Have the same experience when shopping in Germany. Im very supriced how ineffective there system is, with an non excistent area after the cashier. You have to trash all stuff down fast and then pack/repack afterwords somewere else and you get stressed.
The swedish system feels superior in my honest opinion.
There is a big area afterword divided by a Y bar so 2 people can be served simultaneous. The 2 top Y boms are electrically controlled by the cashier so groceries goes to either left or right side.
So when one is finshed, that person can pack everything as he/she wants without hurry while the other persons groceries are served simultaneous by the cashier and that persons stuff goes to the other side.
Useally you could pack your stuff without hurry while the 2nd person is served.
But if both side temporary is not finish because two big shopper both Y boms could be closed so 3 people could be served simultiously. Two could pack and the 3rds groceries could still be handeled by the cashier.
And not to forgett, everyone in sweden (almost) payes with card which speeds stuff up alot. You pay while the cashier scaning the groceries. When finished you just press "ok".
The system is very efficient if you measure throughput. It does not feel as nice and you are pressured to pack very fast which is why the more upmarket stores use the Y-layout or at least a long surface after the cashier (never seen the closing bar in Germany though). Customers stopped caring as it is used for decades now. FWIW I usually pack while the items are scanned which means I can leave as soon as I paid which one can't do with the other layout.
But why card payment is so hideously slow in Germany is something I can't understand. After they gave you the final sum you need to tell the cashier that you want to pay with card, wait for the terminal to light up, insert the card (finally, up until recently you needed to hand the card to the cashier for them to insert it – technically you can insert earlier and it still works but many cashiers don't know and stop the process), wait once more, enter your PIN, wait once more, remove the card, wait again for the receipt to print (otherwise the cashier tells you stay as they can't verify payment before that). In the time it takes you can pay with the same card five times in Sweden – and didn't need to speak a word (great for me as my Swedish is only rudimental).
Card payment at Aldi (Süd) for me is about as fast as it takes Rewe to register that I put the card into the terminal. Aldi also never asks for signature and always goes for PIN because it's faster. It doesn't have to be slow, but sadly in most stores it is. (Debit card here, though. No idea how it is for credit cards and whether they work differently.)
If you ever have the chance to visit Sweden I urge you to try paying with card there (well, it's easier than cash there anyway). It's unbelievably fast.
But you are right, among the German stores Aldi has one of the best terminal.
> You have to trash all stuff down fast and then pack/repack afterwords somewere else and you get stressed.
1. Always have one or more foldable boxes in your car (like https://i.imgur.com/GG4FfAi.jpg). Make sure that those boxes can carry a heavy load.
2. Take one of those boxes into the store with you.
3. Load all objects onto the belt in the order in which you want to put them into the box (heaviest first).
4. Then just dump them into the box after checking as they come.
5. Finally just load the whole box into your car without repacking anything or carrying multiple bags.
I'm shopping in German supermarkets every week and I never get stressed. On those other hand I'm often annoyed by how slow things are in supermarkets in other countries.
It is only at Aldi where you have no area behind the cashier, all other have those and I hate them. You have to stand in line and wait until some slowly moving /&%%/ is packing all his stuff in slow motion into his much too small bag, while the cashier and everybody else has to wait before he slowly moves back to the cashier, pulls out his money, again in slow motion. Just a waste of time. The Aldi system doesn't allow for such unsocial behaviour.
The swedish system feels superior in my honest opinion. There is a big area afterword divided by a Y bar so 2 people can be served simultaneous. The 2 top Y boms are electrically controlled by the cashier so groceries goes to either left or right side.
https://www.ica.se/imagevaultfiles/id_53554/cf_6099/kassan.j...
So when one is finshed, that person can pack everything as he/she wants without hurry while the other persons groceries are served simultaneous by the cashier and that persons stuff goes to the other side.
Useally you could pack your stuff without hurry while the 2nd person is served. But if both side temporary is not finish because two big shopper both Y boms could be closed so 3 people could be served simultiously. Two could pack and the 3rds groceries could still be handeled by the cashier.
And not to forgett, everyone in sweden (almost) payes with card which speeds stuff up alot. You pay while the cashier scaning the groceries. When finished you just press "ok".