26 August 2010

Don't like Woolies? Steal their trolleys! (But don't get caught)

| johnboy
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trolley pile

Greens MLA Caroline Le Couteur is celebrating the passage of her bill (so it’s a law now) to tackle the urban scourge (or resource depending on how you swing) of shopping trolleys.

“The final legislation gives the Government the power to notify retailers that it will undertake a ‘trolley collection day’ in a particular area; if the Government then finds any trolleys in this area, it may fine the responsible retailers.”

“TAMS rangers also have the power to tell retailers to collect particular trolleys within 24 hours, or face a fine.”

“The legislation encourages retailers to prevent trolleys from leaving their premises in the first place by using coin locks or other containment systems.”

“It also addresses the issue of people taking trolleys. It allows authorities to require a person to return trolleys, or to issue fines,” Ms Le Couteur said.

On the other hand considering the ACT Government manages a brothel inspection every five years this might only give rise to supermarket trolley nazis.

A plus though is that coin locks effectively outsource coin collection to child labour, bringing the ACT more closely in line with our Asian neighbours.

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bd84 said :

Pommy bastard said :

Idiocy, punishing supermarkets for the actions of Bogan shoppers achieves, what exactly?

Who came up with this nonsense? Oh, ok, that lot…

Couldn’t have said it better myself. Coin lock trolleys do not work, take a look around the City at all the Supabarn and Aldi trolleys abandoned complete with coin locks because of the lazy people who cannot be bothered carrying their 3 bags of groceries. They should be fining the people who take them $1100 for the theft of the trollies.

I disagree to a point, they might not work in the City but they work out at Lanyon, you never see the Aldi trollies abandoned, Woollies trollies on the other hand…………

Easier to lose 2 bucks than walk the 5 levels form the car park back to Aldi.

Come to think of it, I work in the city & never see the Aldi/Supabarn trollies abandoned???

paulh said :

Trolley locks discriminate against carers with children

Is this another word for “parents”? If so, good. As for the elderly, most of them can’t afford to buy enough stuff to fill a trolley. I don’t see many oldies pushing trolleys. Where did this idea come from that people have some right to take trolleys away from shopping centres anyway? Trolleys live in the supermarket, they’re for using in the supermarket.

paulh said :

Trolley locks discriminate against carers with children, the elderly and the disabled who find it hard enough to do their shopping. Trolley locks are unreasonable, they are just another way for supermarkets to reduce staff and save a dollar. I expect the supermarkets which show such poor consideration for their customers will loose out in the end.

I don’t agree with you at all.

Have you been to Europe? If they had free trolleys, all their canals, rivers and lakes would all be impassible by boats.

Having the coin system is good as there are less trolleys in the carpark, hence less idiots trying to be smart while parking next to them, and also less trolley kids scratching cars.

The carers and elderly DO have a choice to leave the trolley next to their car… it’s just $2.
Besides kids can try and earn pocked money by offering help returning the trolley, and loading groceries.

Rollersk8r said :

Tackling the big issues. And coin locks are so convenient…

I guess it is pretty inconvenient to walk ALL the way from your car back to return the trolley. FMD.

“The legislation encourages retailers to prevent trolleys from leaving their premises in the first place by using coin locks or other containment systems.”
Why “encourage”? Why not “require”. Fining them will only mean that they’ll put up their prices to cover the fines.

Trolley locks discriminate against carers with children, the elderly and the disabled who find it hard enough to do their shopping. Trolley locks are unreasonable, they are just another way for supermarkets to reduce staff and save a dollar. I expect the supermarkets which show such poor consideration for their customers will loose out in the end.

Davo111 said :

My main concern is that i really hope the barriers can be turned off in a fire alarm. If too many people run out at once with trolleys, it would jam/block an exit.

Save the trolleys!

neanderthalsis said :

I’m pondering what “other containment systems” would be.

they’re quite popular in the two shopping centres in chatswood sydney. Basically its a thick plastic wheel covering that “rests” over the top of the front wheel. When you pass over the barrier (which i believe is just a magnetic strip) and cover flips down over the wheel and then locks into place. Only the trolley collectors/store managers have a tool to override it.

Its kinda funny watching people get stuck after ignoring the red line and the signs all over the place that say “no trolleys past this point”. Then they look totally stumped when the trolley won’t move.

Oh and the red line is usually before the actual strip, so people can’t just carry it over the line.

My main concern is that i really hope the barriers can be turned off in a fire alarm. If too many people run out at once with trolleys, it would jam/block an exit.

I think the coin trolleys work, as most people want their money back.

Have an irremovable ‘Running Man’ type explosive charge attached to the trolley. If the trolley reaches a set distance from the supermarket, BOOM!

p1 said :

I keep one out the back to cook on.

Fantastic! My only query is you seem to be missing the ‘LID’ that let’s you pretend you are cooking in an oven.

I keep one out the back to cook on.

Hell, I always keep a trolley out the front of my place so the dregs don’t attempt robbing my place!

“It also addresses the issue of people taking trolleys. It allows authorities to require a person to return trolleys, or to issue fines,” Ms Le Couteur said.

Don’t hold your breath waiting for some poor, vulnerable, sole-parent pensioner to be booked for dumping their grocery trolly outside my house.

The bogans never push the trolley all the way to their street. They abandon it in my street and carry their slabs of JD & Coke the last few hundred metres home.

Captain RAAF7:06 pm 26 Aug 10

And the building of mega affordable-housing complexes within 1000m of major shopping centres won’t impact on the number of trolleys found abandoned in the streets and parks….anyone?….Bueller?

It’s interesting that we have a problem with trolley misadventure. It may be a stretch, but it may be a consequence of poor public transport. If’s it’s quicker or easier to push a trolley rather than do a circuit to the ‘G’ and back on the buses than that’s what people do.

The best idea is to return to boys and girls who carry your shopping to your car or to the bus for you. That way you don’t need to have trolleys leaveing the store!!

Hello Mr Coles, 35° 14? 0? S, 149° 4? 0? E

So trolleys rampant make the place look untidy. But Govco can make a buck by fining the supermarkets.

Pity they can’t weed the bloody Commonwealth Avenue Bridge.

colourful sydney racing identity2:36 pm 26 Aug 10

Pommy bastard said :

Idiocy, punishing supermarkets for the actions of Bogan shoppers achieves, what exactly?

Who came up with this nonsense? Oh, ok, that lot…

Part of the problem is that supermarkets are very slack at picking up dumped trolleys. Ring one some time, tell them a trolley has been dumped on your street – be prepared to be told that if you do not have the exact gps coordiantes they won’t pick it up.

PM said :

$2 for what might be (I’ve no idea – at a guess) $60 of metal?

I know that in 1990 $140 per trolley was the quote I heard. Multiply that by 20 years worth of whatever

Pommy bastard said :

Idiocy, punishing supermarkets for the actions of Bogan shoppers achieves, what exactly?

Who came up with this nonsense? Oh, ok, that lot…

Couldn’t have said it better myself. Coin lock trolleys do not work, take a look around the City at all the Supabarn and Aldi trolleys abandoned complete with coin locks because of the lazy people who cannot be bothered carrying their 3 bags of groceries. They should be fining the people who take them $1100 for the theft of the trollies.

Pommy bastard11:11 am 26 Aug 10

Idiocy, punishing supermarkets for the actions of Bogan shoppers achieves, what exactly?

Who came up with this nonsense? Oh, ok, that lot…

PM said :

$2 for what might be (I’ve no idea – at a guess) $60 of metal?

Not to mention the wheels. You ever looked at the cost of good wheels when building a billycart as a kid? Way cheaper to “find” some on a trolley…

neanderthalsis said :

I’m pondering what “other containment systems” would be.

In Sydney they have trolleys where the wheels lock up if they are taken more then 200 metres from the store. You can always tell the barrier as there will be several locked trolleys all lined up there.

I worked as a trolley boy in 1992 at Tuggeranong Hyperdome and the Harris Farm fruit market (where The Good Guys and GoLo are now) had coin boxes on the handles of their trolleys. The system was abandoned because the boxes were preventing the trolleys being stacked properly and the public complained about them. Perhaps there have been advances in the past 20 years but whenever a levy has been applied in the past it has impacted on business and hampered trolley collection.

$2 for what might be (I’ve no idea – at a guess) $60 of metal?

neanderthalsis10:03 am 26 Aug 10

I’m pondering what “other containment systems” would be.

A trolley curfew where all trolleys caught roaming the streets after dark will be shot on sight, trolley bounty hunters hunting rogue trolleys, anti trolley barricades around our suburban shops or maybe electronic pulse generators that electrocute the trolley pushers when they get a certain distance from the store.

This will put an end to the lucrative shopping trolley go-cart conversion industry and budget removals for university students as they move between inner urban share houses.

Tackling the big issues. And coin locks are so convenient…

There might be an obvious reason that I’m missing, but why don’t Coles, Woolies etc, use the same trolley system as Aldi (coin locks)?

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