"1"^^ . "2"^^ . "2"^^ . . "I haven't been to an Aldi in years. And now I remember why. Before I even walk in the door, my sense of frugality is offended with the 25 cent shopping carts. I'm thinking to myself, \"I have no idea if I'll by ANYTHING in the store, much less enough to merit spending 25 cents on a cart.\" Ah, I get it. That's just it: make people WANT to fill up their 25 cent cart to \"get their money's worth\"! Not this girl. I walked around and decided I could do without everything but a gallon of milk. Nothing was worth walking all the way back to the entrance to pay 25 cents.\n\nUPDATE: I've been advised that you get the 25 cents back when you return the cart (assuming that you have a quarter on you to begin with). In retrospect, I suppose that this is a good way to ensure that the carts get returned to minimize staff effort in corralling the carts, though it's less convenient than having cart-return stalls in the parking lot.\n\nBUT STILL: \nThis type of store seems to encourage bad shopping habits: you buy stuff you don't need--and that you wouldn't buy otherwise--because it's on sale. So the reality is that you end up WASTING money. I'm not saying there aren't good deals, but you'd really have to do your homework on what IS or IS NOT a good deal. I'm sure that Aldi banks on the fact that lots of folks would rather do their shopping all at one store. \n\nThanks, but I'll suck it up and go to Woodman's. Which, conveniently, is right across the street."^^ . . . "5"^^ . "2015-12-17T00:00:00"^^ .