much easier to put things into than normal bag for life

somesoldiers

Capet wrote: »

I use the bog blue IKEA bags. Have two of them ready in the trolley and then divide groceries between them at they are scanned. Saves having to repack stuff after putting it all in trolley. IKEA bags are great, much easier to put things into than normal bag for life

there was a lad on Irish Dragons Den a few years ago with a similar system to this, always meant to buy them but never got around to it


http://www.homestoreandmore.ie/gadgets/trolley-bags-original/invt/065661

dutopia

If you can get your items into bags in your trolley as fast as they're being scanned through, you're not holding up the line.

Badly Drunk Boy

dfeo wrote: »

It shouldn't though. Why should people pack AT the till when there's a preparation are for that very purpose. It wastes time and hold up everyone.

dbagman wrote: »

how hard is it to have your empty bags open in the trolley ready to go? I always pack at the till. whats the point in putting the stuff in the trolley twice?

Not everybody uses a trolley! How are you going to move your stuff to the window if you don't have a trolley unless you pack them?

artanevilla wrote: »

"Cash or card?"

I hate that. I've only noticed them saying that in Aldi where I rarely shop, so I'm never ready for it. Add in the usual foreign accent and I'm thinking "Wha'?".

Felix Jones is God wrote: »

I don't use a trolley,i fill my bags and then pack them as she scans them , I pay by card and I'm finished before the card is processed....
Fck the window sill !!

Same here (except I usually have a crisp €50 note ready for them). I quickly pack my stuff, hopefully perfectly, but if not, I then go to the window sill to re-arrange stuff. I've often had 20 items and taken less time than the person on front of me who only had 3 items. Some people are so bad at shopping!

Patww79 wrote: »

The till musical chairs really is puzzling in those shops. They probably have a valid reason but it just seems strange to randomly open and close them.

As others have said, it's because they each have their own cash-box.

HeidiHeidi

somesoldiers wrote: »

there was a lad on Irish Dragons Den a few years ago with a similar system to this, always meant to buy them but never got around to it


http://www.homestoreandmore.ie/gadgets/trolley-bags-original/invt/065661

Nifty!

Lux23

I pack at the till, it takes the same amount of time as it would packing at the window sill. What I always do is place my shopping on the conveyor belt in the order that I will pack them. This saves more time and I don't have to clog up the sill.

9or10

Mister Vain wrote: »

The self service machines in Tesco are crap and the loading trays are far too small. The ones in Supervalue work much better.

Waitrose is where its at. The only thing I miss, since moving back - and a decent curry

Igotadose

If we have a trolleys worth of stuff, we just load into the trolley, roll away and bag it up. If less, we bag at the till. If the Lidl's particularly busy when we arrive, we get a trolley no matter what.

Maybe they can get with the old times and, *horror*, hire baggers. Then we can all whinge about slow checkers. But they can implement 'checker acceleration programs', perhaps electric collars, to get them moving fast.

+1 to the poster about not having self-service. Self service machines are a joke, meltdown all the fecking time.

And if there's one thing that's most annoying at Lidl, is that people don't push the dividers down the little narrow slot so that people at the rear of the lines can get their stuff onto the conveyor belt. I regularly find myself walking over to one of the closed tills to grab a few of 'em and them put them out.

jester77

You are all doing it wrong, forget your shopping bags. Trust me, I've being living in Germany over 15 years. The shopping bags will just slow you down, they collapse, most often you will need more than 1 so you will be fumbling to get the next one open, it's awkward to get certain items into them as they catch on the sides and so on. Too much lost time in the race to avoid having the next persons shopping landing on top of yours.

What you need is the collapsable shopping box, similar to this. You just leave it at the bottom of your trolley while shopping and once everything is loaded on the belt you give a quick flick of the wrists and you are ready to fill it. It is compact, folds out quickly and is much easier to carry and load into and out of your car, plus it won't fall over and let things fall out.

Then the secret is the place all the larger objects on the belt first and the objects that have a natural form. So fruit and vegetable would be last and can rest on top of the glasses and cartons. You will always be as quick as the cashier when you do this.

Graham

exaisle wrote: »

Aldi & Lidl's checkout system is only there to suit Aldi and Lidl.

Which in turn suits the Aldi and Lidl customers because they don't have to cover the cost of staff waiting while customers pack..........

exaisle wrote: »

I'm not going to pack and unpack my stuff twice when I'm at the till so I just make them wait until everything is packed

unless you're shopping.

snubbleste

Igotadose wrote: »

......And if there's one thing that's most annoying at Lidl, is that people don't push the dividers down the little narrow slot so that people at the rear of the lines can get their stuff onto the conveyor belt. I regularly find myself walking over to one of the closed tills to grab a few of 'em and them put them out.

Just throw your stuff on the belt and then put the divider in place.

HeidiHeidi

Igotadose wrote: »

And if there's one thing that's most annoying at Lidl, is that people don't push the dividers down the little narrow slot so that people at the rear of the lines can get their stuff onto the conveyor belt. I regularly find myself walking over to one of the closed tills to grab a few of 'em and them put them out.

If that's the biggest problem you have, you're not too badly off

vandriver

Mister Vain wrote: »

The self service machines in Tesco are crap and the loading trays are far too small. The ones in Supervalue work much better.

Wander into Super Valu Churchtown for a masterclass in how awful self service machines can really be.