The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Aldi: secret function at the entrance - and hardly a customer knows it

2022-04-21T05:56:19.717Z


Aldi: secret function at the entrance - and hardly a customer knows it Created: 04/21/2022, 07:49 am By: Tobias Becker Every customer who enters an Aldi Süd branch walks across the gray carpet in the entrance area. But hardly anyone knows that it has a secret function: An orphaned shopping trolley in the bushes or on the street corner - this is a picture familiar to many supermarket and discou


Aldi: secret function at the entrance - and hardly a customer knows it

Created: 04/21/2022, 07:49 am

By: Tobias Becker

Every customer who enters an Aldi Süd branch walks across the gray carpet in the entrance area.

But hardly anyone knows that it has a secret function:

An orphaned shopping trolley in the bushes or on the street corner - this is a picture familiar to many supermarket and discounter customers.

Young people who prank themselves or people who were too lazy to bring the shopping cart back could be reasons.

However: If you try to take the car with you at Aldi*, you will encounter a problem.

Because the discounter giant has developed a system to take action against vandals and "thieves".

Surname

Aldi

Seat

meal

founding

1946

founder

Karl and Theo Albrecht

Aldi Süd relies on immobilizer against shopping cart theft

According to chip.de, the Aldi site should be surrounded by several magnetic strips that are located on the edge of the sidewalk.

These magnetic strips therefore trigger an immobilizer on the shopping trolley.

Means: Anyone who wants to roll off the premises with a shopping cart from Aldi Süd will be blocked.

In order to continue driving afterwards, you would have to carry the car, because pushing it is hardly possible.

By the way: An insider revealed to chip.de that the parking lot or the underground car park belong to the Aldi site.

Customers can push the shopping cart there without any risk.

Aldi Süd: This is the function of the gray carpet at the entrance

The surprise comes when you unlock the shopping cart.

Pretty much every Aldi Süd customer knows the gray carpet with the grooves in the entrance area.

These grooves actually have a surprising function.

When a shopping cart is locked, it can be unlocked by simply rolling over the floor covering.

Knowing this is important for every customer.

Because the blocked shopping carts are usually put back or even left where they are.

If the small magnetic grooves do not help with the blockage, customers can also ask at the checkout.

Stolen or destroyed: shopping carts for Aldi, Lidl and Co. are so expensive.

In addition to the immobilizer, shopping carts, some of which are designed to encourage customers to buy more*, are also protected by locks - which is why customers are known to need a coin.

Nevertheless, around 100,000 shopping trolleys are stolen in Germany every year, which is a big loss for discounters like Aldi or Lidl.

Aldi Süd responded to a request from HEIDELBERG24*: "The acquisition costs for shopping trolleys are very high and we would like to make them available to our customers in sufficient quantities.

Therefore, we try to limit losses through theft as much as possible.”

A shopping cart is probably between 80 and 130 euros expensive.

Then there is the problem that some shopping aids are destroyed by misuse.

A video of a lifehack* went viral a few weeks ago.

In it, a customer revealed how to save the coin when shopping in a shopping cart.

However, the discounter giant Aldi had already warned against it.

Various security systems for shopping trolleys: Aldi Süd explains it

But at Aldi Süd there is not only one system that the branches can use, as the discounter giant reveals: "Basically, our branches can use shopping carts with different immobilizers." On the one hand, there is the possibility that the shopping cart does not leave the premises can.

Another variant restricts freedom even more.

Aldi Süd explains to HEIDELBERG24: "Another anti-theft variant prevents shopping trolleys from leaving the branch through the branch entrance." That means: If a shopping trolley leaves the branch in the wrong direction, the wheels block.

Unlocking is also possible in various ways: back in the "restricted" area, driving over the carpet or manually by employees.

"It's not used across the board.

The use is decided individually for the individual ALDI SÜD branches in order to be able to adapt optimally to the given conditions on site," says Aldi Süd as an explanation for the different variants.

(tobi)

*HEIDELBERG24 is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.

Source: merkur

All life articles on 2022-04-21

You may like

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.