We Finally Know How Aldi Keeps Their Prices Low

Aldi isn't your traditional supermarket. They have cardboard boxes for shelves, shopping carts you can rent for a quarter, and DIY bagging stations. But practices like those hold the secret to the grocer's affordability. We finally know how Aldi keeps their prices so low. Aldi keeps prices down, in part, by employing a small workforce. In fact, that small workforce is the reason you'll have to insert change to use an Aldi shopping cart. If at any point you want to use a cart to navigate the store, you'll "rent" one: a quarter unlocks a cart from the corral at the front of the store. But don't worry about losing your money. As you're only renting the cart, you'll get your quarter back once you return the cart to the store. Considering shoppers do the work of putting the carts away, Aldi saves money by not hiring cart attendants to gather them from the parking lot. Aldi has never wavered from the quarter-cart model. In fact, it was in place when the first American Aldi opened in Iowa in 1976 and, according to CNN, the company credits the system for helping keep prices so low. Watch the video to see How Aldi Keeps Their Prices Low. #Aldi The quarter system | 0:18 Putting its shoppers to work | 1:05 Multitasking workforce | 2:10 Cardboard displays | 2:55 Cutting production costs | 3:31 Keeping stores small | 4:28 Eco-friendly stores | 5:23 No music | 6:34 Stocking small brands | 7:27 Buying from local farmers | 8:40 Cheap organic foods | 9:28 High volume, low variety | 10:23 Closing early | 11:19