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Aldi, Lidl, Obi or Ikea: from December, tougher rules will apply - consumers should pay attention to this

2020-12-01T21:53:50.234Z


A good week ago, the federal and state governments agreed to extend the partial lockdown. In addition, new rules for retail apply from today.


A good week ago, the federal and state governments agreed to extend the partial lockdown.

In addition, new rules for retail apply from today.

Munich - In the fight against the

corona

pandemic, the federal and state governments also tightened the rules for supermarkets, hardware stores, furniture stores and discounters on Wednesday.

The new requirements come into force today (December 1st).

What the customers of

Aldi

,

Lidl

,

Obi

,

Bauhaus

or

Ikea

have to be

prepared

for.

An overview:

Corona: What new rules have the federal and state governments basically agreed on in retail?

Last Wednesday (November 25), the federal and state governments

extended the

measures already in place for the

corona

pandemic - initially up to December 20.

However, new guidelines apply to retailers from today.

According to this, from December 1, fewer customers will be allowed to shop in shops with more than 800 square meters than before.

The new rules apply to the vast majority of supermarkets, to hardware stores like

OBI

,

Bauhaus

or

Hagebau

and furniture stores like

Ikea

.

The operators must use bouncers or distance markers to ensure that the rules are observed.

What are the specific rules in retail now?

Basically: up to 800 square meters of sales area, only one customer per 10 square meters is allowed.

In a shop with 600 square meters, a maximum of 60 customers can stay at the same time.

The stricter regulation now takes effect over 800 square meters.

Above the limit, it only allows one person per 20 square meters - and that makes the rule a bit tricky.

For a shop with 1000 square meters now applies: 80 people are allowed in for the first 800 square meters, but only 10 for the remaining 200 square meters.

However, the regulation on the maximum number of people per unit area is not entirely selective.

In the resolution paper of the federal and state governments on the 800-square-meter rule, “persons” are mentioned.

This means that when determining the maximum number of people permitted per business, the employees would also be included, which would mean that the actually permitted number of customers would be even lower.

In the regulations at the state level, however, the term “customers” is used.

According to the trade association, the only exception is the state of Rhineland-Palatinate.

There the corresponding ordinance refers to “persons”.

Aldi, Lidl, Obi or Ikea: from December, tougher rules apply - this is how controls are carried out 

The retailers try to meet the requirements through different approaches.

The shopping cart restriction is widespread.

According to this, the total number of shopping carts and baskets corresponds exactly to the maximum number of customers allowed.

When there is no shopping cart left, customers have to wait to enter.

This procedure was already widespread with the first lockdown in spring.

In the meantime, however, many branches of

Aldi

,

Lidl

,

Edeka, Kaufland

or

Rewe

have technically upgraded and installed traffic light systems.

The number of customers is counted when passing a light barrier and then reported back to a traffic light.

It is unclear to what extent compliance with the requirements is also monitored.

In the municipalities, the public order office would initially be responsible for this.

Do children also count?

The stricter regulation serves to protect against infection.

Therefore, children also count towards the maximum number per unit area.

So if you can organize it, you should leave your children at home.

However, this is often not possible - for example because the children are simply too small.

Supermarkets and hardware stores: which rules should consumers pay attention to when shopping?

Consumers should plan enough time to shop.

Because of the maximum number of available customers, there can be long queues, especially in the run-up to Christmas.

Also, keep your distance in lines in front of the shops.

Think of warm clothing and a mouth and nose cover and put on the masks out of consideration for those waiting in the waiting line.

In many parking lots at supermarkets, a mask is required anyway.

Aldi, Lidl, Obi or Ikea: Which days are particularly critical when shopping this year?

This year, the Christmas holidays fall on Thursday (Christmas Eve), Friday (Christmas Day) and Saturday (Christmas Day).

Including Sunday (December 27), the food should be enough for four days - especially since it is still completely unclear whether the restaurants will be allowed to open again during the holidays.

Given this starting point, many consumers should stock up on groceries on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday (December 21-23) this year.

Long lines threaten on these days.

If you can, you should avoid peak times in the evening and switch to off-peak times.

That would indicate the hours until noon and in the afternoon between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2020-12-01

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