5 ms·

The main reason I have always heard mentioned why they have a deposit is that shopping carts are really expensive and they don't want people to take them home,

The main reason I have always heard mentioned why they have a deposit is that shopping carts are really expensive and they don't want people to take them home, have teens do silly things with them etc. Maybe that's not so much a problem in the US, where I imagine supermarkets may not be in the city center but mostly reachable by car and thus less foot traffic to take the carts? But maybe the deposit here in Europe is just silly? I do know many supermarkets lock their carts up for 1st of May for example and anyway, one euro or one of those plastic discs is not hard to come by, so it is not much of a detriment.

bunderbunder 7y ago
Also, most those large stores just outside of town have vast parking lots, enough so that I bet that a lot of people would decide that it's not worth $0.25 to take the cart all the way back to the building. In denser cities where it's just not practical to put your supermarkets impractically far away from literally anyone who might sometimes want to buy some food, what you typically see is some sort of system where the wheels automatically lock up if you try to take the cart outside the parking lot. Which, compared to the Aldi system, always seemed to me like a $10 solution to a $0.10 problem.
- micwag 7y ago
  Usually bigger super markets in europe have shopping cart stations scattered around the parking lot: https://www.thomas-clemens-photography.de/blog/es-gibt-eine-menge-orte https://www.thomas-clemens-photography.de/blog/es-gibt-eine-...
justin66 7y ago
> The main reason I have always heard mentioned why they have a deposit is that shopping carts are really expensive and they don't want people to take them home, have teens do silly things with them etc. I'm sure the deposit is just to encourage people to put the carts back where they belong, reducing the amount of work staff need to do outside the store. If you're going to steal a shopping cart, the quarter won't factor in.
- Torwald 7y ago
  Yep, that's the real reason. Introduced first in France and not by Aldi.
  - dithering 7y ago
    And yet... haven't you noticed that supermarkets in posher areas are less likely to have the coin slot? (Asda and Tesco are two whose policy varies by location). And in supermarkets with large car parks there are return stations all over the car park. Which means you still need to pay trolley herders...
    - pbhjpbhj 7y ago
      I think the posh bit is slightly incidental, I think it's shops that people [can] walk to.
      - Torwald 7y ago
        Never played Sim City? Zonal planning is not incidental.
    - Torwald 7y ago
      I am not in America, I can't therefore share your observation. But it is not news that crime of all sorts is lower in "posher areas". Of course it is. What's the point you want to go for?
- pbhjpbhj 7y ago
  Yes, they have egress locks activated by magnet that locks the wheels, or they have another physical lock system, at each pedestrian exit to the car-park of my local supermarket -- that's one reason they are really inconvenient for pedestrians accessing the site, they want to have trolley controls. The exits are narrow with soft soil and low hedges bordering the paths. You can lift a trolley over, but you need some muscle, especially if your trolley is full of shopping.

bunderbunder 7y ago

Also, most those large stores just outside of town have vast parking lots, enough so that I bet that a lot of people would decide that it's not worth $0.25 to take the cart all the way back to the building. In denser cities where it's just not practical to put your supermarkets impractically far away from literally anyone who might sometimes want to buy some food, what you typically see is some sort of system where the wheels automatically lock up if you try to take the cart outside the parking lot. Which, compared to the Aldi system, always seemed to me like a $10 solution to a $0.10 problem.

micwag 7y ago
Usually bigger super markets in europe have shopping cart stations scattered around the parking lot: https://www.thomas-clemens-photography.de/blog/es-gibt-eine-menge-orte https://www.thomas-clemens-photography.de/blog/es-gibt-eine-...

justin66 7y ago

> The main reason I have always heard mentioned why they have a deposit is that shopping carts are really expensive and they don't want people to take them home, have teens do silly things with them etc. I'm sure the deposit is just to encourage people to put the carts back where they belong, reducing the amount of work staff need to do outside the store. If you're going to steal a shopping cart, the quarter won't factor in.

Torwald 7y ago
Yep, that's the real reason. Introduced first in France and not by Aldi.
- dithering 7y ago
  And yet... haven't you noticed that supermarkets in posher areas are less likely to have the coin slot? (Asda and Tesco are two whose policy varies by location). And in supermarkets with large car parks there are return stations all over the car park. Which means you still need to pay trolley herders...
  - pbhjpbhj 7y ago
    I think the posh bit is slightly incidental, I think it's shops that people [can] walk to.
    - Torwald 7y ago
      Never played Sim City? Zonal planning is not incidental.
  - Torwald 7y ago
    I am not in America, I can't therefore share your observation. But it is not news that crime of all sorts is lower in "posher areas". Of course it is. What's the point you want to go for?
pbhjpbhj 7y ago
Yes, they have egress locks activated by magnet that locks the wheels, or they have another physical lock system, at each pedestrian exit to the car-park of my local supermarket -- that's one reason they are really inconvenient for pedestrians accessing the site, they want to have trolley controls. The exits are narrow with soft soil and low hedges bordering the paths. You can lift a trolley over, but you need some muscle, especially if your trolley is full of shopping.