There have been rumors that a self-checkout lane is coming to an Aldi store near you.
The retailer has announced that some of its New York stores will begin using automated checkout stations sometime in 2016.
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Self-checkout will be introduced by the end of the year at stores in Webster, Henrietta, and Rochester, New York.
Aldi division vice president Aaron Sumida told the Democrat and Chronicle that their local stores can be found at 915 Ridge Road in Webster, 615 Jefferson Road in Henrietta, and 3170 Chili Avenue in Rochester.
In March, a store in Greece, New York, became the first in the area to offer self-checkout.
It has been said that there are twice as many automated checkout lanes as human ones at this location.
Experts in the grocery industry have strong opinions about the transition to self-checkout lanes, but it is unclear when they will be implemented at other locations.
“In a post-COVID world, virtually all supermarkets are having labor issues,” Paco Underhill, founder of New York City-based Envirosell, a global retail consultation company that studies how people behave in stores, told Democrat and Chronicle.
Therefore, rather than having workers scan each and every box, it makes sense to automate certain tasks, he said.
According to reports, the friendly cashiers at Aldi are timed by management as they scan customers’ purchases.
According to Mashed, the experience is like a dystopian social experiment if customers fumble with their credit cards or take too long to pack up.
In addition to leaving a quarter for a cart, customers of Aldi stores are required to remember to bring their own bags in order to bag their purchases in the bagging area.
According to 9News, Aldi supermarkets in Australia finally adopted self-checkout in 2021, after initially resisting the technology for years.
According to reports, many international customers are pleased to have the self-checkout option, but many Americans have taken to social media to express their displeasure with the impending change.
“#AldiThat’s right, I’m not one of your workers but rather a paying client. There’s no need to give me a bag; I bring my own.#SelfCheckOut,” a Twitter user said on the app.
“You have put them in place to improve your situation, not for my [convenience].#profits,” they added.
It was even tweeted: “Self checkout at aldi… This entire nation must be annihilated.
I don’t understand why Aldi has self checkout. Saddeningly, they pay their cashiers well.
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