Mums outraged over problem with Aldi checkouts
A group of mums have slammed Aldi supermarkets for not installing express lanes in stores for customers to purchase groceries.
Posting in the Aldi Mums Facebook group, one woman revealed she felt intimidated by customers lining up at the register behind her with only a few items while she loaded her haul of groceries onto the conveyor belt.
“... the dirty looks I got when I filled up the conveyor belt at Aldi by other impatient customers, who thought it was the end of the world that someone was doing a big shop, was phenomenal,” she wrote.
“Aldi needs an express lane for the grumps who basically want to shiv you like a prison line for smokes in commissary, because they want to get ahead.
“Who knew that people shopped big at Aldi? I have three kids ... four if you include my husband.”
Hordes of people agreed, saying they had similar experiences in the discount supermarket.
“I feel ya (sic) pain. I shop every fortnight as I get paid that way. My trolley is usually full...” one said.
“So I let in a few people while I’m stacking just so the lane goes faster. But my bug is when a person rocks up behind me puts their stuff on, when I’m [halfway] through.”
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Another claimed: “I do a fortnightly shop and I’m sure I piss off at least 10 shoppers by having the conveyor belt full.”
One said just last week she told the manager of her local Aldi store they needed an express lane for those with 12 items or less.
“Can’t be that hard,” she said.
Would express checkouts work in Aldi?
Research from the Journal of Applied Business Research analysed the effectiveness of express checkouts and determined they were used to “reduce expected wait time of small-buying customers”.
The research compared the wait time and queue length of express lanes and universal lanes and discovered the lines for express lanes may not always be shorter due to pooling servers, a number of checkout workers serving from the same queue.
“The queue length of express checkout lanes may be shorter than that of universal checkout lanes, but in some cases, the average queue length of separated checkout lanes is longer than that of universal checkout lanes, probably due to the effect of pooling servers,” the research says.
However, the research found when the arrival rate of customers was high and the regular service time was long, average queue length could be reduced by having express checkout lanes.
An Aldi spokeswoman told Yahoo News Australia its checkouts were known for efficiency and speed and the current format met the needs of shoppers.
“Shopping at Aldi is a unique experience, but one that we are proud of,” Aldi said in a statement.
“We constantly review our processes and are open to receiving customer feedback to ensure we continue to deliver exceptional value and great service to our customers.”
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