Aldi is expanding rapidly across the U.S. with a carefully honed format. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
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The discount grocery model could be set to collide with a growing political backlash against retail automation in tiny Rhode Island, of all places.
And proposed limits on self-checkout lanes could ripple far beyond a small New England state.
At issue are a series of bills that would cap the number of self-checkout kiosks in grocery stores — typically at a maximum of eight — and require a strict staffing ratio, in some cases mandating one employee for every two machines. Violations could trigger daily fines, effectively taxing the cost of automation.
While the proposals are framed as labor protections, they strike at the heart of the discounters’ U.S. strategy, with Aldi and Lidl differentiating through simplicity, smaller stores, targeted assortments and lean staffing models. Self-checkout, rolled out widely across U.S. stores in recent years, has been a key driver of efficiency.
But now Rep. Megan Cotter, D-Exeter, Hopkinton, Richmond, has introduced a version of her initial bill, proposed in 2023, to reduce the number of self-checkout kiosks a grocery store can have open, and mandate the amount of labor required to operate them. Her bill has eight co-sponsors in the House.
Similar bills are already under consideration in multiple states, including California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio and Washington, and that could force the likes of Aldi to rethink both store design and labor allocation.
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However, Rhode Island is not alone. Retailers have leaned heavily into self-checkout over the past decade, but theft rates at these kiosks are estimated to be significantly higher than at staffed lanes, with some studies suggesting a 65% increase. As recently as last week the chair of upscale U.K. retailer Marks & Spencer said that he felt self-checkouts encouraged those who would not normally shoplift to think about taking some items.
Rhode Island could prove an early test case for a national recalibration of checkouts and for Aldi the timing is particularly sensitive as the company is in the midst of one of the most ambitious expansion pushes in U.S. grocery retail. It plans to open more than 180 new stores in 2026 alone, part of a broader $9 billion investment to reach roughly 3,200 locations by 2028.
Alabama, Georgia, Florida (three stores), Michigan and Tennessee are all the confirmed list for imminent new openings.
And a new Aldi store design is rolling out in 2026 which also reflects a more modern, flexible shopping experience, with improved layouts, enhanced digital integration and a continued reliance on self-checkout to streamline throughput.
Regulatory friction, however, could complicate that rollout. Mandated staffing ratios would effectively reintroduce labor intensity into a model carefully engineered to minimize it.
Aldi has added millions of new customers, with one in three U.S. households shopping at Aldi in the past year, but maintaining that momentum depends on preserving both price leadership and convenience.
Yet Aldi is not alone in navigating this shift. Its closest global rival, Lidl, has been expanding more cautiously in the U.S., focusing on East Coast markets with a similar low-cost, limited-assortment model. Lidl, too, has incorporated self-checkout into its stores, though its U.S. footprint remains far smaller and its operational approach slightly less standardized.
For both German chains, the U.S. represents a critical battleground. The discount segment is still underpenetrated compared with Europe, and the opportunity to capture market share from traditional grocers remains substantial.
But that opportunity increasingly comes with regulatory complexity and Aldi’s challenge will be to adapt without losing its edge.
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