Aldi shopper’s controversial hack for slowing checkout cashiers notorious for their breakneck speed
- A shopper has divided opinion with her trick for slowing the checkout at Aldi
- Staff are notorious for scanning at top speed, leaving customers scrambling
- But one woman claims to have solved the problem by spacing out her groceries
- She loads them onto the belt 30cm apart – but not everyone is convinced
- Her trick has been widely slammed as ‘selfish’, ‘childish’ and ‘annoying’
A shopper’s controversial technique for slowing the checkout process at Aldi supermarkets has divided opinion on social media.
Aldi employees are notorious for scanning groceries at breakneck speed, leaving customers frantically scrambling to keep up.
But one woman claims to have solved the problem by spacing each item about 30cm apart on the conveyor belt.
Sharing her hack in an Australian Facebook community group, the woman said doing so gives her more time to pack her shopping at the end of the checkout – but not everyone is convinced.
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A shopper’s controversial technique for slowing the checkout process at Aldi by spacing items 30cm apart on the conveyor belt has divided opinion on social media
A photo of her ‘spaced out’ conveyor belt has sparked heated debate since it was uploaded online, with critics accusing her of being ‘selfish’, ‘annoying’ and ‘childish’.
‘If you are selfish enough to do that I hope they really throw them at you,’ one person replied.
‘You don’t need to do stupid things like this if you just follow the rules,’ said a second, while a third added: ‘Meanwhile, there are 20 customers behind you.’
Others slammed the shopper for trying to pack her bags at the checkout and holding up the queue as a result.
‘Stop trying to pack your bags at the checkout. Put your groceries back into your trolley after they’ve been scanned and pack them at the packing area like you’re supposed to,’ one person wrote.
Another added: ‘People like you packing their bag at the register [are] so annoying and selfish. Try packing at the bench like everyone else.’
But some supported the idea, calling it ‘genius’ and telling critics they need to ‘lighten up’.
‘Great idea. Might try it next time I don’t feel like taking on the ALDI ninja fast cashiers lol,’ one person wrote.
Many slammed the shopper for trying to pack her bags at the checkout and holding up the queue as a result. Pictured: A sign in Aldi that instructs customers to pack on the bench
In the early days of the pandemic in April 2020, an Aldi employee revealed checkout staff scan groceries at breakneck speed because they are being timed by store managers who constantly monitor their productivity.
Brooke Hoskin, a shop assistant at a Sydney branch of the German-owned discount supermarket chain, shared a TikTok video explaining that workers are timed on how quickly they scan items and move on to the next customer.
While there is no minimum scanning speed, staff observed to be overly relaxed about their duties could be reprimanded, an unwelcome prospect given Aldi’s famously attractive pay packets.
The retail giant advertised graduate area manager positions with a starting salary of $90,700 in February 2020 – more than the starting salaries of doctors, dentists, optometrists and engineers.
According to Graduate Careers Australia’s 2015 report, dentistry and optometry had median starting salaries of $80,000, followed by medicine on $65,000 and education on $61,000.
In January 2018 Aldi advertised management positions for six-figure salaries between $101,000 and $155,000 with no retail experience required.
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