This Hack Promises to Deliver a Faster Checkout at Aldi

When it comes to the grocery store Aldi, unfortunately, with great discounts can come great crowds. Thankfully, a loyal shopper who also spends their time on Reddit gave us a great self-checkout hack that will get you out of the no-frills store faster than you can say “reusable shopping bag.”

This quick shopping tip falls right in line with the store’s mission: “We believe in being a faster, easier and smarter way to save money on high-quality groceries and more.” We do too, Aldi. 

According to the original post — which was posted by user lwpho2, the magic happens as you shop, not after you shop. By laying all of your items in a single layer at the bottom of your cart with the bar codes facing up, it allows you to grab the scanner gun from the self-checkout kiosk and zap the bar codes without taking anything out of your cart. It also certainly doesn’t hurt that Aldi’s bar codes seem to be much bigger than other store’s discreetly placed codes. But as it turns out, that’s by design. 

While a few comments suggested that this is already a pretty well-known hack (some attributing it as Sam’s Club system, while other calls it the “Costco method”), whichever store it started in, we thank you. 

There are few caveats to this quick scan method. One commenter noted egg cartons were tricky, based on the location of the bar code, and the hack also doesn’t work on produce, which needs to be weighed. The other issue? If you have trouble keeping your items to a minimum so you can stick to the single layer that the plan requires, this isn’t for you. And we all know how self-control goes out the window when it comes to Aldi’s low-price food finds and its new line of home décor items.