The Unusual Currency This Aldi Cart Was Rented With
The grocery chain Aldi is known for its reasonable, affordable prices. The German-based market famously keeps prices low by cutting corners in other ways. For instance, Aldi shoppers aren't supplied with bags and must place their own groceries in the totes they bring from home.
Products at Aldi aren't taken from their shipping boxes and put on display, which saves money in stocking labor. Aldi stores are also open less hours than other supermarkets — another cost cutting measure that saves on electricity and labor costs.
The store stocks items from some recognizable brands, but they mostly offer products from their own private label. Due to this, shopping at an Aldi can be somewhat of a treasure hunt because you're likely going to come up empty handed on some items on your shopping list, but also discover new products for your family to enjoy.
Aldi also requires a 25 cent deposit before you can get a shopping cart — you guessed it, another cost cutter. Your quarter is returned when you bring your cart back to the staging area. This apparently eliminates the need to pay someone to collect the carts from the parking lot.
One shopper's coin only looked like a quarter
Though a quarter is required to rent a cart at Aldi, one person tried to pay for their cart with a something completely different — a transit token! A woman from the Washington D.C. area tweeted that she had returned her Aldi cart to receive her quarter back, but received a Metro token instead.
Indeed, WUSA9 reported that Mallory Row tweeted a picture of the token at Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), asking whether or not the token was still valid. The transit authority replied with: "Hi Mallory, thank you for reaching out. They are still valid, you can use it to ride Metrobus."
While the token can still be used, people responded on Twitter that the token may also be a collectible item. But as it turns out, they don't have too much value; one Ebay listing offers one vintage token for $4.95.