Is This Common Aldi Cart Myth Stopping You From Shopping There?

Aldi is the most affordable grocery store on average in the United States. Naturally, the question of how they maintain their low price point has led to rumors and myths about the grocery chain's operations. One of the most prominent is that Aldi charges for its grocery bags and shopping cart usage as a way to make up for its low prices. While customers being charged for grocery bags is one of the things to know before your first Aldi visit, the shopping cart myth is only half true, as the small deposit they "pay" is returned to them once they bring their cart back to the corral. 

It can be deterring to be charged for something that can be deemed a necessity during your trip, like a shopping cart. How else do you carry all of your groceries when shopping for the week? Thankfully, it's only a quarter deposit to unlock Aldi's shopping carts for your visit. For anyone unfamiliar, shoppers insert the quarter into the front slot on the cart handle, releasing the chain holding the cart in the corral. Once customers are done with their cart, they only need to return it to the corral, at which point the quarter is released back to them. According to Aldi's FAQ page, this negates the need for extra staff to collect grocery carts, which helps keep costs low while maintaining a clean parking lot. 

There have been a few weird myths about how Aldi kept prices low over the years. As recent as 2024, a rumor circulated on Facebook that one of Aldi's private labels was creating bacon in meat labs. However, Snopes was quick to disprove the rumor and correct that the meat lab in question was Appleton Meats, not the Aldi private label, Appleton Farms. There are also claims that Aldi doesn't offer national labels, and that shoppers get what they pay for when purchasing there. Certainly, Aldi has a wide selection of private-label brands to choose from, as well as a limited supply of the more familiar brands, but often these are just as good as the major-label counterparts. Aldi also states on its FAQ page that, in response to shopper feedback, the chain has begun offering the more familiar varieties on a limited basis. 

Myths come and go about everything, and Aldi does have a unique way it operates in order to cut costs for both the company and its shoppers. Admittedly, there doesn't seem to be any empirical evidence that Aldi's quarter for a cart policy actually does save the company money, but it sounds like solid logic — it's also just a quarter, so be sure to have one when shopping at Aldi. If you don't have a quarter, that's okay, too. If you just ask one of the cashiers, chances are they'll give you one.