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Why are shopping carts always broken?

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Re: Why are shopping carts always broken?

#111

Post by mathverse »

knallfrosch wrote: post #95
domh wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Little bit of both? Also probably to prevent the temptation of theft. Even though the fee is nominal, it seems to be enough of a detractor?

I don't think "theft" is the correct wording. Rather "taking it with you and not returning." If it really was about stealing (taking and intentionally keeping), the 1€ or free plastic coin you can get at the counter wouldn't deter you at all.

You can unlock the cart with standard european key tip like this https://image.made-in-china.com/202f0j00GpWUwrYJnBoN/Sn-Euro...

Most homeless and poor people know this trick. It really is just for general populace who are too gullible to know better.

Re: Why are shopping carts always broken?

#112

Post by milliams »

theginger wrote: post #102

This article misses a very big reason. It's a scheduling type problem. They rarely have good systems in place to deal with taking bad trollies out of service, so they stay in service and sit at the front of the stack, because some people notice and reject the trolley but they generally find their way back onto the stack. If you always take the first trolley of the stack and regularly find it is busted it is probably…

At my local there's often a few columns of trolleys next to each other. I always go for the column with the fewest trolleys as I assume that the trolley sitting at the head of the longest column is likely to have an issue.

Re: Why are shopping carts always broken?

#113

Post by olig15 »

oliwarner wrote: post #76
londons_explore wrote: post #61

Over here in the UK, pretty much every cart (trolley) has fully functioning wheels... The only exception to that is wheels that auto-lock to stop you stealing the cart when they cross over the property line of the shop (and they then require manual unlocking). I suspect US cart designs are just bad...

I'm not sure where you got that idea from. The last three trollies I've used all had sticking wheels. Waitrose and Tesco. And many times before. And I regularly have the same problem in France. But yes, auto locking wheels are universally worse.

My local shop is a Waitrose, and quite often I see 10/15 or so trolleys in the rack have handles that say ‘on loan from trolly services’ or something. I wonder if this is because some are out on repair.

Re: Why are shopping carts always broken?

#114

Post by daveoc64 »

ta1243 wrote: post #71
londons_explore wrote: post #61

Over here in the UK, pretty much every cart (trolley) has fully functioning wheels... The only exception to that is wheels that auto-lock to stop you stealing the cart when they cross over the property line of the shop (and they then require manual unlocking). I suspect US cart designs are just bad...

And it's very rare to have to put a coin in a trolley as the article asserts. It's not 1999 any more.

In the UK it really varies based on the area the supermarket is in.

There are two large Sainsbury's supermarkets near me - one is right next to a university and suffers from students taking the trolleys back to their student accommodation - these have a coin.

Then there's another in a more affluent suburb - no coin.

Re: Why are shopping carts always broken?

#116

Post by bowsamic »

mathverse wrote: post #109
hef19898 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Coins are still standard in Germany so! It is extremely rare to have a broken one around where I live.

The coins are useless. It's a people problem not a mechanical one. You can unlock the cart with the tip of the key like this https://image.made-in-china.com/202f0j00GpWUwrYJnBoN/Sn-Euro... (standard european). And I frequently do because I HATE german supermarkets anyway!

What's wrong with German supermarkets? Coming from the UK, I generally prefer them.

The only thing that pisses me off is that Lidl and Aldi don't have baskets. In fact my local Lidl had an absurd short-lived policy that you aren't allowed in the shop unless you get a shopping cart! Thankfully they came to their senses. I just use my shopping bag as a basket.

Re: Why are shopping carts always broken?

#117

Post by PeterisP »

dtgriscom wrote: post #30
freddie_mercury wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most countries have laws limiting the size of paracetamol & aspirin bottles to reduce overdoses & suicides. The UK passed a law in 1998 about it and saw suicides from overdoses drop 21% and liver transplants from paracetamol poisoning drop 66%. "Numbers of tablets per pack of paracetamol and salicylates decreased markedly in the year after the change in legislation on 16 September 1998. The annual number of deaths fr…

What are the limits? (Asked as a US guy who buys the 500 x 500mg bottles at BJ's.)

What do you do with them? I'd guess the total lifetime consumption of any medicine for me and my family is less than 500 pills, a pack of 20 can last more than a year because it's not that often that any of it is needed, and when something happens, you take them for a couple of days and that's it. Do many people in USA pop painkillers or paracetamol or aspirin daily?

Re: Why are shopping carts always broken?

#118

Post by mathverse »

bowsamic wrote: post #116
mathverse wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The coins are useless. It's a people problem not a mechanical one. You can unlock the cart with the tip of the key like this https://image.made-in-china.com/202f0j00GpWUwrYJnBoN/Sn-Euro... (standard european). And I frequently do because I HATE german supermarkets anyway!

What's wrong with German supermarkets? Coming from the UK, I generally prefer them. The only thing that pisses me off is that Lidl and Aldi don't have baskets. In fact my local Lidl had an absurd short-lived policy that you aren't allowed in the shop unless you get a shopping cart! Thankfully they came to their senses. I just use my shopping bag as a basket.

I consider german food products in general to be tasteless (I am not saying they are low quality but it just does not fit my palate). Lidl / Kaufland is fine for veggies. Rewe good in general and I like Billa+ but that's more premium quality anyway.

Just in general not a fan of german food products.

Re: Why are shopping carts always broken?

#119

Post by bowsamic »

mathverse wrote: post #118
bowsamic wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's wrong with German supermarkets? Coming from the UK, I generally prefer them. The only thing that pisses me off is that Lidl and Aldi don't have baskets. In fact my local Lidl had an absurd short-lived policy that you aren't allowed in the shop unless you get a shopping cart! Thankfully they came to their senses. I just use my shopping bag as a basket.

I consider german food products in general to be tasteless (I am not saying they are low quality but it just does not fit my palate). Lidl / Kaufland is fine for veggies. Rewe good in general and I like Billa+ but that's more premium quality anyway. Just in general not a fan of german food products.

That's very interesting, I love German food

Re: Why are shopping carts always broken?

#120

Post by yreg »

rob74 wrote: post #67
jackson1way wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Germany you have something close to „drug stores in the US“ but minus the pharmacy. For example: dm, Müller, Rossmann. The bigger ones (especially dm) actually always have shopping carts. It‘s very common for people to buy large things in these stores, like toilet paper, baby diapers etc. which can easily fill a shopping cart.

Yup, actually dm is short for "Drogeriemarkt", which could be translated as "drug market". And yes, due to legislation in Germany, they can only sell things like vitamin supplements, "real" drugs (even non-prescription ones) can only be sold in pharmacies.

Interesting, I never made the connection. In my language "drogéria" is a store like dm - place to get cosmetics, perfumes, cleaning supplies and other similar chemicals. No relation to pharmacies ("lekáreň" => "liek" = drug).
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