Although most customers struggle to keep up with them, Aldi cashiers continue to scan items through their checkouts at a super-human speed. But it turns out there's actually a reason why their cashiers 'rush' customers through their checkout - and it's all to do with the pressure their under from management.
A former employee, who worked in one of their American branches, explained how the supermarket times "every single thing they do" - and pulls them aside for a "chat" if they're not reaching their targets. The worker said: "Aldi cashiers are supposed to scan 48 ipm (items per minute) in comparison to the 23 normal grocery stores require.
"We are also timed on how many seconds it takes us to get you to pay whether it be cash or card. We're also timed on seconds between customers, which is how fast we start scanning the next person's items."
However, the worker pointed out the flaws in this system, noting how their elderly customers struggle to keep up with their speed or "insist" on paying with cash rather than card.
"The reason this was so frustrating to me is because old people for some reason are allergic to coins," they added on Reddit.
"They have to pay exact or dig for the pennies so they don't get any back and it counts against an Aldi cashiers tender time.
"You have to be able to find the balance between meeting goals and still having good customer service.
"In six months, I had three customer complaints on me and I'm a pretty nice person actually."
But this isn't the only work station Aldi times, as they also set strict targets on those setting up the store, stocking shelves and their shift managers.
They said: "There's about six employees per Aldi store and there's usually two people there during the day, a shift manager and a cashier.
"Cashiers are responsible for checking people out as well as stocking the shelves.
"My shifts started as early as 6am when the store doesn't open until 9am because we had to throw the grocery pallets.
"There would usually be about six to eight grocery pallets per day and grocery comes in on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday.
"Aldi requires you throw one pallet every 30 minutes, which is extremely fast. To work at Aldi you have to be in good shape!"
Agreeing with this claim, another worker added: "I worked in Aldi for like two weeks. You have to have the strength of 10 men and run like you've never run before."
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