On shopping trolleys and human nature

Pffft, what a storm in a teacup again. Coles has trolley collectors, so why wouldn’t you use them and leave them in the carpark. You know, like in the good old days. When it was accepted for people to be too lazy to walk their trolleys back.

I sometimes even leave my coin trolley in the carpark (in a safe spot – can’t stand people parking their trolleys in a parking bay!) to support the local homeless hobo’s drug habit. After the trauma of a supermarket visit which makes me inevitably get evil thoughts about burning the place down with everyone in it, I just want to get the F out of there and if there is no trolley bay close to the car (as at Jamison where I park) I will leave it and I reckon my one or two dollars cover the cost of someone retrieving it.

If I want more exercise I’ll go and ride my bike or take the dog for a brisk walk. Walking trolleys that strain all the muscles in my bad back when trying to push them over sloping surfaces whilst dodging cars and other shoppers is not my idea of a good work out.

addicus said :

Maybe a dying industry, but are we working towards destroying a good active entry level job for kids or should we keep looking to Macer’s for our kids to start their working career ?

Most trolley collectors I see are 30+ yo…. Kids nowadays wouldn’t lower themselves to this menial work! They’d choose the dole first.

addicus said :

Another example of user pays, double sometimes triple for something we used to expect as part of the shopping experience and overall cost. The ‘’green’’ label has allowed for shops to pass on the cost that normally would have been covered by the business. And bags are expensive yeah. Are the bags biodegradable? Or just mostly re-useable, yeah right we all know we don’t always carry our shopping bags with us EVERYWHERE, and they generally end up as the rubbish bag, but thing is we do like to impulse shop at times so we really do need to have bags attached to our belts. Retail sales are trying to compete with the internet, but it continues to implement processes people get to the point of abusing a check out operator because they are displeased. The trolleys are also just a deterrent for people to actually use them, overall saving the business less cost for recovery or replacement. So really who is benefiting here? Our environment or is this just a ploy for business to say ‘’we are all doing the right thing, but you have to change your normal ways to cater or pay for it out of your pocket’’. After saying that on their high pedestal, they announce millions of dollars in profits, while the poor cash operator on 14 bucks an hour is getting abused for it.

I dont think Aldi have their trolley or bag policies/systems specifically to be seen as ‘green’; they are more to reduce the overall cost of their buisness, thus making it possible to make their prices lower. Probably one of the reasons they are cheaper, yet no one whinges about their groceries being lower….
Cant have things both ways, yet as JB has discovered, there are heaps of people that expect both and are happy to invent ways to suit them – and screw others….

EvanJames said :

Coles Qbn have the coin thing on those weird spazzo trolleys that are sort-of baskets with wheels. I hate trolleys and only use them when buying potting mix so it’s something I observe from a distance..

I love that those little Coles trolleys have a place specifically marked for ‘baguettes/flowers’! Like those are soooo commonly bought by most people! Hahaha! I think they are trying to pretend their clientele are more sophisticated than they really are! 🙂

Not many of the trolley collectors I see are “kids”. I dont think its widely seen as an entry level position.

In any case Trolleys? Really? Thats whats stressing us all? Take it back or dont take it back. Its not a big deal but please,please at least dont leave it in a car park. Deaf ears probably but I find that particularly rude.

I do like the idea of people returning trolleys for businesses, even though better ways could be thought of, but it means less chance my car will be damaged by rollaway trolleys if collectors are scarce. I do hate it when I see trolleys parked right next to my car, thus I return trolley’s to their return bays, but I only use trolleys supplied by the shop as part of their service delivery. Or though you can get the key chain tokens at Aldi’s for a dollar instead of needing a coin everytime, but I just don’t use them unless they are free, I would be one of the people with a coles trolley in Aldi’s too. The locking system seems the best idea that wouldn’t disadvantage the shopper as much, but I guess cost to the business would possibly never be recouped so having the customer do all the running around seems better business sense practically and financially. Does this mean the trolley collector’s days are limited though ? The trolley collection business seems to be lacking a hint of professionalism it seems these days anyway. Maybe a dying industry, but are we working towards destroying a good active entry level job for kids or should we keep looking to Macer’s for our kids to start their working career ?

Another example of user pays, double sometimes triple for something we used to expect as part of the shopping experience and overall cost. The ‘’green’’ label has allowed for shops to pass on the cost that normally would have been covered by the business. And bags are expensive yeah. Are the bags biodegradable? Or just mostly re-useable, yeah right we all know we don’t always carry our shopping bags with us EVERYWHERE, and they generally end up as the rubbish bag, but thing is we do like to impulse shop at times so we really do need to have bags attached to our belts. Retail sales are trying to compete with the internet, but it continues to implement processes people get to the point of abusing a check out operator because they are displeased. The trolleys are also just a deterrent for people to actually use them, overall saving the business less cost for recovery or replacement. So really who is benefiting here? Our environment or is this just a ploy for business to say ‘’we are all doing the right thing, but you have to change your normal ways to cater or pay for it out of your pocket’’. After saying that on their high pedestal, they announce millions of dollars in profits, while the poor cash operator on 14 bucks an hour is getting abused for it.

I recall back in the late 80s, the local woolworths Safeway (it was Victoria) brought in these new trolleys with a twenty cent coin needed to use them (exactly the same as what we have now with dollars and two dollars). As kids, we would road the car park, looking for trolleys people hadn’t bothered to return, or offering to return them for people for the coin. A lot of people didn’t bother returning them, or were willing to let it go to save a minute, causes it was only 20c. Oddly, though inflation means $1 now isn’t worth that much more then 20c was then, people seem a lot more tight arsed about it.

2much2do said :

Yep, smart move genius, let’s lock the kids in the car and hope they don’t suffocate or better still, let’s leave the babies in the pram alone in the carpark.

While I don’t dispute that it is easier to just dump the trolley, let me ask you this – how did you get to the trolley at the front of Coles in the first place? Did you leave the kids in the car? Whatever method you used coming into the store could presumably also work leaving?

Instant Mash said :

Much like the new plastic bag regulations. People have had two months to get used to that, and I cop constant abuse every single day simply because people are just too lazy to bring their own. If you have such a problem paying a few cents for the bag you forgot, then stop forgetting and stop whinging.

On the trolley subject, what is the big deal? You get the dollar back so long as you’re bothered to walk an extra few metres.

Just out of pure curiosity – what is your profession, that people would hurl abuse at you for not providing plastic bags? Many years ago when i was a teenager, i had 2 fist fights with grown women in the woolworths i worked in because they were horrid women who couldn’t control themselves. I never got fired for my actions, thankfully i had sane people in my line watching the whole thing unravel and i was seen in a good light hehe.

Much like the new plastic bag regulations. People have had two months to get used to that, and I cop constant abuse every single day simply because people are just too lazy to bring their own. If you have such a problem paying a few cents for the bag you forgot, then stop forgetting and stop whinging.

On the trolley subject, what is the big deal? You get the dollar back so long as you’re bothered to walk an extra few metres.

Rawhide Kid Part3 said :

I think Coles will also be doing the coin trollies soon. Should be interesting.

Coles Qbn have the coin thing on those weird spazzo trolleys that are sort-of baskets with wheels. I hate trolleys and only use them when buying potting mix so it’s something I observe from a distance.

But the fact is, people behave like scum nowadays and there seems to be nothing stopping them. No social disapproval, no serried ranks of eyes judging them. Now it’s just everyone for themselves, grabbing what they can, and bugger everyone else.

Or you can simply drive a car.
Much easier.

and pay for petrol, and possibly pay for a gym. Both have their pros and cons, but cycling to the shops isn’t as difficult as you think

Hey gasman I have a Christiania Trike also and it has been at Jamison shops a number of times. Nothing like parking right at the door and loading everything straight in!

Back on topic I gave up using Aldi trolleys at Belco – could never find a place to return it to get the money back due to the release key being missing or the bay being full of Coles/Woolies trolleys. Yes I could have walked all the way back to Aldi with my empty trolley but seriously after doing that once (when I was parked on a different level) it is a lot easier to just shop at Coles first and use their trolley and put it back in a nearby bay when back at the car.

BicycleCanberra said :

dungfungus said :

Instead of shopping weekly you shop two or three times a week on the bike. You can obviously use your car for the big loads or you can use a cargo bike!

Indeed. This is my cargo bike after a recent trip to Aldi.

I ride it from Yarralumla to Weston Creek and back. Several times per week.

dungfungus said :

How do you ride a bike down the aisles in a supermarket and how do you make room in the panniers for a slab of VB when you have just bought a carton of Pal in the supermarket? The Dutchies who shop on their bikes must lead a Spartan lifestyle.

Instead of shopping weekly you shop two or three times a week on the bike. You can obviously use your car for the big loads or you can use a cargo bike!

It generally works better at other centres where there isn’t a competitor right next to Aldi. At Coolo, the Woolies is at the opposite end so it’s rarer to see people in there with Woolies trolleys.
One solution at Jammo would be if Coles also had the same trolley return system! Won’t happen though….

BicycleCanberra said :

Many people start their shop @ Coles then go into Aldi to get the basics and look at the specials. I use the token which is on my keyring, simple to use without having to search around for a dollar coin or two.

This problem is the corner stone of a car centric culture, acres of car parks yet you couldn’t walk a trolley back to a return bay parking isle. If everyone shopped regularly(on bike) like the dutch do we wouldn’t have this problem of the wandering trolley.

How do you ride a bike down the aisles in a supermarket and how do you make room in the panniers for a slab of VB when you have just bought a carton of Pal in the supermarket? The Dutchies who shop on their bikes must lead a Spartan lifestyle.

puggy said :

Has anyone heard of anyone being fined for taking a trolley far from a supermarket, as I thought the law allows for? How is that enforceable?

Has anyone heard of anyone being fined for riding a bike across a pedestrian crossing?
Has anyone heard of anyone being fined for not picking up their doggy poo?
Has anyone heard of anyone being fined for letting of crackers on what used to be cracker night?
We really live in a strange world here in the ACT.

2much2do said :

Yep, smart move genius, let’s lock the kids in the car and hope they don’t suffocate or better still, let’s leave the babies in the pram alone in the carpark.

yep, because all babies die in the 20 seconds it takes the return the trolley.

Otherwise, you could load all the groceries into the car, then take trolley and baby to the trolley bay, take baby (leaving the trolley) and walk back to car.

2much2do said :

matt31221 said :

taninaus said :

Most shopping centres overcome this laziness by installing trolley return bays with a connection to get your coin back – win-win as the shopper doesn’t have to walk back into the centre (which is impossible if you have anyone, especially munchkins in the car with you) and the shop gets all their trolleys lined up ready to be returned by those folks earning a minimum wage buck taking them back into the centre.

Why is it impossible if you have munchkins? Just need to discipline them better so they can handle it. Lazy parenting as well as lazy trolley etiquette.

Yep, smart move genius, let’s lock the kids in the car and hope they don’t suffocate or better still, let’s leave the babies in the pram alone in the carpark.

Did I explicitly say that? No, I was implying they walk back with you, good exercise.

jsm2090 said :

Trolley habits nicely summarise our society these days; we’re fat, lazy, and selfish. Wheel locks would prevent this easily. So many of our tax dollars these days seems to get caught up in preventing people from doing things that a basic level of common sense should warm us against.

http://www.ferret.com.au/c/Lamson-Engineering/Trolley-Guard-System-n678883

Woolies at one of the smaller Surfers Paradise centres has this sort of system and it seems much better than the coin deposit system. I guess though it still isn’t an incentive for people to put trolleys back into the trolley return.

Coles at Manuka has introduced the coin system on the smaller trollies only – this seems to be problematic as shoppers will mostly choose the larger trollies to avoid the fee and the trolley collection crew seem to focus on returning the larger trollies and then there are very few small trollies available.

Whatever the solution it’s only going to work if it is applied to all trollies from all stores.

I started, then stopped using Aldi’s trolleys at Coolamon Court when one afternoon I’d used a $2 coin (all I had on me) to do the shopping, and on return to the carpark and unloading I found some little b*gger had clipped the release key off the chain on not just one, but three of the return bays. No-one wanted to lose their dollar or token by being the first to leave their trolley with coin unretrieved, so we all had to wheel the trolleys back across the park. Put me right off – it’s far easier to use a Woolies trolley, and at Coolo at least the Woolies ones are newer and have better wheels to boot!

Woolies in Katherine had a great system when I was there back in ’94. The trolleys were housed inside the store past the turnstile and you would pay an extra dollar as you went through the register so no need to carry a coin.

After unloading the trolley you could either return the trolley to the collection point back in the store to get a shiny dollar, or have the rotton odoured toothless person with the metho bottle in their back pocket do it for you sans your refund.

Simple, and let me tell you there where never trolleys left out!

matt31221 said :

taninaus said :

Most shopping centres overcome this laziness by installing trolley return bays with a connection to get your coin back – win-win as the shopper doesn’t have to walk back into the centre (which is impossible if you have anyone, especially munchkins in the car with you) and the shop gets all their trolleys lined up ready to be returned by those folks earning a minimum wage buck taking them back into the centre.

Why is it impossible if you have munchkins? Just need to discipline them better so they can handle it. Lazy parenting as well as lazy trolley etiquette.

Yep, smart move genius, let’s lock the kids in the car and hope they don’t suffocate or better still, let’s leave the babies in the pram alone in the carpark.

Many people start their shop @ Coles then go into Aldi to get the basics and look at the specials. I use the token which is on my keyring, simple to use without having to search around for a dollar coin or two.

This problem is the corner stone of a car centric culture, acres of car parks yet you couldn’t walk a trolley back to a return bay parking isle. If everyone shopped regularly(on bike) like the dutch do we wouldn’t have this problem of the wandering trolley.

taninaus said :

Most shopping centres overcome this laziness by installing trolley return bays with a connection to get your coin back – win-win as the shopper doesn’t have to walk back into the centre (which is impossible if you have anyone, especially munchkins in the car with you) and the shop gets all their trolleys lined up ready to be returned by those folks earning a minimum wage buck taking them back into the centre.

Why is it impossible if you have munchkins? Just need to discipline them better so they can handle it. Lazy parenting as well as lazy trolley etiquette.

MERC600 said :

On the subject of shops. If you forget to take a bag with you, Coles and Woolies sell their bags for 15 cents a pop. South Australia has had a no bag policy for some time now; so do any rioters know what they pay for a Woolies/Coles bag in SA ?. 15 cents here seems a little high. I thought I can remember some Polly quoting a bag might cost 5 cents at the most.

From SA’s website it says,

The decision on whether to charge or how much to charge is up to the retailer.

I suprised people are still using coins when you can get those token from Aldi to use.

To paraphrase Harlan Ellison, the two most abundant substances in the universe are hydrogen and naked self-interest.

we need a local version of this award-winning tome: http://www.amazon.com/Stray-Shopping-Carts-Eastern-America/dp/0810955202

On the subject of shops. If you forget to take a bag with you, Coles and Woolies sell their bags for 15 cents a pop. South Australia has had a no bag policy for some time now; so do any rioters know what they pay for a Woolies/Coles bag in SA ?. 15 cents here seems a little high. I thought I can remember some Polly quoting a bag might cost 5 cents at the most.

taninaus said :

Most shopping centres overcome this laziness by installing trolley return bays with a connection to get your coin back – win-win as the shopper doesn’t have to walk back into the centre (which is impossible if you have anyone, especially munchkins in the car with you) and the shop gets all their trolleys lined up ready to be returned by those folks earning a minimum wage buck taking them back into the centre.

Jammo has those! but still too much trouble when you can just steal a trolley form Coles!

Most shopping centres overcome this laziness by installing trolley return bays with a connection to get your coin back – win-win as the shopper doesn’t have to walk back into the centre (which is impossible if you have anyone, especially munchkins in the car with you) and the shop gets all their trolleys lined up ready to be returned by those folks earning a minimum wage buck taking them back into the centre.

I think Coles will also be doing the coin trollies soon. Should be interesting.

Why can’t Coles do an Aldi and have coin trolleys? Both supermarkets (Aldi and Woolies) at Kippax use the coin system. When Woolies followed Aldi’s example and introduced the coin trolleys, it stopped the dumping virtually overnight.

That is pretty piss poor form. Lazy bastards. Coles should hire a security guard to prevent that occurring.

I take the trolley back to get my dollar it is kind of satisfying.

Trolley habits nicely summarise our society these days; we’re fat, lazy, and selfish. Wheel locks would prevent this easily. So many of our tax dollars these days seems to get caught up in preventing people from doing things that a basic level of common sense should warm us against.

http://www.ferret.com.au/c/Lamson-Engineering/Trolley-Guard-System-n678883

Abandoned trolleys are a bugbear of mine. It may be that I notice them a lot more know, but I reckon I see more now that the law has come in. I don’t understand what possesses people (mostly students) to wheel a trolley 2km from Gungahlin shops, over all sorts of terrain, for what I usually see is less than a full bag of groceries. I don’t understand how I can report a trolley in exactly the same location numerous times and yet still continue to see a trolley left in the same spot. Has anyone heard of anyone being fined for taking a trolley far from a supermarket, as I thought the law allows for? How is that enforceable?