Could you elaborate? Self check out is new at my NC location. They tend to shut it down by 7 pm so I’ve only used it twice. One of the times an item wouldn’t ring and a manager appeared just before I was ready to abandon the whole thing. The system wouldn’t allow me to remove the problem item. It just froze the entire proceedure.
One edge Lidl has over Aldi is that Lidl does have the self-check. In Aldi, I expect to wait a minimum 15 minutes on line. They have five registers, but only one open, while a line twists around the store. I really can’t stand it. Its torture trying to get out of there, and everyone has like a million freakin’ items.
However, Lidl’s self-check does have some problems. It is a bit slower than, say, Shop Rite’s, and some items will just not scan. Trying to call an employee over to help takes even more time. Still, I’ll take my chances.
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OK, I’ll say it. IT IS 2019 and there is absolutely NO excuse for badly executed self-checkouts. NONE. You likely have a combination of ignorant upper management and someone’s brother-in-law providing the ‘technology’. If checkout is a show-stopper then you have really poor ‘management’ and I would vote with my feet until things improved.
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I agree. I’ve noted many issues with my NC Lidl on the general Lidl thread that point to upper management problems. The recent lawsuit by Aldis furthers my unfavorable opinion of upper management at Lidl.
I’ve reduced my Lidl shopping greatly and now pop in for just 3 items that my Aldis doesn’t have.
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Just got back from a maddening experience in Lidl. No longer is self checkout a simple annoyance. Every three items, the screen would lock saying to “place item in bag”-- the weight wasn’t registering when I put it down. They also do not have a scanner gun, meaning I had to lift a 35-pack of water bottles up to the screen and hold it there long enough to register, which is pretty long lol.
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bingo- exactly what I went through for like $100 of stuff. the lady working there was very helpful as every self checkout was going through same thing but was the only person handling it so was way overbooked, what should have been in and out in like 5 min for self checkout took 20 no lie. I love self checkout at shoprite; will never do again at Lidl, will just wait in the line I guess.
One tip on the water the employee shared with me for the self checkout, just type in the barcode instead of scanning, there’s an option for that. Still have to lug in onto the spot to be weighed but you don’t have to go through the scanning process as least which is awful.
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I like Aldi but found Lidl selection a bit wider and it’s not a depressing experience; even after the renovation.
I agree. The size coupled with the high ceiling and large windows make Lidl a more pleasant experience. And there is a larger selection.
My local Aldi usually just has 1 cashier but they move that line really fast. And they are good about opening a new line as soon as there is any sign of restlessness from the customers. Lately Lidl has been inching their prices up and Aldi is consistantly lower. Often Food Lion and Lidl have the same price. I’m beginning to feel that Lidl just looked at the first year as a loss leader in order to train customers to assume that the best price was there. Also to hurt the competition.
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man- I hope that’s not the case here. I really am enjoying the experience so far - the savings as Greg said, are legit. Planning on trying to make them my first stop weekly now. (Which leads to me to see how they could be playing the long game here as you’ve seen.)
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Mine has been open just under 2 years. They just started breaking ground for a new location that I could walk too. They were planning quite a bit ahead. Neighborhood meetings about the zoning were going on around 5 years ago or more. All we were told was it a grocery, the square footage and that there would not be a pharmacy or gasoline sales. They are sitting on a lot of real estate all along the east coast.
So there has been some conversation in another thread, I figured I would try to bring the topic back here. I (the wife but I was in attendance) decided to give a fully blown shopping experience here a try. Upon closer inspection of prices etc. I’m a bit less impressed than I was during my first walk through. Their prices on many items seems good, but it’s all priced off odd measurements. Sure a $7.99 steak sounds great, but when it’s 10-12oz that still works out to supermarket prices. Same thing with their chicken (boneless breasts) the pricing wasn’t any better or worse than supermarket, with far less selection of brands.
We tried one of their fresh breads, it was still warm in the bin when we bought it, rosemary and olive oil. The bread itself was delicious, their do it yourself slicer was broken and it was a bit unnerving having to stick your hands into a broken slicer to retrieve your loaf. This is when I noticed they are a bit painfully understaffed, which has been noted about the check out lanes. I waited about 2-3 minutes to see if I could find someone to ask for help with the slicer when I realized the effort was futile and just stuck my hand into the chipper.
I did almost buy a power drill, not really sure what to make of their odd assortment of power tools. lol I also grabbed some of their store brand peanut butter for $ 1.15, but I haven’t tried it yet to report.
All in all I"m neutral on Lidl. Perhaps I’m just a creature of comfort, I like the selection of larger super markets and I like knowing what I like and not having to experiment to find replacements of what I enjoy.
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Yes, the understaffing is real. I went on Saturday late afternoon and it looked a bit like a store before a blizzard.
And yes, the odd assortment of stuff is… well… odd. Gardening tools next to baby bibs next to multipurpose tools and frozen scallops. It is weird.
I get a bit overwhelmed sometimes at the store so having only a few of each doesn’t bother me. I don’t need 592829 types of cereal to pick from. I eat yogurt anyway!
I think the appeal for me is I am able to dodge in and out. There isn’t a billion of anything and once you weave your way through the crowd in the bakery section I can make quick work. I am also a huge fan of no bags.
What do you mean no bags? They had bags, just like Trader Joes?
You are right. I mean that I don’t use bags. I shop directly into a huge cardboard box that they seem to have scattered all over the store and then bring the box right into the house. It is SO MUCH easier. But I’m also that person that will carry 6839020 bags into the house rather than make 2 trips so take my advice with a grain of salt.
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Of course, you can bring your own bags to any other supermarket (or Dollar Store, or just about any store) as well. It’s been years since I got bags at Shop-Rite.
The problem with bringing them to places like Target and Walmart is that you often need larger bags than usual for things like clothing, hardware, or auto supplies. At Home Depot, I don’t bring or take a bag for things like furnace filters. But when I told the woman at Kohl’s I didn’t need a bag for the one belt I bought, she said she had to give me one!
I think I saw you once
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That’s me!
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They have bags but they charge you for them. Here it is 10 or 25 cents each.
Paper bags are .07 each. I usually get two or three bags full and reuse them for recycling since you can’t use trash bags around here anymore for the. The paper ones they take
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