Aldi
“Mr. Friedlander, Aldi is the place to go for inexpensive groceries. Plus, they discount produce.”
“Okay, Fernando. I know where a recently opened Aldi grocery store is located. I’ll try it.”
“Only thing, you need your own grocery bags because they charge. And you need a quarter to access a grocery cart. You get the quarter back when you return the cart.”
Fernando graduated from high school with my son. He stayed with us temporarily. Fernando told me that he was now studying applied psychology at college. He learned that we are more apt to follow robotic instructions from a human voice and image to which we can relate.
When I arrived at Aldi with my reusable bags and a quarter, I noticed the grocery store’s motto imprinted below its billboard-sized name: ‘The Customer Is Our First and Second Priority.’ Quarter at the ready, I found the carts locked together with a rubberized chain and a peculiar key.
Ok, where the heck do I insert the quarter? No instructions or pictorials. I’ll be darned if I’ll go into a grocery store to ask how to use a grocery cart.
Fernando also told me about the key-stroke method whereby efficiencies might be realized by observing how many steps it takes someone to utilize a product.
The subject left his car, approached the cart rack, attempted to insert a quarter, and then walked back to his vehicle slightly slump shouldered.
Fernando explained that test subjects should consist of both early adopters and laggards.
Undoubtedly, I fell into the latter category. Hopefully, Fernando will not quiz me about my shopping experience.
After returning home with groceries purchased from another supermarket, I viewed a YouTube video demonstrating how to use the Aldi cart system. The young lady in the video informed me that “this is the easiest thing it could possibly be. You simply insert the coin into the slot and release the key.”
This experience confirmed my belief that some so-called advances are more like dis-improvements. The Aldi cart system must have been developed by someone who did not attend Fernando’s applied psychology course. If the locking cart system is the easiest thing, why did I leave without a purchase? And why are there numerous videos explaining the system?
While I believe that success in life requires struggle, I believe that a young college student attending school on loans, grants, and a work-study job should be provided with a place to reside on campus along with access to reasonably priced medical and dental benefits. Fernando should not have had to depend on private philanthropy.
Heck, we might start by having the country agree with a slight revision to Aldi’s motto: ‘Ensuring Our Well Being Is the Nation’s First and Second Priority.’ And on my next visit to an Aldi, sure enough, I was able to figure out how to insert my quarter to release a cart. I was quite pleased with myself. But when I finished shopping, I was stymied by the return system to retrieve my quarter. The video had not explained that part of the operation.
