9 Perks That Make Aldi Pleasant for Ohioans Over 60

A cashier in Canton scans a cereal box from the “wrong” side without slowing down.

That’s Aldi’s design, built to move fast.

Behind that quick scan sits some benefits that add up for anyone keeping a close eye on a fixed budget.

These are the perks that make Aldi pleasant for Ohioans over 60, both from a money-saving and customer experience perspective.

1. Guarantee That Doubles Back

Aldi backs its own store brands with a return policy called the Twice as Nice Guarantee.

That guarantee runs at every Aldi in Ohio, from the stores the company’s Hinckley division supplies in the north to the stores its Springfield division stocks around Columbus, Dayton, and Cincinnati.

It’s not just a refund.

If you need to return an item, bring your receipt to the register. You’ll get your money back AND either keep or swap out the returned item.

Without a receipt, Aldi still hands over a merchandise credit worth the item’s current price.

For a shopper stretching a Social Security check to the end of the month, getting the purchase price back while still keeping the grocery item covers more ground than a typical return ever does.

2. EBT That Follows You Home

Aldi and Instacart accept Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for online orders.

Those benefits move through an Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) card for online orders, not only through a purchase made inside the store.

That’s new to many shoppers.

A shopper who relies on SNAP benefits and no longer drives can still spend those benefits without asking anyone for a ride to the store.

Ohio added one extra step in May 2026: the state now blocks online EBT purchases by default, treating Instacart pickup as an online order.

A shopper has to unlock the card first, either in the ConnectEBT app, at ConnectEBT.com, or by calling 1-866-386-3071, before an Aldi order through Instacart will go through.

Ohio is one of the states where the Instacart service runs, alongside curbside pickup placed through that same order.

Groceries paid for with EBT still show up at the door or the curb once the card is unlocked, the same as a cash order would.

3. Curbside That Skips the Walk

A shopper managing sore knees or a bad hip doesn’t have to cover a single aisle at Aldi, since an associate loads the trunk instead.

No walking required.

Aldi runs curbside pickup through Instacart at stores across Ohio, including Cleveland, Columbus, and Akron.

A shopper over 60 can set up an account once and reuse it for every trip after, skipping the walk each time without skipping a single item on the list.

Orders can be scheduled for later in the week, or picked up the same day if the schedule allows it.

4. Cash Back With No Fee

Aldi lets a shopper swipe a debit card at checkout and walk away with cash back in hand, up to $100 at a time.

Ohio’s population of residents 60 and older topped 2.86 million in the most recent count, the sixth-highest total of any state.

A lot of that group lives on a monthly Social Security deposit that has to stretch.

Skipping a separate stop at the bank, or an automated teller machine (ATM) that charges for the privilege, makes a difference when that deposit is the whole budget.

There’s no fee attached at Aldi, no matter how small the withdrawal.

The option shows up right at the payment screen in any of Ohio’s Aldi stores, with nothing beyond picking an amount.

5. Shorter Walk by Design

Aldi builds its stores small on purpose, running about 18,000 square feet apiece, under half the floor space of a typical grocery store at 48,400 square feet.

Ohio counts 173 stores across the state, more of them in Columbus than in any other Ohio city.

Fewer aisles.

That means less distance between the door, the milk case, and the checkout line, a difference for a shopper who paces themselves store to store.

6. Tap Instead of a PIN

Aldi added tap-to-pay terminals to every one of its 173 Ohio registers as part of a nationwide rollout, alongside standard contactless payment like Apple Pay and Google Pay.

The card stays in hand.

That skips fishing through a wallet or punching numbers into a keypad, a plus for a shopper managing arthritis or stiff fingers as much as anyone waiting in line behind them.

It also skips the personal identification number (PIN) a debit swipe usually asks for.

The tap works the same at self-checkout as it does with a cashier ringing up the order.

7. Low Prices, No App Required

Aldi keeps its shelf price as the price a shopper pays at the register, with no loyalty program or app required to unlock it.

Nothing to download.

The same shelf price rings up the same way at any Aldi register in Ohio, from Toledo to Portsmouth.

A shopper without a smartphone, or one who'd rather leave it in the car, still gets Aldi's full price break at the register.

Other grocery stores often hide their best price behind a digital coupon that has to be clipped before checkout.

8. Checkout Line That Moves

A cashier at Aldi scans a box from whichever side lands in hand, no flipping it over and no hunting for the code.

That's by design.

Aldi prints barcodes on multiple sides of its own packaging, a choice the company says cuts checkout time by 40%.

That 40% cut in scan time adds up to fewer minutes standing at any of Ohio's 173 Aldi checkout lines, a difference for a shopper who tires standing in one place.

Self-checkout works the same way, since the oversized codes scan just as fast without an employee involved.

9. No Music Overhead

Aldi skips piped-in music at every one of its stores, a policy that holds from the produce case to the checkout line.

No soundtrack.

That's true whether the store sits in downtown Dayton or a small town like Zanesville.

An Aldi spokesperson has said the company avoids licensing costs tied to background music and passes that savings on to shoppers instead.