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Comment by arthurfm | Hacker News Reader

> They really do tweak the cash register speeds at Aldi...

Not only that, but the Aldi checkout operators are extremely fast at scanning products compared to other supermarkets (at least that has been my experience in the UK).

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A primary reason for this is that ALDI products (at least here in the US, I don't remember whether this was true shopping in Europe a few years ago) typically have 4-6 barcodes per package--a box will often have a bar code on every face, if it's a house brand product. Makes for extremely fast scanning, true.

I also just noticed the dual-conveyor model in operation at a newly-opened Lidl near me yesterday. ALDI here typically doesn't do that--most stores are set up to place groceries (and unfilled bags) directly into a customer cart, and have a nearby counter to bag your groceries at.

Their scanners also don't suck. IBM used to make very high speed, accurate POS terminals in the early 90's. You could basically toss products across the sensor non-stop without any delay as long as the code was within view. The modern stuff is glacially slow by comparison.

Makes me wonder if they are at German speeds.

Because in Germany it's very fast

> Because in Germany it's very fast

ALDI/LIDL are outliers here in Germany. Other supermarket checkouts like Rewe, Edeka, and Kaisers are slower at scanning items. So don't take the speed of ALDI/LIDL cashiers to be indicative of every supermarket checkout in Germany.

Overall, German supermarkets scan items faster than in North America, but ALDI/LIDL are really in their own league. I sometimes think they are faster to scan items than to drop the contents of the belt onto the floor. Impossible to pack in real-time!

NahKauf (I think it's Rewe) wasn't too bad

They got slower.

Some years ago they punched in all items by number and were even faster.

The downside was that for the first months of your employment you were at home learning all codes.

For stuff like vegetables and fruits sold by the unit cashiers still pretty much have to learn the codes to be fast. There's a grid overview with images of the groceries and their numbers to help, but eh, you can't look at that or else you are slow.

I still remember that 515 were cucumbers and I believe 529 were 2.5kg of potatoes?...

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