First of all, regarding scubadiver's comment about "renting" a shopping cart. You put a quarter in the slot when you take the cart, and you get the quarter back when you return the cart. This is not "renting"; it's putting down a refundable deposit, and it saves Aldi from having to hire people to collect the carts from the parking lot. Everybody wins!

Then, regarding pricing. I do 90% of my shopping at Aldi here in Wisconsin Rapids, WI. Prices and quality are very good, and I will continue to do most of my shopping there. However, I have noticed some price creep on certain items over the last few years. There are times when specials offered at other stores beat the Aldi price; that didn't used to be the case. My guess is that the Aldi bean counters track data very carefully, and they know just exactly what they can charge and still keep you coming there, instead of going bargain-hunting elsewhere.