Why Aldi Cashiers Sit At The Register (And Why Other Grocery Stores Should Follow)

Shopping at an Aldi is similar to other discount supermarket retailers and warehouse chains like Lidl, Costco, and Sam's Club, featuring no-frills interiors with large shelves and pallets of bulk-size products. You learn how to navigate to get the most for your money, like the two spots to look for the best deals at Aldi, and the must-buy Aldi items for first-time customers. But one thing this particular supermarket does differently is have its cashiers seated instead of standing at checkout, and it's not really about workers' comfort.

Aldi has cashiers sit because of research that shows it allows them to scan customers' items faster. While it does reduce fatigue, it's also done in the interest of cashiers who are less tired being able to work more quickly. The rest of the checkout area, including the scanner, screen, and cash drawer, are also designed for cashiers to easily be able to reach items to increase speed and efficiency.

Aldi has targets for checkout speed that it wants cashiers to meet, as much as around 1,200 items scanned per hour. Cashiers are further directed to ask customers to get their payment together and put the card if they're using one in the reader while their items are being scanned, so the payment can immediately go through when the cashier is done. Another way Aldi tries to make checkout go as quickly as possible is putting several barcodes on an item, or ones that go around the package, for faster scanning.

The benefits of Aldi's seated cashiers could work for other grocery stores, too. The process can increase customer satisfaction, since speeded-up scanning reduces time in the checkout line. It can also help keep prices low, one of the main reasons people shop at Aldi (along with perks like a return policy almost too good to be true). The  chain can save money by not hiring as many workers, since cashiers can process more customers in the same time frame by scanning faster.

But there are a couple of drawbacks. Some Aldi cashiers have posted online about the stress of keeping their products scanned per hour numbers up. They also complain about sometimes having to rush shoppers, particularly the elderly. Customers sometimes ask them to slow down because they're afraid items may become damaged due to how fast cashiers slide them back into the cart after scanning.

After shopping with his wife at Aldi, an Illinois man posted a humorous video on Facebook about the speedy scanning that went viral. Using a pretend checkout counter and his kids' toy shopping cart, he rapidly flung items toward the cart after "scanning" them, with some falling to the floor. He told "Today Parents" about Aldi's checkout: "I was basically laughing wondering if this person just hated canned goods or was going for a high score shooting them into the cart." Whether the faster seated cashiers play a role or not, Aldi is now the third-largest grocery chain in the U.S., with some 2,400 locations. They are set to open another 225 in 2025.