If memory serves correctly, Aldi Nord was one of the last big supermarket chains in Germany to introduce scanners at the registers (2003?), because their existing system was simply faster: Each item had a three-digit code, and all cashiers knew all codes by heart.

It was a race between me placing items on the conveyor belt and them ringing the items up. Oh the embarrassment when they told me the total as I was placing the last item on the conveyor belt.