How Aldi Saves You Money

Aldi is a super discount chain with ultra low prices and a minimum of fancy amenities. The stores are small and simple and the selection is limited to one or two brands per item. The brands are primarily Aldi brands. Various suppliers make products for Aldi that you don't see anywhere else. You do see some national name brand products here and there.

This is the store for the large family, the super frugal family or people who just want to save a buck. Aldi saves you money by cutting costs. No fancy shelves, no large stores with dozens of brands for each item. Aldi focus on the most common food and household items that people need on a daily basis. The stores are simple and merchandise is generally put out on pallets or in large bins to avoid the cost of people to stock shelves. Everything at Aldi is within easy reach and quantities are so large that nothing is ever out of stock.

You may first notice the difference in Aldi compared to other stores in the parking lot. You will probably not find a single lose shopping cart in between the cars. Aldi customers return their carts almost without fail. That is because Aldi has an automatic system that requires you to insert a quarter to release a shopping cart. When you return the cart, you get your quarter back. It is very, very simple but works remarkably well and saves Aldi the cost of having personnel push in the carts.

Aldi is BYOB, bring your own bag. This saves Aldi more money and since most people have their own recyclable bags now, this is not really an inconvenience to the customer. If you don't have your own bags, you can find an empty box to use, or buy a plastic bag for a dime. The day will come when all stores do this as we move away from plastic bags.

Aldi has very few cashiers, but they really get the job done. Checkout is speedy as Aldi cashiers just whiz through scanning your groceries putting them into another cart rather than bagging them. When your transaction is complete, you step away from the checkout and bag or box your own groceries or take them straight to the car. In my experience at Aldi the cashiers have been faster than lightning, but still careful to put my bread, eggs, chips and other crushable items on top, even though they are not bagging the items.

Grab a quarter and some shopping bags and give Aldi a try. You can make a real dent in your food budget with the store that cuts their costs to save you money.