Aldi testing at a single location $12 USD deposit to enter store in exchange for not having to check out.

[JeffKeryk]

It sounds inconvenient to me.

I live within walking distance of the grocery store that my wife and I frequent, so admittedly, there are a lot of times that I will pick up only a few items on a visit. And there are times when I'll make a last minute run for something that we forgot to pick up for dinner. So I'm not sure I'm fond of the idea of having a bunch of $10 cover charges lingering on my card, and then having to watch if I get $7 back on the $3 item I picked up. With as frequently as I sometimes go to the grocery, for only an item or two, I could have 2 or 3 pending charges, waiting for the final refund.

I see your point, but how many people go to the grocery store and spend less than $12, or whatever the number is. 1 in 100 maybe? And how many spend $3 or less? Not very many...

It's a numbers game. The bottom line is, it is a cost savings experiment for the store. I am convinced there is a ton of benefit for the store and perhaps for the customer.

Just my 2 cents...

 

[SC Maintenance]

I don’t mind the debit idea on my account. However I doubt having cameras and such based on what you take off the shelf to be accurate. Not interested in being a free beta tester either.

They could do this easily with RFID tags but there all too cheap to put them on each item.

I wonder what the ROI vs having staff is?

 

[barryh]

Aldi have been toughening up on shoplifting recently as it's on the increase, so I imagine that's part of the thinking. I wouldn't have a problem in principal with paying an entrance fee if it prevented shop lifting because the alternative is we are all going to be paying higher prices.

That said I can't see the camera system working faultlessly. They can't even make self checkout work perfectly.

 

[Dave Hess]

Perhaps, but the future wouldn’t require a $12 deposit just to enter. It would just have a laser cannon cleanly zap and incinerate thieves, and sense with high accuracy what you’re putting in a cart.

I’d prefer a scan gun attached to the cart, and high, severe consequences for folks caught leaving with stuff they didn’t scan.

Even that I’m not sure would go over well.

Crazy amount of theft would happen.

 

[GON]

Aldi have been toughening up on shoplifting recently as it's on the increase, so I imagine that's part of the thinking. I wouldn't have a problem in principal with paying an entrance fee if it prevented shop lifting because the alternative is we are all going to be paying higher prices.

That said I can't see the camera system working faultlessly. They can't even make self checkout work perfectly.

You bring up some additional points to the discussion. Your points may identify supplemental reasons for Aldi to test charging the $12 USD entrance fee. Interesting.

 

[JeffKeryk]

That said I can't see the camera system working faultlessly. They can't even make self checkout work perfectly.

Yep. The process will need to be honed. As a software architect veteran, I know very well about development. Even if the software works flawlessly based on original spec (it likely won't), nothing is static. There will be continuous modifications.

 

[CharBaby]

The devil is always in the details.

What happens when you decide half way through shopping that you like product B better than product A which you already have in your cart? Doesn't happen often but it does happen occasionally. For the record we do put product A back on the shelf.

Supposedly it subtracts that item from your cart. IDK exactly how it works as I haven't used one.

 

[johnmyster]

Sam's club isn't far away with the scanner arch thingys.

One downside, if one spends under $12 USD, the refund to the consumer's credit card can take three to four days. If one buys $47 USD if groceries, the consumer is charged $35 USD automatically when departing the store.

Wait, did you say credit cards? Aldi gonna accept my 5% grocery rewards card now?

 

[earlyre]

Amazon has an on-going vision project for point of sale check out. They have tried it in several Amazon / Whole Foods locations. I think it has been successful for some items but for others where weight or quantity of the items varies (think produce or meat items) the system doesnt work well enough using vision technology so I think they have supplemented it with RFID tag technology.....which also has it's own limitations.

about a year ago they announced they were phasing that out at amazon fresh store locations, as it didn't really work. while advertised as using AI to track you in store and your purchases, the AI didn't really work. instead they employed around 1000 people in India to monitor the feeds, and mark what you were buying...
https://gizmodo.com/amazon-reportedly-ditches-just-walk-out-grocery-stores-1851381116
https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/03/business/amazons-self-checkout-technology-grocery-flop/index.html
amazon originally said the system worked with "minimal human interaction"... in reality it was over 70% done by humans.