WHY Americans Don't Understand Aldi 

You make a lot of great points. Thank you for sharing your perspective, especially as someone who has worked these jobs

German person here, "I do not understand why being able to ask employees a question makes us stupid and/or lazy", I don't think it does, either :D It's often enough I run around the store trying to catch some employee to ask something! But of course it comes at a price, Aldi probably couldn't be as cheap as they are if they employed enough people to reliably have someone available to answer customer questions.

The reason for the coins is that Germans love their cash money. Everyone carries it around. So it's almost never an issue in Germany. They fail to realize that the world is changing around them though. Cash is becoming more and more of a legacy product. So yeah, I can fully understand the complaints in those reviews.

@@g3n3r3x Absolutely. Plus - I think lumping all the german grocery chains together is not correct. REWE & EDEKA for example are much more like the typical american grocery store. Well - minus the small talk ;)

I worked at a regular grocery store and was a Bagger and got carts and it is true alot of times we were short staffed also liked getting carts but I prefer so much working at aldi even though I do feel like I break my back there the extra services grocery stores give to customers in América made me feel like it goes way over there head they become spoiled want the World from you and make request alot of times in a rude way like your their servant and I don't miss bagging but eventhough my old store was under staff it does not compare to the pressure of aldi and I like your point of view but being in both set ups I prefer the European set up much more

I agree. Anyone like me who has ever had back problems knows it is torture to stand still for hours! If I walk around I'm not so bad but if I stand up long in one spot I'm dead meat.

Barbaric and completely unnecessary when people bag their own stuff.

Yea they do and I think most Americans other then old people would agree with you but the corporate makes them.

My sister worked at a grocery store in the US for a summer. They were forced to stand during their whole shift, they weren't even allowed to lean on anything. She was complaining every evening that her back hurt, despite being a young adult with no prior back problems. US unemployment rates are low compared to Europe, but the price is laborers' rights...

My friend works in an Australian grocery store and does the self serve area. They have to spend the entire stift walking around in a figure 8 pattern seeing if people need help. Gets the steps in at least. I do love aldi though

Yeah xD I saw so many videos of people living in other countries and saw videos of people who came to Germany and ooof .... Also some things that didn't got mentioned in this video is the difference to other types of German grocery stores compared to Aldi. I'm from Germany and live here my whole life. We have a lot stores from other chains here like LIDL, Netto,... who are very similiar to Aldi wich means small stores, just a small hand of brand items but many non-brand stuff, random shelfs in the middle of the store who have offers like one week its DVDs, the next week its "As seen on TV" the next week they sell stationary,... you know what I mean and we here in Germany call them "Discounter" and you really see why. It's not only cause the non-brand stuff is cheaper as brand-items but also the brand-items they sell are often (not allways) a bit cheaper. So for example a supermarket has a brand of chocolate for lets say 1€ it could be that the same chocolate in the discounter is 0,98€ and so on. Similiar to Aldi all stores also have a section for baked goods so there will be a small maybe 1,5m tall oven where they head up the whole breads and all 1 or 2 times a day per type of pasty or bread they sell so you get fresh breads in the morning and sometimes even around noon. Other than that you just find shelfs of the different food items and even a small selection on stuff like diapers, periodpads, deospray, shampoo,... some discounter even sell makeup like each piece 1-2€ etc. and a small selection of food for animals and so on. Mostly all stores also have a shelf with cigaretes (depending on it you eighter ask the cashier to open the front so you can grab a pack or you have to press a button on a mashine and than the pack of cigaretes comes out) or single wraped candy like 1 single kinderriegel or bubble gum etc. sometimes even stuff like toothbrushes, condoms, pregnancytests, cheap glasses, cheap colectable toys,... next to the cashregister. Many stores also use the shelfs next to the cashregister to display giftcards or cards for when you have a mobile phone so you can buy the card and than have enough money on your phone to call someone again etc. If we go now away from that there are the normal type supermarkets. First of all : Do not trust the Americans who visited Germany and pretend that ALL supermarkets would be tiny. Sure our stores are not ass HUGE as those in America, but there are still a lot stores that are quit big. You will often find the very large grocerystores in Germany eighter in big cities cause of cause the more people, the more food has to be sold or what I noticed since coming around Germany a bit that the super large stores are also often in the industrial area cause the halls are large that the store can rent or if the city happens to have a big mall outside the city than they place a bigger supermarket next to it cause large malls atrackt many people to visit and mostly such people think at the end of the day "how about I pick up some bread and don't have to go to the supermarket tomorrow when I'm allready here..." The larger supermarkets have often also a big shelf for stuff you can eat on the go (yes people in Germany eat on the streets while walking around and even eat in the train or when waiting for the bus etc. ( you can eat in pruplic transportation only in the train, because its considered rude to eat in the bus. The rule in Germany IDK why is that you might take a long trip in the train and just a short one in the bus so they say its ok to eat in the train cause nobody knows how long you have been traveling allready). Some popular items to take with you from these kind of shelfs are milk coffe drinks, milk shakes, smoothies, small salads, sushi, even single packed boiled eggs sometimes. Also you find in the supermarkets larger areas for baked goods, often even a meat or cheese counter, sections for medicine or stationary, sometimes depending on the store size they might even have sections to sell a small selection of decorations or clothes or even games and toys. Popular for "very large" grocerystores where you find almost everything from food to toys to makeup and even sometimes bycicles would be for example REAL (REAL-Einmal hin, alles drin). The store is so big that you might forget where you got the items last time from or if its your first time going there you think "huh... all this cheese but where do I find some yoghurt?" cause its more as in most stores. Even tho REAL is very big other stores can be big too even tho its not as big as REAL. The biggest store in the town I curently life is a KAUFLAND and its from what I was used to from where I grew up a big change cause the store is larger as the stores in the town I lifed before. BTW if you think German stores had only small selections of items, than you are wrong. Especially when it comes to gummy candy, chocolate, cookies, meat and yoghurt you will find in most stores sooooooo much different types and brands and stuff. Oh and mostly if a supermarket sells stuff like sandwichbread but has no isle for baked goods than there will be often a bakery inside the supermarket too so you can get other types of bread. Also a thing is that some malls here in Germany also have grocerystores inside. In the town I live there is a mall in the city center with like 20 stores in it and one is a grocery store wich is the main reason for people to even go there (other than that the town is pretty dead IDK why but all shops are empty. Some people say its 1) the fault of the people who build the mall cause since it exist all shops closed down and some stores moved inside the mall 2) because a lot cities with 110-500K citizen are very close so people preffer to go shoping somewhere else)

Amen for this. They are odd not rest of world.

​@@ACEsParkJunheeWreckedMeHard Du bist mir ein wenig (that's mean a lot of)(thats i'm editing) zu deutsch! Warum sind wir deutschen so? Ich verstehe es nicht! Du musst nicht immer recht haben! So ein Kommentar ist einfach peinlich! Ich konnte das nicht mal komplett antun! I hate this German Mentality!

i agree with you completly and I am from Southamerica! (Argentina)

@@ACEsParkJunheeWreckedMeHard Though REAL is the biggest kind of store in germany they aren't even as big as a regular walmart in the US. In my town the real is aactually in the buidling that was a walmart back in the day, but there's also a saturn and some other stores in there. Globus is also pretty big.

Walmart ignored working rights and had no idea what customers expected. Germans don't want to be "welcomed" when entering, they are able to pack their groceries themselves and don't need any help. Furthermore, people in Germany don't really like that superficial kind of friendlyness. We are usually friendly to the cashiers by saying hello smiling, thanks.etc. We don't want be be asked personal things like how we were doing as no cashier is really interested at all and it's just an empty phrase although I grew up in an anglosaxon commonwealth country. I have never understood the sense of small talk, especially not when in the Supermarket. I buy what I need and then I'm always very keen to pay and get out as quickly as possible. I go to a supermarket to buy food, no more and no less.

They also violated anti-Monopoly laws with their predatory pricing practices. And in general were absolute clowns who had no idea about the market they tried to enter. Walmart's german venture was essentially a giant pile of hubris, arrogance and ignorance.

Walmart is garbage

Your country is guilty of sending your products to China to have them made. The once great Germany is now leading the woke community and climate change hoax.

I don't like the sound of that, I think I might try to find an Aldi when I go.

Maybe it makes Europeans feel like children, but in the U.S. it is just good old fashioned American customer service Mike of Korea, We invented Supermarkets , so it is the rest of the world that is wierd not the U.S. By the way bagging groceries and collecting the carts gave me a job as a teenager 150 dollars a week.. I had my own money not bad and I'd take that over the rest of the worlds way of doing things in Supermarkets..

That's because Americans ARE children...

@@umutkarzai9190 One can make money at a supermarket as a teenager in Europe too. You just do other things (stock-up, cleaning, work at the cash register).

@@eknaap8800 Well, Those children have kept Europe from erupting into war by keeping the REAL CHILDREN from starting a new World War Europeans have a long history of causing wars and dragging the whole world into their wars!! Why do you think the the U.S. still has more than 399,999 troops in Germany and in other parts of Europe! Children don't produce unemployment rates as low as 3.4% such as it was just, before covid-19.. Maybe you should look at yourself, before calling other names, maybe your projecting your nature and actions onto others.. Europeans also have a tendency to do that as well..

Normal day in germany

Thats what i thougt. Are all Americans like 3 year old Kids? Please take my Hand and Show me what to Do... Im soooooo lost. Greetings from germany. 😂😀

Gosh we do learn a lot of independency in Germany if you think about it, especially if you have parents who are like: "Oh, you are 18 now? GOod Luck surviving, we are no longer obligated to support you in any way :)" (Spoiler: Actually most of the time they still are)

You mean employees not customers

​@Rita Roork One would think the America saves the world meme would get a bit stale after 75 years. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Laura you have a bit of that in the UK and it’s quite nice actually. That’s the one things that I would bring from the US. I don’t like vendors to talk to me while I am browsing but when it comes to ask or to pay it’s very nice and you feel connected to people around you.

Because they're a human being and not a robot? American here.

But why fill the air with sensless talk, that has no deeper meaning attached to it anyway? Never made sense to me, im not making friends there, i'm buying food. Nice, quick greeting and a smile should be enough for both sides.

@@JGirDesu Absolutely. Nothing frustrates more than to go an entire day working around people who never speak to you at all. It makes you feel like a lower-class person unworthy to be spoken to. I also hate when people give you their money or take their change as if they're afraid to touch your hands at all.

I live in London and while the big shops always have different employees working there and whatnot, the smaller tesco express or co-op down the road is staffed by a handful of people that you see often and you might talk a bit and know them by name.

I shop at several different types of grocery stores, depending on who has the best sales. First, there are NEVER more cashiers than you need. Usually, there are several checkout lanes that are closed. Most stores don't have baggers anymore; either the cashier bags the items, or the customer does. No one I know cares about small talk, but it's often mandatory for the employee to do it because corporate thinks it makes the store look friendlier. I shop at Aldi, and while they have many good deals, they also have a very, very small meat section, and they don't keep their vegetables and fruits cool, which means they probably toss out a lot more for spoilage than the stores that do keep their produce cool. And their prices overall are not THAT much less than the average supermarket.

@@hodgeelmwood8677 About the only small talk you get these days is "did you find everything?" and they don't care if you did or not, no one says thank you anymore. As for customer service desks, they're not twiddling their thumbs, they're working harder than anyone else in the store.

Hodge Elmwood, You are crazy, the prices at Aldi's are nearly half the prices at the regular super markets. Their meat and produce selections make not be as bountiful as the regular market, but everything one needs is there, and at a very high quality.

You don't need to refrigerate most produce, especially not in an air conditioned store. That's another weird American thing.

@@athleticguy15 I have been to Aldi on a few occasion, but I have NEVER found anything in there with prices any different than I have at Food Lion. Hell, it's the reason why I first decided to try going there.

So, muricans can't bag their own shopping?!?

@@sablatnic8030 apparently not seeing as half the reviews bitch about having to do it for themselves

@@sablatnic8030 the supermarkets in America the cashier or bag people bag the groceries. It is part of the service supermarkets provide.

@@eduardocruz4341 There is only the costumer to pay for that service, except most of the employees aren't paid a living wage anyway! In the rest of the world people would rather pack their purchases themselves to avoid heavy stuff on top of fragile stuff, frozen stuff with things ruined by frost etc!

@@sablatnic8030 I am just stating what is done in American supermarkets. The bagging of groceries is done by the store employees. And for the most part, they are pretty good in separating groceries appropriately when bagging them at least in my experience.

Juist ja, De Albert heijn is gvd geen buurthuis. Niet lullen maar poetsen :p

Same in Lithuania

@Lumiel not really. my mom is Portuguese but my father is Dutch. And Aldi, looks the same in both countries. i avoid it like the plague cause usually its located very far from the city or around. For example, jumbo and Albert heijn look like the typical american supermarket.

@@DForce26 Best part of the Netherlands is albert heijn

Same in here/Poland:)

thats just an opportunity to do a friendly race against a professional. a bit of competition is always fun

I have become faster over time, but they still beat me. I usually hang at only one or two items, and in that moment I loose the race XD

Me, a German, totally understands this. 😅

Yeah I really miss the Swedish check outs when I go to a German supermarket, in Sweden we have the same kind of mechanised band where you put your groceries at the front of check out, but when the cashier has scanned the barcode or weighed your vegetables, they put you wares down another band down into a big catch up area that is divided into either 2 or 3 sections so you can take your time to pack everything while the cashier has moved onto next customer, the cashier just uses the next section of the catch up area to put next customer's wares. Same speed as in German supermarkets from the cashier but you don't feel like you have to be a speeddemon to keep up.

ah yes the race against time, as the aldi cashier swoops item over item over the desk, faster than your hands can grab and bag them and then you pay and do your best to grab everything, even still unpacked items and waddle away, making space for the next customer, to an empty space to pack them right :,)

I am american and I do not care for small talk. Hello and please and thank you are about all i care to engage in. I like the employee to focus on their job so i can focus on mine, paying, packing and getting the heck outta there as soon as possible. It appears to me that folk that want to chit chat are either lonely, or need validation of some sort. Or they are nosey. Not my thing...

Ich mache meine Schülerinnen und Schüler schon auf diesen small talk aufmerksam, aber ich würde mich hüten, so etwas Sinnloses einüben zu lassen. Die Kids sollen nur wissen, dass es so einen Schwachsinn in den USA und in UK gibt, sollten sich aber definitif diese oberflächen Phrasen nicht aneignen, sondern nur verstehen und weiterhin "ehrlich" bleiben. Stupid ist nur ein abgemilderter Ausdruck für das Phänomen.

@@kathyw4212 Still a strange thing that something like small talk even exists in the USA. I always thought it was a British thing. Meaningless small talk .. to some extent really funny ;).

Thing is that genuine chat is not minded, its when you know its entirely fake because it's part of a job requirement that you hate it.

Not in Switzerland 😂 When they opened the first Aldi in my town i was shocked. Aldi sucks^^ its cheap but the quality is terrible

Nah, Delhaize, Colruyt and Carrefour are a lot different

In Denmark we kinda like it a bit more - messy, I guess? 😂 Doing nice rebranding here, though. It looks less Soviet style now, much better! 👍

@@lucasmosching8983 But the biggest difference it the stock and how it is showcased. There is still no one to greet you or pack your bags ect.

In Italy they're just like that lol

Polina Ogboh there’s people who are greeters dumbass

I'd find it strange if someone greeted me at the supermarket. I'm there to do my shopping not check into a hotel. Lol

@@rtsharlotte also.. workers do greet you when you pass them

Where do you live? No one in America gets mad when there isn’t a greeter. Everyone knows they’re not necessary it’s just a way to give people with disabilities a job.

i guess it's because the US has more citizens which makes needs for more job places

@@reynaswaffle That's actually not true. The US has about 331 million people, the EU about 447 millions. (and there's still european states that aren't members of the EU) I always used to think the US had more people because it's so big, and was surprised when I found out by chance it was the other way round. Europe's density is just a lot higher. ... unless of course you were talking about just Germany, which has a population of about 80 million.

Have you even been to the US before? How can you generalize a country of 330 million people occupying an enormous piece of land? As someone who lives here and has been to Germany before, I clearly see the issue: Americans value service. Germans value efficiency. We do what works for us. You do what works for you. We know how to board the subway/metro in an orderly fashion. In Germany, they just smash into each other like it's life-or-death. That works for you all but not us (Montreal even has lines on the floor showing you where to stand).

Employee rights in the US are very limited. You aren’t off the mark with your question.

American corporations are practicing various forms of slavery more and more. Many large corporations actually practice slavery - that is the actual law they intentionally break - by forcing workers to work off of the clock - or get fired. Target and Hobby Lobby have been prosecuted, lost and received a slap on their hands as punishment for this illegal behavior. As a Dollar Tree employee for a short time, I was told I would work 10 hours a week for free or be fired. Other corporations are forcing employees to sign contracts giving up their rights to breaks and mealtimes that are mandated by law. The U.S. is becoming a third world country very quickly.

German efficiency is the best av all countries as long as germany not is in charge.

@@edelweiss2971 so true😂

Some people prefer their capitalism sufficiently disguised I suppose.

a brilliant remark. you made my day :-) thank you!

trueee xD

This is beautiful. A much appreciated comment.

You're kidding yourself if you think capitalism exists today. By definition you need to have a free market in place to have capitalism. 'Crapitalism' as we know it today, is in fact just politely disguised socialism.

Aldi is in Germany called a discounter and Aldi ist not a supermarket. On the one Hand Kaufland, Rewe Edeka and Penny are Supermarkets they sell a wide variety of brand Products as well as self brand products. The Stores are really big and clean but on the other hand there are discounters like Lidl, Netto or Aldi this Shops sell mostly self brand Products that they are self producing. This Shops are like Aldi wich you see in the Video above, but real german Supermarkets are like Wallmart, for instance Kaufland has a own service Center for Custumers in each store .

@@oldhelldog5460 that maybe true, but all of these supermarkets have adopted almost all of Aldis philosophy, the .99 prices, to only open boxes instead of unpacking them, you'll only find people already working on something and never waiting to simply welcome someone, also they are allowed to sit (as they should)

Except this one doesn't have emthat section in the end where u can bag your food

@@rainmeh4255 u use the benches at the windows. they are there to pack ur stuff ( by ur self of course)

@@oldhelldog5460 In the Netherlands we call the Aldi a supermarket. Our Aldi sells their own brand, but also A-listed brands.

Aye most germans abstain from Smalltalk however if you like me live in a quiet small village were the Stores are also quite Small you overtime know every single employee that works there and for me personally, I like Smalltalk with people I know e.g the employees of the store I now goto for nearly 4 years but something like Walmart you might not have the same employees there every day or there might just me too much to really kinda get to know them.

Yes, they will see smalltalk as an annoyance that serves no meaningful purpose. They are not unfriendly though, nor do they hate other people - they just don't understand the point of smalltalk.

Smalltalk is done between people who know each other or work together or have some sort of relation. That can be the weather or politics. But not with some anonymous stranger. There's just no sense in meaningless talking about my life with someone I will never see again.

Yes I imagine it is :(

@Rita Roork This comment seems like sarcasm...I really hope it's sarcasm. Please don't tell me my sarcasm detector has failed, I'm British so would no longer be able to function if that were the case.

@Rita Roork what a shit thing to say! they are not your servants, they are employees doing their job, or would you say you are your Boss's servant and not employee?

When I was 17 I worked at a certain popular fast fashion shop in the UK and had to stand for my whole shift too. :( I had to work a minimum of 5 hours to get a break, and even then it was only 15 minutes. Despite the fact I wasn't at school and my schedule was 100% flexible I kept being handed 4 hour shifts just so I wouldn't be able to get a break 🙄 Also you were NOT allowed a water bottle on the shop floor or behind the counter, so everytime I needed a drink of water I'd have to go in the lift to the staff room, and I felt like my co workers were mad at me whenever I had to go because they would have to cover my area of the shop for me while I was gone.

American here. American corporations take the viewpoint that if a cashier leans or sits at all during their 8+ hour shift, they are lazy. (Yes, sometimes, especially airports, cashiers work longer than 8 hour shifts on their feet... with only a 30 minute lunch break.) If you can't stand your whole shift, then the corporation will hassle and hound you about your lack of self-discipline, laziness, etc. You're expected to be an automaton for the company and cram their 5 minute schpeal into the 2 minute interaction with your customer. Offer every addon under the sun, ask for donations to charities to help the corporations bottom line, mention credit card offers, rewards programs, etc. etc. etc. If you forget one, you get written up for failure to comply to "corporate standards." I highly suggest avoiding retail jobs in the US if you ever look for employment in the US.

I can imagine. As an introvert European I remember feeling rather uncomfortable when i lived in the U.S, and had to go to say Wallmart. Employees greeting me, asking me how my day was, beaming& smiling all the time.. I felt obligated to put on a phony smile,& respond ..Not offending anyone took more enrgy then the shopping itself... . ( I'm 'exegurrating offcourse, ..but stil..)

Let me ask you this though. As an introvert, did you resist using the self check-out because you didn't know how to use it and did not want to look like an idiot when you first tried? I am very tech-savy, but I still had to wait till I did my shopping when the place was dead before giving it a go. After using it once, I now prefer it.

.......try self-serve checkouts.......unless you particularly prefer the whole 3rd world atmosphere of aldi..........

@@chrisgermo1956 How is a well-stocked grocery store "3rd world"? Have you ever been in a "3rd world" country?

@@chrisgermo1956 European here, and Aldi isn't a 3rd world geocerie store. It's a good "little" shop, and it's like this for a lot if grocerie store.

Yes regarding the generic house brands, which in many cases actually are produced by very well-known brands, just under a different name. It's a win-win situation: ALDI offers its customers a better price; the original producer will have lower product margins but essentially is guaranteed a very wide customer base. Here's a website that lists (left column) the discounters' products (e.g. discounters such as Aldi, Penny, etc), and the well-established companies behind these companies (right column). Please note that the first set of products are milk products; for other categories of products, one needs to click on the plus (+) sign. --> www.wer-zu-wem.de/handelsmarken/no-name-suche/ Some of ALDI's products, including wines by top-notch winemakers, have ranked very high in customer tests (e.g. comparison of price, taste, etc).

Generic brands are actually overtaking Europe. Some supermarkets are getting rid of any competition to their own brands. It a very profitable model because they use vertical integration. They not only sell products, they sell mostly their own products.

Yes, but 'their own products' are usually produced for them by well-known firms, but under a different name (and often with slightly different weight, etc). For these original brands, it is also lucrative to sell through ALDI. That the too ALDI brothers (who did not get along that well with each other, hence the division of Germany into ADLI Nord and ALDI Sued - same principle would be applied to Europe) are very clever is beyond doubt - they and their families were constantly among the richest people in Germany. The following website (among many others) shows the 'in-house' products and the subcontracted 'brand names' producing for ALDI under a different imprint --> www.stern.de/wirtschaft/news/aldi-eigenmarken--diese-hersteller-stecken-hinter-den-discounter-produkten-7241640.html#:~:text=Hergestellt%20werden%20viele%20dieser%20Lebensmittel%20aber%20bei%20namhaften%20Unternehmen.&text=Hinter%20den%20Erdnussflips%2C%20die%20es,zu%20dem%20Konzern%20Intersnack%20geh%C3%B6rt.&text=Deutschlands%20Discounter%20sind%20durch%20Eigenmarken,%2C%20Lidl%2C%20Penny%20und%20Co.

This happens in the UK too!! 😂😂

Its a good re-use for something that went in the trash can! Greets from Austria, we do this aswell

Greece as well lidl tho

M M … Sure or take a box and leave it in the shopping cart for someone else to get rid of after your stuff is in your car. Love those people! On the other hand that is getting harder to do because in many stores the merchandise is no longer on the shelves in the boxes as it used to be years ago.

I did/do that here in Queensland.

That’s all it has to be in the US too :) nobody forces you to talk

Sometimes "mit Karte"

you forgot "mit Karte bitte?"

I was raised polite! I add "schönes Wochende" and "schönen Tag noch", at least sometimes.^^

As an American who understands VERY little german, but spends a lot of time in Germany, I love this about Germany! I can go grocery shopping and know exactly what to expect.

Yes Our stores maybe over staffed by European standards which I disagree with but, if you need help you will get that help ASAP!! Also, our stores have a much larger variety of brands and goods convience and we don't mind paying more for the service and the larger selection!!!

What help could you possibly need while shopping in a grocery store? xD Tbh I can understand the brand part... I heard that the general quality control in the US is so bad that a brand can mean good quality as well.

@@sandornemeth5388 Wait until you get old and you will find out what help you might need in a grocery store. Oh, and here's one: This advertised item is not on the shelf where it should be - is it sold out, or did you place it somewhere else? 9 times out of 10, the answer is that they put in a different place and I couldn't find it.

I like to think of different cultures as interesting rather than strange. Germans have a stereotype of being cold and efficient, Alid's is German, is it a stereotype?

I wonder how much food is actually wasted and ends in the trash in US supermarkets, must be much more than in European supermarkets.

sale on sour pickles made in wuhan china

Hahahahaha

Hahahahahahaha lmao

Der war gut 😄

😆 som i Sverige då.

In the Dilbert comics they joke excessively about that. "If you are happy you are stealing company time." all the way to "If you are healthy you are stealing company time."

That must be an American thing. I had the same thing once working in a British supermarket and an American couple were talking behind me saying I was a bit lazy for sitting on a stool whilst clearing a lower shelf ready for cleaning. I'm 6 foot 2!!!

@@EdgyNumber1 As long as you get the job done, you're not lazy.

Who is suffering?

EdgyNumber1 I’m in the UK too, an engineer. After recovering from a knee injury, I used a stool for sitting and knee cushions/pads for kneeling down. I’ve had many jibes for being lazy, even though I’m still getting the job done, if not actually better. I find a large amount of copious profanity and hand gestures works very well. But that’s ok with work colleagues you know, I wouldn’t try it with retail customers......🤣🤣🤣

I did the same thing with the cardboard boxes. The other customers would look at me funny when i was throwing out all the items to empty the box. But i got used to that look. Gotta say it was messy though ... :-P jk

Andrea Clyndes’s Because most Americans have an inferiority complex, it comes from being derided as a new country with little history, no culture and an appalling education system. They therefore like to make their low paid workers suffer publicly, it makes the customers somehow feel a better- that they are superior, worthy of the "service" they are receiving.

Because to most Americans a job that involves customer service makes the person doing it a servant, and therefore the belief is that they should be treated as such.

@@spencerwilton5831 Ironically inColruyt you also have to stand and it's considered one of the best employers. (Pay might have something to do with it)

Of course Cahiers are servants. Cashiers, sales clerks, barbers, waiters and many more are all servants. I am sure that I would either never work as a cashier or if I had to I would stand most of the time through my own free will. Sitting constantly makes people lazy and sick. It is very bad for blood circulation and can lead to or at least induce major health problems. That is why doctors started recommending that people go jogging, to the gym, ride bikes and so forth as more and more people started sitting in front of computers all day long.

@@wout4yt the difference is that in Colruyt they walk around, switch your items to a different cart and then have to walk to register. American cashiers literally have to stand in one place. Imagine a delhaize cashier but standing all day. Also, colruyt employees rotate during one shift, 'regular' cashiers usually don't.

"heeft u een bonuskaart?" "Wilt u koopzegels, voetbalplaatjes of de bon?"

@@jokeikmezelfenmij1426 Yup... en dat is het wel zo'n beetje :p

Lekker simpel

Same in Sweden, great to not have a culture chock when I went on exchange in The Netherlands :).

Hetzelfde in duitsland :D

I agree. If asked, I would feel obligated to answer truthfully. I they ask how I am, I would have to reveal my inner thoughts to that stranger OR make myself liar and say "I am fine" (if I was not). I hate lying. Also, if cashier asked, did I find everything, what are you supposed to answer? If I say no, will the cashier stop working and go get my missing stuff and held back the full line of other customers who were already ready to be checked out? :D I would be really embarrased to hold the line like that.

I'm American and I don't like talking to cashiers. I don't like shopping in general. I want to get my shit and get out. Hell, most of the other people I know are the same way.

Yeah, those empty phrases have always given me a bad feeling. I used to work for the US Army at the end of the eighties. My boss, a captain, always asked me how I was when he came to my office. At one time I just felt like saying that I'm not well (although I was quite okay) just to see his reaction. He didn't react at all by asking me why I wasn't well. He didn't care and ignored my answer , just another empty phrase, small talk, no real interest in my well being. That is exactly the difference between Anglosaxons, US as well as UK, and continental European mentality. So glad to be living in Europe :).

I work as a cashier in an American Aldis and I can say that it's really difficult trying to make small talk when I'm trying to move customers through the line. The company really does encourage efficiency (so do I), but when I'm trying to ring up a line of 3-4 people quickly while also trying to accommodate America's small talk culture, it can be a little frustrating...especially when I don't mean half the things I ask or reply to.

Frankly, as an American, I'm fine without small talk from the cashier. I've been queuing for 10 minutes, the last thing I need is a chatty cashier. Get it rung up and get me out!

Yikes. We're definitely from two different worlds. I guess we're friendlier here in the U.S. than you are in Germany. As a customer, the cashier is a human being who shouldn't be treated like a robot, which is how you treat them clearly. I sometimes, seldom, will talk to a cashier like they're a friend who I don't see often. We are very amicable. It's probably because older generations need someone to talk to when they leave the house, so it just passes down. If you stop me on the street though to try and sell me something, best believe I'm giving you the cold shoulder though. That's the only time I don't welcome interaction. I'm only interested in buying something if I'm at a place of business ready to buy something, not when I'm getting from point A to point B, unless someone asks for directions somewhere.

@@JGirDesu It's not unfriendly, as the cashier here also does not expect or want to be talked to in that way. They just want to do their job. It's just a different culture and different expectations. Germans, in general, are very friendly, but it does not take the same outward appearance. Most Germans will go out of their way to help you if you are in a dire situation, or if ask them to. But offensive friendliness, like a cashier talking to you like that, like someone offering to package your stuff, or trying to engage in unwanted smalltalk, it is perceived as intrusive and fake. Become close to a German, and they will be your best friend ever. But go out of your way to invade the personal bubble of us, and we will start with being very very suspicious of you.

@@Mishakur I have heard of Europeans being suspicious when someone is overly friendly to them, but I feel like Americans should be an exception to your rule. We don't get out of the house much, so we appreciate being in other countries and feel like we're representing our country, so we're extra friendly, and it's genuine in most cases. Unless the tourist asks for money, then watch out lol

@@JGirDesu Most Germans ARE behaving friendly to the cashier. In Germany you go to cashier, smile friendly-- say Hello then he/she answeres Hello.... and starts working. In the big discount chains like Aldi, Lidl and Netto - there often is a queue with other waiting customers behind you, so you try to NOT take to much of the cashiers time. If your the only customer and you are a regular, then there is often a lot more interaction and even some small talk about random interesting things. The same goes for our local supermarket chains in the neighbourhood. Because you often know the cashier there, because he/she lives in your neighbourhood, you have much more topics to talk about.

@@Thorsten_Wiegand That sounds VERY American too. You don't take any more time than needed unless you really know the person, but at that point, you stand out of the way while they help another customer.

Exactly! Jeez so many of these people sounded so entitled and hypocritical.

@Rita Roork With them low wages one could question if you really paid for much service at all.

@Rita Roork Sounds like a lot of White American Women are over-entitled twats

Learn some proper grammar, like the difference, between the past tense and the continuous tense.. I know smart asses have to come up with so called glib answers except your ans. aren't glib nor intelligent!!

Hey, blame the unions who demand these weird "separate bagging person, separate cart person, stockers can't work the cash registers" BS.

Sounds cool. Now you'll know where these prices come from. Efficiency doesn't have to do with poor service mentality.

ở mỹ đâu phải văn minh đâu? cũng còn nhà quê ruộng lúa và mù chữ nữa 😂

Aldi is efficient for the store, but can be inefficient for inexperienced shoppers. Lines are also typically long at Aldi.

@Daniel Robertson What are inexperienced shoppers?😅 You should lern that from your parents, and if you still have problems you can always ask the staff, they don‘t bite.😁

@@blacky_Ninja Aldi is new to US so can't learn from parents. There are almost no staff to ask. I like Aldi, but it's sometimes more "efficient" use of my time to go to a big brand store.

Yeah, but the quality is a little too efficient too, though. Well, after we've gotten Lidl they're no longer the worst

@@Ikbeneengeit there is staff to ask. They're just not standing around waiting to answer people's questions. You can ask the person stacking or the cashiers or the people driving the products through the store.

No one forced you to talk...all you have to do is not talk haha

+1 😂

@@Kellydoesherthing well, that's not true. You can't just not talk when someone says something to you. So you have the choice: Do a fake smile and be annoyed or be an asshole. I don't want either.

@Rita Roork congratulations for being "WHITE"

@@Metalbirne I work in food service in America. That is how it works here sadly. Sometimes once I take someone's order, they don't even acknowledge me. I approach the window and go "hello, your total is x! How are you today?" I'd say at least twice per shift, someone doesn't turn their head in my direction, doesn't make eye contact, just stares straight ahead holding out their card or money. And when I hand them their stuff, they just hit the gas. At least twice a day. And that doesn't include the people who just give me a polite smile, maybe a nod and say nothing. That is 100% normal and something you could do in America. I recommend at least a small smile and a nod. Anyone who isn't new to customer service will immediately recognize this as you saying "I don't want to talk" without words.

My mother told me that Aldis today have changed very much from what they started out as. At that time, they really had mostly "from-scratch" stuff - flour, milk, eggs, produce ... Of course they went with the times and now they have the basics of candy, chocolate, convenience food. And yes, they are the very bare bones compared to what's "normal" in the US. Naturally, us Europeans are just as confused and shocked by those small-village-sized grocery stores with 60 variations on the theme "ketchup".

Yes. Never understand this selfish attitude.

Also, cashiers engaging in small talk while there's a line behind you sucks for everyone in that line, too. I'd take a faster-moving line over an overly friendly cashier any time.

I think I slowly mastered the art of tetris-packing my stuff. takes a bit of time, but I get to use all of the room I have. I got no car, so I have to pack it wisely if I don't want to die handling 5 bags when going home. und ich werd tatsächlich emotional wenn ich seh wie mein freund alles einfach nur reinschmeißt wenn er einkauft. damn ;)

Honestly, American grocery baggers are really good. From what I have read and when i speak with my german friends it just sounds like germany has really crappy customer service. Which makes sense since germany is more socialistic then america. The whole point of capitalism is selling the product to the customer. Apart of that is making the customer feel good. But when I put my groceries on the conveyor belt to be scanned I will often put it in the order I want it bagged and it is almost always bagged exactly how I would have bagged it. A lot of the times cashiers will even put your breakable items in a bag and set it on top of the bagging area. As the saying goes here in America, for better or worse, the customer is always right.

@@natf6747 hm I don't think you could call it crappy customer service, if bagging stuff isn't part of their job. we're used to bag our stuff since we're little, there may be a few grandmas that like help and a short conversation, but most of us just want to buy and pack our things as quick as possible. It's not like they're our waiter, who gets paid to be uber-friendly. this is still a crappy job, which I worked at myself too. as long as they're not negative, I'm all good with neutral and quick cashier at the store. better than some mega fake 'hiiiiiiiiii, how are youuuuu, how's your dayyyyy... I really don't caaaaare....but have to aaask.....byeeeee'

@@PapayaStyle Yeap. Not just talking about whether they pack your bags or not. From what my friends have said it is pretty much all in compassing. Especially when compared to the southern USA. Of course, I have never been to Germany so all I have is what they and many people on the internet have said and my experience watching them interact with clients at our job. But being kind and making someone feel like you are actually glad they are there doesn't have to be fake. Often it may be. But when you do it long enough you actually tend to begin to care about the person you are selling the product to. I have had many cashiers point me towards interesting new products that I didn't get the first time. Or who warned me about the product I was intending to buy for the first time. While I get it when it comes to groceries that most people now exactly what brand they want and don't like to try new things, the issues come into play when the whole point is to find something new. Here in America workers actively seek to assist you. If you are in Starbucks or some other cafe on a fairly calm day and are browsing around the store often a worker will come talk to you about what they found interesting and assist you in making a decision. What I have read about Germany is that is practically no existent. So while yes, there is a lot that is fake about American customer service I would rather have someone who is fake assisting me and making me at least feel like they appreciate me being there then someone who is being real and is completely ignoring that I am even in the store. But this is where are cultures differ. You are taught to mind your business, get in and get out. I am was taught to be polite and say hi.

@@natf6747 well, of course we also say hi, and I never mind sharing a smile with them, but at least for me (introvert) everything more is most times akward. but I think I can agree, that's just our cultural difference, and that's fine, I can see where you're coming from :)

@Rita Roork What is wrong with you? Why are your comments so pressingly angry?

@Rita Roork The idea of having some random person bag my stuff up for make makes me feel uncomfortable. The only time we ever see people bagging up groceries is when there are people fundraising (children often pack bags to raise money for charity)

@@MonkeyButtMovies1 or for school trips

@@MonkeyButtMovies1 Same in Finland... I've probably seen teenagers doing the packing in my store twice in the past 15 years. And both times I gave them the tip (for whatever they were collecting the money for) and packed the stuff myself. I take my packing order seriously :D

The only downside is if you really prefer a specific brand of something and can’t find it.

It seems to me that Canadians are far more like Europeans and therefore not as ignorant as a lot of Americans.

Inthe uk, some shops will sell key rings with the 'coin' attached so you don't need real coinage in you pocket, you just attach your keys to the cart that are freed up when you return the cart.

@@ardalire651 Honestly I know a lot of people who refer to sitting cashiers as lazy or rude. They tend to be people who do more laborious work themselves or think "Back in the old days cashiers stood up," and/or "It's rude to sit when speaking to someone who is standing!" The people who feel this way are also more likely to leave reviews in my experience, though, so I would say it's likely to be the loud minority.

I think that it is also related to the kind of management structure we have. bosses expect people to be working hard all the time. Even if customers dont care. Someone who wants to sit seems "not dedicated/hard working enough". We have a fetish for the appearance of "hard work". I have an office job in software and my employer wants us all to be in the office early in the morning and at our desks 8 hours/day, only talking about work things, with only work things on our screens, to ensure surveillance and invoke the feeling of like "if i have to suffer I might as well be productive" even though our metrics that we are judged by are measured digitally and not based on hours worked

@@UNR3S7 You're so right. Americans care more about the appearance of doing hard work than we do about actually working hard. I've had jobs where talking about non-work things with a coworker was forbidden when not on lunch break (and good luck getting the paid breaks you're entitled to), including one job that deliberately separated two employees if they were talking even when both were being productive just near each other. Arriving early and staying late as well as skipping lunch (all without additional pay) are seen as working hard even though the reality is that certain work traits are not sustainable.

Things in the US, are arranged more to suit the corporations rather than the workers, there is no legal right to any annual paid leave for example.

Lol!

Well not everything the "new type" Aldi Süd stores have more unpacked goods sitting on shelves than the old ones.

@@theowaigel8588 Same as the new type Aldi Nord stores. Ironically, Aldi in Germany is transitioning to a more premium style with more A-brands and less cartons.

same 😅😅😅

because it doesn't matter for shopping...

Well ... here in the north of germany the communication between cashier and customer works often like this: "Moin!" "Moin!" "That would be 23 50." "Thanks!" "Tschüß" "Tschüß" (Moin = I wish you a good day / Tschüß = good bye)

What do you expect from the MASTER RACE a warm heart, no cold as a dead cadaver!!!

@@umutkarzai9190 it really depends where you are in germany. It's not really a germany thing, as people in denmark and the scandinavian countries are often not that talkative either. Further in the south in germany folks are much more chattier.

I work at REWE as cashier for about half a year now and I have never been asked how I am or anything like that. Sure you have some customers you kinda have that small talk with but asking how someone feels is just a way to private thing to ask for Germans I guess. It’s just not a part of German small talk culture I guess

@@TheKeksmonster007 And it's totally fine. I'm freakin' out with this superficial 'How are you doing?' mentality. Why you asking if you don't really care. That's what I like in my country. Reduced fakeness.

Revy two.hands oh in germany the People steal the Trolleys too. 50ct are not so much Money.

+Rev two.hands But you are NOT "paying" for it! You are paying a deposit, which is returned to you when you return the trolley to the trolley park. It encourages people to return the trolleys to where you got it, rather than leaving them scattered all over the car park...

@@lorddaver5729 true paying was wrong word deposit is what i mean

Ha ha ha ! ….Excuse me for laughing, But steeling was not the major reason. Years ago (at least in Germany) there were smaller stores with shopping carts, Rewe, Edelstolz, Edeka as example, but they were within the store. As the larger Supermarkets started the idea came up with coins as a deposit because (just as it happens in the US or elsewhere ) people would not bring them back into the store. Since many people tend to be thrifty to stingy (most cases) it was obvious that asking for money would do the trick and only when one pushes the key from his cart into another one. Proof of this is the fact that when only one cart has to be left somewhere in the middle of a parking lot invariably others will push theirs into it instead of returning it to the parking cabin where it belongs. Many people are lazy by every chance they get. Guess that is just the human nature of the so called Intelligent species.

@@robertthomas6127 when I was a wee one I tied a trolly to a car and went for a spin. I've seen a few homeless people take them too, our local river has 3 trollies in it. I'm sure these sort of things played a big part in the decision to go with a deposit system

exactly... people who NEVER lived and had to survive in Germany don't get it...it isn't all that.. just a low budget grocery store...

And it's always amazing, how those things are legal in the "land of the free"...

@@stephanweinberger Yup, land of free on a wish list.

@@stephanweinberger You're free to not work for or shop at Walmart if you don't like the way they do things. You're also free to open your own store and do things your own way-not as free as Americans used to be, but better than most.

.. there was an other thing: they didn't get building permits for their stores. They bought two superstore divisions for other companies, that was it. But that wasn't enough to implement their business model - the economy of scale part.

To me it feels very natural that I don't want strangers touching _my_ food. In a way it makes sense: you have no idea how cleanly that person is - and latex gloves are not the same as hygiene. You can touch dirty things and not even realize they (and after that, your gloves!) are dirty. Of course, most of the food is wrapped, and the clerks touched it when putting it into the shelves, too. But it wasn't mine _then_, and now it is, gosh darn it.

I could’ve explained it better but small town-ism is a real culture in the US and in small towns, you know everyone...you aren’t just another face

@@Kellydoesherthing i got it more than 100%, but someone's small town isn't center of the universe. otherwise, it looks like we smile and support each other inside our neighbourhood or community, but ready to kill strangers outside... while i'm doing my 20 minutes of shopping (def not the biggest part of my life; i should care about nothing but the food quality), good attitude from staff doesn't make me feel special\welcomed\wanted. at the same time here goes this fact - when i'm treated poorly it won't necessarily define me as a nasty person who deserves it. so i really feel sorry for ppl who need feigned indulgence to start feeling better or more worthy. lol, anyway shops just want us for the money, fake amiability's just here to help.

kate kate more than 100%? Ok

Upsetting and frightening 😂

Fun fakt That coustom off deposit are going douwn in germany some Shops dont have it any more

I don't carry coins. It's 2020

.....overblown reaction.....many, if not most Americans would not object.....they'd just give their cart to someone else in the parking lot who was going into the store.....

Will have to let Stephen king know about this - I can imagine the title - Token

I 100% believe that haha

🤣🤣

And as a woman one might even feel hit on by the male cashier, because it is that uncommon. It is nobodies business how I feel, espacially not the business of the cashier, because I don't know him.

Semicaper then all you have to do is not answer :)

Me, as as customer would think "Do I look sick" or needy for support ? "How are you" is as indiscrete as asking "how is your bank account and when had you make love the last time".

Yeah, while several costumer have commented I'm fast, that chick was a good amount faster than me.

i was surprised the register could scan every item at that speed. normaly you have to run an item multiple times over the scanner cause of some bs.

@@uteriel282 Aldi specifically prints multiple bar codes on different sides of the products, just so they are faster to scan

My boyfriends mother works as a supermarket cashier, not at aldi (I'm German in Germany) - and they have to aim for scanning 64 items/minute, if I remember it right

Nope. Thats the average speed. And if you are not as fast as that yourself to get all your shit in the cart, than you will get very bad glares from the cashier and maybe from people standing in line beind you wich makes you look like if you did bad for being the slow one

wait, cashiers in the Us have to stand all day?

MaX St - didn’t you watch the video??

I think Aldi Nord figured it out pretty quickly. Trader Joe's was always my favorite grocery store. Maybe it's just because I'm half German though.

I lived in the US for 4 years and had an Aldi locally. I never heard any Americans saying they didn’t understand how they operated or were confused. They did like the quality of the products and the prices. This is incredibly patronising and pure projection.

You get it!

Rita Roork This remark keeps cracking me up. The color of your skin does not matter one bit in this discussion. You are also not giving any real reasons, which make you seem a self-centered, entitled, immature “woman”, who is not self-sufficient enough to even handle the simplest tasks. I have a picture of a bigoted girl with rich parents, not having worked to earn your own money. Am I close? ;)

Rita Roork Oh, and by the way, the Aldi DOES NOT pay their employees to bag groceries, so that argument is invalid. If you want to buy groceries, but don’t spend as much as in other stores, you get what you paid for, and saving on these extra service costs is an easy way to lower prices. This should be understood if not welcomed by any price-conscious shopper but especially those with limited funds. Of course if you want the extra service and are ok with paying a little more, you’re free to shop elsewhere.

@@janvogelaar7078 Bro you're literally just taking bait. That's a troll account. You're bad and you should feel bad.

Jan Vogelaar pretty sure it’s a sarcastic comment

Brandon Martinez Could be, but it could also be her true opinion. I saw her mentioning this and similar racist things multiple times and defending her opinion. Also, she seems to be deleted from the comments now. People like that do exist, just like people who think it is acceptable to, as a minority, go protest fully armed and showing aggressiveness, insinuating violence to try and get their way or their point across, even though the majority of citizens does not agree, let alone that getting your way is even endangering your fellow citizens even more, because you want to lift the Corona mitigation restrictions. The “protest” could be seen as terrorism and the political view as inhumane and anti social. Yet, these people exist, look at the “protest” in Michigan recently. If that is true, Rita could also be serious in my opinion...

That is true, I work in a food factory in the UK, we make Aldi products, but we also make Marks and Spencer products (a very expensive store). We use the same ingredients from the same suppliers for both, recipes may slightly differ but they are ultimately the same thing.

Can verify, I worked at a Mr Kiplings for some months, but we also did products for ASDA and Sainsbury's on the little apple tart cakes alone. They do have to specify their own formulas though.

Yes maybe, but the problem is the the U.S is very money oriented. So off-brand product are not as good as the name brands one. If you buy an off-brand paper towel it will rip as soon as it's wet, but the name brand on will not. The cereals will definitely not taste the same. Dish soap will require more soap to clean, more water in the orange juice etc. So seeing off-brand product automatically makes you think of those things.

The off-brand products at Aldi's are as good or better than the name-brand items, and usually at about half the price. Shopping there is a no-brainer.

one of us one of us one of us

I could see the preferences to Aldi (in Austria it's Hofer) at a barbecue with several people and couples where everyone brought their own meat. We all had independently shopped at Hofer.

Very true!

Craft stuff, seasonal food and kitchen gadgets. I love having a rummage in the middle aisle! I find myself being tempted to buy a churro maker or a snorkelling set when I only went in for milk and bananas 😂.

Actually you DO know what you might get, at least in Germany. You just have to take the "Aldi Aktuell" paper to have an overview for the next weeks.

@@Pelzi. is there any person who reads them? We have those promotional info flyers too, but who the heck reads them anyways?

@@aCidNow I read them sometimes, wouldn't want to miss out on good items. There can be some great stuff

This is a thing that was created by the corporate offices o the grocery chain's owners. THEY are the ones that insist their cashiers chat with customers. In 63 years I have never known anyone who complained that their cashier didn't talk to them. I have had cashiers get too chatty with me. I wish people would stop assuming that every video they see on RU-vid contains the gospel truth about everything.

From an American perspective, it's not really about chatting with the employee. Most stores have self check-out lanes so you can avoid that interaction altogether. If you review the video, outside of the "employee is rude" comments, most of the people who complain about the service were upset about not receiving assistance. If Aldi is a good representation of euro grocery stores, then you can tell American stores are much larger as she said. Maybe I want flour tortillas so I go to the Mexican food aisle but only find corn tortillas. I might look for an employee who can direct me to the bread aisle where the flour tortillas are. Or maybe I want a specific brand of granola cereal, but I dont see it in the cereal aisle, you might ask for help to discover it is actually next to the trail mix and jerky sections. I could see how you are used to a wider selection that Aldi doesn't have, and upon first visit you might want employee's help to figure out what they do have. And then become frustrated when you have to walk all over the store to find one.

LoL you are right!

Well......the Aldi way of doing things differs somewhat in the US from Germany and Austria (Hofer). I love shopping in Aldi in Germany and Austria (Hofer), but not really in the USA. I am from, and live in the UZA, by the way.

Yep, good point, I was surprised that this was not mentioned. Some ALDI products - e.g. wine, chocolate - score very high in product tests (taste, price, check very unhealthy residues, etc). The wine producer, e.g., might get less from ALDI per single bottle than through regular channels, but the advantage of going through ALDI is to sell to a much bigger audience and to be almost certainly guaranteed that all the bottles will be sold.

Yeah but trying to introduce common sense to some americans is a Herculean task. Thanks Kelly for trying.

yes...and our cashiers get trained on that....not that they're all perfect, but it is part of their job.

Bread at the top so it doesn't get squished by heavier things

@Darth Wheezius we can find plenty of wise ass tho.

also when I buy only few things I put them into my handbag. I wouldn't want an employee to touch that.

... and there's usually a poster outside wiith the same announcement. And those "special weekly offers" are always at the same place in a shop, so once you are used to it, it doesn't feel chaotic at all.

Maybe if the journal was packed for them or the poster was read to them they'd know. You can't expect them to do that stuff for themselves, they're Americans!

WTF is a candle warmer???

@@hansbrix2495 it smelts aroma wax in a bowl with electricalheat like arromacandels but without fire that can burn your place down

@@steffenfrank7038 ah alles klar. Sounds like something only germans would invent. Candles are supposed to operate with fire. I suppose they are trying to be more eco-friendly by reducing greenhouse gases too. Too bad in DE most of the electricity generated (to operate such an over engineered device) is from coal now.

It's actually a bit longer, but yes, when i was a child, they were so blazingly fast, because they didn't had barcodes. Since registers back then weren't as fast, in aldi you could see how fast the cashier typed in all products and it was as fast as it is now with the barcodes.

We also have got the same thing with split lanes in Germany for the "higher" priced supermarkets. And by "higher" I mean like normal ones that are not a discount store like Aldi. Discount stores prefer to use less space for the checkout section to have more space for the shelve area. EDIT: I now saw the part with the cashier at 12:55. I've never seen a checkout lane with that small amount of space at the end, even at Aldi. And I never had a cashier put stuff in my shopping cart either. Theres always at least SOME space at the end of the lane so you can put the things in your cart by yourself.

Yeah, the only thing I don't really see much of here in Sweden is the whole " leaving the stuff in its boxes" thing. That only seem to happen with certain goods

But she said that in the Video as well. In Germany it is the same as in Sweden.

Luckily, most cashiers at Aldi either don't do that or are careful to grab only the stuff that doesn't bruise. But yes, that on-going moving lane is a lot better, it means you don't have to chose between hurrying and being in the way of the next customer.

It actually became like that with the shorter lane some years ago. In the past we always had long lanes, but it's more efficient now, so people have to pay faster. I feel sorry for the older people, it's hectic for them.

Don't know about the American Aldi, but in Germany the goods are just as good as at other places

I think the staff also like it as Aldi more than what customers do... If they have a lot to do or if they have things to think about... A, they can just focus on the job, B not have to worry about the customers feelings by faking interest.

Im totally going to check them out the next time I venture outside for groceries

Aldi are great, They also save money on AC apparently, As it's the only supermarket in my hometown, You can enter with sandals on and not get sick instantly.

Many stores employ a tactic of placing different "normal items" in different sections of the store, so to make you walk by their "great offers" and what-not to make you do impulse shopping. If Aldi works like Lidl in Finland, then it most likely has the same basic layout in every store (or as close to it as possible), so it doesn't matter to which Aldi you go to, you still know where the stuff you're looking are.

Don't say "in Germany", it's in anonymous discounters. If you want chitchat with or about your neighbors go to the bakery.

@Randy Welsh It makes the groceries more expensive.

Exactly, we are going for the least expensive food and items, NOT anything else. Besides, anytime we really had a question at our Aldi we were able to be helped just as much as the American store. At the American stores we try to do the bagging anyway, as well as return the cart. We think it's awesome, the humane thing to do and very considerate to the employees if they can sit as much as possible while they work, why not! I like to sit whenever possible too.

True. for me it would be the other way around as I am accustomed since childhood that casiers sit behind the register, and hardly engage in smalltalk. Still the lack of known and diversity of products and the disorganised look of Aldi (and Lidl) was kinda off putting for me at fist, when they pulled up in my country. The price difference and quality of most of the products made it my goto stores though. Coffeepad quality for my Senseo is kinda lacking though.

@Randy Welsh it makes the groceries more expensive AND the packer does not get a living wage ... slavery light

European here: i even go as far as pre-sorting my stuff on the belt so they can be packed efficiently. For example, i always place the soda bottles, canned food and potatoes on the belt first, and the chips and bread last. This way the solid stuff ends on the bottom of the bag and the soft stuff on the top. The cashier will simply pull the products over the scanner in the order i placed them on the belt and i can quickly dump m in my bag in that same order. I usually check out within 1 minute, not enough for any small talk. I want to get out of other people's way as quickly as possible so they don't have to stand in line. It's all about efficiency.

From experience at very different Aldi stores a little chit-chat with the cashier happens and so is welcomed. Though there exceptions depending on the cashier.

correct the European way, we see grocceries as a wharehouse not as a positive shopping experience. get in, grab al the neccesary daily crap fast and cheap, check out and do more importent things in life . Only for special things we take time in special shops. Thats why we are always anoyed when they change the layout in our local groccery shop so we have to learn again where al the stuff is

@Lawrance Ovarabia Me... they're generally very nice and friendly people & hospitable and courtious too... as well as smart, resourceful & innovative... not to mention their lager beer is the best in the world!

@Lawrance Ovarabia Me. Every German I have met has been wonderful.

I have never had a conversation with a cashier in a large grocery store. Not sure where she's getting this from.

i guess it is because of the way people interact in this country. there are so many americans around that act fake compared to european standarts. so they just play the game as being told from a young age on. allways smile, allways be happy even if its fake.

And honestly, being a cashier isn't even pleasant here in german

*Gernany

@@svellice you mean Germany?

@@svellice for us it's hard to say lazy or not like this aldi in Germany www.google.com/maps?ll=50.57309,6.26263&z=18&t=h here is one of our aldi www.google.com/maps/@41.18876,-87.85147,281m/data=!3m1!1e3 for easiest to compare take that map and zoom out a little walmart, bunch of stores on the right or even this walmart www.google.com/maps/@40.74503,-99.74157,565m/data=!3m1!1e3 they pay people to push carts less so because if it was same as aldi i don't think for safety at lest you want people coming back and forth to the store.. it would be easier just to pay someone to come out at certain times of the day to retrieve the carts otherwise like i said you will have lets say 10 people coming one way and 10 people going the other way (3 times) . while cars are pulling in or out as well

It's the last and most egregious of humiliations foisted upon the worker by capitalism. Not only do you need to work your arse off, on your feet all day, being demeaned by oversized toddlers, earning less than a living wage, without healthcare or labour rights to speak of - you have to *SMILE* and *MAKE SMALL TALK*, because Prickmart incorporated is a *HAPPY FAMILY*.

Also UK here though I live in Germany. I think you're right that the UK is more of a hybrid, although it was lot more talkative and with cashiers packing bags when I was younger. That went away in the early 2000s, I think before Aldi came along actually but with the German supermarkets and self-service checkouts that's now the norm. Aldi and Lidl service in the UK is still a little more conversational than in Germany I think. Have definitely seen items in boxes on shelves in both countries.

On the being "lazy because not displayed properly" that is actually not entirely true. You see unlike the other stores they don't keep much of a stock since about 90% of space is used for the actual store. The rest is up to 50/50 employee facilities / stock which is not a lot of reserve. So displaying everything properly would resolve in a massive under-stock for the kind of customer traffic they have.

Nothing here in Germany in cardboard boxes in Aldi supermarkets. Why should anyone want to converse "pleasantries" with the cashiers? When I go to the supermarket, all I want is to buy groceries. I don't want to have intimate discussions with supermarket employees. Why should I converse with cashiers while packing? I am certainly able to pack my my groceries into my basket while the cashier scans the goods of the next cuatomer.

I have been shopping at the same Publix for many, many years and you get to know the cashiers over time. The small talk in those instances doesn't feel insincere, it may be surface conversation but that's the definition of small talk. One example a months ago a I told a cashier "hey, store is almost closed and you get to go home." She dropped that she was leaving for Arizona in the morning for vacation. The next time I saw her I asked how her vacation was. That sort of thing. It's one of the reasons I avoid Aldi. I find it extremely cold and impersonal. The price difference isn't enough for me to shop where I feel like a cog in a wheel.

@@cgirl111 I'm a American and don't understand our American obsession with small talk. I don't WANT to get to know everybody. I want everybody happy, even happier than myself, but I couldn't care less about knowing them.

It's not insincere, and not compulsory.

@@miriamcohen7657 "Insincere: I'm not sure why, but it is the typical experience for Germans in the US, that people are phoney and insincere, but I guess that matches that to Americans we Germans come across as cold.

@DuineFion Greetings from Germany (lower saxony) and I have to agree in regards to the similar thing, but with one small exception. As a lower saxon I feel like I have more in common with a Dane or a Dutch than someone from Bavaria. The culture and people are much more similar and sure we speak a different language and can't understand each other but at least it sounds familiar. I can't understand someone from Bavaria either, but to make things worse, it sounds foreign. (A little tongue and cheek but there is some truth to it.)

Yeah, if I need to ask about where something is in the store, the usual question, I've never found it difficult to find an employee to ask. There is always at least a cashier, but I prefer to ask an employee who is stocking. Thanks for the detailed post. Another cost-saving measure: all products are bar-coded, produce is sold in bar-coded packages, not loose, and there are no prices on products, it's all done with shelf markers. Once in a while those are missing and there is a bar code scanner to get the price. A bit inconvenient, but this is what allows checkout to be so rapid. beepbeepbeep, as fast as the cashier can move those items across the scanner. No bagging at the checkout, all the goods going into a cart right next to the cashier, again, brilliant.

That's a good point about Aldi employees being familiar with what they sell. At some American stores when you try to stop someone to ask where something is, half the time they don't know because they don't even work for a store but some contracting company that just stocks the shelves! Actual employees sometimes can't answer questions because the store is so big nobody has any idea what they actually sell or don't sell and where it is (esp. Walmart supercenters, good grief they need their own zip codes! I once had to ask for directions out of the store because it was so big I could not find the exit).

Namorat Preach! 🙌🏻🙏🏻

@Wynter Well, then just keep a single quarter for use in ALDI shopping carts that you never spend. As a European it sounds crazy to me not to carry any cash at all. Crazy.

That's one of the main reasons you have to put in a coin: to make you bring back the cart to where it belongs, so that no employee has to be bothered bringing stranded carts back because some ignorant customer left it right where he or she no longer needed it. It is a pity though that the coin of highest value in the U.S. is only a mere 25 Cents which, as it seems, is not enough to make some bring the cart back.

@Wynter You can get trolley tokens which you can clip onto your key ring. I've even got some plastic ones obtained from a French hypermarket.

@@cigmorfil4101 I have one from our local newspaper. Now, what's more outdated?

My brand loyalty amounts to: If I find something I like I get that something, I don't care who makes it. I've been buying the same instant coffee for years, I only noticed who made it two months ago. 🙄

Yep, pretty much.

I can't think of the last time I bought a branded product. We shop in Aldi and Lidl (in the UK) and I love the smaller size shops as it's much less overwhelming.

The cashier is busy She will assume the customer is busy too

Well, there are some brands which genuinely taste better...ie I tend to buy the expensive ice cream because it tends to genuinely be the better one....and sometimes the no-name offer is actually the better one.