this post was submitted on 02 Jan 2026
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[โ€“] skisnow@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I love several of their business decisions such as the quarter for a cart, allowing customers to take excess boxes to reduce clean up, and they let their cashiers sit.

I find this comment hilarious since all the things youโ€™ve described are commonplace in all supermarkets across most of Europe, and youโ€™re talking about them like theyโ€™re some innovation of Aldiโ€™s.

[โ€“] Knightfox@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

They're not so much "innovations" but rather just frugal decisions in my opinion. By doing the quarter for a cart thing they insure people return their carts to the front without an employee. In other stores an employee just goes to collect them from the lot. By allowing people to take the boxes you reduce the number of bags used at checkout and you need less employees to remove the boxes from the shelves.

These aren't ground breaking ideas, they are things which make sense in a capitalist world to minimize costs while being efficient. That said they are also contributing factors to why Aldi feels like a discount store in comparison to other stores. As a consumer I don't mind the extra hurdles going to Aldi evokes, but if I'm going to Aldi I already am taking a step down in "quality" by US terms.

[โ€“] skisnow@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

These arenโ€™t ground breaking ideas

My point is that these weren't Aldi's ideas to begin with.

[โ€“] TheOakTree@lemmy.zip 0 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

I'm struggling to see where the person you replied you ever suggested that it was Aldi's original idea. It was Aldi's decision to keep those things, which are common in Europe, in a market where it is not common (US).

I love several of their business decisions

Not

I love Aldi's idea of [insert list]

That is the point they are making.

[โ€“] skisnow@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Sure, and the point I'm making is that it's amusing to see from the perspective of anyone for whom those things are the standard. I didn't say they said anything, I said they were talking about it as though it was an innovation.