October 23, 2026 — 3:57pm

Aldi’s self-serve checkout system has become a lightning rod of frustration for shoppers and staff who report facing higher levels of customer aggression and abuse as a result of having to conduct mandatory bag checks.

Customers have vented on social media after finding the self-serve registers are often closed, which has become a flashpoint for threats and verbal abuse, a survey by retail union SDA NSW has found. Aldi rolled out the self-serve checkouts across the country in late 2024 , more than a decade after Coles and Woolworths.

Aldi’s policies around self-serve check-outs are contributing to higher levels of customer abuse and aggression, the union says.

Nearly 97 per cent of Aldi staff reported experiencing some degree of abuse or violence when working at the self-serve checkouts, overwhelmingly driven by the requirement to conduct compulsory checks of bags (98.4 per cent) and trolleys and prams (75 per cent), according to the survey that received 185 responses from…