80 years to get it right and your still stupid...

[bendertiger]

W...T...F?

Went shopping today, or attempted to...at a supermarket which takes 'coins' to pull one of their horrible shopping carts from the rack.

I specifically went and got change from a change machine to use a trolley...even though the sign says specifically that the carts take $1 and $2 coins, it only takes $2 coins.

So, I went up to the first customer I saw trying to return a cart. I asked 'Can I please take your trolley, I have 2 $1 coins to give you'. Old C**T...coot if your offended by the other word I intended to write. Goes 'No, you can't'...apparently a single $2 coin has more value than 2 $1 coins. Probably a case of 'It's MY $2 coin'...

I think that's the last time I'll help anyone around that age, they can get buggered!

[Squeaksmyalias]

I'm just marveling at the fact you have to pay to use a shopping cart so you can then buy things from them. I've never encountered that.

[NorthernZel]

I'm just marveling at the fact you have to pay to use a shopping cart so you can then buy things from them. I've never encountered that.

Technically it's just a deposit, one gets the coin back once the shopping is done and the trolley is returned to the rack.

Most supermarkets over here didn't enable "coin deposit" slots until maybe 10-15 years ago, but it became necessary since more and more SCs simply brought the trolleys all the way home and then ditched the trolley somewhere.

The old manager at my local supermarket once told Mr. Zel that the company spends approx. 7-800$ per trolley when they order them from the manufacturor, so the coin deposit (and eventually also the magnetic wheel-clamps that some trolleys are equipped with) is a huge Loss Prevention thing for them.

[Squeaksmyalias]

Oooohhhhh ok, I was so confused by that. Thanks for clearing that up.

[chainedbarista]

yah, i'm beginning to wish that they should do that here; i'm annoyed by finding trolleys in various areas, such as the furthest part of the lot away from the store, 2 miles away near an apartment complex, on a bridge into town, near the schools, etc.

people don't stop and think that the store has to either mark it as lost/stolen and replace it or send employees out with a truck to fetch them back, which costs us money, resulting in higher prices.

some stores have put antitheft devices on; they lock up the wheels if the trolley leaves a specified area.

[Mr Hero]

I have a friend who took advantage of a similar system at the store near him. He coralled the ditched carts and got the $0.25 depost back. He said there were enough lazy people that he was able to buy his copy of Link to the Past this way.

[MoonCat]

Come on out to my neighborhood, where the world's most dedicated shopping cart thieves live. I've seen carts from every store in town around here, including a couple from stores that actually closed years ago. Only one store goes out and collects their lost carts, thus I never see any of theirs around. All the others...on any given day, I'll see at least three sitting in driveways or on people's lawns. Saw one sitting on the church's front lawn at the end of the block not too long ago.

[StefanMuc]

Goes 'No, you can't'...apparently a single $2 coin has more value than 2 $1 coins. Probably a case of 'It's MY $2 coin'...

Well, maybe he wants to keep that coin for the next time when he needs a shopping card again? Given that it's not easy to obtain the right type (not even from the change machine) that may be a reasonable plan.

[NorthernZel]

Well, maybe he wants to keep that coin for the next time when he needs a shopping card again? Given that it's not easy to obtain the right type (not even from the change machine) that may be a reasonable plan.

Maybe the Old Man thought that OP might scam him by giving him some fake coins. Over here it is possible to buy keychains with "cart tokens" that have the same size as the coins that need to go in the deposit slot. (Over here the deposit slot is on the cart itself, dunno if it's different elsewhere.)

[kwdy]

We have people at my apt building that like to go to the Harry Twitter down the street and bring the carts home with them and then leave them out in the parking area.

The only place that I've seen have something to combat that was another HT in the next town over that had wheel locks that activated when you got to a certain point in the parking lot.

[SongsOfDragons]

In England you can get metal discs the same size and thickness of a pound coin that work in trolleys like that. Mine is all pretty and enamelled with my name on it on one side and it lives on my big jumble of keys.