Aldi trialling baskets at select supermarkets

A long-requested addition has finally been spotted in an Aldi store “at last” – but while many are delighted, some claim there is a glaring problem.

If you’ve ever gone to Aldi for a quick shop you will be all too familiar with the supermarket’s lack of baskets.

While the German supermarket famously makes customers insert a gold coin to use its trolleys, anyone doing a smaller shop has been forced to either carry or use a spare cardboard box in lieu of a basket.

Now Aldi is trialling the use of baskets at some stores, with one customer sharing on Facebook how they had spotted them at Aldi’s Underwood store in Brisbane.

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The baskets have been trialled at different Aldi stores around Australia. Picture: Facebook/Aldi Fans Australia.

“Love it,” the shopper wrote alongside a photo of the stack of baskets in the Aldi Fans Australia Facebook group, with the post prompting other customers to ask one question.

“Do we have to pay $1?” one person asked.

“Where do you put the coin so you can unlock the pile?” another commenter joked.

Some said they had seen the baskets in their local Aldi for a few weeks before they had disappeared, claiming they were too tempting for customers to just take home.

“But will you return them back to the store after unloading everything at your car? They work in Woolies and Coles because they pack them into bags for you,” another claimed.

“We got them at Aldi Orange for a few weeks then they took them away,” one said.
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Previously only coin-operated trolleys were available at Aldi. Picture: Paul Jeffers/NCA NewsWire

“When I asked why it didn‘t work, the manager told me that more than 30 of the baskets were taken in the first few weeks.”

“They trialled them in our local store and people just took them home,” another shopper claimed.

Others were understandably excited about the news, labelling it a “miracle” and saying it was about time Aldi had brought in the more “convenient” baskets.

“Been saying Aldi needs baskets for years just hope they implement them in all stores eventually,” one shopper commented.

“At last how can a supermarket operate without providing baskets, makes it so much easier,” another person wrote.

But some said they were unnecessary, citing hygiene concerns and the fact that Aldi already let customers use cardboard boxes to carry store items around.

“I don’t get the need. I don’t want to touch what I don’t need to. I just use my shopping bag if I only have a few things to get. Baskets are awkward,” one said.

“We are trialling baskets in select stores to assess the benefit it could bring to our stores and customers,” an Aldi Australia spokesperson told news.com.au.

Last month Aldi also trialled self-service checkouts at its Darlinghurst store in Sydney.

Aldi trials self-service checkouts

Last month, in a surprise backflip, Aldi revealed it was trialling the use of self-service checkouts at an inner Sydney store.

The supermarket previously said it had no plans to introduce self-service or smaller item checkout options.

The self-serve checkouts were installed Aldi’s Darlinghurst store in inner Sydney, with plans to trial the service at nine other NSW supermarkets in the “coming months”, Aldi Australia’s store operations director Robert Eichfeld said.

The supermarket also offered shoppers baskets as part of the trial after previously only having coin-operated trolleys available.

“Anecdotal feedback from the first day of the trial was overwhelmingly positive with more than half of our customers opting to use the new self-checkouts,” he said in a statement.

“Shoppers also commented that they enjoyed the choice and appreciated the convenience of having a quick and easy option when only shopping for a few items.”