3 ms·

How is it legal for them to take scooters then charge scooter owners for them?

by soared 8y ago

Waterluvian 8y ago
Third parties are used to collect and return shopping carts. I wonder how their model works.
- CaliforniaKarl 8y ago
  The third party picks up the shopping carts, and the store pays for their return. It's cheaper for the store to do that, vs. the cost of purchasing new carts. Stores have several alternatives to this: • They can send employees off-property to pick up carts they find. I used to see this in the past; not really as much anymore. • They can install an "invisible fence"-type system, which causes one of a cart's wheels to lock up when taken outside of the permitted area. If you walk to/from the store, you'll have seen signs warning about this; otherwise you can check the carts to see if one wheel looks different from the others. The Safeway near where I live does this. • They can require that customers pay a refundable deposit to use the cart. See the "Why do I need a quarter?" question at https://www.aldi.us/en/about-aldi/faqs/about-aldi/ https://www.aldi.us/en/about-aldi/faqs/about-aldi/ for an example of this. This doesn't happen in the US much.
VoiceOfWisdom 8y ago
"24/7 Free Removal of Unwanted Scooters or Bikes on your Property" Looks like they only remove scooters that are being left on private property. I would think its completely legal for the land owner to remove the scooter, therefore having another service remove them for you and charge for storage would be fine as long as the rate is not extortionate.
- swagasaurus-rex 8y ago
  Interesting. Because anybody can use and park the scooters, I would think it's in somebody's incentive to move scooters from pubic sidewalk onto patrolled private property to get scooped up.
  - CaliforniaKarl 8y ago
    I don't know how often scooters ping back to HQ, but it may be often enough for them to log the move from public property to private property. TBH, I'd also trust an established towing business to handle scooter pickup, because scooter pickup would not be their only line of business, and they presumably wouldn't want scooter shenanigans to affect their towing business.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
Fzzr 8y ago
Tow trucks work that way too.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
Lazare 8y ago
Same way it's legal to do it to cars, obviously. There's nothing new here.

How is it legal for them to take scooters then charge scooter owners for them?

by soared 8y ago

How is it legal for them to take scooters then charge scooter owners for them?

Waterluvian 8y ago

Third parties are used to collect and return shopping carts. I wonder how their model works.

CaliforniaKarl 8y ago
The third party picks up the shopping carts, and the store pays for their return. It's cheaper for the store to do that, vs. the cost of purchasing new carts. Stores have several alternatives to this: • They can send employees off-property to pick up carts they find. I used to see this in the past; not really as much anymore. • They can install an "invisible fence"-type system, which causes one of a cart's wheels to lock up when taken outside of the permitted area. If you walk to/from the store, you'll have seen signs warning about this; otherwise you can check the carts to see if one wheel looks different from the others. The Safeway near where I live does this. • They can require that customers pay a refundable deposit to use the cart. See the "Why do I need a quarter?" question at https://www.aldi.us/en/about-aldi/faqs/about-aldi/ https://www.aldi.us/en/about-aldi/faqs/about-aldi/ for an example of this. This doesn't happen in the US much.

VoiceOfWisdom 8y ago

"24/7 Free Removal of Unwanted Scooters or Bikes on your Property" Looks like they only remove scooters that are being left on private property. I would think its completely legal for the land owner to remove the scooter, therefore having another service remove them for you and charge for storage would be fine as long as the rate is not extortionate.

swagasaurus-rex 8y ago
Interesting. Because anybody can use and park the scooters, I would think it's in somebody's incentive to move scooters from pubic sidewalk onto patrolled private property to get scooped up.
- CaliforniaKarl 8y ago
  I don't know how often scooters ping back to HQ, but it may be often enough for them to log the move from public property to private property. TBH, I'd also trust an established towing business to handle scooter pickup, because scooter pickup would not be their only line of business, and they presumably wouldn't want scooter shenanigans to affect their towing business.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

Fzzr 8y ago

Tow trucks work that way too.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

Lazare 8y ago

Same way it's legal to do it to cars, obviously. There's nothing new here.