Aldi Just Weighed In—Are Stores Really Doing Away With Cashiers?

Is checkout changing forever?

There’s one thing we can always trust Aldi for: saving money. The grocery prices are low—the copycat items in the “aisle of shame” come in at half the price as name-brand competitors—and that’s because Aldi is committed to cutting costs from the top.

Aldi has an airtight strategy for its trickle-down pricing. That’s why the stores don’t play music, don’t have phones, and don’t offer too many options for the same product. Unlike some stores, Aldi isn’t trying to trick you into spending more money on its products—it wants you to get in and out as quickly as possible. And now, there's a new system that may make that process even faster.

Aldi's New ALDIgo Checkout System

Aldi is constantly innovating to make the shopping experience quicker and easier, especially when it comes to checking out. Some stores have already implemented self-checkout in addition to normal cashier-led checkout lanes. And, recently, the German grocery chain announced that it will be testing a new technology that skips the checkout process altogether.

Back in February, the store announced new ALDIgo technology that allows customers to skip the checkout line by tracking what’s in their cart using AI. Customers will shop as normal, adding their favorite items to the cart, then they can either pay at the Grabango pay station or using the Grabango app without even having to scan or remove any items from the buggy.

It’s similar to Sam’s Club’s Scan And Go technology, which allows shoppers to scan items as they add them to their cart, then pay on their phone before leaving, or Amazon’s Just Walk Out tech, which lets customers walk out with items then automatically charges their Amazon account.

However, if you’re someone who prefers checking out with a real-live cashier, there’s no need to fear. Unlike its $.25-cent cart policy (which is in place to ensure Aldi doesn’t have to hire another employee just to retrieve buggies from the parking lot all day), the grocery store doesn’t have any plans to get rid of its cashiers. Instead, the ALDIgo tech is just another option for checking out.

Additionally, the tech isn’t even hitting all Aldi locations. It’s only now being at tested at a single suburban location in Chicago. That means the other 2371 locations throughout the U.S. are still operating as normal—and will be for the foreseeable future, Aldi told Allrecipes in a statement. Aldi disclosed that it doesn’t have plans to expand the tech any further just yet.

"ALDI has launched ALDIgo, a checkout-free shopping experience that utilizes Grabango technology, at one of its Chicago-area grocery stores. ALDI is continuously looking for new ways to be innovative and provide a best-in-class experience for its shoppers, and this is one example of that in action. While we are excited to see our customers engage with the technology, we don't have any information to share regarding expansion at this time," according to a statement Aldi.

So whether or not you like the idea of checking out with AI, you’ll have plenty of time before it even hits a store near you.

Read the original article on All Recipes.