why do supermarkets...

LysdexicLysdexic Regular
edited June 2011 in Spurious Generalities
why do supermarkets charge for trollys?

So me and the missus were doing a quick shop at aldi the other day, its a cheep supermarket and we dont normally shop there, but the booze is cheep and actually quite good.

So we got there and I went to get a trolly, I had to put a pound in, but you get it back at the end so its no loss. The ones for wheel chairs and with baby seats are free though.

Walking round we are about the only people who actually paid for a trolly, there are people with loafs of bread in child seats, people trying to push the wheel chair ones round but having trouble because of the hight. It just had me puzzled that none of these people had a pound, or were too tight to use it.
It must suck if you have a young child and all those trollys are taken by people who dont need them.

I know some supermarkets charge for small trolleys to make you get a big one and hopefully spend more, but this store only had big ones, and no baskets.
It could be to stop theft, but if youre going to steal one, your going to at least smash it to get your pound back.

So yea, any ideas why?

Comments

  • MayberryMayberry Regular
    edited June 2011
    Lysdexic wrote: »
    stop theft,

    This and no other reason. Pretty much all the carts around here require a deposit.
  • BoxBox Regular
    edited June 2011
    Hold on. You're charged a pound(is that an euro?) for a shopping cart and when you return it, you get the pound back?

    Huh, weird. None of that stuff around here. They're all stacked outside and you just take it and go in. They got the standard cart with the basket and two openings for a child's legs.
  • MuzukashiMuzukashi Semo-Regulars
    edited June 2011
    No more free vehicles for pikeys.
  • NumberjumboNumberjumbo Regular
    edited June 2011
    They don't over here in NZ. First time I've heard of that.
  • SilosighbinSilosighbin Regular
    edited June 2011
    They do that here in Australia too, with it costing $1-2 AUD for use. It's used purely to stop theft of trolleys.
  • jamie madroxjamie madrox Sith Lord
    edited June 2011
    The only store around here that charges for carts is ALDI, and it's only $0.25
  • DaktologistDaktologist Global Moderator
    edited June 2011
    Never heard of that before, they don't do that where i work anyway.
  • edited June 2011
    I rarely come across shopping trolleys which you have to pay a pound for. You don't need to pay at Tesco or Asda (at least not the ones around here) but I think you do need to pay at Aldi or B&Q, although that's a little different I guess.

    It's to stop people taking the trolleys, but at the end of the day it's only a quid so it's not like it's stopping you from taking a trolley. In fact, it's pretty much saying "buy this trolley for one pound only!" :D
  • LysdexicLysdexic Regular
    edited June 2011
    Box wrote: »
    Hold on. You're charged a pound(is that an euro?) for a shopping cart and when you return it, you get the pound back?

    Huh, weird. None of that stuff around here. They're all stacked outside and you just take it and go in. They got the standard cart with the basket and two openings for a child's legs.
    Yep, we put a pound (as in a English sterling pound, not a euro) in a slot in a little machine on the handles, when you put the trolly back you get the cash back. After I have slept I will look for a photo of one. Sometimes you get charitys or kids offering to take it back if they can keep the pound.

    If its to stop theft, the fact that its worth more than a pound as scrap metal, and the fact you would get your pound back isnt really a deterriant, or are pikies really that stupid? Or are we talking about chavs who are stupid enough to want to push a trolley several miles home? They are hard enough to steer around a shop, fuck useing them on a dodgy footpath.
  • SlartibartfastSlartibartfast Global Moderator -__-
    edited June 2011
    Yeah. The mechanism uses the coin to push the 'key' out, then you use the 'key' to push the coin out. It used to be a $1.00 but then they made it $2.00 when that didn't deter enough theives.

    Coin_Operated_Trolley_Lock.jpg
  • HOLLISTER GUYHOLLISTER GUY Regular
    edited June 2011
    It's because you're all a bunch of foreign fucks!
  • RemadERemadE Global Moderator
    edited June 2011
    There are keyring devices shaped like a £ coin that you can use. I was never a fan, and each trolley is about £50, so putting a £1 deposit in is nothing. That said, why the fuck would you steal one unless you are a hobo/pikey fuck?
  • MeloncholyMeloncholy Regular
    edited June 2011
    RemadE wrote: »
    That said, why the fuck would you steal one unless you are a hobo/pikey fuck?

    Because if you're drunk it's cheaper and more fun than a taxi.

    Protip: If the handle of the trolley is removed with the coin unit still attached by the chain it makes a very effective mace. Worth remembering if you ever get jumped in a Tesco's carpark :D.
  • AmieAmie Regular
    edited June 2011
    Most European supermarkets do this. It's not to prevent stealing, but it's to encourage people to put their trolley back after they've loaded their groceries in their car. Otherwise the parking lot would be ridden with empty trolleys because white trash doesn't take the time to put it back. Now they have to or they don't get their coin back.
  • jamie madroxjamie madrox Sith Lord
    edited June 2011
    It's because you're all a bunch of foreign fucks!
    They do it in 'Merica too
  • dr rockerdr rocker Regular
    edited June 2011
    Amie wrote: »
    Most European supermarkets do this. It's not to prevent stealing, but it's to encourage people to put their trolley back after they've loaded their groceries in their car. Otherwise the parking lot would be ridden with empty trolleys because white trash doesn't take the time to put it back. Now they have to or they don't get their coin back.

    It was orriginally to prevent stealing, but it was found that people also took their trollies back to the bay. I remember back in the day shopping in places where people only really took public transport to get to.

    Their was a charge on the trollies then - to prevent people taking them.

    Still see people taking them and dumping them in the street - they would rather push the shopping home in a trolley rather than carry it - I do not know why.

    A few years ago not so far from me a very large supermarket opened its doors on a Saturday morning to find all of the trollies that were normally chained up in the car park gone.

    Saturday is normally the busiest day. They had to truck them in from all over, it was pretty funny.

    I imagine they were stolen for scrap, or for some one to make a large cage. Possibly an Austrian.
  • HOLLISTER GUYHOLLISTER GUY Regular
    edited June 2011
    Some new cart technology is out where it prevents the wheels from rotating past a certain point. magnets and shit.
  • dr rockerdr rocker Regular
    edited June 2011
    Some new cart technology is out where it prevents the wheels from rotating past a certain point. magnets and shit.

    Yeah, we have them here. Funnily enough, in areas where student live and they take trolleys and leave them outside a block they live in, they do not use them.

    They do use them where it is a lot of poor families. They would probably steal them and make pet cages for them to keep their menageries / children / one and the same in.

    I have even seen fences made from chopped up trollies in poor areas.
Sign In or Register to comment.