[mthwl]

Just a quick alternative viewpoint: as a parent, I’ve been turned off by Aldi in the past.

Often with a toddler and/or car seat in hand, unlocking a cart (for example) is not just an inconvenience, it’s a dealbreaker.

I’m into the pursuit of efficiency and low prices, but there are some real world benefits of “full service” grocery stores.

One being an nicer experience for the disabled (in my case, due to being a parent).

I’m guessing they don’t have those motorized carts either?

Anyway, I’m happy that there are alternatives. We’ll probably give Aldi another chance when our kids are older.

[velcrovan]

My kids are 3 and 5 and we've shopped at Aldi continuously since they were born. I'm not sure what you're talking about. Unlocking a cart takes almost no extra effort beyond what you'd expend to get one at any other store.

[itronitron]

Unlocking a cart is a foreign concept in the US. Not sure if the parent is in the US but any grocery store that has locked carts there is doomed to fail.

[hn_throwaway_99]

The entire article is about how Aldi is growing like crazy in the US, and explains why they have locked carts. A far cry from "doomed to fail".

[itronitron]

Props to Aldi then, they are definitely disrupting supermarkets.

[velcrovan]

I'm in the US. People catch on pretty quick if it will save them money. Which it does. Our Aldi is pretty much always busy.

[Xylakant]

> Often with a toddler and/or car seat in hand, unlocking a cart (for example) is not just an inconvenience, it’s a dealbreaker

Interesting issue. I’ve never had that problem as a parent and have never heard anyone else raise that as an issue - having carts locked is absolutely standard in germany since at least a couple of decades. Maybe people are just used to it. There are specialized carts nowadays for wheelchair users that are not usually locked, but the normal ones are. It’s so standard that there are even plastic coins to unlock which sort of defeats the purpose.

[zaarn]

It only defeats it partly. It's still your plastic coin. If you left the cart, you'd be handing someone else your stuff for free.

[Xylakant]

Absolutely. Mine is so worn that it barely works, but you'd have to pry it from my cold, dead hands. The store would give me a new one for free just for asking if they can change a bill so I have coins to unlock a cart.

The best thing ever was that in the beginning, the plastic ones sold for the same price as the face value of an equivalent coin. People would by a plastic 1 DM-sized piece for 1 DM.

[oblio]

I'm not sure what you're doing over there, but an entire continent (Europe) unlocks those carts and manages toddlers at the same time :)

[ohyeshedid]

"One being an nicer experience for the disabled (in my case, due to being a parent)."

I think it's incredibly disingenuous to compare your parental responsibility to being disabled, especially under the guise of experiences for disabled people.

[Symbiote]

Unless there's less reliability with a quarter (which is a bit thin) compared to a 1€ or £1, which are nicely chunky, I'm surprised that's a problem.

As soon as they can reach, unlocking the cart is the child's job anyway.

[esotericn]

Why would you have a car seat in hand whilst unlocking a trolley?

Wat?