Aldi Fans Say This Shopping Problem Is Too Common
Aldi, the German grocery chain, is known for its low prices and its unconventional shopping cart system. Most of the time, when you hear people talking about Aldi carts, it's because of the coin exchange. In order to use a shopping cart at Aldi, you have to insert a quarter. This disengages a locking mechanism that latches the cart to the one in front of it, releasing the cart. When you return it, your quarter is returned (via The Kitchn). This unique system is in place to save on labor costs.
According to the FAQ page on the Aldi website, the quarter deposit system means that no additional staff needs to be hired to corral the carts in the parking lot, and customers are incentivized to return their carts to get their coin back. Though, if you want to bypass this system completely, you could always bring your own shopping bag or purchase one of the reusable shopping carts some locations are selling to shoppers (via Honey). One Reddit user, though, ran into a different problem with the shopping carts at Aldi.
There were no carts at one location
One Reddit user recently posted that their issue wasn't with the coin return on the carts but that there weren't any carts at all. The user, michaelrxs, says they were shopping at the Brooklyn, New York, location and had noticed over the course of the past few months that carts had been hard to come by. Michaelrxs goes on to say that while the lack of carts was annoying, Aldi initially had provided hand baskets, something that's not common across many U.S. locations. But those seemed to be quickly phased out at this Brooklyn location, per michaelrxs. This year, michaelrxs noticed both the carts and the baskets were gone altogether. When asked about the absence of baskets and carts, an Aldi employee couldn't provide any answers.
Some commenters on the post noted that it's possible that the carts are being stolen, while others, such as AreYouABadFishToo_, suggested an alternative solution saying, "I suppose you could bring one of those wheelie baskets I see people dragging around." Others also noted a shortage of carts at their locations, too.