If You Bring This To Aldi, Prepare For A Frustrated Cashier

Aldi is a unique grocery store in many ways, and one of the most notable is its grocery cart system. In order to get a cart, customers have to put a quarter into an attached machine. They get this quarter back once they return the cart at the end. Certain folks find this annoying and try to find ways around it. Some people have a handy keychain gadget to use in place of a quarter at Aldi. Others have taken to bringing their own shopping carts from home, but this isn't always welcomed by employees. In fact, many of them find it frustrating, and for good reason.

Rather than having anything to do with greed or rules, all this comes down to cashiers trying to do their jobs efficiently. At Aldi, cashiers will take your groceries, scan them, and then place them directly into a different cart. This cart belonged to the person ahead of you, and then your cart is used for the next customer behind you. All this is done like clockwork, which is why the lines tend to move rapidly.

If you have your own cart, that messes everything up. As one Redditor who works at Aldi put it, "I have to scan fast. This prevents me from doing so. I have to wait for you to fully unload it and then bring it around. And then it is small ASF and I can't reach it from my platform/chair." Another customer added, "Just keep in mind the cashiers get 'timed' on how fast they check someone out. So you may not only be hindering efficiency of the line, you may actually be affecting their 'performance.'"

There are a few reasons why people might prefer their own personal shopping cart, and they range from convenience to sanitation worries. On the side of convenience, people say they find it easier, especially if they're walking home. One Reddit user who frequents Aldi said, "I did this all the time simply because the carts were so off-balance and hard to navigate the maze of aisles that it was a much better experience for me to use my own." Others talked about how it eliminated the need for remembering a quarter or returning the cart to the corral.

From a hygiene perspective, few people know how nasty grocery carts really are. Carts are absolutely crawling with bacteria, and you have to touch them with your hands. With the cart swap, you also end up touching a cart that has just been used by someone else. It's not exactly a major health hazard, but some people do find it concerning.

So, carts are one of the things people hate about shopping at Aldi, and no one is going to stop you from using your own. It's not against any written rules. If you want to insist on bringing your own cart or wagon, there is a way to make it a slightly less bothersome habit. You can still do self-checkout at some Aldi stores, and employees recommend that for those with their own carts. Keep your items in the cart with the barcode facing up as an Aldi self-checkout hack that will save you tons of time. No matter what, though, you may still get a few side-eyes from employees.