While visiting the States recently, Wal-Mart in particular, I was struck by the number of grocery carts just left in the parking lot. I was especially ticked off as some lazy person had left their cart near our rental car and it nearly ran into the car (windy day). Germans have a solution!! Notice the device on each of the carts in the photo. You must insert a Euro coin into the slot to unlock the cart from the cart next to it. To get your coin back, you must push the cart into place and insert the lock. That pushes the coin out. I have yet to find carts blowing aimlessly across the parking lot at any grocery stores I've visited here. I like it!! You also have to pay for any plastic grocery bags you use from the store - which encourages people to bring their own bags! Rewarding people a few cents for bringing a bag is a nice idea (as practiced by grocery stores in Oregon), but penalizing them if they forget works even better!!!
Monday, March 1, 2010
grocery carts
While visiting the States recently, Wal-Mart in particular, I was struck by the number of grocery carts just left in the parking lot. I was especially ticked off as some lazy person had left their cart near our rental car and it nearly ran into the car (windy day). Germans have a solution!! Notice the device on each of the carts in the photo. You must insert a Euro coin into the slot to unlock the cart from the cart next to it. To get your coin back, you must push the cart into place and insert the lock. That pushes the coin out. I have yet to find carts blowing aimlessly across the parking lot at any grocery stores I've visited here. I like it!! You also have to pay for any plastic grocery bags you use from the store - which encourages people to bring their own bags! Rewarding people a few cents for bringing a bag is a nice idea (as practiced by grocery stores in Oregon), but penalizing them if they forget works even better!!!
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There is a store here in the States that practice this very great idea.
The store is called Aldis. I think that this store originally came from Europe. So, that is probably why they use this cart and bag system. I think every store should use this system. I think their prices would come down a bit because they wouldn't have to replace carts all the time.
There are stores here called Aldi - I wonder if they are related!?
And the bags are not cheap! I know that in Rome, they were like 25 cents a bag. They would ask "Borsa?" (bag) and I would always try to gauge the most minimal number of bags I would need since they were unbearably expensive.
Amen. The pay for your cart system works well, as does bring your own bags. We are so spoiled here in the US, and we could learn so much by looking elsewhere, where they have had to deal with waste a lot longer than we have here!
Shane thinks that you should leave the system inplace the way it is in America. That way it employes someone to gather the carts. Then that person has to have a cart machine to move all the carts. That employes people too,,, not only building the carts but mantaining the carts. See how this system works...where it fails is when the people don't work and do the job that they were hired for... Gotta love the free enterprise system. Love you little sister.
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