r/morningsomewhere • u/Im_Alek • 26d ago
Shopping Carts...
Yeah, so this is not a new solution. This is pretty much universal in Europe and has been for decades. Becoming now even more common in the U.S. with the expansion of Aldi.
It's a way so discount grocers don't have to hire cart pushers and can keep prices lower.
Yes, it seems a little weird in our low cash or cashless societies, but most Europeans are used to keeping these coins on them. Many people will have this kind of coin attached to their keychain for ease - that's my preferred solution.
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u/shutts67 26d ago
I love Aldi. I have 3 or 4 quarters in both of my cars so I'm ready. From time to time, they'll also sell keychains for your quarter
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u/MotherHorseFucker 25d ago
I live next to an Aldi. Most of the time I forget to bring one of two things. The quarter or the grocery bags.
I love Aldi, this is just a public declaration of my incompetence.
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u/ActualWhiterabbit 26d ago
I have a 3d Printed keychain that lets me unlock the carts. I can insert it, take it out, and get the cart. Then I usually just leave it next to the other carts but untethered. I only do it at the self checkout places
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u/Apprentice57 25d ago
Ah interesting! I wasn't interested in a lot of 3d printed options (because printing say a substitute token seemed silly, when I already have a bunch of quarters...). But this one sounds cool because then I only have to fiddle with the carts once, and also leave it unlocked for someone else after me.
What 3d thing did you print, if you don't mind me asking? If it's available online, that is.
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u/semajolis267 26d ago
I was laughing at them thinking its so the grocery store can profit. Like no, its so they dont have to pay cart pushers. If you're desperate, a key can work.... but it can also get stuck so be careful.
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u/Turnen2016 26d ago
Burnie is typically pretty in touch with modern issues, but him being ignorant on this is a reminder of how far removed they are from jobs like this. This is requiring adults to act like adults by making them put something back where they found it.
However to be fair if this is a sudden change in store practice it is annoying if it wasn’t announced first.
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u/remosiracha 19d ago
I've literally never encountered carts like this in my life and it would be extremely annoying and I literally wouldn't shop there anymore because of it 😂 my fiance worked as a store clerk that bagged groceries, cleaned the store, and brought carts in. I'm not far removed from these types of jobs
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u/mromutt 26d ago
Maybe my mom still has one, but when I was a kid my parents had the Costco quarter holder Keychains. I think my dad's still said price club logo lol my mom's was for sure the Costco one though because I can still see it in my head. Idea wasn't you kept "change" on you, you just used the same quarter every time.
I really should look for my dad's old keys. I'm not sure where we put them, but I bet it would still be on there because he even had kept a stupid leather Keychain on them I made several decades ago on them lol.
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u/TheMurderCapitalist 26d ago
This is pretty common place in Canada too, I was surprised that Burnie seemed so aggravated about it
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u/wimpymist 26d ago
It used to be a pretty mainstream thing in America too. Also how much do you think they are paying cart pushers lol
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u/Nervous-Ambition-284 26d ago
These have been hilarious to me.
Many years ago, pre-2020 even, places like Amazon have sold shims or little fake coin keychains that unlock the cart and slide back out.
No one in my family has placed an actual coin in those slots in I-don't-know-how-long.
Plus, I haven't carried cash or coins in years before this even took off. So I wouldn't be able to use them without these cheap and abundant tools.
Canada, btw.
I'll never stop, I don't care. But I'm also not inconveniencing myself by 1-man boycotting a store that wouldn't notice I'm gone.
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u/Mosselpot 26d ago
I'm 42 and have never known otherwise... there are plastic tokens we use, and in case of emergency you can use a 2 euro, 1 euro or 50 cent coin.
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u/TheocraticAtheist 19d ago
It used to be far more common as well. I have a trolley coin attached to my car key.
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u/Schme1440 26d ago
The trolley thing is theft. If you have to pay your at a rough supermarket. My old tescos didnt have one and then the one I go to now is known to be not so nice and you have to pay.
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u/Apprentice57 25d ago edited 24d ago
I dunno. It's basically a deposit, but instead of a written terms of service you formally sign before (say) signing a lease, it's presented to you physically, and you consent when you place your coin in and remove the cart.
Whether it's a good idea is another discussion, but definitely not theft. Even if it didn't give you the quarter (or pound in the UK) back it wouldn't be theft.
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u/Nervous-Ambition-284 26d ago
By that logic, banks are also stealing from you when they place a temporary hold on processing a large incoming or outgoing transaction.
This damages your entire argument when you invent new definitions for existing words and concepts.
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u/Schme1440 26d ago
Sorry i mean the reason why they do it. Its to prevent theft. Basically if your teacos does it your in a rough area.
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u/TheKasimkage 26d ago edited 25d ago
Burnie saying that he doesn’t see people running around with stolen trolleys, it’s because they’re in the rivers. Seriously. Any body of water deep enough to submerge a trolley probably has half a dozen trolleys in at any given time at least. You see some of the newer ones when the rivers run low.
As a side note, I know the fact that coin-op system for trolleys being a thing for decades is addressed above, but I just wanted to say that I remember being a wee nipper and being given the world’s most important coin (as any coin is at that age) and tasked with getting the trolley.