Why are shopping carts always broken?

Post by m-p-3 » Mon, Feb 19, 2024, 2:11 PM UTC

philshem wrote: post #205

jmclnx wrote: post #199

>To combat this, grocery retailers in Europe, such as Aldi, Tesco and Lidl, have coin locks Where I lived, decades ago one store tried this. They ended up folding because no one wanted to deal with inserting coins, why: 1. What if you had no coins ? Most people in the US dump all coins in a big jar when the get home. I would guess back then, about 30% of the people never carried coins, so the chain instantly lost som…

Points 1 and 2: you can get a plastic or metal store-branded token for free from a cashier. Or many of us carry our own token attached to your keychain. No coins needed. Point 3: doesn’t make sense. The carts don’t have coins stored when they aren’t in use by a customer.

Post by jrochkind1 » Mon, Feb 19, 2024, 2:13 PM UTC

kapep wrote: post #155

al_borland wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For those outside of the US looking to answer, here is some context from the US. “Drug stores” in the US double as convenience stores. There is a pharmacy in the back along with over the counter medications, but they also sell cosmetics, basic prepackaged food, toys, alcohol, magazines, greeting cards, and other such things. It’s not like Americans are buying carts full of drugs. I also think drug stores generally ha…

I would describe German drug stores in the same way (except that they don't contain a pharmacy and can't sell over the counter drugs). Smaller drug stores in big cities have a few small carts if any but often it's just baskets that you carry. Larger ones usually have carts. I don't think it's odd for them to have carts though, drug stores sell a lot of cleaning stuff which can be heavy and toilet paper which can fill…

Post by matwood » Mon, Feb 19, 2024, 2:15 PM UTC

Chico75 wrote: post #207

jmclnx wrote: post #199

>To combat this, grocery retailers in Europe, such as Aldi, Tesco and Lidl, have coin locks Where I lived, decades ago one store tried this. They ended up folding because no one wanted to deal with inserting coins, why: 1. What if you had no coins ? Most people in the US dump all coins in a big jar when the get home. I would guess back then, about 30% of the people never carried coins, so the chain instantly lost som…

I mean Aldi stores across the US have this system and they seem to be expanding not folding, I'm not sure you can pin this store issues to that specific point. Plus once it's a generalized system and all carts require coins, it's not like you have the choice anymore.

Post by AdamN » Mon, Feb 19, 2024, 2:17 PM UTC

dsego wrote: post #163

AdamN wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US, a drug store is a DM with a pharmacy in the back. There are way fewer independent pharmacies in the US nowadays as 'drug stores' have taken over.

Things are getting more interfused all the time, like there is this store 'farmacia' where I live, looks like a pharmacy, sells pills, but you can't pick up prescriptions because it's not a real pharmacy. Then the national postal offices sell gadgets and trinkets, likely because sending actual mail is in decline, and package delivery is better served by private delivery services. Gas stations have even started sellin…

Post by emiliobumachar » Mon, Feb 19, 2024, 2:23 PM UTC

prmoustache wrote: post #131

My understanding is that most carts aren't broken but something is stuck in the bearings/bushings that allow the wheels to rotate on both axis. Just desmantling the wheel once in a while, cleaning it and regreasing it would do the trick. It is just that shops do not care nor are willing to pay someone to spend the 15 to 30 minutes[1] every day to it takes check and fix them. [1] if they were checked daily, most of th…