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ALDI are introducing their first ever self-service registers

How do you feel about the change?
Portrait headshot of digital editor Tahni Mesann of Better Homes and Gardens Writer
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If you’re a frequent ALDI shopper, you’ll know there’s no time to flip through the latest magazines while the cashier neatly packs your groceries into reusable bags. The ALDI checkout process – which involves the operator scanning and hurling items at breakneck speed as you pack your own bags – gets your blood pumping.

WATCH: Jo Carmichael of All Sorted Out demonstrates how to fold grocery bags neatly

Despite the already streamlined and efficient process, ALDI Store Operations Director, Robert Eichfeld this week unveiled the first ever self-service checkout in the inner-Sydney suburb of Darlinghurst.

“Since Self-Checkouts entered the Australian grocery sector, we’ve been watching with keen interest the convenience they provide customers as well as the value and efficiencies they drive for business,” he says.

Nine more stores across New South Wales will receive self-service checkouts in the coming months.  

ALDI self serve checkouts Darlinghurst
The self-serve checkouts at Darlinghurst ALDI. (Credit: ALDI) (Credit: ALDI)

For more than a decade after Woolworths and Coles launched self-serve checkouts, ALDI set themselves apart by honouring the wants and needs of their customers, who they assert in their ‘First time shoppers guide’ “have told us they prefer face-to-face interactions.”

While ALDI have not offered a reason for the backflip, Robert says the new technology will allow store workers to spend less time at registers, and more time stocking shelves and assisting customers.

Couple at ALDI checkout
ALDI is known for its swift checkout process. (Credit: ALDI) (Credit: ALDI)

ALDI to launch shopping baskets

Another quirk unique to the ALDI supermarkets is the lack of shopping baskets – a problem Robert says is about to become a thing of the past. “We’ll also be introducing ALDI baskets in all trial stores to aid these small and quick shops.”

Whether you personally love or hate self-serve checkouts, Darlinghurst shoppers have embraced the change. “Feedback from the first day was overwhelmingly positive with more than half of our customers opting to use the new self-checkouts,” says Robert.

The announcement comes just weeks after ALDI announced their long-awaited foray into online shopping. Shoppers can now purchase an exclusive range of Special Buys online via the supermarket’s website.

Portrait headshot of digital editor Tahni Mesann of Better Homes and Gardens
Writer Tahni Mesann Digital Editor

Digital editor Tahni Mesann has been obsessed with interior design and writing for as long as she can remember. She followed these passions first into formal education (graduating from The University of Sydney with a BA in Media and Communications) and then into her career as an interiors journalist, where she has contributed to the digital arm of almost every homes title in the country including Better Homes and Gardens, Home Beautiful, Australian House & Garden, Belle, Inside Out, Homes to Love and more. When Tahni isn’t writing about celebrity homes or the latest cleaning hack, you can find her hunting for things she’ll never buy on Facebook Marketplace or listening to a record on a 70s-era turntable restored by her dad.

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