Fair enough. Bit shocking as a European that a discounter that’s known to put enormous pressure on staff, is regarded as very good practice on the other side of the pond… Sure Aldi pays their staff well but they also time and micromanage cashierd for how many seconds it takes per scanned product for example
Coincidentally, from what I’ve heard, Aldi prints the barcode on all sides of the packaging, so the cashier doesn’t have to look for it. (Idk myself as there’s no Aldi where I am.)
Yes. Part of the reason it seems shocking to me that they are considered good practice in USA is things like this. Although the barcode thing is good and harmless, they try to make every little thing milliseconds faster, the cashiers at aldi don’t do small talk, they don’t have the time. If they are too slow at scanning, they get fired or that’s the rumour at least. They recently also started splitting cash registry, so they can process even more costumers per minute and must be even more of a robot and less of a human… At many other supermarkets, the cashiers know their customers, have small talk about the weather or the kids or so. Aldi kind of forbids it without literally forbidding it because forbidding would probably not be legal.
I mean, I don’t have a problem with the barcode thing since it saves empty effort of twisting the package around in one’s hand looking for the barcode. It’s a great design solution eliminating a small frustration that occurs hundreds of times a day. I’d be glad if my local supermarkets had that on the stuff I take to self-checkout.
Currently my only significant options are national chains like Walmart & Dollar stores which are well known for being bad for their employees AND their communitees. Many of the employees of the former are paid poorly enough they require government assistance to afford groceries from the store they work at.
I’ve lived places with Wincos/Costcos & Market Baskets and those are much mote reasonable places that I’d compare with Aldi. The chairs thing is real when looking at piece of shit places like Walmart & Dollar stores - but I dont remember if MB &| Winco offers chairs to their employees.
There are often larger local chains that can be marginally better (food lion, tops, etc) but often their prices & selection won’t beat out walmart.
Aldi is a nice breath of fresh air for the customers.
I don’t know any employees personally, so I can’t vouch if they are treated significantly better than other stores like Market Basket/Winco.
Fair enough. Bit shocking as a European that a discounter that’s known to put enormous pressure on staff, is regarded as very good practice on the other side of the pond… Sure Aldi pays their staff well but they also time and micromanage cashierd for how many seconds it takes per scanned product for example
Coincidentally, from what I’ve heard, Aldi prints the barcode on all sides of the packaging, so the cashier doesn’t have to look for it. (Idk myself as there’s no Aldi where I am.)
Yes; it’s on at least 2-3 sides of all Aldi Branded products so they can scan faster.
Yes. Part of the reason it seems shocking to me that they are considered good practice in USA is things like this. Although the barcode thing is good and harmless, they try to make every little thing milliseconds faster, the cashiers at aldi don’t do small talk, they don’t have the time. If they are too slow at scanning, they get fired or that’s the rumour at least. They recently also started splitting cash registry, so they can process even more costumers per minute and must be even more of a robot and less of a human… At many other supermarkets, the cashiers know their customers, have small talk about the weather or the kids or so. Aldi kind of forbids it without literally forbidding it because forbidding would probably not be legal.
I mean, I don’t have a problem with the barcode thing since it saves empty effort of twisting the package around in one’s hand looking for the barcode. It’s a great design solution eliminating a small frustration that occurs hundreds of times a day. I’d be glad if my local supermarkets had that on the stuff I take to self-checkout.
I’m also EU, I’m going from what I’ve heard from an American friend that works there
Rural-ish American who’s moved a bit -
Currently my only significant options are national chains like Walmart & Dollar stores which are well known for being bad for their employees AND their communitees. Many of the employees of the former are paid poorly enough they require government assistance to afford groceries from the store they work at.
I’ve lived places with Wincos/Costcos & Market Baskets and those are much mote reasonable places that I’d compare with Aldi. The chairs thing is real when looking at piece of shit places like Walmart & Dollar stores - but I dont remember if MB &| Winco offers chairs to their employees.
There are often larger local chains that can be marginally better (food lion, tops, etc) but often their prices & selection won’t beat out walmart.
Aldi is a nice breath of fresh air for the customers.
I don’t know any employees personally, so I can’t vouch if they are treated significantly better than other stores like Market Basket/Winco.
I try to buy from local farmers where possible, but thats not always easy nor possible for some things.
Nor reasonably priced. Helpful to the farmer, yes, but pricy.