Why Some Aldi Stores Are Saying Goodbye To Self-Checkout Lanes

Aldi has long been one of the best chains for budget shoppers because it keeps costs down in a number of ways. Some of these involve aesthetics (storing items in shipping boxes instead of arranging them in a pretty display), but others require customer participation, such as bringing your own bags or depositing a quarter to use a cart. You'd think, then, that self-checkout would be a no-brainer — after all, those extra-large barcodes make items easy to scan. Oddly enough, though, Aldi didn't introduce this feature until 2021, by which time it was well-established at other retailers. (The first self-checkout debuted at a Kroger back in 1986, although it took another 30 years before these lanes really caught on.) Even odder is the fact that it now seems to be removing them. No one's entirely certain why, although this hasn't stopped social media users from speculating.

Now, not every Aldi actually has self-checkout. When I first heard about the uproar over its disappearance, my first thought was "Wtf? I didn't even know it had this." (Not a single one of the Aldis I've shopped at has ever offered this feature.) Apparently, quite a few do, though, or rather, they did. Shoppers from Chicago to Pittsburgh seem to be quite upset about losing this option. Apart from the universe having it in for them personally, the assumption many are making is that self-checkout lanes make shoplifting too easy. As one Redditor commented, "Thieves ruin it for everyone."

Theft may not be the only reason behind Aldi's move away from self-checkout in certain stores. As one Redditor explained, self-checkout doesn't really reduce staffing needs, since you still need someone to keep an eye on these lanes. That someone might actually be more productive working as a cashier since, as another commenter pointed out, trained cashiers scan their groceries much faster than they can do it themselves, and that's not even accounting for the dreaded "help is on the way" error message that pops up. Every. Single. Time. Of course, Aldi issued a statement about its supposed self-checkout walk-back, and the statement ... essentially said nothing.

The grocery chain did confirm that it had closed some of its self-checkout lanes at selected stores, but then again, it's not likely social media users would have lied about what they witnessed. As for giving a reason, Aldi certainly didn't accuse its customers of stealing. Instead, it went with the usual mealy-mouthed corporate jargon about continually optimizing the customer experience, blah blah blah. As to what this means for the future, it seems every option is left open. Perhaps the company will veer away from self-checkout altogether and go back to the old-school (but efficient) style of high-speed seated cashiers. On the other hand, it could expand the feature to more stores or even extend the grab-and-go style shopping experience it debuted at an Aurora, Illinois, store in 2024. Whatever keeps the prices low and the lines short, it all checks out.