Aldi customer who went viral for racing cashiers prepares for ‘final boss’
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Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more
An Aldi customer who films himself trying to pack his shopping bags faster than the supermarket’s “insanely speedy” cashiers can scan each item has gone viral after sharing his till tactics.
Leroy Lupton, 33, a music teacher and producer from Lancaster, started posting videos of himself on TikTok racing against cashiers at his local Aldi store last month.
His videos have now received more than a million views with people commenting on his tactics, including comments such as: “Using the Old El Paso box to prime the second bag is an unbelievable play”.
Leroy, who has so far produced six videos, said he now recognises some of the cashiers, in particular one dubbed the “final boss” who he has yet to beat and sends items “absolutely flying” through the till.
Before taking on “the boss”, Leroy is perfecting his technique against other cashiers by carefully choosing his packing order and practising what commentators have dubbed the “bag reload”.
“For example, the Old El Paso Taco kit, in the little rectangular box, is the perfect foundation for a bag, so that should go at the bottom,” Leroy told PA Real Life.
“That gives your bag good structural integrity and then you can put something awkward on top of that, like an item I’ve struggled with many times is a four-pack of beers.
“Then your thinner items, like a steak or something, can neatly go down the side of your cans, again reinforcing the structural integrity of your bag.
“And then I would say any items with a bit of strength and your softer stuff, like perishables that can get bruised or squashed, they have to go on top.”
Leroy started shopping at Aldi every week after the company opened its Aldcliffe Road store near his home in Lancaster in 2020.
“It’s on point with the pricing for one thing. You just can’t beat that crazy middle aisle,” he said.
“Sometimes I’ll dip into Sainsbury’s if I’m feeling lush, but I usually shop there (at Aldi).”
Over time, Leroy said he noticed “how insanely speedy” the cashiers were at scanning his items.
“I would just pop in there now and again to do my shopping and yeah, I just became aware of the athleticism,” he said.
“All of the items were flying at me and piling up, and I’m thinking this ain’t normal.”
At first he thought maybe it was just one of the cashiers who was “juiced up on energy drinks” or had a “few too many coffees”, but the experience kept repeating itself week after week.
“I’m thinking these guys are something else, they’re on a mission,” he said.
Leroy soon discovered he was not the only person who was struggling to pack his bags fast enough after speaking to his friends about the cashiers’ “athleticism”.
Then a few months ago, Leroy was doing his weekly shop when he recognised one of the fast-scanning cashiers.
“I was like, I know this person is uber fast, they are relentless, they don’t let up,” he said.
He “casually” put his phone down at the end of the till and filmed himself packing his shopping bags.
Leroy then uploaded the “crude” video to his Instagram story and soon received a volley of messages about his performance.
“All of my friends were just messaging me on Instagram telling me how bad my technique was and everything I was doing wrong,” he said.
“They were saying ‘you should be using bags with flat bottoms’ and ‘you never bag the toilet roll, that goes under the arm’, that kind of stuff.
“From how many people reacted to that (video), I thought there’s something in this, people are as passionate about this as I am.”
Leroy decided to start a TikTok channel called @me.vs.aldi.cashier and post more videos of himself racing against the supermarket’s till operators, so far accumulating more than a million views.
Many of his followers offer advice on how Leroy can improve his technique, with one commenting: “Horsing the cans of beer in that late in the first bag was madness, they need to be first.”
Another posted: “She sensed your inexperience. My local cashiers have no mercy for anyone, they fire goods at you like an industrial wood chipper.”
Leroy now knows some of the cashiers at the store and has identified one of them as “the boss” to beat.
“There’s a particular guy, he must be in his mid-50s,” said Leroy.
“He’s the nicest guy ever and always holds a conversation but oh my god, he is the final boss.
“I think it adds to the intimidation that he’s so friendly and will be talking whilst absolutely flying these items at you.
“I’ve never come close.”
For Leroy to win, he must successfully clear the bagging area before the cashier asks if he wants a receipt.
He has yet to out-pack “the boss”, but in the meantime is continuing to hone his skills against other cashiers.
“I’ve got this rivalry with one of the cashiers who I’ve had three times and god bless her, she’s as quick as the rest of them,” he said.
One of the most crucial moments is swapping bags, which viewers on social media have dubbed the “bag reload”, which Leroy said is tantamount to bringing on a substitute in a football game.
“My normal weekly shop is two bags’ worth,” he said.
“I usually have it under the arm, ready to be whipped out – a quick pit stop, or reload as people have been calling it online.”
Leroy had expected the “big tattooed bald guys” to be the toughest, but said women tend to be quicker.
“I’m still meeting the characters because I’ve only done six videos,” he added.
“I absolutely thought this was just going to be a collection of videos for me to show someone in the pub.
“It wasn’t until the most recent video that I posted – I just finished my shopping and uploaded it when I got home.
“Within an hour it was on like 30,000 views and then I just left it and went to bed, and when I woke up it was on a quarter of a million.”
Leroy, who used to be in a videogame cover band, decided to add a soundtrack from the video game Street Fighters to his videos.
He said: “It instantly sells the idea that this is a battle, it’s me versus them and there’s only going to be one winner at the end of it.”
Leroy is planning to released more videos and is hoping to take on the boss by the end of the year.
