Shopping cart thievery.

[Raveni]

The only suggestion I have is to do what they do out here - to *get* the cart you have to pay for it - a quarter used to be the norm, but now its a Loonie and sometimes a Twoonie (CDN $1 and $2 coins.) People are much more likely to return the carts to the corall when they have some money invested in them - you don't get the $ back until you lock the cart to the one in front.

When I managed a grocery store, the competition used that. I heard that they lost a lot of carts anyway, and people would break open the gizmo on each cart and steal the quarters.

[Kristev]

Love it, DeltaSerra. Love it.

[Tama]

This is why the gizmo should be attached to the cart corral, inside, in plain view of registers/etc.

[Canarr]

The only suggestion I have is to do what they do out here - to *get* the cart you have to pay for it - a quarter used to be the norm, but now its a Loonie and sometimes a Twoonie (CDN $1 and $2 coins.) People are much more likely to return the carts to the corall when they have some money invested in them - you don't get the $ back until you lock the cart to the one in front.

That's pretty much standard in Germany; has been for years. Any place that uses significant amounts of shopping carts has them.

@Tara: unfortunately, that would pose considerable problems. You'd have to find space for all the shop's carts somewhere inside, in sight of the registers - and where would you find that kind of space?

[cinema guy]

These ar pretty much the norm in the UK.

This is why the gizmo should be attached to the cart corral, inside, in plain view of registers/etc.

The pound coin goes in the gizmo on the trolley, so I'm guessing customers were using trolley to take their shopping home and them breaking open the gizmo to get their pound back.

While getting their pound back encourages most people to return their trolleys to the corral, it won't stop those who are lazy enough to use a trolley to take their shopping home, but determined enough to break the gizmo open.

And while the gizmo is on the right hand side of the trolley, it is easy and sensible to slot the trolleys into one another, the other day I did come across a trolley that had been parked backwards, completely buggering the whole system. I didn't know whether to curse ar marvel at the ingenuity of the twat who had done it.

[Chromatix]

It was most aggravating when they started adding these coin-op things to *luggage* trolleys on railway stations. So when your train comes in, you need to rapidly find your carriage, load your stuff on without blocking other passengers, and then *run* to the rack so you get your coin back, and still manage to board the train before it leaves.

On arrival it's slightly less crap because you can dump luggage on the platform, then go and find a trolley - *if* you have someone else to keep an eye on it.

Nevertheless, very few railway stations have any trolleys left by now. Some of the major ones have only a handful of decrepit examples, while the airport stations use airport trolleys and therefore have a decent supply of them.

[Shalom]

I grew up in Brooklyn, NY.

Most supermarkets there have bollards completely surrounding the entrances (usually extending along the side of the building as well). You can't even take the cart out into the parking lot; you have to leave it at the side of the store, go get your car, and then load your stuff.

[KabeRinnaul]

We have some carts at our store that I'd love to see stolen, but no. They only ever take the normal ones.

[Raveni]

I never install the wheel locks on the kid carts...

[Becks]

Most supermarkets there have bollards completely surrounding the entrances (usually extending along the side of the building as well). You can't even take the cart out into the parking lot; you have to leave it at the side of the store, go get your car, and then load your stuff.

Sounds like the KMart in Belleville.

[vloglady]

OP, what's a "bint?"

[Mr. Security]

it's amazing how far the carts can end up in my area I've seen Walmart and home depot carts by my apartment and the Walmart is at least over an hour walk and the home depot is at least 2 hours

[dragon_wings]

Ugh. Sorry I haven't replied. I was without access to my computer for a few days.

The most vocal bitchers are old ladies. And without fail they come in, look at where are carts normally are, look around and then look at me and say "Where's your carts?"

Today was hell. And that was only one of the reasons.

Our district manager ordered some more carts. We should get them before Christmas.

I can not frakking wait.

OP, what's a "bint?"

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bint

English slang for a whore or bitch. Similar to a tart.

I may be an American but I love me some English slang.

[Lachrymose]

Holy crap.

I just looked up prices on one website and whoever said they aren't cheap sure is right!

About $100.00 for a cart with a metal body and $125.00 for one with a plastic body. And that's buying 4 at a time.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

Bus stops. That's where I used to find them when the shopping trolleys would all seem to be missing. People buy boatloads of groceries with a shopping trolley, take them to the bus stop, and board.

Though going by the home would not be a bad move.

That or an apartment complex, if there's one within walking/crawling distance.

Back in the days at WD, the first store I worked at was in between a middle class neighborhood and a public housing complex. Our store manager and Produce Manager (who both owned pickup trucks) would make a weekly run next door to the apartments to round up all our shopping carts and bring them back.

They'd not only find the out in plain view on the walkways, in the grassy areas between walkways or in the parking areas but also in the wooded area that bordered the complex at the road between us and them.

Another option is to install the quarter deposit slots with the locking chains on the carts similar to one of the discount grocery chains has (Save-A-Bunch near me has these)

No quarter, no cart. Unless of course you bring one inside that's out in the lot. But the locking cart option is probably a better bet. One of the stores at the shopping center near me where I get my nails done has those types of carts. AFAIK, nobody's lost one yet using that system.