Supermarket giant Aldi has found itself in hot water with shoppers in Australia over its self-checkouts. The supermarket's self-checkouts have been branded 'ageist' by some shoppers Down Under after Aldi changed its rules around how people can pay.
Supermarket shoppers were furious to discover that cash is no longer an accepted method of payment on many of its self-checkouts. Shoppers who want to pay with cash will need to go to a staff-operated till.
One woman in her 70s took to Facebook to share her dismay, reports the Mirror. The Australian shopper said: “I love Aldi but today I was very disappointed - our local has just installed self checkouts - which I am happy to use.
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I went prepared but - only card - no cash. Come on Aldi, that is ageism! I am 70+ and I use cash, so do most of my generation. It is not often I am disappointed by Aldi.”
Another woman added to the discussion whilst sharing her thoughts on the new tills on Twitter, speaking of how the problem is their inaccessibility. She said: “It's a question of accessibility more than ageism. The self-checkout counters of my local supermarket take cash as well as cards.
“Many folks sometimes prefer using cash over a card. It's also a question of equity; not everyone has a credit or debit card.” Other shoppers disagreed with the accusations that the new implementation was "ageist" against senior shoppers.
One woman said: “I don’t personally know anyone since Covid that is using cash anymore. Everyone I know is using their watch or phone to pay. I haven’t used cash at all in over 2 years.
“If you don’t like it, you can choose to use the register with a person and use cash. Nothing ‘ageist’ about it.” Another Facebook user added: “It's about a choice. What if they told you you could only use cash? Would you have the same 'get over it' attitude?
An Aldi spokesperson said: “Self-serve checkouts are a quick and convenient way for customers to shop, and all Aldi self-serve checkouts are card only to maximise efficiencies."
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