Aldi considers itself “the fastest-growing grocer in the US,” but one dissatisfied Florida woman believes that the retailer is on its way to losing business. Posting to X/Twitter, the shopper replied to a weekly ad by Aldi USA by saying that the store’s employees blocked her from using the regular checkout, claiming she’s “not allowed.” She was ready to pay “with an overflowing cart of $300 groceries” but was told she “has to use self-checkout or leave.” Needless to say, “I left” was her ultimate decision.
Infuriated by being told how to checkout with a full shopping cart, the Florida shopper stormed out but warned Aldi in her reply on X: “FYI If you force customers to do self checkout, you’re going to lose business.” One commenter on the situation agreed with the shopper’s sentiment, saying, “Way to f**k your own PR, Aldi. You’ll need to publicly fire the t*** that did this.” Another chimed in agreement on Threads, claiming that such a checkout system “seems backward.” She expressed that “full carts should be using attended cashiers, and those with minimal items go through self checkout.”
A second Thread user similarly echoed that the Florida woman being forced to do self-checkout should have never happened. “What’s the point in hiring cashiers if you’re not gonna let us checkout?” he protests. “I would have told that specific employee that s/he is an idiot for saying we’re not allowed to use traditional checkout,” he frustratingly exclaimed. In discussions unrelated to the Florida shopper, Redditors share a similar belief that no one should ever have to self-checkout with a cart full of groceries.
“I prefer the self check out when I am just picking up a few things. But I prefer a cashier when I have a large amount of items to last me a couple of weeks,” claims a Reddit user. “Self checkout is totally fine for those with 10/12 items or less,” expresses another. If anyone were to read through the hundreds of comments regarding whether self-checkout is ‘good or not,’ the prevailing opinion clearly leans toward that “an overflowing cart of $300 groceries” should never be forced into the self-checkout lane.
Whatever the reason why the Florida woman was forced away from the regular checkout is evidently absurd. Maybe the employee who made the mistake was punished by putting away the $300 worth of groceries in the shopping cart she left.
