London (Great Britain) - Paying to enter a supermarket? This curious rumor is currently making waves in the media, as a supermarket in London is charging twelve euros to enter.

However, this is not a cheap customer rip-off, but a sophisticated pilot project by the supermarket chain Aldi Süd, as Karlsruhe Insider reports.

It has been testing the concept of shopping without tills (Shop & Go) in a store in the Greenwich district since 2021. This means cameras and artificial intelligence instead of tills.

Instead of an active payment process and waiting time at the checkout, customers register in advance in an app with their desired payment method. Alternatively, they can also present their credit card at the entrance to the store, as a kind of admission ticket.

The fact that an amount of twelve euros (ten pounds) is then debited when entering the discount store has recently outraged many. This amount serves as security for the customer's ability to pay.

When entering the store, this amount is reserved on the card and then deducted from the purchase at the end. If you have spent less money, the difference is refunded to the payment method within 48 hours.

However, this has not worked very reliably so far, as both the refund transfer and the appdo notworksmoothly according to customer reports. So far, the only Shop & Go branch is in London.